Nextcloud Self-Hosted Cloud

Here's the docker-compose.yml I use. It sets up MariaDB, Redis, and Nextcloud in one stack — copy this and adjust the passwords.

version: '3'

services:
 db:
 image: mariadb:10
 command: --transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED --log-bin=binlog --binlog-format=ROW
 restart: always
 volumes:
 - db:/var/lib/mysql
 environment:
 - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpassword
 - MYSQL_PASSWORD=nextcloudpass
 - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
 - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud

 redis:
 image: redis:alpine
 restart: always

 app:
 image: nextcloud:apache
 restart: always
 ports:
 - 8080:80
 depends_on:
 - db
 - redis
 volumes:
 - nextcloud:/var/www/html
 - ./data:/var/www/html/data
 environment:
 - MYSQL_PASSWORD=nextcloudpass
 - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
 - MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
 - MYSQL_HOST=db
 - REDIS_HOST=redis

volumes:
 db:
 nextcloud:

Initial Setup

docker compose up -d

Navigate to http://YOUR_IP:8080

Create admin account and wait for installation (first load takes a minute).

Reverse Proxy with SSL

For production, put Nextcloud behind a reverse proxy with SSL.

Nginx config snippet:

server {
 listen 443 ssl http2;
 server_name cloud.yourdomain.com;
 
 ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
 ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
 
 location / {
 proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
 proxy_set_header Host $host;
 proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
 proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
 proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
 
 client_max_body_size 512M;
 proxy_connect_timeout 600;
 proxy_send_timeout 600;
 proxy_read_timeout 600;
 }
}

⚠️ If this fails: Check your port bindings and make sure nothing else is on 8080. I tried the manual PHP setup once — spent an entire afternoon wrestling with OPcache settings and PHP memory limits before giving up and going back to Docker. The official image handles all that nonsense internally.

Configure Trusted Domains

Edit config.php or use occ:

docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ config:system:set trusted_domains 1 --value=cloud.yourdomain.com

Performance Tuning

Enable Caching

Already using Redis in our setup. Verify in config.php:

'memcache.local' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\APCu',
'memcache.distributed' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'memcache.locking' => '\\OC\\Memcache\\Redis',
'redis' => [
 'host' => 'redis',
 'port' => 6379,
],

Background Jobs

Set cron as the background job method:

docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ background:cron

Add a cron job on the host:

*/5 * * * * docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php cron.php

Desktop and Mobile Sync

• Desktop: Download Nextcloud client from nextcloud.com
• iOS/Android: Install from app stores
• WebDAV: Works with any WebDAV client

Server URL is your domain. Log in with your Nextcloud credentials. The desktop client works — mostly. See my complaints above. The mobile app is functional but bare-bones compared to Google Drive or Dropbox.

Calendar and Contacts

Enable Calendar and Contacts apps in Nextcloud.

Sync to devices using CalDAV/CardDAV:

• iOS: Settings → Calendar/Contacts → Add Account → Other
• Android: Use DAVx5 app
• Thunderbird: Use TbSync extension

Server URLs:

CalDAV: https://cloud.yourdomain.com/remote.php/dav
CardDAV: https://cloud.yourdomain.com/remote.php/dav

Key Apps

A word of warning about the Nextcloud app store: it's about 90% abandoned plugins with 2-star ratings and last-updated dates from 2021. Don't go browsing and installing everything that looks interesting. Stick to the core apps that actually get maintained:

• Nextcloud Office - Collaborative document editing. Works, but noticeably slower than Google Docs.
• Talk - Video calls and chat. Fine for 1-on-1, struggles with groups.
• Deck - Kanban boards. Decent if you keep it simple.
• Notes - Basic markdown notes. Nothing fancy.
• Photos - Photo organization. The auto-upload from mobile actually works well.

Backup Strategy

This is the part people forget. There's no Google safety net anymore. If your drive dies, your files are gone. I run these three commands weekly via cron and copy the output to an external drive monthly.

# Backup database
docker exec nextcloud-db mysqldump -u root -prootpassword nextcloud > backup.sql

# Backup data directory
tar -czf nextcloud-data.tar.gz ./data

# Backup config
docker cp nextcloud:/var/www/html/config/config.php ./config-backup.php

Maintenance

# Run maintenance
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ maintenance:mode --on
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ upgrade
docker exec -u www-data nextcloud php occ maintenance:mode --off

Common Issues

Upload Size Limits

In.htaccess or php.ini:

php_value upload_max_filesize 512M
php_value post_max_size 512M

Slow First Load

Enable PHP opcache and APCu caching.

Sync Conflicts

Nextcloud creates conflict copies with "(conflict)" appended to the filename. There's no merge — you resolve them manually in the web interface. If you're editing files on multiple devices, this will happen. Redis helps with locking but doesn't eliminate it entirely.

Is it as polished as Google Drive? No. The sync client has issues, the app store is a graveyard, and the mobile experience is years behind. Is it close enough? For my use case — personal files, shared family photos, a couple of collaborative documents — yes. For most people who just want something that works and don't think about where their data lives? Probably not. I'm okay with that trade-off. Google doesn't deserve my files, and the inconvenience is a price I'm willing to pay.