Installing Nextcloud on NixOS Latest

Nextcloud is a self-hosted file hosting and collaboration platform that allows you to store, share, and collaborate on your digital files.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install Nextcloud on NixOS latest using Nix package manager.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

A NixOS Latest instance.
Root or sudo user access to your server.
Basic command-line familiarity.

Step 1: Install the Required Software

To install Nextcloud on NixOS Latest, you need to first install the required software packages including PHP, MariaDB, Apache or Nginx web server, and their respective PHP modules.

To install the required software packages, execute the following command:

$ sudo nix-env -iA nixos.php \
  nixos.mariadb \
  nixos.nginx \
  nixos.phpMyAdmin

Step 2: Install Nextcloud

Once you have all the required software packages installed, you can start the Nextcloud installation process.

First, download the latest Nextcloud version from their website using the following command:
```
$ wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/nextcloud-21.0.2.zip
```
Once you have downloaded the latest version, extract the files to the /var/www directory.
```
$ sudo unzip nextcloud-21.0.2.zip -d /var/www
```
After extracting the files, you can rename the Nextcloud directory for easier access.
```
$ sudo mv /var/www/nextcloud /var/www/mycloud
```
Make sure to change mycloud to the name of your choice.
Next, set the correct permissions for the /var/www/mycloud directory.
```
$ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/mycloud
```

Step 3: Configure the Web Server

At this point, you have Nextcloud installed on your server. However, you still need to configure the web server to serve the application files.

Nginx Configuration

If you are using Nginx as your web server, you need to create a new virtual host configuration file for Nextcloud.

Create a new virtual host file.

$ sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mycloud.conf

Add the following contents to the file.

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name your-domain.com;
  root /var/www/mycloud;

  location / {
    index index.php;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$is_args$args;
  }

  location ~ ^/(?:\.htaccess|data|config|db_structure\.xml|README) {
    deny all;
  }

  location ~ \.php$ {
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.sock;
  }
}

Make sure to replace your-domain.com with your actual domain name.

Create a symlink to the newly created site configuration file.

$ sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mycloud.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Restart Nginx to apply the changes.
```
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
```

Apache Configuration

If you are using Apache as your web server, you can add the following code to your httpd.conf file or create a new virtual host configuration file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    DocumentRoot /var/www/mycloud
    ServerName your-domain.com

    <Directory /var/www/mycloud/>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

You will also need to enable the rewrite module and restart Apache.

$ sudo a2enmod rewrite
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 4: Complete the Web-based Installer

At this point, you can open your web browser and navigate to your Nextcloud URL. You should see the following page:

Nextcloud Web Installer

Enter your desired admin username and password, then click the Finish setup button.

You will be redirected to the main Nextcloud dashboard where you can continue setting up your Nextcloud instance.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Nextcloud on NixOS Latest! You now have a self-hosted file hosting and collaboration platform that you can use to store, share, and collaborate on your digital files.