Setup Nextcloud on Freenas 11.3

[Koolnerd7]

Hello all. I searched long and hard through random google searches and other forums. I’m very new to server setup. Looking for a straight forward and easiest solution with my current setup and hardware. 
 

my setup: old cpu, ram, motherboard, and drives. Running freenas 11.3 successfully. I have my samba share setup in freenas and I’m able to access it completely in all my network devices (iPhones and windows 10 machines). This setup is ONLY for storage. It’s only use is going to be network attached storage. That being said...

 

my problem: I want to be able to access the storage from anywhere using Nextcloud. Please don’t recommend google drive or Dropbox. I don’t want to use anyone else’s service. I’d like to have my own server for my own personal cloud storage. Nextcloud plugin installs fine on the freenas server But I can not figure out the setup. I know nothing about “cmd” and “Shell” and any other command line use. I just want to get Nextcloud setup on the freenas and be able to access it from my phone through my cellular network where ever I am. I’ll worry about security later as I know it will be connected to the internet. Let’s just get it setup first and we’ll go from there.

 

this is mostly just personal photo and video storage to free up space on some iPhones when we are on vacation or out and about or whatever. The server will not be used for streaming of any kind. NO Plex or nothing of the sort. Just a basic external storage drive that I can access from anywhere. 
 

again it’s working perfectly on the home network it does exactly what I need it to do, but only from my home network. I just need help getting it online via Nextcloud. Any help would be greatly appreciated. All I could find through other forums where setup guides using older versions of freenas that don’t relate to freenas 11.3

 

thank you for any help. 

[ju1ion]

Hey,

 

I had the same "problem" a while ago. I didn't get it to work properly.

 

Have you considered creating a  virtual machine running an OpenVPN Server on your FreeNAS (1core / 512MB RAM). This was the best solution for me. I am now able to access my shares from everywhere using my iphone and/or other computers.

[Koolnerd7]

5 hours ago, ju1ion said:

Hey,

 

I had the same "problem" a while ago. I didn't get it to work properly.

 

Have you considered creating a  virtual machine running an OpenVPN Server on your FreeNAS (1core / 512MB RAM). This was the best solution for me. I am now able to access my shares from everywhere using my iphone and/or other computers.

I’d def be willing to try that route, but I’d really like to get Nextcloud working. The plugin installs fine but when I click manage in the nextcloud plugin for the first time after setup I get a login page, not the setup page to finish setting up nextcloud. If anyone could tell me why, that would at least get me rolling in the right direction. 

[ju1ion]

Is it a fresh installation of FreeNAS? Maybe try to start over with a new installation of the plug-in. I haven't encountered any problems with the installation of NextCloud. The NextCloud version you find in the plug-in section is obsolete, if I'm not mistaken. 

 

Another possible solution could be to install it yourself. Create a new jail and start from there. I guess Google can help you with the instructions. Or take a look at this. 

 

HTH

 

[Koolnerd7]

On 2/25/2020 at 2:46 PM, ju1ion said:

Is it a fresh installation of FreeNAS? Maybe try to start over with a new installation of the plug-in. I haven't encountered any problems with the installation of NextCloud. The NextCloud version you find in the plug-in section is obsolete, if I'm not mistaken. 

 

Another possible solution could be to install it yourself. Create a new jail and start from there. I guess Google can help you with the instructions. Or take a look at this. 

 

HTH

 

Yes. Fresh install of freenas multiple times. I had the smb share setup and working on my network fine with only test files on the drives so there is no data to lose from wiping and starting fresh. I've been through about 3 or 4 fresh installs of freenas and fresh installs of the nextcloud plugin each time. The freenas installs have been on two dif usb drives too. Each and every fresh install of freenas and the nextcloud plugin I get the same problem...

 

after the nextcloud plugin is installed the instuctions everywhere say to click manage (in the plugin) to finish setup. Clicking "manage" should take me to the nextcloud setup page to finish installing/setting up nextcloud as per every instruction manual/video i can find. The problem is I DO NOT get the "finish setup" page, instead, a nextcloud login page that asks for user and password that i never setup. Naturally i try the generic user/password that nextcloud generates after plugin install, and it takes me to a generic nextcloud webpage that has nothing to do with my server or its ip address or hardware or anything. i have no way of creating a new login for it, and even if i could, there's no way to connect that login to my server.

 

There has to be something I am missing somewhere. i just cant figure it out and there is very little info out there that i could find. I'll be happy to keep looking through forums and doing more research but I've hit a dead end. which is why i'm here.

[Doromir]

I have got the exact same Problem at the moment....would be nice if someone can help us fix it. 

 

PS.: I´ll test the solution to manually install everything new. 

[ju1ion]

 

I think i found the solution to this problem @Doromir, @Koolnerd7. Try the following:

 

Login to your FreeNAS Nextcloud jail via shell. The username of your NextCloud admin account is in the file "ncadmin" and the corresponding password in the file "ncpassword". You can use this credentials to login into your nextcloud website. (See Screenshot attached)

 

 

[Koolnerd7]

On 2/27/2020 at 3:27 PM, ju1ion said:

 

I think i found the solution to this problem @Doromir, @Koolnerd7. Try the following:

 

Login to your FreeNAS Nextcloud jail via shell. The username of your NextCloud admin account is in the file "ncadmin" and the corresponding password in the file "ncpassword". You can use this credentials to login into your nextcloud website. (See Screenshot attached)

 

 

I’ll try this now and report back...

[Koolnerd7]

3 hours ago, Koolnerd7 said:

I’ll try this now and report back...

So I did not need to shell into anything. The user and password are the generic ones generated by the nextcloud plugin install. I just clicked "post install notes" in the plugin and that info pops up. (attached screenshot )

 

 

So i used that login info and it takes me to this page...

 

Once there, I go into settings and created a new admin user and password and deleted the generic one (ncadmin). Next i upload a file or two and it works fine. it shows in nextcloud page in above screenshot. Fine. 

 

next step i install the nextcloud IOS app and try the same thing with different files. same thing, it works fine. 

the files show in the files on the IOS app and nextcloud web page. it also shows the data used on my server drives so its def on the server. I cant access the nextcloud jail data folder through my windows pc smb share, but i can figure that out later.

 

so far so good.

 

next step is to try and access the nextcloud files through the IOS app while OFF my home network. So i turn off wifi and back to square one. No connection! all kinds of uplaod errors. Remember this is the main reason i needed nextcloud. I want to be able to access these files Off and away from my home network. say im at the beach or at work or wherever.

 

The main problem is (I assume) that there is no off network ip address to connect to. when i login the IOS app i used the local ip address and my user and password. I dont have any other domain or off network ip address to login with. I think that is the problem i need help with.

 

So now I go to the web page and dig through the settings and eventually find the "logs." They show all kinds of PHP errors that i dont even know what that means (remember im VERY new to this) and i def do not know how to begin to fix. That is the latest in my problem. I'll post a screenshot of the logs in hopes of someone knowing what to do from here. 

Remember the sever is completely empty, if i need to wipe the freenas install and start over im more than willing to do so if that would help.

 

Logs

[Koolnerd7]

At this point should I be looking to something other than freenas? Pay for unraid maybe? Try and setup windows server or ubuntu?

[Jarsky]

On 2/29/2020 at 2:56 PM, Koolnerd7 said:

so far so good.

 

next step is to try and access the nextcloud files through the IOS app while OFF my home network. So i turn off wifi and back to square one. No connection! all kinds of uplaod errors. Remember this is the main reason i needed nextcloud. I want to be able to access these files Off and away from my home network. say im at the beach or at work or wherever.

 

The main problem is (I assume) that there is no off network ip address to connect to. when i login the IOS app i used the local ip address and my user and password. I dont have any other domain or off network ip address to login with. I think that is the problem i need help with.

 

So now I go to the web page and dig through the settings and eventually find the "logs." They show all kinds of PHP errors that i dont even know what that means (remember im VERY new to this) and i def do not know how to begin to fix. That is the latest in my problem. I'll post a screenshot of the logs in hopes of someone knowing what to do from here. 

Remember the sever is completely empty, if i need to wipe the freenas install and start over im more than willing to do so if that would help.

 

 

It seems you've configured it just fine. In order to use it external you need to use your external IP address. 

You can get that by going to https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip

 

You'll also need to setup port forwarding in your router for port 80 and 443 TCP, to your NextCloud jails IP address. 

Most common Port Forwarding guides can be found here: https://portforward.com/router.htm

 

Once you've confirmed that all works, if you have a Dynamic IP (one that changes every now and then) then you could setup a DynamicDNS to make it easier. DuckDNS is a good free one, and someone has already done a tutorial on setting it up on FreeNAS.  

[Doromir]

thx for the help 

[Koolnerd7]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:18 PM, Jarsky said:

 

It seems you've configured it just fine. In order to use it external you need to use your external IP address. 

You can get that by going to https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip

 

You'll also need to setup port forwarding in your router for port 80 and 443 TCP, to your NextCloud jails IP address. 

Most common Port Forwarding guides can be found here: https://portforward.com/router.htm

 

Once you've confirmed that all works, if you have a Dynamic IP (one that changes every now and then) then you could setup a DynamicDNS to make it easier. DuckDNS is a good free one, and someone has already done a tutorial on setting it up on FreeNAS.  

This post got it working but only one part. thank you for the help @Jarsky

 

1. " It seems you've configured it just fine. In order to use it external you need to use your external IP address. 

You can get that by going to https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+my+ip "

 

This post didn't do much as i easily got my IP from the provided link. But i didn't know what to do with it. once i had my external IP address, what do i do next? How do i point it to nextcloud or vice versa? can i add it to freenas? I simply didn't know what to do with the external IP. Obviously I greatly appreciate the help and support, but i needed more info and guidance with this particular solution.

 

2. " You'll also need to setup port forwarding in your router for port 80 and 443 TCP, to your NextCloud jails IP address. 

Most common Port Forwarding guides can be found here: https://portforward.com/router.htm "

 

Next was this opening of the ports which had already been done. There was plenty of info out on the web about that. Plus I had a good general knowledge that that needs to be done. Thank you. I know this info would help others so it is verymuch helpful on this forum. Thank you.

 

3. " Once you've confirmed that all works, if you have a Dynamic IP (one that changes every now and then) then you could setup a DynamicDNS to make it easier. DuckDNS is a good free one, and someone has already done a tutorial on setting it up on FreeNAS. "

 

This was the post that got the ball rolling in the right direction. This setup was very easy, following instructions at the provided link. Once i finished with the instructions from the link I used the web address and ip that was setup during the DuckDNS add domain step. (example.duckdns.org and a numbered public IP address generated during that step) After that I had to complete a few more steps and finally... DONE!!

 

I am able to access my nextcloud server from any location and any network including my cell network away from home. My setup isn't complete yet though. I still need to properly secure it as i can only access it through "HTTP" and NOT "HTTPS" But that will be another thread as i'm sure its complicated and ill have to learn more about certificates or whatever is used to secure it. 

 

I will be posting one more time to this thread with my full setup instructions and procedure when i can get it written out with screenshots to help others get their own cloud server up and running.

 

Again, thank you to all the info you guys provided and help that i def needed, being new to the server world.