Configuration-Reference

Table of Contents

BACKUPS

nc-backup-auto

Perform automatic backups. Creates backups of your database and NC directory, packs into compressed tar.gz file.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-backup-auto in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change DESTDIR to a desired location for the backups.
  4. Change INCLUDEDATA to yes (optional), to backup your data as well.
  5. Change BACKUPDAYS to the number of days to perform the backup.
  6. Change BACKUPLIMIT to the number of backups to be kept. If limit is reached, then the new backup will replace the older one.
  7. Click Run or Start.

nc-backup

Perform a manual backup. Creates a backup of your database and NC directory, packs into compressed tar.gz file.

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-backup in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change DESTDIR to the desired location you want your backup to be.
  3. Change INCLUDEDATA to yes if you want to include the Nextcloud data to the backup as well.
  4. Change BACKUPLIMIT to the number of backups to be kept. If limit is reached, then the new backup will replace the older one.
  5. Click Run or Start.

nc-export-ncp

Export NextCloudPi configuration
Note: This exports only the settings from NCP.
NO NC data, NC database or NC configuration are included.

How to configure

  1. Create the directory where you want the NCP settings to be saved.
  2. Set export directory path.
  3. Click “Apply”

nc-import-ncp

Import NextCloudPi configuration
Note: This imports only the settings from NCP.
NO NC data, NC database or NC configuration are included

How to configure

  1. Set import file name and path.
  2. Click “Apply”

nc-restore

Restore a previously backuped Nextcloud instance.
If the data folder of Nextcloud was not included in the backup: After restoring, edit /var/www/nextcloud/config/config.php and point your Nextcloud instance to the path where the data is. After that run nc-scan to make Nextcloud aware of the new files.

file: config.php
...
'datadirectory' => '//ncdata',
...
'logfile' => '//ncdata/nextcloud.log',
...

nc-rsync

To get the rsync connection between the ncp and a backup-server working you need to establish two main steps:

  1. The backup-server needs to have a user. This user needs diskspace, the permission for ssh-autologin and the right to use rsync.
  2. On your ncp, root needs to be allowed to ssh-autologin to the user of the backup-server.

Step 1:
Please check what you need to do on your server side. In case you use a Synology NAS (DiskStation, RackStation), you need to enable ssh (“Control Panel”, “Terminal & SNMP”), give the user – which you use to backup the data – administration access (“Control Panel”, “User”), and enable Rsync (“Control Panel”, “File Sharing”, “File Services”).
https://github.com/Pant/nextcloudpi-readthedocs/blob/master/docs/Configure/.md
Step 2:

  • Login to your ncp on the terminal
  • change to the root account (sudo -s)
  • go to the home directory of the root (cd ~)
  • follow these steps to create the auto-login for the root user: http://linuxproblem.org/art_9.html (a: root user, A: the IP of the ncp, b: user at the backup-server, B: IP of the backup server)
  • make sure that ssh-access works for the root user to the backup-server

After these steps you should be able to backup your data with rsync between the ncp and the backup-server. Test this with the following command:

rsync -e 'ssh -p 22' -av /home/pi/ b@B:/path/to/your/backup/

If this works check the following next command:

rsync -e 'ssh -p 22' -aAv /home/pi/ b@B:/path/to/your/backup/

If this also works (“A” means ACL-support) then you are fine. If this gives and error message (“ACL not supported on server”) then you need to either enable ACL-support on the backup-server-side or you need to tweak the ncp-script in: “/usr/local/etc/ncp-config.d/nc-rsync.sh” and “/usr/local/etc/ncp-config.d/nc-rsync-auto.sh” and remove the “A”-option in the rsync-command of the script (this counts for ncp version 0.64.2, the ACL option might be dropped in later versions, please check).

nc-rsync-auto

See comments on nc-rsync. This lets you automatically schedule the rsync process every SYNCDAY.

nc-snapshot-auto

Automatic btrfs snapshots
See How to backup and restore using nc-snapshot

nc-snapshot-sync

Automatic btrfs snapshots sync to external drive or location

nc-snapshot

Manual btrfs snapshots

nc-snapshot-restore

Manual restore a btrfs snapshot (coming shortly with upcoming update from current 1.6.3)

CONFIG

nc-admin

View or (re)set password for user ncp, the adminstrator of Nextcloud web interface.

nc-database

Enable if you want to change the Nextcloud database location (e.x. to a usb drive).

Note that non Unix filesystems such as NTFS are not supported because they do not provide a compatible user/permissions system.

You need to use a USB drive that is permanently on and is responsive or the database will fail.

If it ever fails with a white page, move the database back to the SD

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-database in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change DBDIR to your database location.
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-datadir

Change the data folder location of Nextcloud.

Note that non Unix filesystems such as NTFS are not supported because they do not provide a compatible user/permissions system

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-datadir in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change DATADIR to your data location.
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-httpsonly

Force secure connection using HTTPS.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-httpsonly in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-init

(Re)initiate Nextcloud to a clean configuration. Your configuration, users and data will be lost. Make a backup before proceding.

nc-limits

Configure system limits for NextCloudPi.

Note that MAXFILESIZE can be at maximum 2G for now, due to limitation of 32bit php.

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-limits in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change MAXFILESIZE to the desired maximum file size (<=2G).
  3. Change MEMORYLIMIT to the memory limit you want (default=768M).
  4. Click Run or Start.

nc-nextcloud

Download and install a specific Nextcloud version. This destroys any existing instance. You need to run nc-init after completing nc-nextcloud, to take care of setting up database and cron jobs.

nc-notify-updates

Get notified for updates (Pending or Installed) through the Nextcloud notification system.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-notify-updates in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change USER to the user you want to be notified (default=admin).
  4. Click Run or Start.

nc-passwd

View or (re)set password for admin user ncp for NCP-web at localhost:4443

nc-prettyURL

Set pretty URLs (no index.php in URL)

nc-scan-auto

Periodically scan NC for externally modified files
Set the time in minutes in Scan Interval.

>> If there are too many files this can greatly affect performance. <<<

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-scan-auto in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Set RECURSIVE to yes  (to scan all subfolders recursively).
  4. Set NONEXTERNAL to no  (to not ignore external files).
  5. Set SCANINTERVAL to the interval (in minutes) you want to scan.
  6. Set PATH to folders to scan
  7. Click Run or Start.

ncp-scan-auto options

nc-trusted-domains

Manually add trusted domains
Note that this is normally not needed, as NCP will do this automatically for you in most cases

nc-webui

Enable or disable the WebUI.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-webui in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.

NETWORKING

NFS

Configure a NFS network file system server. This is a lightweight way to mount your cloud files through LAN in a Linux computer.

SSH

Activate/deactivate

In order to enable SSH, the password for user pi can not remain set to the default raspberry.
You HAVE to create a NEW password for pi if you want this program to enable SSH, it will fail if you dont!
Note: Use normal AlphaNumeric, the only special characters allowed are .,@-_/

  1. Navigate to SSH in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change the password.
  4. Confirm new password.
  5. Click Run or Start.

dnsmasq

This is a DNS server that you might need in case you cannot access you cloud from inside your house by the external URL, such as mycloud.freeDNS.org. This depends on wether your router supports NAT loopback.

See this post for details.

duckDNS

Free Dynamic DNS provider (need account from https://duckdns.org)

freeDNS

FreeDNS client.

Most home users do not have a static IP but rather a dynamic IP that changes from time to time. in order for you to be able to access your Nextcloud instance, from outside of your house, without typing an IP address you need a DDNS service which tracks IP changes and updates the DNS records.

You need to register an account on FreeDNS and setup a (sub)Domain Name.

How to activate

Run the TUI (ncp-config) or use the WebUI.
Log in to freedns.afraid.com and click “Dynamic DNS”. Right click on “Direct URL” next to your record. Paste it in a text editor and select only the hash (the letters after the “?”).

  1. Navigate to DDNS_freeDNS in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes
  3. Change the UPDATEHASH with yours (delete the example and paste with ctrl+shift+V)
  4. Change DOMAIN with your Domain Name you have registered.
  5. (Optional) Change the UPDATEINTERVAL to the interval time you want the client to update your IP (Dynamic IPs do not change that often so you can leave the default (5mins)).
  6. Click Run or Start.

letsencrypt

In order to trust a connection to a website and send your user name and password, you need a SSL certificate. The SSL certificate ensures that the communication is encrypted, so everything you send can only be viewed by the server and not someone who impersonates him. By default NextCloudPi provides a self signed SSL certificate in order to encrypt your communication but it is strongly recomended that you use a certificate from a certificate authority. The NextCloudPi can run the Let’s Encrypt client which gets a certificate from https://letsencrypt.org for your (sub)Domain Name. NextCloudPi also configures the web server to use it and renews the certificate once a month.

Configure

  1. Navigate to letsencrypt in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change the DOMAIN with your (sub)Domain Name.
  3. Change the EMAIL with your Email address. (It is recomended to use a valid Email address)
  4. Click Run or Start.

nc-forward-ports

NextCloudPi has implemented a UPnP client to be able to configure the Router to port forward to your Raspberry Pi.

Requirements

You need to enable UPnP on your Router. Also disable it after you configure port forwarding.

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-forward-ports in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Set the ports your Nextcloud runs on. (It is recomended that you use the defaults)
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-static-IP

Set up a static IP address
Static IP (ACTIVE=yes), or DHCP (ACTIVE=no)

no-ip

Use the DDNS (Dynamic DNS) service by noip.com.

Run the TUI (ncp-config) or use the WebUI.

  1. Navigate to no-ip in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change USER with your user name.
  4. Change PASS with your password.
  5. Change DOMAIN with your (sub)Domain Name.
  6. Change TIME with the interval time you want to update the DNS record. Default 30mins.
  7. Click Run or Start.

samba

Configure SMB/CIFS file server (for Mac/Linux/Windows)

If we intend to modify the data folder through SAMBA, then we have to synchronize NextCloud to make it aware of the changes.
This can be done manually or automatically using [nc-scan][nc-scan] and [nc-scan-auto][nc-scan-auto] from nextcloudpi-config

How to configure

  1. Navigate to samba in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change NCUSER to your Nextcloud User (default=admin).
  4. Change USER to the NextCloudPi User (default=pi).
  5. Change PWD to the NextCloudPi User’s Password.
  6. Click Run or Start.

spDYN

Free Dynamic DNS provider (need account from spdyn.de)

SECURITY

UFW

Uncomplicated Firewall, program for managing a netfilter firewall
Beware of blocking the SSH port you are using! SSH uses port 22 by default, ports 80 and 443 are for the webserver

fail2ban

As soon as your NextClouPi is connected to the internet it might get attacked. Most attacks are probably automated attacks by botnets or scripts trying to break into your System by simply using standard username/password combinations like admin/admin. fail2ban scans your webserver logs (which can be found under /var/log/apache2/error.log) for failed login attempts. If there are to many failed attempts (default is 6 failed attempts within 10 minutes) fail2ban will ban the attacker’s IP address for a certain amount of time (default is 10 minutes). If you activate mail alerts you will receive emails when fail2ban locks out certain IP addresses.
NextCloudPi uses fail2ban to secure Nextcloud logins as well as SSH logins.

How to activate

Run the TUI (ncp-config) or use the WebUI.

  1. Change ACTIVE to yes
  2. Change (optional) BANTIME (in seconds, default: 600 = 10 minutes) to change the duration of a ban for a certain IP address after too many failed login attempts.
  3. Change (optional) FINDTIME (in seconds, default: 600 = 10 minutes) to change the time slot in which failed login attempts are counted and the IP address gets banned.
  4. Change (optional) MAXRETRY (default: 6 attempts) to change the number of failed login attempts that trigger an IP address ban.
  5. Change (optional) EMAIL with your personal email to receive ban notifications.
  6. Change (optional) MAILALERTS to activate/deactivate email notifications.
  7. Click Run (WebUI) or Start (TUI)

modsecurity

Web Application Firewall for extra security (experimental)

This is a really strong layer of security that makes sure that even if there is a vulnerability in Nextcloud code, it will be blocked by modsecurity in most cases.

The downside is that it can break some Apps, so disable it if something doesn’t work for you. Tested with the most common Apps.

Learn more here

nc-audit

Perform a security audit with lynis and debsecan

SYSTEM

nc-automount

Enable this feature if you want your device to automount USB drives.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-automount in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Click Run or Start.

IMPORTANT

The order of the “automount” is by the label (alphabetical order).
Example of backup disk label: “zBackup”

“”WARNING If you want add a second drive later, make sure you have added a LABEL to the first and all other drives to be mounted when formating, as they will then be mounted at /media/LABEL instead of /media/USBdrive”” (alphabetical order).  /media/USBdrive is a symbolic link generated on the fly by nc-automount, pointing to /media/zBackup. This is why when you add a drive later without having set LABEL’s, your data drive may turn up under /media/USBdrve1 while NC’s config.php is pointing to /media/USBdrive .

nc-hdd-monitor

Monitor HDD health automatically

nc-hdd-test

Check HDD health
Running no test will display test results

nc-ramlogs

Enable mounting logs in RAM to prevent SD degradation (faster, consumes more RAM)

How to restore

  1. Navigate to nc-ramlogs in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-swapfile

Change the location and the size of the swap file.

How to configure

  1. Navigate to nc-swapfile in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change SWAPFILE to the location you want the new swap file to be.
  3. Change SWAPSIZE to the desired size of the swap file (default=1024).
  4. Click Run or Start.

nc-zram

Enable compressed RAM to improve swap performance

TOOLS

nc-fix-permissions

Fix permissions for NC data files, in case they were copied externally

nc-format-USB

Do this if you want to format your USB Drive and make it compatible with linux user/permissions system

Make sure that ONLY the USB drive that you want to format is plugged in.

Be careful, this will destroy ALL data in the USB drive

YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR USB DATA

How to run

  1. Navigate to nc-format-USB in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change LABEL to a label you like.
  3. Click Run or Start.

nc-maintenance

Turn on or off maintenance mode.
Open maintenance mode (ACTIVE=yes), or close maintenance mode (ACTIVE=no)

nc-previews

Generate previews for the gallery
This will make browsing the gallery much more smooth.
For big collections, this can take a LONG time, depending on your hardware

nc-scan

Perform a Nextcloud scan for user files.

How to run

  1. Navigate to nc-scan in the TUI or the WebUI.

How to run

  1. Navigate to nc-update in the TUI or the WebUI.

Updates (…..more on updates)

nc-autoupdate-nc

Automatically update Nextcloud.

nc-autoupdate-ncp

Automatically update NextCloudPi.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to nc-autoupdate-ncp in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change the user to be notified when new updates are installed (default=admin).
  4. Click Run or Start.

nc-notify-updates

Enable or disable update notifications.

nc-update-nc-apps-auto

Periodically update all installed Nextcloud Apps

nc-update-nc-apps

Update all installed Nextcloud Apps

nc-update-nextcloud

Update current instance to a new Nextcloud version
Set to 0 to update to the latest available version

nc-update

Perform a manual update of NextClouPi.

unattended-upgrades

Enable Automatic installation of security updates to keep your cloud safe.

How to enable

  1. Navigate to unattended-upgrades in the TUI or the WebUI.
  2. Change ACTIVE to yes.
  3. Change AUTOREBOOT to yes if you want your Raspberry Pi to reboot automatically in order to apply updates (optional).
  4. Click Run or Start.

Configuration Reference Document Version

April 29th 2019 up to date with v.1.11.2

November 2nd 2020 | NCPv1.30.0 | NC19.0.4