Nextcloud is an open-source collaboration platform that provides file sync and share, calendars, contacts, video calls, and office collaboration on infrastructure you control. This guide deploys Nextcloud with a MariaDB backend and Redis cache using Docker Compose, with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS. By the end, you'll have Nextcloud serving files and apps securely at your domain.
Set Up the Directory Structure
1. Create the project directory structure:
$ mkdir -p ~/nextcloud/{data,mysql,redis,letsencrypt}
$ cd ~/nextcloud
2. Create the environment file:
$ nano .env
NEXTCLOUD_DOMAIN=nextcloud.example.com
NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER=admin
NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD=STRONG_ADMIN_PASSWORD
MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
MYSQL_USER=nextcloud
MYSQL_PASSWORD=STRONG_DB_PASSWORD
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=STRONG_ROOT_PASSWORD
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=[email protected]
Deploy with Docker Compose
1. Add your user to the Docker group:
$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker
2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:
$ nano docker-compose.yml
services:
traefik:
image: traefik:latest
container_name: traefik
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
DOCKER_API_VERSION: "1.44"
command:
- "--providers.docker=true"
- "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
- "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
- "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
- "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
- "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
- "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
ports:
- "80:80"
- "443:443"
volumes:
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
- ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt
mariadb:
image: mariadb:10.11
container_name: nextcloud_db
restart: unless-stopped
environment:
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}
MYSQL_DATABASE: ${MYSQL_DATABASE}
MYSQL_USER: ${MYSQL_USER}
MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
volumes:
- ./mysql:/var/lib/mysql
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "healthcheck.sh", "--connect", "--innodb_initialized"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
redis:
image: redis:latest
container_name: nextcloud_redis
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- ./redis:/data
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
nextcloud:
image: nextcloud:latest
container_name: nextcloud
restart: unless-stopped
depends_on:
mariadb:
condition: service_healthy
redis:
condition: service_healthy
environment:
NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER: ${NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER}
NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD}
NEXTCLOUD_TRUSTED_DOMAINS: ${NEXTCLOUD_DOMAIN}
MYSQL_HOST: mariadb
MYSQL_DATABASE: ${MYSQL_DATABASE}
MYSQL_USER: ${MYSQL_USER}
MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${MYSQL_PASSWORD}
REDIS_HOST: redis
OVERWRITEPROTOCOL: https
OVERWRITECLIURL: https://${NEXTCLOUD_DOMAIN}
volumes:
- ./data:/var/www/html
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud.rule=Host(`${NEXTCLOUD_DOMAIN}`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud.entrypoints=websecure"
- "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud.tls=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud.tls.certresolver=le"
- "traefik.http.services.nextcloud.loadbalancer.server.port=80"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.nc-dav.redirectregex.regex=https://(.*)/.well-known/(card|cal)dav"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.nc-dav.redirectregex.replacement=https://$$1/remote.php/dav/"
- "traefik.http.routers.nextcloud.middlewares=nc-dav"
3. Start the services:
$ docker compose up -d
4. Verify the services are running:
$ docker compose ps
Access Nextcloud
Open https://nextcloud.example.com in a browser and sign in with NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_USER / NEXTCLOUD_ADMIN_PASSWORD. Nextcloud completes its install on first request — wait a few seconds for the dashboard to load.
Next Steps
Nextcloud is running and served securely over HTTPS. From here you can:
- Install the desktop and mobile clients for two-way sync across devices
- Enable apps from the App Store (Talk, Office, Calendar, Mail, Photos)
- Configure background jobs with cron and set up encrypted external storage
For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.
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