install_nextcloud

This role installs and configures an Nextcloud instance for a debian/Ubuntu server.

The role's main actions are:

• Packages dependencies installation.
• Database configuration (if located on the same host).
• Strengthened files permissions and ownership following Nextcloud recommendations.
• Web server configuration.
• Redis Server installation.
• Strengthened TLS configuration following Mozilla SSL Configuration Generator, intermediate profile by default, modern profile available.
• Post installation of Nextcloud applications

Requirements

Ansible version

Ansible 2.4

Setup module:

The role uses facts gathered by Ansible on the remote host. If you disable the Setup module in your playbook, the role will not work properly.

Root access

This role requires root access, so either configure it in your inventory files, run it in a playbook with a global become: yes or invoke the role in your playbook like:

playbook.yml:

- hosts: dnsserver
  become: yes
  roles:
    - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud

Role Variables

Role's variables (and their default values):

Choose the version

WARNING: Since Nexcloud 11 requires php v5.6 or later, command line installation will fail on old OS without php v5.6+ support.

Known issue while installing Nextcloud 11 on an Ubuntu 14.04 system: #27

An URL will be generated following naming rules used in the nextcloud repository Not following this rules correctly may make the role unable to download nextcloud.

Repository naming rules:

Some variables changes depending on the channel used and if get_latest is true. This table summarize the possible cases.

channel	latest	major&latest	major	full	special
releases	yes/no	null |9|10|...	null	"10.0.3"	null
prereleases	null	null	null	"11.0.1"	null |"RC(n)|beta(n)"
daily	yes/no	null |master|stable9|...	master|9|10|...	null	null |"YYYY-MM-DD"

major&latest = major value when latest is true null = "not used"

version variables:

nextcloud_version_channel: "releases" # releases | prereleases | daily

Specify the main channel to use.

nextcloud_get_latest: true

Specify if the "latest" archive should be downloaded.

# nextcloud_version_major: 10

Specify what major version you desire.

# nextcloud_version_full: "10.0.3"

The full version of the desired nextcloud instance. type M.F.P (Major.Feature.Patch)

# nextcloud_version_special: ""

Specify a special string in the archive's filename. For prereleases: "RCn|beta" | for daily "YYYY-MM-DD"

nextcloud_repository: "https://download.nextcloud.com/server"

Repository's URL.

nextcloud_archive_format: "zip" # zip | tar.bz2

Choose between the 2 archive formats available in the repository.

# nextcloud_full_url:

If you don't like rules... Specify directly a full URL to the archive. The role will skip the url generation and download the archive

Examples:

• Download your own archive:

nextcloud_full_url: https://h2g2.com/42/nexcloud.zip

• Choose the latest release (default):

nextcloud_version_channel: "releases"
nextcloud_get_latest: true

• Choose the latest v10 release:

nextcloud_version_channel: "releases"
nextcloud_get_latest: true
nextcloud_version_major: 10

• Choose a specific release:

nextcloud_version_channel: "releases"
nextcloud_get_latest: false
nextcloud_full_version: "10.0.3"

• Get the nextcloud 11.0.1 prerelease 1:

nextcloud_version_channel: "prereleases"
nextcloud_version_full: "11.0.1"
nextcloud_version_special: "RC1"

• Get the latest daily:

nextcloud_version_channel: "daily"
nextcloud_get_latest: true

• Get the latest daily for stable 10:

nextcloud_version_channel: "daily"
nextcloud_get_latest: true
nextcloud_version_major: "stable10"

• Get the daily for master at january 1rst 2017:

nextcloud_version_channel: "daily"
nextcloud_get_latest: false
nextcloud_version_major: "master"
nextcloud_version_special: "2017-01-01"

Main configuration

nextcloud_trusted_domain:
  - "{{ ansible_fqdn }}"
  - "{{ ansible_default_ipv4.address }}"

The list of domains you will use to access the same Nextcloud instance.

nextcloud_trusted_proxies: []

The list of trusted proxies IPs if Nextcloud runs through a reverse proxy you.

nextcloud_instance_name: "{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain | first }}"

The name of the Nextcloud instance. By default, the first element in the list of trusted domains

WebServer configuration

nextcloud_install_websrv: true

The webserver setup can be skipped if you have one installed already.

nextcloud_websrv: "apache2"

The http server used by nextcloud. Available values are: apache2 or nginx.

nextcloud_websrv_template: "templates/{{nextcloud_websrv}}_nc.j2"

The jinja2 template creating the instance configuration for your webserver. You can provide your own through this parameter.

nextcloud_webroot: "/opt/nextcloud"

The Nextcloud root directory.

nextcloud_data_dir: "/var/ncdata"

The Nextcloud data directory. This directory will contain all the Nextcloud files. Choose wisely.

nextcloud_admin_name: "admin"

Defines the Nextcloud admin's login.

nextcloud_admin_pwd: "secret"

Defines the Nextcloud admin's password.

Not defined by default

If not defined by the user, a random password will be generated.

Redis Server configuration

nextcloud_install_redis_server: true

Whenever the role should install a redis server on the same host.

nextcloud_redis_settings:
  - { name: 'memcache.locking', value: '\OC\Memcache\Redis' }
  - { name: 'redis host', value: 'localhost' }
  - { name: 'redis port', value: '6379'}

Settings to use redis server with Nextcloud

Nextcloud Background Jobs

nextcloud_background_cron: True

Set opereting system cron for executing Nextcloud regular tasks. This method enables the execution of scheduled jobs without the inherent limitations the Web server might have.

Custom nextcloud settings

nextcloud_config_settings:
  - { name: 'overwrite.cli.url', value: 'https://{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain | first }}' }
  - { name: 'memcache.local', value: '\OC\Memcache\APCu' }
  - { name: 'open_basedir', value: '/dev/urandom' }
  - { name: 'mysql.utf8mb4', value: 'true' }
  - { name: 'updater.release.channel', value: 'production' } # production | stable | daily | beta

Setting custom Nextcloud setting in config.php ( Config.php Parameters Documentations )

Default custom settings:

• Base URL: https://<first element in the list of trusted domains>
• Memcache local: APCu
• Mysql Character Set: utf8mb4
• PHP read access to /dev/urandom: Enabled
• Updater Relese Channel: Production

Database configuration

nextcloud_install_db: true

Whenever the role should install and configure a database on the same host.

nextcloud_db_host: "127.0.0.1"

The database server's ip/hostname where Nextcloud's database is located.

nextcloud_db_backend: "mysql"

Database type used by nextcloud.

Supported values are:

• mysql
• mariadb
• pgsql (PostgreSQL)

nextcloud_db_name: "nextcloud"

The Nextcloud instance's database name.

nextcloud_db_admin: "ncadmin"

The Nextcloud instance's database user's login

nextcloud_db_pwd: "secret"

The Nextcloud instance's database user's password.

Not defined by default.

If not defined by the user, a random password will be generated.

TLS configuration

nextcloud_install_tls: true

TLS setup can be skipped if you manage it separately (e.g. behind a reverse proxy).

nextcloud_tls_enforce: true

Force http to https.

nextcloud_mozilla_modern_ssl_profile: true

Force Mozilla modern SSL profile in webserver configuration (intermediate profile is used when false).

nextcloud_hsts: false

Set HTTP Strict-Transport-Security header (e.g. "max-age=15768000; includeSubDomains; preload").

(Before enabling HSTS, please read into this topic first)

nextcloud_tls_cert_method: "self-signed"

Defines various method for retrieving a TLS certificate.

• self-signed: generate a one year self-signed certificate for the trusted domain on the remote host and store it in /etc/ssl.
• signed: copy provided signed certificate for the trusted domain to the remote host or in /etc/ssl by default. Uses:

  # Mandatory:
  nextcloud_tls_src_cert: /local/path/to/cert
  # ^local path to the certificate's key.
  nextcloud_tls_src_cert_key: /local/path/to/cert/key
  # ^local path to the certificate.

  # Optional:
  nextcloud_tls_cert: "/etc/ssl/{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain }}.crt"
  # ^remote absolute path to the certificate's key.
  nextcloud_tls_cert_key: "/etc/ssl/{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain }}.key"
  # ^remote absolute path to the certificate.

• installed: if the certificate for the trusted domain is already on the remote host, specify its location. Uses:

  nextcloud_tls_cert: /path/to/cert
  # ^remote absolute path to the certificate's key. mandatory
  nextcloud_tls_cert_key: /path/to/cert/key
  # ^remote absolute path to the certificate. mandatory
  nextcloud_tls_cert_chain: /path/to/cert/chain
  # ^remote absolute path to the certificate's full chain- used only by apache - Optional

System configuration

nextcloud_websrv_user: "www-data"

system user for the http server

nextcloud_websrv_group: "www-data"

system group for the http server

nextcloud_mysql_root_pwd: "secret"

root password for the mysql server

Not defined by default

If not defined by the user, and mysql/mariadb is installed during the run, a random password will be generated.

Generated password

The role uses Ansible's password Lookup:

• If a password is generated by the role, ansible stores it locally in nextcloud_instances/{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain }}/ (relative to the working directory)
• if the file already exist, it reuse its content
• see http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/playbooks_lookups.html#the-password-lookup for more info

Post installation:

Applications installation

Since v1.3.0, it is possible to download, install and enable nextcloud applications during a post-install process.

The application (app) to install have to be declared in the nextcloud_apps dictionary in a "key:value" pair.

• The app name is the key
• The download link, is the value.

nextcloud_apps:
  app_name_1: "http://download_link.com/some_archive.zip"
  app_name_2: "http://getlink.com/another_archive.zip"

Alternatively, if you need to configure an application after enabling it, you can use this structure.

nextcloud_apps:
  app_name_1:
    source: "http://download_link.com/some_archive.zip"
    conf:
      parameter1: ldap:\/\/ldapsrv
      parameter2: another_value

Notes:

• Because the role is using nextcloud's occ, it is not possible to install an app from the official nextcloud app store.
• If you know that the app is already installed, you can give an empty string to skip the download.
• The app name need the be equal to the folder name located in the apps folder of the nextcloud instance, which is extracted from the downloaded archive. The name may not be canon some times. (like appName-x.y.z* instead of appName)
• The role will not update an already enabled application.
• The configuration is applied only when the app in enabled the first time: Changing a parameter, then running the role again while the app is already enabled will not update its configuration.
• this post_install process is tagged and can be called directly using the --tags install_apps option.

Dependencies

none

Example Playbook

Case 1: Installing a quick Nextcloud demo

In some case, you may want to deploy quickly many instances of Nextcloud on multiple hosts for testing/demo purpose and don't want to tune the role's variables for each hosts: Just run the playbook without any additional variable (all default) !

---
- hosts: server
  roles:
   - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud

• This will install a Nextcloud 10.0.1 instance in /opt/nextcloud using apache2 and mysql.
• it will be available at https://{{ ansible default ipv4 }} using a self signed certificate.
• Generated passwords are stored in nextcloud_instances/{{ nextcloud_trusted_domain }}/ from your working directory.

Case 1.1: specifying the version channel, branch, etc.

You can choose the version channel to download a specific version of nextcloud. Here's a variation of the previous case, this time installing the latest nightly in master.

---
- hosts: server
  roles:
   - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud
     nextcloud_version_channel: "daily"
     nextcloud_version_major: "master"

Case 2: Using letsencrypt with this role.

This role is not designed to manage letsencrypt certificates. However you can still use your certificates with nextcloud.

You must create first your certificates using a letsencrypt ACME client or an Ansible role like [ this one] (https://github.com/jaywink/ansible-letsencrypt)

then call install_nextcloud by setting nextcloud_tls_cert_method: "installed"

Here 2 examples for apache and nginx (because they have slightly different configurations)

---
- hosts: apache_server
  roles:
   - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud
     nextcloud_trusted_domain:
       - "example.com"
     nextcloud_tls_cert_method: "installed"
     nextcloud_tls_cert: "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/cert.pem"
     nextcloud_tls_cert_key: "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem"
     nextcloud_tls_cert_chain: "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem"

- hosts: nginx_server
  roles:
    - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud
      nextcloud_trusted_domain:
        - "example2.com"
      nextcloud_tls_cert_method: "installed"
      nextcloud_tls_cert: "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example2.com/fullchain.pem"
      nextcloud_tls_cert_key: "/etc/letsencrypt/live/example2.com/privkey.pem"

Case 3: integration to an existing system.

• An Ansible master want to install a new Nextcloud instance on an existing Ubuntu 14.04 server with nginx & mariadb installed.
• As is server do not meet the php requirements for Nextcloud 11, he chooses to use the lastest Nextcloud 10 release.
• He wants it to be accessible from internet at cloud.example.tld and from his intranet at dbox.intra.net.
• He already have a valid certificate for the intranet domain in /etc/nginx/certs/ installed
• he wants the following apps to be installed & enabled : files_external, calendar, agenda, richdocuments (Collabora)
• The richdocuments app has to be configured to point out to the Collabora domain.

He can run the role with the following variables to install Nextcloud accordingly to its existing requirements .

---
- hosts: server
  roles:
   - role: aalaesar.install_nextcloud
     nextcloud_version_major: 10
     nextcloud_trusted_domain:
       - "cloud.example.tld"
       - "dbox.intra.net"
     nextcloud_websrv: "nginx"
     nextcloud_admin_pwd: "secret007"
     nextcloud_webroot: "/var/www/nextcloud/"
     nextcloud_data_dir: "/ncdata"
     nextcloud_db_pwd: "secretagency"
     nextcloud_tls_cert_method: "installed"
     nextcloud_tls_cert: "/etc/nginx/certs/nextcloud.crt"
     nextcloud_tls_cert_key: "/etc/nginx/certs/nextcloud.key"
     nextcloud_mysql_root_pwd: "42h2g2"
     nextcloud_apps:
       files_external: "" #enable files_external which is already installed in nextcloud  
       calendar: "https://github.com/nextcloud/calendar/releases/download/v1.5.0/calendar.tar.gz"
       contacts: "https://github.com/nextcloud/contacts/releases/download/v1.5.3/contacts.tar.gz"
       richdocuments-1.1.25: # the app name is equal to the extracted folder name from the archive
          source: "https://github.com/nextcloud/richdocuments/archive/1.1.25.zip"
          conf:
            wopi_url: 'https://office.example.tld'

License

BSD