I’m looking to finally ditch Onedrive with a self hosted alternative, but I’m not sure what to go with. I want something with all of the files on a central server, with an Android client with the option to sync individual files for offline access as needed. Preferably the files should also be stored in plain format on the server to make backups easier and as a fallback if the service completely fails and I don’t have time to fix it. Linux and Windows clients are a bonus but I’m happy just using a web gui if that’s all that’s available. These are the options I’ve considered so far:
Seafile - This was the one that I thought fit my needs the best until earlier but apparently it has a weird disk layout which means the files are basically inaccessible by anything else?
Nextcloud - I had originally ruled this out because I don’t care about any of the additional features which people claim also slow it down and make it a bit of a resource hog, and I also don’t want to deal with forced https. However I think the community image may actually be what I want as it seems to be just the file server and works with just http? I am a bit confused about the different options for the database though. https://hub.docker.com/_/nextcloud/
Syncthing - Not quite what I’m looking for as you need to sync the entire thing, and I don’t like whatever weirdness is going on with the Android app at the moment
SAMBA share - Also not really what I’m looking for as there’s no offline syncing, but very easy to set up and basically nothing to go wrong
Are there any other options I should be looking into?
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Off the shelf NAS like Synology or qnap both have this feature.
I heard OpenCloud is basically only the file server part of Nextcloud. Never tried it, though.
I’ve set up filebrowser quantum and am pretty happy with it. I also have skipped over nextcloud due to the reasons you mentioned, as I really don’t want all of the extra stuff, plus, I’ve heard it’s a pain to maintain. Seafile wouldn’t work for me for the same reasons as you.
The main thing it’s missing is offline automatic syncing of files, though I’m not sure any self hosted file app supports that unfortunately.
OpenList?
I’ve found Nextcloud to be fantastic, its why I started self hosting.
Ive run Nextcloud on a Pi4B with 4GB ram & external HDD with just one user. I also sync Joplin notes, which I use constantly. Additionally used Collabora Office on the phone for syncing office docs. i was happy with this set up for a long time, had no issues really, synced between a couple of desktops & a phone.
Eventually treated myself to a Pi5 8GB ram with NVMe & an Argon fanless case. Main reason for upgrade was an additional Nextcloud need - to share holiday/trip/event photos with multiple non tech savvy older family members via the Memories plug in. This set up has been absolutely rock solid, absolutely no issues & for my needs has been blazing fast. Memories is great too for quick & easy sharing whilst away. The family members love it (Nextcloud is exposed behind Nginx Proxy Manager, I send them a read only public link for Memories)
As they are quite intensive I recently migrated Immich & Paperless from Pi4B 4GB to a Beelink EQ14 but I see no reason at all to migrate Nextcloud from the Pi5.
Rclone WebDav is what I use
Even though I don’t use the extra stuff in nextcloud, it runs perfectly fine on my hardware and is great as a replacement for onedrive functionality
I run nextcloud, but I do use other apps. Like contacts and calendar, the news app and even the whiteboard.
But I run it like the work servers I manage, I still don’t understand how so many find running nextcloud so difficult.
syncthing for peers like PCs NAS and backup server. copyparty for online browsing/cherrypicking files
OwnCloud Infinite Scale might be the option you missed?
Nextcloud was forked from the PHP Owncloud some years back, and they added all the apps and things. But Owncloud is like Nextcloud but focused only on the files.
I am a bit concerned that you’re talking about not wanting HTTPS and see it as a bad thing that something requires it. Given you can get free certificates these days, why would you not want a secure connection? Even if you’re accessing via a VPN to server tunnel, I see no reason not to have it.
I hadn’t considered OwnCloud because I thought it was pretty much the same as NextCloud but mainly aimed at enterprise. Does it have any advantages over Nextcloud?
I haven’t got round to setting up https yet since I only access my server via my LAN or Tailscale. When I do get round to setting it up I might use a reverse proxy rather than configuring it for every service. I also need to work out how to do automatic certificate renewal and if that’s even worth doing, so I don’t want to be forced into half-assing it for Nextcloud before I’m ready to do it properly. With Nextcloud specifically I also don’t like the fact that you can’t change the domain after the initial setup, using the community edition via http seems to get round that problem as well
Use Caddy for reverse proxy. It’s magic. Just put in config the subdomain/domain and localhost port to point to, it will fetch and configure and keep certificates up to date with zero effort. You’ll forget certificates exist. It just works.
I also need to work out how to do automatic certificate renewal and if that’s even worth doing
This is what certbot is for. For example, with nginx, you just set up the webserver to be reachable via your domain.
You then install and run certbot, and it will aquire, install and configure, and then set itself up to auto-renew, a certificate. All with just one command.
With Nextcloud specifically I also don’t like the fact that you can’t change the domain after the initial setup
Yes you can?
I’ve done it thrice now.
Is this some limitation of the docker AIO stack?
How do you change the domain? That was one of the biggest things putting me off
Locate and edit the config/config.php. There is a line that starts with ‘trusted_domains’ Add your new domain thusly:
'trusted_domains' => array ( 0 => 'old-domain.com', 1 => 'new-domain.com', ),You’ll have to update your web server configuration, your DNS records, and you may have to clear any server cache you may have.
ETA: Ooops! Forgot to add citation: https://help.nextcloud.com/t/howto-add-a-new-trusted-domain/26
That’s the one.
Thanks for the backup. LOL I get nervous sharing code. Sure it worked for me, but in the back of my head I see some poor guy deploying any code I’ve used and smoke starts coming out of his server, the front cover falls off, and his Ethernet cable is belched out the back. LOL
Owncloud Infinite Scale was a rewrite of the codebase to get away from PHP. In theory this should be better able to run on lower end hardware. People tend to say they use it if they are only wanting the file part and not all the apps. Personally I use Nextcloud because I want the apps.
Automatic certificate renewal is built into many reverse proxies, and can be done for free, so I don’t see a reason not to do it.
Nextcloud has federation of some features so I’d guess that would be a key reason you can’t change the domain (you also can’t change a Lemmy domain once set up). However, you’re using it for file sync for yourself, right? Regardless of what you pick (even Nextcloud), you could surely just set up a new instance under the new domain then move all your files over.
Do you have any recommendations for a reverse proxy to use or resources on how to set one up? It’s not something I’ve properly looked into yet
Check out caddy. Very straight forward syntax for a reverse proxy.
Others might have suggestions. I run everyhting in docker. I then use Traefik as the reverse proxy in docker, where you add labels to the containers you want it to handle and it works things out on it’s own. I have also configured it to do certificates automatically, including automatic domain validation using a Cloudflare API.
Caddy and Nginx Proxy Manager are other popular ones that can configure HTTPS certificates for you.
You don’t have to overthink it. Choose a reverse proxy you like. If it does automatic certificates, that’s great. If not, Let’s Encypt (which most of these services use for the free certificates) have a certbot program you install and run on a cronjob to renew certificates.
The easiest way to set up reverse proxy + auto HTTPS for a homelab is https://nginxproxymanager.com/ There is also https://pangolin.net/ which I think is too overkill for you atm :3
Exposing https requires a lot more configuration and also carries with it security risks.
I don’t think it’s really true these days that it needs a lot of config. Maybe reverse proxies will do it for you automatically without much setup.
I am curious what the security risks are for HTTPS for a service that will already be accessible remotely?
Maybe reverse proxies will do it for you
Reverse proxies require configuration.
what the security risks are for HTTPS for a service that will already be accessible remotely?
Already accessible via VPN. Meaning it’s only accessible to those explicitly allowed to access it.
What is the security risk of adding HTTPS to a site going via VPN?
It exposes the server to the entire internet…
No? Https is just the connection protocol? You can do it over LAN only just fine?
How so? I have HTTPS on internal sites, I just use DNS validation to get the certificate.
I love seafile. And if you need access on the main server there is a server-side FUSE filesystem which exposes all libraries at a mount point as a regular directory hierarchy.
How the heck did you install Seafile!? I spent a whole day trying to get it to work, but there are so many moving parts and proxies behind proxies behind proxies. I managed to get the UI to load, but other parts of the app didn’t work. I want to like it, but it seems pretty complicated to install… 😢
Docker, I think. I haven’t touched it in a while since it’s not broke so I’m not 100% sure. I can probably send you the compose file I used.
Isn’t it a Russian company?
chinese (prc) afaik
You are invited to join the CopyParty! This has a web UI accessible from the browser, also from mobile, files are stored directly on the filesystem (not encrypted or on a database) and you can mount it as a network drive on Windows and Linux. But it doesn’t let you sync files for offline use, at least not without the help of some auxiliary tools.
You won’t find anything simpler to install and configure than this.
Does copy party do s3 buckets?
No, only the local FS. But they have recommendations in their README for integrating with S3 with the help of other tools.
Copyparty is very cool, but it also confuses me a bit. It keeps giving me 403 forbidden errors when I try to rename or move files on certain folders.
I’m pretty sure it’s a permission problem, because the root folder is read only but the folders inside have permissions per user, but I never figured it out.
I still use it daily, 5/7 perfect software.
FolderSync pairs nicely if you want some sync features on android.
On a desktop or laptop I’d just mount it as a drive.
If you really want automatic sync with offline availability, the Nextcloud desktop client has been solid for years now.
Isn’t a self-hosted onedrive literally just a networked hard drive?
I think people generally look for a phone app / ease of use type of thing
The odd part of that is what files do I have on my computer that would be useful on my phone?
And when it’s on my phone there is likely already ab app for that, eg. Music, calendar, notes, etc.
Immich for pictures seems like a good answer to your question. What’s files: Mostly pictures I think. Why not just keep it on phone? people love their pictures. I have more than a phones worth.
But that is exactly what I am saying. Everything I have on my phone has an app. Immich for photos for example.
Each app that stores things on my server already manages the data to get there.
So is there a need for a file server that works on my phone like this person is asking about?
I mean I do have SMB access from my phone as well, but I hardly need it since individual apps are already pushing and pulling data from my server.
Non app storage needs then… My best guess then is messaging app attachments? maybe OP needs to save docs/pdfs he gets from Whatsapp/telegram. But you’re right, that seems more of a laptop/PC activity.
Many of the people who worked at OwnCloud Infinite Scale are now at OpenCloud due to disagreements between them and the company which purchased OwnCloud.
Yes that was another thing I came across earlier, there seems to be more controversies around Owncloud than Nextcloud which kind of put me off considering how similar they seem to be anyway. And Opencloud is still a work in progress unless I was reading outdated information?
Funny you should mention that, Nextcloud originally forked off OwnCloud due to drama.
I think the server is working, it’s basically OwnCloud Infinite Scale but rebranded. Not sure about the client apps, those might be work in progress still. I haven’t really kept up with it either though
Nextcloud forked from the old PHP-based ownCloud stack, while Opencloud forked from the Infinite Scale Go-based stack. It also by default preserves the filesystem hierarchy on your server without needing a database, using a storage driver called PosixFS.
The Windows clients currently do support selective syncing so it is on-par with OneDrive. Android client looks to be forked from old Owncloud, and has offline availability too.
I am very happy with sftpgo
I started to use it but ended just going with rclone
