I recently wrote an opinion piece about the most important reason you should use Linux at home.
In the end, it’s all about keeping your data safe from third-party services, and the scalability of the apps, services, and tools you have available — without spending a fortune. money or get a degree in computer science.
You may not know about Linux or believe it is too difficult for your skills.
For those who haven’t heard of Linux, it’s a free operating system that you can install on your computer (or as a virtual machine) powerful, flexible, reliable and secure than both Windows or MacOS.
And Linux is everywhere. It runs not only on computers but also on IoT devices, smart devices, home appliances, cars, etc.
In this series on using Linux at home, I want to show you how to install next cloud on-premises cloud server. Think of it as your own Google Workspace, full of documents, storage, calendar, email, etc
Also: My new idea for a beginner-friendly Linux distro
It should come as no surprise (given the title of this section), that there is a very easy way to install this cloud platform and I will show you how.
Ready?
How to Install a Cloud Service at Home: It’s Easy
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To successfully install Nextcloud, you will need an Ubuntu Server instance up and running on your home network. Fear not, as I explained how can you do this in less than 30 minutes. Once that server is running, you’ll need a user with sudo privileges (created by you during the OS installation).
That’s it. Let’s do this.
The first thing is to log into your Ubuntu Server instance, which will take you to a terminal window.
To install Nextcloud, issue the command:
sudo snap install nextcloud
Open a web browser and point it to http://SERVER (where SERVER is the IP address of your Ubuntu server).
In the resulting window of your web browser, enter the new username and password to be used as the administrative user.
Creating an admin user is the first step in the web GUI. Screenshots of Jack Wallen/ZDNET
In the resulting window, click Install recommended apps to add the Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Nextcloud Office, and Talk apps (you can add more later). This installation will take a little longer (under 5 minutes).
Also: Try these Linux equivalents if you want to take the leap
Allow the installation to complete and you will see the Nextcloud Hub, where you can access all the pre-installed apps and start using your internal cloud service.
I would recommend going with recommendations. Screenshots of Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Next steps with Nextcloud
Once the installation is complete, you can start using Nextcloud as is. However, I recommend that you at least configure the email server settings so that you can share and collaborate on files. To configure an email server, you need an SMTP server first. You can always use the Google SMTP server; The settings you need are:
- SMTP server: smtp.gmail.com.
- Port: 465.
- From email address: Your Gmail address.
- Password: Your Gmail password (or app password, if you use Two-Factor Authentication with Gmail).
To configure the SMTP server, click on your Nextcloud profile icon at the top right of the window and from the drop-down menu click on Administrative Settings. From the left sidebar, click on Basic Settings, then in the resulting window scroll down until you see the Email Server section. Fill in the options as outlined above and click Save. Once done, click Send Email to make sure everything is working.
Add SMTP server to Nextcloud. Screenshots of Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once you’re done with the SMTP server settings, click the Mail icon at the top of the window. When prompted, fill in the required information for your email account and click Connect.
Add email accounts in Nextcloud. Screenshots of Jack Wallen/ZDNET
With this done, your Nextcloud instance can do almost everything your other cloud services can offer… while still on your home network. Even with the installation of Ubuntu Server, you should be able to complete the process in less than an hour. Believe me when I tell you, the time investment will be well worth it.
