How to install OwnCloud 10 server on CentOS 7

OwnCloud is a Dropbox-like solution for self-hosted file sharing and syncing. Installing OwnCloud 10 on CentOS is quite simple. Whether you want to backup, have file-syncing or just have a Google Calendar alternative, this guide is for you.

What is OwnCloud? Is it like a “cloud”?

If you stumbled here by chance and don’t know what OwnCloud is, here is an article explaining its principal features and advantages/disadvantages. In this other article you can find OwnCloud 10 new features. To tell you the truth, OwnCloud is a SaaS cloud, if you want to know more about cloud types you can read this article.

In this article we will cover the installation of the server (not the client).

Looking for an earlier version of this tutorial?

• How to install OwnCloud 9 server on CentOS/RHEL 7 and 6

Step 1: Add the repositories

The first step is to add the repositories to your system. You will need root access during this procedure. The following procedure will install apache as webserver. Since CentOS 7 ships with PHP 5.4 by default but OwnCloud requires at least PHP 5.6 we’ll also be installing PHP 7 from a third-party repository. The following procedure will install apache as webserver. Input the commands one by one to avoid errors! Input the commands one by one to avoid errors!

# yum install epel-release
# rpm -Uvh https://mirror.webtatic.com/yum/el7/webtatic-release.rpm
# yum install httpd php70w php70w-dom php70w-mbstring php70w-gd php70w-pdo php70w-json php70w-xml php70w-zip php70w-curl php70w-mcrypt php70w-pear php70w-intl setroubleshoot-server
# rpm --import https://download.owncloud.org/download/repositories/10.0/CentOS_7/repodata/repomd.xml.key
# curl https://download.owncloud.org/download/repositories/10.0/CentOS_7/ce:10.0.repo | tee /etc/yum.repos.d/owncloud_CE:10.0.repo
# yum install owncloud

These commands will add the repositories that contain the software and install it on your machine.

Step 2: Database selection

Now that you got the OwnCloud software, all that is left is to choose a database that will support the installation. You have three choices:

• SQLite: is a single-file database. It is suggested only for small installations since it will slow OwnCloud down sensibly.
• MariaDB/MySQL: are popular open source databases especially amongst web developers. It is the suggested choice.
• PostgreSQL: a popular enterprise-class database. More complicated than MySQL/MariaDB.

Now, this choice won’t really alter the functionality of OwnCloud (except if you use SQLite), so pick whatever you know best. If you’re unsure pick MariaDB/MySQL.

# yum install mariadb-server php70w-mysql
# mysql_secure_installation

# systemctl start mariadb
# systemctl enable mariadb

$ mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE owncloud;

CREATE USER 'oc_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON owncloud.* TO 'oc_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

# yum install postgresql postgresql-server php70w-pgsql

# postgresql-setup initdb

# systemctl start postgresql
# systemctl enable postgresql

$ sudo -u postgres psql

CREATE DATABASE owncloud;

CREATE USER oc_user WITH PASSWORD 'YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE owncloud to oc_user;

# TYPE  DATABASE        USER            ADDRESS                 METHOD

# "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
local   all             all                                     peer
# IPv4 local connections:
host    all             all             127.0.0.1/32            ident
# IPv6 local connections:
host    all             all             ::1/128                 ident
# Allow replication connections from localhost, by a user with the
# replication privilege.
#local   replication     postgres                                peer
#host    replication     postgres        127.0.0.1/32            ident
#host    replication     postgres        ::1/128                 ident

# systemctl restart postgresql

Step 3: Setting Apache and SELinux

In this step we’ll start (and enable) the webserver and we’ll set SELinux up. Now, many tutorials will tell you to disable SELinux (because it is a difficult component to manage). Instead, I suggest you to keep it on and add the rules for OwnCloud:

# semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/var/www/html/owncloud/data(/.*)?'
# semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/var/www/html/owncloud/config(/.*)?'
# semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/var/www/html/owncloud/apps(/.*)?'
# semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/var/www/html/owncloud/.htaccess'
# semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/var/www/html/owncloud/.user.ini'
# restorecon -Rv '/var/www/html/owncloud/'

# setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db 1

Now that you’ve configured SELinux let’s start and enable Apache:

# systemctl start httpd
# systemctl enable httpd

Step 4: Configuring firewall

This step is essential when your firewall is enabled. If your firewall is enabled you won’t be able to access your OwnCloud 10 instance; on the other hand if it isn’t enabled you shouldn’t have any problems and you can simply skip this step. 

In order for the firewall to work, it must be enabled. This guide will not include this part. When you enable a firewall many things can go wrong, e.g. you’re using SSH, you enable the firewall and your connection is cut and can’t connect otherwise, hence you should carefully review the documentation from your distribution.

To open the ports needed by OwnCloud 10 follow these steps:

# firewall-cmd --add-service http --permanent
# firewall-cmd --add-service https --permanent
# firewall-cmd --reload

# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT

Step 5: Install

Once you’re done with selecting the database, it’s time to install everything. Head to http://YOUR_IP_ADDRESS/owncloud/ and you will be facing the following screen:

OwnCloud 10 installation

Select an administrator username and password, then you can select the data folder, but if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s best if you leave it with the default value. Then click on “Storage & Database” to select the database you chose during step 2. Fill everything and if you’ve followed all the steps correctly you should be seeing the Files app:

OwnCloud 10 Files App

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mark

The IT guy with a slight look of boredom in his eyes. Freelancer. Current interests: Kubernetes, Tensorflow, shiny new things.

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