Install NextCloud From Command Line in 2026

To install Nextcloud from the command line, prepare a LEMP or LAMP stack, create a database, download the Nextcloud release, configure your web server and TLS, then run the non interactive “occ maintenance:install” command. Finally, enable cron, Redis caching, and hardening settings. The steps below cover Ubuntu/Debian (Nginx/Apache), Snap, and Docker options.

If you want a private, self hosted cloud, installing Nextcloud from the command line is the fastest, most controllable method. This guide shows how to Install NextCloud From Command Line on Ubuntu/Debian using Nginx (LEMP) or Apache (LAMP), plus quick alternatives with Snap and Docker—fully optimized, secure, and production ready.

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What You’ll Need (Prerequisites)

Before you begin, ensure the following are in place:

• A fresh Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or Debian 12 server (VPS or dedicated)
• Sudo or root access via SSH
• A domain (e.g., cloud.example.com) with DNS A/AAAA records pointing to your server
• Open ports: 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS)
• At least 2 GB RAM (4+ GB recommended for larger teams), SSD storage
• Time synchronized (systemd-timesyncd or chrony)

Tip: For reliable performance, a VPS with dedicated vCPU and NVMe SSD helps. YouStable’s SSD VPS plans provide stable resources and easy OS templates ideal for Nextcloud.

Quick Install Paths (Choose Your Method)

• LEMP (Nginx + PHP-FPM + MariaDB/PostgreSQL): Best performance, flexible hardening
• LAMP (Apache + PHP + MariaDB/PostgreSQL): Simpler for Apache users
• Snap package: Fast all in one, minimal tuning needed
• Docker/Compose: Portable and reproducible deployments

Below we deep dive into LEMP on Ubuntu/Debian, then show Apache, Snap, and Docker variants.

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Install Nextcloud from Command Line (Ubuntu/Debian, Nginx) – Step-by-Step

1) Update system and install core packages

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install nginx mariadb-server redis-server unzip wget curl gnupg2 ufw software-properties-common
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow "Nginx Full"
sudo ufw enable

2) Install PHP-FPM and required extensions

sudo apt -y install php-fpm php-cli php-mysql php-gd php-curl php-xml php-zip php-mbstring php-intl php-bcmath php-gmp php-imagick php-apcu php-redis php-ldap

Ensure PHP-FPM is running and note the socket path, e.g., /run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock.

3) Secure MariaDB and create the Nextcloud database

sudo mysql_secure_installation
sudo mysql -u root -p
# Inside the MariaDB shell:
CREATE DATABASE nextcloud CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci;
CREATE USER 'ncuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPasswordHere';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON nextcloud.* TO 'ncuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Alternatively, you can use PostgreSQL for better scalability. The “occ” installer supports both.

4) Download and verify Nextcloud

wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip
wget https://download.nextcloud.com/server/releases/latest.zip.asc
wget https://nextcloud.com/nextcloud.asc
gpg --import nextcloud.asc
gpg --verify latest.zip.asc latest.zip  # verify signature (recommended)
unzip latest.zip
sudo mv nextcloud /var/www/nextcloud
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/nextcloud-data
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/nextcloud /var/www/nextcloud-data
sudo find /var/www/nextcloud/ -type d -exec chmod 750 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/nextcloud/ -type f -exec chmod 640 {} \;

5) Configure Nginx server block

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/nextcloud

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name cloud.example.com;
    root /var/www/nextcloud;
    client_max_body_size 512M;
    fastcgi_buffers 64 4K;

    add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
    add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
    add_header Referrer-Policy no-referrer;
    add_header X-Download-Options noopen;
    add_header X-Permitted-Cross-Domain-Policies none;

    index index.php index.html /index.php$request_uri;

    location = /robots.txt { allow all; log_not_found off; access_log off; }

    location ~ ^/(?:build|tests|config|lib|3rdparty|templates|data)/ { deny all; }
    location ~ ^/(?:\.|autotest|occ|issue|indie|db_|console) { deny all; }

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php$request_uri;
    }

    location ~ \.php(?:$|/) {
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+?\.php)(/.*)$;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
        fastcgi_param modHeadersAvailable true;
        fastcgi_param front_controller_active true;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
        fastcgi_request_buffering off;
    }

    location ~ \.(?:css|js|woff2?|svg|gif|map)$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=15778463";
        access_log off;
    }

    location ~ \.(?:png|html|ttf|ico|jpg|jpeg)$ {
        try_files $uri /index.php$request_uri;
        access_log off;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nextcloud /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/nextcloud
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

6) Obtain a Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate

sudo apt -y install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d cloud.example.com --redirect --agree-tos -m admin@example.com -n
sudo systemctl reload nginx

This adds HTTPS with automatic redirects and renewal timers.

7) Run the non interactive Nextcloud installer (occ)

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:install \
  --database "mysql" \
  --database-name "nextcloud" \
  --database-user "ncuser" \
  --database-pass "StrongPasswordHere" \
  --admin-user "ncadmin" \
  --admin-pass "AnotherStrongPassword" \
  --data-dir "/var/www/nextcloud-data"

For PostgreSQL, use “–database pgsql” and supply a PostgreSQL user and DB.

8) Enable caching, trusted domains, and security settings

# Set the trusted domain and URL
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set trusted_domains 1 --value=cloud.example.com
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set overwrite.cli.url --value=https://cloud.example.com

# Enable APCu (local cache) and Redis (file locking/memcache)
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set memcache.local --value='\OC\Memcache\APCu'
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set memcache.locking --value='\OC\Memcache\Redis'
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set redis --value='{"host":"127.0.0.1","port":6379}' --type=json

# Set recommended defaults
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ background:cron
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set default_phone_region --value=US
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:set logtimezone --value=UTC

9) Configure cron for background jobs

sudo crontab -u www-data -e

*/5 * * * * php -f /var/www/nextcloud/cron.php >/dev/null 2>&1

Background jobs handle previews, cleanups, and federation tasks efficiently.

10) Verify the installation

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ status
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log

Open https://cloud.example.com in your browser. You should see the Nextcloud login.

Apache Variant (LAMP) in Brief

Prefer Apache? Replace Nginx steps with the following essentials.

sudo apt -y install apache2 libapache2-mod-php
sudo a2enmod rewrite headers env dir mime ssl http2 proxy_fcgi setenvif
sudo a2dismod php*   # use PHP-FPM with Apache for performance
sudo a2enconf php8.2-fpm

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nextcloud.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName cloud.example.com
  DocumentRoot /var/www/nextcloud

  <Directory /var/www/nextcloud/>
    Require all granted
    AllowOverride All
    Options FollowSymLinks MultiViews
  </Directory>

  <FilesMatch "\.php$">
    SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
  </FilesMatch>

  Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains"
  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud-error.log
  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/nextcloud-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

sudo a2ensite nextcloud
sudo a2dissite 000-default
sudo systemctl reload apache2
sudo apt -y install certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d cloud.example.com --redirect -m admin@example.com --agree-tos -n

Then run the same “occ maintenance:install” and hardening commands shown earlier.

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Optional: Snap or Docker from Command Line

Snap (fastest single node install)

sudo apt -y install snapd
sudo snap install core
sudo snap install nextcloud
# Create admin:
sudo nextcloud.manual-install ncadmin "AnotherStrongPassword"
# Add domain and TLS:
sudo nextcloud.occ config:system:set trusted_domains 1 --value=cloud.example.com
sudo nextcloud.enable-https lets-encrypt

Docker Compose (portable)

mkdir -p ~/nextcloud && cd ~/nextcloud
nano docker-compose.yml

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:11
    command: --transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED --binlog-format=ROW
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=RootPass
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=ncuser
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=StrongPasswordHere
    volumes:
      - db:/var/lib/mysql

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped

  app:
    image: nextcloud:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    depends_on:
      - db
      - redis
    environment:
      - MYSQL_HOST=db
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=nextcloud
      - MYSQL_USER=ncuser
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=StrongPasswordHere
    volumes:
      - nextcloud:/var/www/html
    links:
      - redis

volumes:
  db:
  nextcloud:

docker compose up -d
# Access via http://server-ip:8080 and finalize setup. Add a proper reverse proxy and TLS (e.g., Caddy/Traefik/Nginx) for production.

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Performance Tuning and Hardening

PHP and upload limits

sudo nano /etc/php/8.2/fpm/php.ini

memory_limit = 512M
upload_max_filesize = 512M
post_max_size = 512M
opcache.enable=1
opcache.enable_cli=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.validate_timestamps=1
opcache.revalidate_freq=60
expose_php = Off

sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm

Nginx security headers and HSTS

Add or confirm these in your server block for better security and caching control.

add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains" always;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header Referrer-Policy no-referrer;

Database basics

• Use utf8mb4 for full Unicode support
• Run mysql_secure_installation and limit remote root access
• Schedule backups (logical dump + offsite copy)

Backups and updates

# Files backup (example)
rsync -Aax /var/www/nextcloud/ /backup/nextcloud-app/
rsync -Aax /var/www/nextcloud-data/ /backup/nextcloud-data/

# MariaDB backup
mysqldump -u root -p nextcloud > /backup/nextcloud_$(date +%F).sql

Test restore procedures regularly. Keep the OS and PHP packages updated.

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Common Errors and Fixes from the CLI

• 403 or 404 after install: Check Nginx/Apache vhost root path and try_files rules.
• File upload size too small: Increase upload_max_filesize and post_max_size, reload PHP/Nginx.
• “Can’t write into config directory”: Fix ownership to www data and correct permissions.
• Background jobs not running: Ensure crontab for www data is set to run every 5 minutes.
• Redis not used: Confirm php redis installed and Redis settings set via occ.
• SELinux (RHEL based): Set proper contexts or temporarily permissive for testing.

Upgrade Nextcloud Safely from the Command Line

• Create backups of app, data, and database
• Put Nextcloud in maintenance mode

sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:mode --on
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ upgrade
sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ maintenance:mode --off

For major upgrades, read the official changelog and upgrade step-by-step across supported versions.

Why Host Nextcloud on YouStable

• SSD or NVMe backed VPS with dedicated vCPU for faster PHP and database performance
• Clean IPv4, modern data centers, and quick OS templates (Ubuntu/Debian)
• 24×7 expert support that understands web hosting, WordPress, and self hosted stacks like Nextcloud

If you want predictable performance and simple scaling, YouStable’s VPS and dedicated servers are a strong fit for Nextcloud deployments of any size.

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FAQ’s