OwnCloud
Is this article helpful to you?
Please consider donating or volunteering
Thank you!
About
"ownCloud ( http://owncloud.org ) gives you universal access to your files through a web interface or WebDAV. It also provides a platform to easily view & sync your contacts, calendars and bookmarks across all your devices and enables basic editing right on the web. Installation has minimal server requirements, doesn’t need special permissions and is quick. ownCloud is extendable via a simple but powerful API for applications and plugins."
The original How-To was about installing version 5.0.17 of Owncloud on SME8x. This updated How-To contains all original information and newer, updated infos and can be confirmed to work on the latest SME9 with all updates, as of 28.12.2014. This how-To installs the latest version of owncloud: 7.0.4.
Note: In the owncloud requirements, PHP 5.38 is stated as minimum, preferable would be PHP 5.4. SME9 and the underlying Centos 6.0 EL provides only PHP 5.33 in the official repositories. Don't forget though, PHP 5.33 is from 2010, and there are much newer commits (2013/2014?) in the official 5.33 repo for Centos. Certain stuff, like security relevant issues DO get back-ported for older versions of a software, it's part of LTS (Long Term Support) which most distros offer nowadays.
Forum discussion
This how-to can be discussed on the forums here (locked) or here or here. Search for other posts.
Installation
Version 7.0.4
Download the latest 7.x version from here http://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-7.0.4.tar.bz2
- Create an ibay in server manager, with the following typical settings:
Information bay name - owncloud, Description - owncloud site, Group - Admin, User access - Write = group, Read = everyone, Public access via web - Entire Internet (no password required), Execution of dynamic content - Enabled
- Extract ownCloud into the html directory of the new ibay (in this example called 'owncloud' )
In the following code, change the version number of owncloud to suit the current version downloaded from the owncloud website
cd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html/ wget http://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-7.0.4.tar.bz2 tar xvf owncloud-7.0.4.tar.bz2 mv owncloud/* . mv owncloud/.htaccess . rm index.html
- Set appropriate ibay settings at the command line prompt:
db accounts setprop owncloud \ AllowOverride All \ FollowSymLinks enabled \ Group www \ PHPBaseDir /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/:/tmp/ \ PublicAccess global \ UserAccess wr-group-rd-everyone
- Update the ibay
signal-event ibay-modify owncloud
- you also need to allow the "allow_url_fopen"
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf nano -w /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf/99allow_url_fopen
- and paste the following and save this
<Directory /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html> php_admin_flag allow_url_fopen on </Directory>
- then at the command line prompt enter:
expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /etc/init.d/httpd-e-smith restart
4. Create a new MySQL database (In this example the database name is owncloud. Change owncloud, username and password with your own choices as required)
Login as root and issue the following command:
mysql create database databasename; grant all privileges on databasename.* to username identified by 'password'; flush privileges; exit
5. Browse to http://yourserver/owncloud and follow install script
Version 5.0.17
Download the latest 5.x version from here http://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-5.0.17.tar.bz2
- Create an ibay in server manager, with the following typical settings:
Information bay name - owncloud, Description - owncloud site, Group - Admin, User access - Write = group, Read = everyone, Public access via web - Entire Internet (no password required), Execution of dynamic content - Enabled
- Extract ownCloud into the html directory of the new ibay (in this example called 'owncloud' )
In the following code, change the version number of owncloud to suit the current version downloaded from the owncloud website
cd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html/ wget http://download.owncloud.org/community/owncloud-5.0.17.tar.bz2 tar xvf owncloud-5.0.17.tar.bz2 mv owncloud/* . mv owncloud/.htaccess . rm index.html
- Set appropriate ibay settings at the command line prompt:
db accounts setprop owncloud \ AllowOverride All \ FollowSymLinks enabled \ Group www \ PHPBaseDir /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/:/tmp/ \ PublicAccess global \ UserAccess wr-group-rd-everyone
- Update the ibay
signal-event ibay-modify owncloud
- you also need to allow the "allow_url_fopen"
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf nano -w /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf/99allow_url_fopen
- and paste the following and save this
<Directory /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html> php_admin_flag allow_url_fopen on </Directory>
- then at the command line prompt enter:
expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf /etc/init.d/httpd-e-smith restart
4. Create a new MySQL database (In this example the database name is databasename. Change databasename, username and password with your own choices as required)
Login as root and issue the following command:
mysql create database databasename; grant all privileges on databasename.* to username identified by 'password'; flush privileges; exit
5. Browse to http://yourserver/owncloud and follow install script
Optional Addons & Settings
Force Https
You can force https by checking 'Enforce HTTPS' in the Security section of the Admin section.
You can also force the https redirection whenever you use the http protocol:
User login and permissions
owncloud provides several ways for users to login/authenticate. Next to the internal user authentication of owncloud, you can authenticate SME users:
LDAP Authentication
Configure owncloud to authenticate against the internal SME OpenLDAP server (all SME users)
- log into your owncloud webapp as admin who installed owncloud
- go to apps and enable ldap authentication backend
- go to admin, ldap section and use below settings
Host: localhost Base DN: dc=[yourdomain],dc=[com] (as seen in the 'domains' section in SME server manager) User DN: uid=admin,ou=Users,dc=[yourdomain],dc=[com] Password: [SME admin password] User Login Filter: uid=%uid User List Filter: objectClass=person
For the variables between brackets [], use your specific settings. Test creating a specific user and use that username password opposed to using the admin's credentials. For more info on using SME OpenLDAP for authentication please see: http://wiki.contribs.org/LDAP_Authentication
LDAP Tweaks
It seems when creating a user in SME, and ownCloud integrated via LDAP, it takes a while before the new user can log into ownCloud. Also, the error "Can't get cache storage, user not logged in" begins to log in the ownCloud Warning Log. To fix this, and allow the new user to log in immediately, go to Settings -> Admin -> LDAP/Advanced Tab Change the Cache Time To Live + or -1. This forces the cache to update, and the new user will be able to log in to ownCloud straight away.
IMAP Authentication
Configure owncloud to authenticate against an IMAP server
Enable and Configure IMAP Authentication
- Login to your running owncloud configuration as an administrator
- Enable the app named "External user support"
Note: "External user support" is included with owncloud as an "Internal app". There is an older add-on app named "IMAP user backend" that did not work for me. - Edit <owncloud>/config/config.php and insert the text below inside the $CONFIG array
- in front of the last closing parenthesis in the file (make sure there's a comma at the end of the preceding entry)
- Replace [mail.yourdomain.com] with your mail server name or IP address
- Remove "/novalidate-cert" if your chosen mail server uses a signed SSL certificate):
'user_backends' =>
array (
0 =>
array (
'class' => 'OC_User_IMAP',
'arguments' =>
array (
0 => '{[mail.yourdomain.com]:993/imap/ssl/novalidate-cert}',
),
),
),
When done, users will be able to login to your owncloud web interface using their mail server username and password. More information can be found here: http://owncloud.org/support/custom-user-configuration/
Enable Automatic IMAP User Creation
This discussion on the Owncloud bug tracker describes patches that provide more automated IMAP user management: https://github.com/owncloud/apps/issues/302
The patches provide these capabilities:
- Create new Owncloud users when unrecognized users login using IMAP
- Add new users to a group named for the domain portion of their email address
- Optionally set an Owncloud quota based on the user's email domain
- Update the Owncloud password for any existing user who logs in using IMAP
Sync Issues (Turning off magic quotes in php)
I had issues when deleting files in my client. Turing off magic quotes fixed the problem. Edit your php.ini using custom templates.
cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/php.ini
- Edit template-begin file
- Add the following and save file:
php_value magic_quotes_gpc = Off php_value magic_quotes_runtime = Off php_value magic_quotes_sybase = Off
expand-template /etc/php.ini sv t httpd-e-smith
Allow Sharing with IMAP Users
To allow sharing with your IMAP users, you need to manually add each IMAP user account to the oc_users table using commands like those below at a shell prompt on your SME server:
mysql owncloud
insert into oc_users (uid,password) values ('[xyzuser@mail.yourdomain.com]','*');
- owncloud: replace with the name of the database you created for owncloud
- [xyzuser@mail.yourdomain.com]: replace with the exact login string used by the user when they login
Problems
- By default:
- Users who login using IMAP Authentication are not automatically added to the owncloud "oc_users" table. Consequently, they are not offered as options when other users want to share files with them.
- IMAP authenticated users will be unable to connect using the owncloud client sync program.
- If your IMAP server allows alternative username syntax, owncloud will create a separate account for each username format that allows successful authentication. That is, if your IMAP server allows users to optionally include or omit the domain name, you might create a user account entry for "xyzuser@mail.yourdomain.com", then find that the user always logs in using simply "xyzuser", which succeeds during the IMAP authentication, but is a different account within owncloud.
Using the Owncloud Client
In order for an IMAP-authenticated user to configure the owncloud client sync program:
- The system administrator must add the username to the oc_users table manually as described above
Then the user must:
- login to the web interface
- open his/her personal settings
- "change" the password in owncloud to match the password on the IMAP server.
WebDAV interface seems to be broken
Only workable for owncloud 7 or maybe 6 (need to be tested)
You can have this error message in the admin panel
Setup Warning Your web server is not yet properly setup to allow files synchronization because the WebDAV interface seems to be broken. Please double check the installation guides.
The issue could come from the use of a bad domain dns name which is different of the ssl certificate. If you feel it is a false positive... simply add 'check_for_working_webdav' => false, to your /config/config.php file and get rid of it.
nano /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html/config/config.php
and add
'check_for_working_webdav' => false,
Mozilla Sync
Mozilla Sync is an addon for OwnCloud that allows users to securely synchronize Firefox settings across multiple devices (tabs, bookmarks, history, saved passwords).
The owncloud instructions for installing and configuring Mozilla Sync addon can be found here: https://github.com/owncloud/mozilla_sync/blob/master/INSTALL.md
The Mozilla Sync addon is included by default in OwnCloud 6 and simply needs to be 'enabled' by an admin. The addon requires separate installation steps in Owncloud 5.
Install Mozilla Sync in OwnCloud 5
These instructions assume that you have installed owncloud into an ibay named owncloud:
Using a zipped tarball:
cd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/files wget https://github.com/owncloud/mozilla_sync/archive/master.zip -O master.zip sudo -u www unzip master.zip mv mozilla_sync-master /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html/apps/mozilla_sync
Using Git:
cd /home/e-smith/files/ibays/owncloud/html/apps sudo -u www git clone https://github.com/owncloud/mozilla_sync.git sudo -u www git checkout master
Server settings to enable Mozilla Sync
Now, on the server:
- login to your owncloud instance as an administrator
- Open the 'Apps' page
- 'Enable' the Mozilla Sync app
- Verify that all 'Mozilla Sync' users have a unique email address configured in their user profile (Mozilla sync (in Firefox) authenticates using the user's email address).
Firefox settings to enable Mozilla Sync
Setup sync using the email address you verified above, using the password for the user that matches the email address.
The address for your 'custom server' should look like:
https://'''<path-to-your-owncloud>'''/remote.php/mozilla_sync/
History and advanced topics
The history and some advanced topics can be viewed on these How-To page sections:
References
Interesting relations to other Contribs or How-to's
- ownCloud Attachments integration for Zarafa
- Mounting a ownCloud space as a local file system