How to Create Your Own Personal Home Cloud Storage

OwnCloud is a free open-source cloud storage which enables you to create a private cloud. ownCloud is a personal cloud storage solution similar to Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive.

The difference is that your files will be stored on your Ubuntu home cloud server instead of a server located in an unknown location somewhere in the world.

Advantages: No monthly payments, added security and unlimited files storage.

Video Tutorial:

Install ownCloud 8 on Ubuntu 15.04

1. On the Ubuntu server, open a web browser and visit ownCloud.org

2. Click on the “Download” button on the top right corner of the page.

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3. In the “Get Started” section, click on the “Packages For auto updates” tab. The one with the penguin icon on it.

4. Then click on “Continue” button at the bottom corner.

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5. You’ll get Install Package screen. Here you’ll get the necessary commands to install ownCloud. They are not in order. Execute each command in the order of the numbers I placed to the left. In step seven I placed them in proper order so you can copy and paste it from there if you want. Make sure to include the “sudo” word if is not included.

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6. On your Ubuntu 15.04 open Terminal. To do so right click on the desktop and select Open Terminal.

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7. Copy and paste the commands into Terminal. Hit the “Enter” key on the keyboard after each command:

1. sudo sh -c “echo ‘deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/isv:/ownCloud:/community/xUbuntu_15.04/ /’ >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/owncloud.list”
2. wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/isv:ownCloud:community/xUbuntu_15.04/Release.key
3. sudo apt-key add – < Release.key
4. sudo apt-get update
5. sudo apt-get install owncloud

8. During the install process, mySQL will require to create a “root” (admin) user password. Enter a password and confirm re-typing the password on the subsequent screen:

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We are done setting up the ownCloud server. Now we need to setup the Router to enable access to it.

Setup Port forward on your Router

We need to setup a Port forwarding rule so that when you are accessing your server from outside your home, your router can direct your connection to the right computer.

1. Open the terminal and enter the following command:

ifconfig

2. Locate the IP address of the Ubuntu server, it should look something like: 192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x

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3. Log in to your Router. Port forward port 80 to the Ubuntu server. In my tutorial my IP address 10.0.0.11 so the configuration is as follows:

Note: The Port forward feature is found on all routers.

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4. While there locate you WAN IP address or google What is my IP? it should look something like “xx.xxx.xx.xxx”  a 4 sets of numbers.

5. Place your WAN ip in the address bar like this:

http://WAN IP/owncloud

6. Replace WAN IP with your IP address. You’ll be prompted to create admin account and password.

7. Then Click on Storage & database drop-down.

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8. From the drop-down options select “MySQL/MariaDB.” in the middle for the database.

9. Type “root” for the Database user.

10. Enter the password created in step 6 in the Database password

11. Choose a name for the database in Database name section

12. Then click “Finish Setup” button at the bottom.

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13. The next page will be an ownCloud popup providing links to different syncing apps for PC, Android and iOS.

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14. Your ownCloud installation is now complete!

Now that ownCloud storage server setup is complete, ownCloud is now accessible from any computer with an internet access. You can also access or sync your mobile devices to ownCloud from any mobile device using the free Android or iOS apps.

Errors

If you encounter the following error:

Cannot write into “apps” directory

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Then enter the following command in the terminal:

sudo chown www-data:www-data -R /var/www/owncloud

Refresh the web browser and you will be prompted with ownCloud page. Then continue with step 10.

Miguel

I started this tech blog back in 2011 as a place to write down processes I took to fix my client systems and network. Now I write some tips and tricks to help others with the tech issues that one might encounter.

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