We’re now ready to install ownCloud to help us build our first dynamic, efficient and innovative cloud storage service and begin managing our files and content everywhere. ownCloud is an open-source, self-hosted file sync and file-sharing platform similar to Dropbox, OneDrive, and other proprietary online storage services. Written in PHP, it comes with all the features you need to create your cloud and sync services and can be paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. With ownCloud, one can create their cloud and sync storage service on their server hosted locally or in the cloud, using free templates, plugins, and a support base to help you throughout the process. This is the seventh post in this series which can be used as a beginner’s guide to learn how to create a website domain, set up a Google Cloud server with Ubuntu Linux, and install software and packages to build and run a website online. In this series:
How to create a website domain How to set up a Google Cloud server with Ubuntu Linux How to install Apache on a Google Cloud server (alternative to Nginx) How to install Nginx on Google Cloud server (alternative to Apache) How to install PHP on a Google Cloud server How to install MySQL or MariaDB database server
Now that you’ve learned how to create a website domain, set up a Google Cloud server, and installed Apache, Nginx, PHP, MySQL, or MariaDB, you can continue below to tie all together with ownCloud. When we started this series, we said a web server allows content to be published and served to web clients and audiences browsing your website. A PHP or server-side scripting language allows for a dynamic and more functional website. A database server allows you to store your website content efficiently. Other software and packages may also be needed to enhance the functionality of a website. Below, we’ll show you how to install these tools with ownCloud. In our first post, we also said that after you create a domain name, it can’t be used until forwarded or pointed to a server. In the second post, we showed you how to point a domain to a server we created. Then we showed you how to install software and packages to help us run personal cloud storage service. At this point, we’re ready to connect to our Google Cloud server and install ownCloud by tying the software and packages installed in our previous posts.
How to connect to Google Cloud servers
Google Cloud server (Compute Engine) allows users to connect using SSH from the browser window to their virtual machine (VM) instance from within the Google Cloud Console. SSH from the browser supports the following:
Web browsers The latest version of Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 and later Safari 8 and later. Note that Safari in private browser mode is not supported. Virtual machine configurations All Linux VM images are natively available in Google Cloud.
No additional software or browser extensions are needed. Simply login to Google Cloud Console, and go to Menu ==> Compute Engine ==> VM instances. In the list of virtual machine instances, click SSH in the row of the instance that you want to connect to. Alternatively, you can open an SSH connection to an instance by clicking its name and clicking SSH from the instance details page. An SSH terminal window will open with the Ubuntu Linux instance that was created in the second post of the series. You should now be able to run commands in Ubuntu Linux created on the Google Cloud server.
How to ownCloud on Google Cloud Servers
Installing and managing an ownCloud website on Ubuntu Linux is no different, whether on Google Cloud servers or a local VM instance. Once you installed all required packages, ownCloud can be set up directly from your browser by browsing to the server hostname or IP address. A detailed post and help on how to install ownCloud on Ubuntu Linux with Apache or Nginx are at the link below. Click on it to learn more about installing and managing ownCloud on Ubuntu Linux. How to install ownCloud on Ubuntu Linux with Apache How to install ownCloud on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx Each link above will show you all the steps we performed in our previous posts to get here. You also will learn how to secure your ownCloud website with free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates. If you follow the links above and perform all the steps involved, you should be able to create a store online using ownCloud. Conclusion: This post is the final post in this series on installing ownCloud on Ubuntu Linux in Google Cloud. If you find any error above or have something to add, please use the comment form below.
