# ownCloud Server Administration Manual

# Installation Wizard

When ownCloud prerequisites are fulfilled and all ownCloud files are installed on the server, the last step to complete the installation is running the Installation Wizard.

> - If you are installing ownCloud on the same machine as you are accessing the install wizard from, the URL will be `http://localhost/owncloud`, or `https://localhost/owncloud` if you have enabled SSL.
> - If you are installing ownCloud on a different machine, you’ll have to access it by its hostname or IP address, e.g. `http://example.com/owncloud`.
> - If you are using a self-signed certificate, you will be presented with a security warning about the issuer of the certificate not being trusted which you can ignore.

- You will be presented with the setup screen:

## Required Settings

Under `create an admin account` you must enter a username and password for the administrative user account. You may choose any username and password that you want.

## Storage & Database

- Click `Storage & Database` to see all of your database options, and to optionally change the default data storage directory. The default database is SQLite, which is sufficient for testing and simple single-user setups, but not for a production server.

Note

SQLite is not supported and not included in the ownCloud Enterprise Subscription.

- The database you want to use must already be installed, and you must have the database administrative user and password for all databases except SQLite, which does not have an admin user.
- Enter any arbitrary name for the ownCloud Database name. This must be a database that does not already exist.
- If you are not using Apache as the web server, it is highly recommended to configure the data directory to a location outside of the document root. Otherwise all user data is potentially publicly visible.

## Database Choice

- See Database Configuration for guidelines on choosing a database.
- It is not easy to migrate to another database system after you have set up ownCloud.
- You will only be able to choose among the PHP database connectors which are actually installed on the system.
- When using MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL you need the login of the database root user, or an admin user with sufficient privileges to create a new database and add users. This lets ownCloud create its own database; it will also create a database user account with restricted rights.
- There are restrictions as to what characters a database name may or may not contain; see the MySQL Schema Object Names documentation for details).

## Finish Installation

- Once you’ve entered all settings, click “Finish Setup”
- ownCloud will set up your cloud according to your settings
- When it’s finished, it will log you in as administrative user and present the “Welcome to ownCloud” screen.

## Setting Strong Directory Permissions

For hardened security we recommend setting the permissions on your ownCloud directory as strictly as possible. This should be done immediately after the initial installation. Your HTTP user must own the `config/`, `data/` and `apps/` directories in your ownCloud directory so that you can configure ownCloud, create, modify and delete your data files, and install apps via the ownCloud Web interface.

You can find your HTTP user in your HTTP server configuration files. Or you can create a PHP page to find it for you. To do this, create a plain text file with a single line in it:

> `<?php echo exec('whoami'); ?>`

Name it `whoami.php` and place it in your `/var/www/html` directory, and then open it in a Web browser, for example `http://localhost/whoami.php`. You should see a single line in your browser page with the HTTP user name.

- The HTTP user and group in Debian/Ubuntu is `www-data`.
- The HTTP user and group in Fedora/CentOS is `apache`.
- The HTTP user and group in Arch Linux is `http`.
- The HTTP user in openSUSE is `wwwrun`, and the HTTP group is `www`.

Note

When using an NFS mount for the data directory, do not change its ownership from the default. The simple act of mounting the drive will set proper permissions for ownCloud to write to the directory. Changing ownership as above could result in some issues if the NFS mount is lost.

The easy way to set the correct permissions is to copy and run this script. Replace the `ocpath` variable with the path to your ownCloud directory, and replace the `htuser` and `htgroup` variables with your HTTP user and group:

    #!/bin/bash
    ocpath='/var/www/owncloud'
    htuser='www-data'
    htgroup='www-data'

    find ${ocpath}/ -type f -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0640
    find ${ocpath}/ -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 0750

    chown -R root:${htuser} ${ocpath}/
    chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/apps/
    chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/config/
    chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/data/
    chown -R ${htuser}:${htgroup} ${ocpath}/themes/

    chown root:${htuser} ${ocpath}/.htaccess
    chown root:${htuser} ${ocpath}/data/.htaccess

    chmod 0644 ${ocpath}/.htaccess
    chmod 0644 ${ocpath}/data/.htaccess

If you have customized your ownCloud installation and your filepaths are different than the standard installation, then modify this script accordingly.

This lists the recommended modes and ownership for your ownCloud directories and files:

- All files should be read-write for the file owner, read-only for the group owner, and zero for the world
- All directories should be executable (because directories always need the executable bit set), read-write for the directory owner, and read-only for the group owner
- The `/` directory should be owned by `root:[HTTP group]`
- The `apps/` directory should be owned by `[HTTP user]:[HTTP group]`
- The `config/` directory should be owned by `[HTTP user]:[HTTP group]`
- The `themes/` directory should be owned by `[HTTP user]:[HTTP group]`
- The `data/` directory should be owned by `[HTTP user]:[HTTP group]`
- The `[ocpath]/.htaccess` file should be owned by `root:[HTTP group]`
- The `data/.htaccess` file should be owned by `root:[HTTP group]`
- Both `.htaccess` files are read-write file owner, read-only group and world

## Trusted Domains

ownCloud will take the URL used to access the Installation Wizard and insert that into the `config.php` file for the `trusted_domains` setting. All needed domain names of the ownCloud server go into the `trusted_domains` setting. Users will only be able to log into ownCloud when they point their browsers to a domain name listed in the `trusted_domains` setting. An IPv4 address can be specified instead of a domain name. A typical configuration looks like this:

    'trusted_domains' =>
      array (
       0 => 'localhost',
       1 => 'server1.example.com',
       2 => '192.168.1.50',
    ),

In the event that a load balancer is in place there will be no issues as long as it sends the correct X-Forwarded-Host header.

The loopback address, `127.0.0.1`, is whitelisted and therefore users on the ownCloud server who access ownCloud with the loopback interface will be able to successfully login. In the event that an improper URL is used, the following error will appear:

For configuration examples, refer to the `config/config.sample.php` document.