OwnCloud server is a free and open-source cloud storage system. Using ownCloud, you can store your calendar, contacts, and files such as PDF documents, photos, videos, music, etc. and synchronize them with other desktops and smart phones.
You might be using a cloud storage service offered by companies such as Dropbox or Box. A common concern for some of the users using these services is that, there is an upper limit on the amount of data which can be stored for free. And a number of users are also not comfortable with big corporations managing their personal data.
There is a genuine need for a self-controlled and free cloud storage system. OwnCloud serves this need exceptionally well. Not only it's free to use, it gives you complete control over your private data. Moreover, you can encrypt your files in ownCloud to improve their confidentiality. It's a perfect fit for organizations that are concerned with the confidentiality of their data.
Let's see the simple steps to install ownCloud server.
OwnCloud requires the following softwares to be installed on your computer.
- A server software such as Apache
- PHP (ownCloud is written in PHP language)
- A database software (ownCloud comes with SQLite database by default but you can use MySQL)
Fortunately, you don't need to install these softwares separately. All these softwares are packaged in XAMPP and WAMPserver. You just need to install XAMPP or WAMPserver in order to follow this tutorial.
Note: Using WAMP, you can install ownCloud only on Windows, and you can install ownCloud on Windows, Mac, or Linux distributions such as Ubuntu using XAMPP.
Related tutorials:
1) Download OwnCloud Server.
Go to http://owncloud.org/install, and download the latest stable version of ownCloud server. We recommend Zip File for Windows users. There is another method to install ownCloud by using the Web Installer. We are not going into this method because this method does not give insight into the installation process of ownCloud.
Extract the contents of the zip file. The extracted contents will be in a folder named "owncloud".
2) Keep ownCloud in the "www" directory of WAMPserver or the "htdocs" directory of XAMPP.
Copy the "owncloud" folder. If you are using XAMPP paste it inside the "htdocs" folder found at "C:\xampp\htdocs". If you are using WAMPserver, you can paste it inside "C:\wamp\www". The final folder path should look like C:\xampp\htdocs\owncloud in XAMPP and C:\wamp\www\owncloud in WAMPserver.
3) Create a Database.
Go to phpMyAdmin and create a MySQL database. If you don't want to use a MySQL database for ownCloud, you can leave this step. OwnCloud comes with SQLite (an SQL database engine) by default, and it will create and use an SQLite database if no MySQL database is provided.
Note: More information on how to create a MySQL database using phpMyAdmin in XAMPP or WAMPserver.
In this tutorial, we created a MySQL database named “owncloud_db”.
4) Creating the ownCloud admin account.
Make sure that Apache, PHP, and MySQL are running in your server stack(XAMPP or WAMP). Open a web browser, write “localhost/owncloud” in the address bar, and press the Enter key.
You will see the admin account creation page. You can ignore the security warning while working in localhost (as it is only for testing purpose).
Note: To enable the php OpenSSL extension in XAMPP and WAMP, go here.
Click on “Advanced” in the page as shown above, then click on "MySQL" if you want to use the MySQL database created in step 3.
Now, enter the details as shown below.
- Write an admin username of your choice.
- Write a password.
- Leave the default value for the field Data folder.
- Write Database user name. You can use “root” which is the MySQL SuperUser.
- Write Database password. If you are using the “root” user above, you can keep the password field blank if the default password associated with “root” was not changed.
- Write "localhost" in the field Database host.
Click on the “Finish setup” button.
5) OwnCloud server's installation completed.
If you see the page as shown below, ownCloud server has been installed successfully. Now you can configure your Owncloud installation according to your needs.
If you want to know how to choose a hosting for ownCloud, you can see our detailed guide on how to choose an ownCloud hosting.
Related:
Synchronize files between ownCloud sync client and ownCloud server in localhost.
How to choose an ownCloud hosting?
ownCloud Tutorials: Building your own cloud
Installing contributed Apps in OwnCloud Server.
How to create and administer users and groups in OwnCloud?
