How to Setup Pydio File Sharing and Sync with Nginx on Ubuntu

This article explains how to set up Pydio File Sharing and Syncing on Ubuntu Linux.

Pydio file sharing and sync platform works great with the Apache2 HTTP server. However, the steps below should be a great place to start if you wish to use Nginx.

Pydio is an open-source file-sharing and sync platform that fits your infrastructure and provides a single access point to all your data storage. It is an alternative to software such as ownCloud and Nextcloud that provides storage services, file sharing, and sync.

If you’re looking for an enterprise file-sharing platform similar to Dropbox and other storage platforms that you can host in your environments, then Pydio is an excellent place to start.

You can securely connect all your files, teams, and devices in one platform.

For more about Pydio, please check its homepage.

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is the most popular web server in use. Install it since Pydio needs it.

To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start, and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address. You should see the Nginx default test page, as shown below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers to use with Pydio. To install MariaDB, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the service to start when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

Run these on Ubuntu 18.04 and 18.10 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

• Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
• Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
• New password: Enter password
• Re-enter new password: Repeat password
• Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
• Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
• Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]:  Y
• Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]:  Y

Restart MariaDB server

Type the commands below to log on to the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see a MariaDB welcome message.

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.2-FPM may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below-party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2-FPMN and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-gmp php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2-FPM, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default config file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

Then, save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, please save the file and close it.

After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

To test PHP 7.2 settings with Nginx, create a phpinfo.php file in the Nginx root directory by running the commands below

sudo nano /var/www/html/phpinfo.php

Then, type the content below and save the file.

<?php phpinfo( ); ?>

Save the file. Then browse to your server hostname followed by /phpinfo.php

http://localhost/phpinfo.php

You should see the PHP default test page.

Create Pydio Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for Pydio to function, continue below to start configuring the servers. First, run the commands below to create a blank Pydio database.

To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called pydio

CREATE DATABASE pydio;

Create a database user called pydiouser with a new password

CREATE USER 'pydiouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then, grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON pydio.* TO 'pydiouser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Install and Configure Pydio File Sharing Server

After installing and configuring the servers and script above, go to the Pydio download page and download the archived packages. Then, you can run the commands below to download and extract on your server.

cd /tmp
wget https://download.pydio.com/pub/cells-enterprise/release/1.2.5/linux-amd64/pydio-cells-enterprise-1.2.5-linux-amd64.zip
unzip pydio-cells-enterprise-1.2.5-linux-amd64.zip
sudo mv pydio /var/www/html/pydio

After downloading and extracting the file to the Pydio root directory, run the commands below to configure Nginx HTTP to server Pydio’s content.

Next, run the commands below to set the correct permissions for the Pydio root directory and give Nginx control.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/pydio/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/pydio/

After that, create an Nginx site config file for Pydio by running the commands below.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pydio

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/pydio;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;
    client_body_buffer_size 128k;

    if (!-e $request_filename){
                rewrite ^(.*)$ /index.php break;
        }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~* ^/(?:\.|conf|core|data/(?:files|personal|logs|plugins|tmp|cache)|plugins/editor.zoho/agent/files) {
                deny all;
        }
}

Save the file and exit.

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pydio /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Access Pydio File Sharing Server Web Interface

After installing, open your browser and browse the server name or IP address. Then follow the setup wizard.

http://example.com/

Next, create an admin account and continue with the database connection settings page.

Next, type in the database connection info you created above.

Finally, install and begin using Pydio.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed the Pydio file sharing and sync platform on Ubuntu 16.04 | 18.04 servers

You may also like the post below: