OpenCloud on a Raspberry Pi

note

The installation of OpenCloud on a Raspberry Pi is intended for private or non-production use only.
It is not recommended for enterprise or critical environments due to the hardware's limited resources and potential performance constraints.

Hardware requirements

• Minimum Raspberry Pi 4B with at least 4 GB RAM connected via LAN or WLAN
• Micro SD card with at least 32 GB storage space
• External hard disk or USB stick (optional) for additional storage space

Install operating system

• Install Raspberry Pi OS
  A very detailed and understandable guide is available at:
  Raspberry Pi Getting Started

• SSH must be activated

  

• If the Raspberry Pi is to be connected to WLAN, the login data for the WLAN must be entered.

Connecting with SSH

Start the Raspberry Pi with the SD card and connect via SSH.
The IP for this can be viewed in your router.

Establish connection via SSH

ssh pi@YOUR-IP

After the first login, you should change the password for security reasons:

passwd

Installing Docker and Docker Compose

Detailed installation instructions for Docker can be found here:
Install Docker on Raspberry Pi

• Perform update and upgrade:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

• Install Docker via script:

curl -fsSL test.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh get-docker.sh

• Add current user to the Docker group:

sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}

• Check if it's working:

groups ${USER}

• Reboot the Raspberry Pi:

sudo shutdown -r now

Clone OpenCloud repository

git clone https://github.com/opencloud-eu/opencloud-compose.git

Start the Docker Compose setup

cd opencloud-compose

Copy the .env.example file:

cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file:

nano .env

Add the minimal OpenCloud setup:

COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:traefik/opencloud.yml

Then start Docker:

docker compose up

Now OpenCloud is running locally on your Raspberry Pi, and you can adjust it to your needs.

We will describe how to mount an external disk or USB stick and make OpenCloud available outside the local network using No-IP.

Mount external hard disk or USB stick

Find your external drive

lsblk

Format the drive to ext4

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 -L DATA

Add fstab entry for auto-mounting

Open fstab:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add this line:

LABEL=DATA /mnt/data ext4 auto,defaults 0 0

Create the mount point and set permissions

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /mnt/data

Mount the drive

sudo mount -a

If an error occurs:

Run:

systemctl daemon-reload

And try mounting again.

Mount external storage in Docker

Stop Docker:

docker compose down

Open the .env file:

cd opencloud-compose
nano .env

Set the OC_DATA_DIR variable to your mounted storage path, e.g.:

OC_DATA_DIR=/mnt/data

Restart Docker:

docker compose up

Make OpenCloud externally available

Create DynDNS hostname

Register at No-IP and create a hostname, e.g. opencloud.webhop.me.

Configure DynDNS in your router

Use your router’s web interface to:

• Locate the Dynamic DNS settings
• Select No-IP as provider
• Enter your No-IP credentials
• Use the created hostname (e.g. opencloud.webhop.me)
• Save and test the settings

More help: No-IP Support

Configure port forwarding

1. Ensure your Raspberry Pi always has the same IP address:

   • Either via static IP or DHCP assignment in the router

2. In your router settings, look for Port Forwarding, NAT, or Port Sharing

3. Forward the following ports to your Raspberry Pi:

• TCP Port 80 (HTTP)
• TCP Port 443 (HTTPS)

Update OC_DOMAIN

SSH into your Pi and update the domain:

cd opencloud-compose
docker compose down
nano .env

Edit the OC_DOMAIN value:

OC_DOMAIN=opencloud.webhop.me

Restart Docker:

docker compose up

Now your OpenCloud should be reachable via your URL.