ownCloud is a free software alternative to the cloud storage services like Dropbox, google drive, amazone cloud etc.. By using OwnCloud a user can create his own local cloud storage service inside an organisation or home. The only requirement is Apache server, Mysql Database and some PHP modules.
ownCloud features storage of files, built-in file sharing, music streaming, calendar, contact management, text editor, picture gallery and more.
ownCloud 4 has been released now. the ownCloud 4 getting some exciting features like file encryption, file versioning, a new TODO app and more!
New features of ownCloud 4.0:
- File encryption (some file types can be excluded from the encryption)
- File versioning wchich lets you roll back some files to their previous versions
- Mounting of external Filesystems (experimental), including Dropbox, FTP and Google Drive
- TODOs (Tasks) App
- Drag & Drop File Uploading
- Shared Calendars
- Calendar categories
- Hugely improved contacts app including groups
- Improved WebDAV, CalDAV, CardDAV compatibility
- Movable Apps
- Improved External App
- Improved Sharing of Files
- Overall Performance Improvements
- System/User Exporting/Importing
- User/Groups support via LDAP/AD
- Viewer for ODF Files
- Improved Photo Gallery
- Improved installation of 3rd Party Apps
- Logging via syslog
- New public API for App developers
- Lots of bug fixes, smaller enhancements and UX improvements.
You can just try ownCloud before installing in your local server it by going to http://demo.owncloud.org/
Install ownCloud on Ubuntu 12.04
Install the ownCloud 2 dependencies: There are some dependencies for ownCloud
sudo apt-get install apache2 php5 php-pear php-xml-parser php5-sqlite php5-json sqlite php5-mysql mp3info curl libcurl3 libcurl3-dev php5-curl zip php5-gdDownload ownCloud and copy it to /var/www/. Presuming you’ve downloaded it in your home folder, use the commands below to extract and move it to /var/www/:
cd tar -xvf owncloud*.tar.bz2 sudo mv owncloud /var/www/owncloudSet up the permissions:
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/owncloudRestart the webserver Apache
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restartOpen a browser and enter http://localhost/owncloud – if you get an error similar to this: “No database drivers (sqlite or mysql) installed.“, restart your computer and the error should be gone.
These instructions* can also be found @ ownCloud’s website, along with Arch Linux, openSuse, Fedora, CentOS, Gentoo, Mac and Windows installation instructions.
For how to manually install ownCloud in Ubuntu, see THIS post.
Recently, ownCloud got an Android application – You can Download ownCloud for Android (.apk) . Now you can easily access your files using a mobile device. And iOS app is also in the works.
ownCloud doesn’t come with a sync client by default, but there are sync clients available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. For Ubuntu, see this post: Desktop Syncing Comes To ownCloud Through Mirall And Csync.
Related articles
- ownCloud 4 released (karlitschek.de)
- ownCloud 4 adds version management (h-online.com)
- OwnCloud 4 Released, Now With Encryption, Versioning, More (ghacks.net)
- Self-Hosted File Sync Solution ownCloud Goes Commercial (techcrunch.com)
