EC2 Instance Setup

Launch and secure your Ubuntu EC2 instance to serve ownCloud or manage deployments.

To run ownCloud and serve as the interface for file uploads, we begin by launching and configuring an Amazon EC2 instance.

This chapter walks you through the creation of the EC2 instance, setting up the web server, PHP environment, and preparing it to host ownCloud.

Prerequisites:

1. An AWS account with access to EC2

Step 0: Create Key Pair and Security Group

0.1 Create a Key Pair

1. Go to EC2 Dashboard → Key Pairs

2. Click Create Key Pair

3. Set:

   • Name: owncloud-key (or any name)

   • Key pair type: RSA

   • Private key format: .pem

4. Click Create key pair – the .pem file will download automatically

Important: Keep this .pem file safe. You’ll need it to SSH into your instance.

0.2 Create a Security Group

1. Go to EC2 Dashboard → Security Groups

2. Click Create Security Group

3. Set:

   • Name: owncloud-sg

   • Description: OwnCloud Security Group

4. Under Inbound Rules, add the following:

Type	Protocol	Port	Source
HTTTP	TCP	80	Custom 0.0.0.0/0
Custom TCP	TCP	8000	Custom 0.0.0.0/0
All Traffic	All	All	Custom 0.0.0.0/0

Your inbound rules will look like this after the configurations.

1. Under Outbound Rules, add the following:

Type	Protocol	Port	Source
SSH	TCP	22	Custom 103.167.131.175/32
HTTP	TCP	80	Custom 0.0.0.0/0
HTTPS	TCP	443	Custom 0.0.0.0/0
Custom TCP	TCP	8000	Custom 0.0.0.0/0

Your outbound rules will look like this after configurations

1. Click Create Security Group.

You’ll attach this security group while launching the EC2 instance.

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Step 1: Launch EC2 Instance

1. Go to AWS Console → EC2 → Launch Instance

2. Choose:

   • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (or Amazon Linux 2)

   • t2.micro (or higher)

3. Configure:

   • Add inbound rules for HTTP (80), HTTPS (443), SSH (22)

4. Launch the instance and connect using:

ssh -i "your-key.pem" ubuntu@<your-ec2-public-ip>

Your Launched EC2 Instance

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If you are not using ownCloud, you can skip the below steps and head to the ownUI page.

Step 2: Create Setup Script

• To automate the LAMP stack and ownCloud setup, create a bash script.

nano setup-owncloud.sh

• Paste this script:

#!/bin/bash

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Apache
sudo apt install apache2 -y
sudo systemctl enable apache2
sudo systemctl start apache2

# Install MySQL
sudo apt install mysql-server -y
sudo mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE owncloud_db;"        
sudo mysql -e "CREATE USER 'owncloud_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'strongpassword';"
sudo mysql -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON owncloud_db.* TO 'owncloud_user'@'localhost';"
sudo mysql -e "FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

# Install PHP & Extensions (because Owncloud supports versions 7.4 or below)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update

sudo apt install php7.4 php7.4-mysql php7.4-cli php7.4-common php7.4-xml php7.4-zip php7.4-mbstring php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-intl -y
sudo systemctl restart apache2


# Download & Install ownCloud
sudo apt install unzip -y

wget https://download.owncloud.com/server/stable/owncloud-complete-latest.zip
unzip owncloud-complete-latest.zip
sudo mv owncloud /var/www/html/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/owncloud
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/owncloud

# Configure Apache
echo '<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [e-mail]
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/owncloud
    ServerName <your_ec2_public_ip> 
    <Directory /var/www/html/owncloud/>
        Options FollowSymlinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>' | sudo tee /etc/apache2/sites-available/owncloud.conf

sudo a2ensite owncloud.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2

echo "ownCloud installation complete! Open http://your-ec2-public-ip to configure."

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Step 3: Make the Script Executable

chmod +x setup-owncloud.sh

• Run the script:

sudo ./setup-owncloud.sh

This installs:

• Apache web server

• MySQL (and sets up database, user, and password)

• PHP 7.4 with required modules

• ownCloud from the official source

Important: ownCloud is not compatible with higher versions of PHP (7.4 & above)

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Step 4: Access ownCloud from Browser

Once the script finishes, open your browser:

http://<your-ec2-public-ip>

You’ll be greeted by the ownCloud setup page.

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Step 5: Complete ownCloud Installation (GUI)

Fill in the following on the web setup screen:

• Admin Username: Choose your own

• Password: Set a strong one

• Data Folder: /var/www/html/owncloud/data

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Step 6: Database Configuration:

• Database Type: MySQL/MariaDB

• Database Name: owncloud_db

• DB User: owncloud_user

• Password: strongpassword

• Host: localhost

• Click Finish Setup

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You are Done ✅

ownCloud will finish configuring and take you to the dashboard. You’re now ready to move on to the next steps:

• Connect ownCloud to your deduplication API

• Upload files → monitor Lambda triggers → S3 deduped storage

Visual Walkthrough: Installing ownCloud on EC2

Prefer to watch and follow along? This video walks you through launching an EC2 instance and setting up ownCloud step by step:

How to install ownCloud on AWS EC2 Ubuntu | Docker installationYouTube