Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites

Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites step by step guide – but what is this ownCloud ? ownCloud is a server software that provides device independent storage of pictures, documents. This is not really an article on ownCloud itself, rather this is a simplified guide on Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites like we did during Installing WordPress on Rackspace Cloud Sites. There will be cross reference with the linked article. However, a preliminary idea about ownCloud is needed before Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites, otherwise you will not get interested about it. You can think ownCloud as a personal protected online computer, where you can store and play music, store pictures and view and lot of other features. You can sync and access ownCloud from iPhone, iPad or Android devices, it is more secure than conventional Cloud OS and other important factor is – you can actually integrate ownCloud with Cloud Storage services.

Needed knowledge and Tools for Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites

For enhanced security, it is better to take the policy for Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites on a subfolder of a relatively inactive domain and then robot it out with robots.txt. Using SSL will be better, although we have not tested. Quite obviously, use a separate new database for Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites, which is within this guide.

Preparation before Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites

• If you are using Windows OS, you can download WinSCP for accessing SFTP. Yummy FTP can be used for Mac OS X.
• Obviously, you need an account on The Rackspace Cloud.
• Download the latest version of ownCloud following this link.
• Unzip the content of the compressed folder on desktop or a convenient location. Rename the folder to the name of subfolder / subdirectory you want. We have kept it as owncloud :

• Open SFTP with WinSCP or YummyFTP, upload it to root/www.your-domain.com/web/content/<name of sub directory for ownCloud>
• Drag and drop the folder in the above path. Please be careful so that the index.php file remains at the root of the subfolder or subdirectory :

It will take a bit time to get uploaded, in this time we will create the MySQL database.

Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites : Creating Database

Now, you need to login to your The Rackspace Cloud Control Panel. Login to the Control panel, click Hosting and then Cloud Sites, Click the domain named hyperlink and click the features tab, Click Add under Databases. (Note : if you scroll down this page, you will see the Cron Jobs). Now open any Text Editor. Give the database a name, click continue and copy paste the database name in your Text Editor. In the next page, you will have to add a Database Username and password, use anything and write down it in your text editor. Click Finish.

The database will be created and it generally takes 2-5 minutes for proper functioning. You will see the hyperlinked database name under Databases. Simply clicking it will open the Database Information page :

Copy and paste the ˜Hostname™ in your text editor. This part of creating a database for Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites.

Note : For Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites, you must have PHP 5.3 upgraded. Rackspace has sent you an email before, if you are reading this before 1st August 2012, please upgrade it if it is not done or simply ask the support via chat. You can show them this webpage if you can not explain.

Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites : Running the Installation Script

Now open any browser, point to the subfolder, like for our case, we will point to :

Trailing slash does not matter :

Please notice the below screen shot for properly Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites, after you hit enter, the “Create an admin account” will come, scroll down and expand by clicking “Advanced” ; click to select MySQL (by default it is SQLite), our host is never “localhost” it must be like the third screen shot (like mysql31-027.wc3.dfw2.stabletransit.com), so fill them properly :

We have completed Installing ownCloud on Rackspace Cloud Sites :

The settings icon is on bottom left. There are lot of options for you!