I’m trying out Nextcloud to use as on my home server. It looks great, but seems way overkill for just two users that really only want the file sync. capability.

As I’m reading I’m seeing references to WebDAV and it seems that the Nextcloud file sync. server might be “just” a WebDAV server? If it is, might it be possible to point the Nextcloud sync. client (on Windows and Android) at an appropriately configured Apache or nginx server?

The reason I’m asking here, rather than just trying for myself, is that I have no experience with WebDAV and have no idea what an appropriately configured server might mean in this situation. I’m happy to go do the required learning to make it work - just looking for someone to tell me it’s not possible before I put too much effort into it.

  • Great Blue HeronOP
    2·
    10 months ago

    I’ve had a bit of a play and answered my own question:

    The answer is “no”. It may use WebDAV for the actual file sync. process, but there seems to be a bit of a Nextcloud specific handshake required first. I could maybe build an appropriate response to “nextcloud/status.php”, but this seems like the start of a slippery maintenance slope that I don’t want to go down.

    Now that I have my Apache WebDAV server working, I’m looking into other options for Windows, WebDAV based, file sync. clients. Any suggestions appreciated.

      • scrchngwsl@feddit.ukEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, I’ve done the opposite myself - used Windows native webdav integration in file explorer to access my Nextcloud data.

        Note that this isn’t “syncing” anything in the way that (say) Dropbox would - all the data is stored remotely and you’re accessing it online only essentially.

      • Great Blue HeronOP
        1·
        10 months ago

        Yes, I’m aware. But it’s specifically sync. that I want, not just mapping. I need the ability to have most stuff available from the server as needed with a subset always kept on the client devices. Just like the OneDrive, Google Drive and Nextcloud sync. clients.