This repository documents my journey of deploying a Nextcloud instance, transitioning from a simple local Docker setup to a more complex, cloud-based configuration. This project served as a practical learning experience in deploying apps in the cloud using Docker, focusing on the path and growth over the destination.

Detailed information on how the project was executed can be found in the project-journal.org file. Commits to the project were made side-by-side with comments in the journal, which can help understaning the thought process behind commits to the code/files.

As there are not many projects that were viable for showcasing on GitHub, I've decided to leverage LLM (gpt-4-turbo trough ChatGPT interface) to refactor the project and generate a README file for it.

The primary purpose of this project was to explore and understand the intricacies of containerized application deployment using Docker, Traefik, and Portainer. It began with a straightforward local environment and gradually scaled into a full-fledged cloud deployment.

Special thanks to Raf Rasenberg, whose initial configurations for Traefik and Portainer provided a solid foundation for this project. The original setup from his project, described herehere(https://github.com/rafrasenberg/docker-traefik-portainer), has been significantly adapted to suit the needs of a Nextcloud deployment.

The project kicked off with a basic Docker setup for Nextcloud, using standalone containers without any orchestration.

As my familiarity with Docker grew, I incorporated Docker Compose, Traefik for reverse proxying, and Portainer for easier container management. Each step added layers of complexity and learning opportunities, particularly in networking and secure configuration.

The final iteration was deployed in a cloud environment, fine-tuned for performance and security. This included SSL configuration, domain management with Cloudflare, and advanced Traefik features like automatic HTTPS redirection.

Throughout this journey, numerous challenges were encountered, such as network configuration issues, SSL/TLS certificate management, and optimizing Docker Compose setups for production environments. Each challenge was met with research and iterative testing, resulting in a robust setup.

The repository is structured to reflect different stages of the project:

`nextcloud-local/`: Contains Docker Compose files and configurations used during the initial development phases. `on-nextcloud-server/`: Includes configurations tailored for the cloud deployment. `core/`: Shared configurations for Traefik and Portainer. 

Minimal setup instructions are provided, as the project's goal is not to offer a ready-to-deploy solution but to illustrate a learning process.

This project is distributed under the MIT License, the same as the initial project by Raf Rasenberg. Modifications and additions are also included under this license.