Collabora CODE Server

Purpose:¶

The Collabora CODE Server is used by Nextcloud Office to open and edit documents and spreadsheets collaboratively. When Nextcloud is not deployed in a Nextcloud AIO way, and is instead installed not as a container, you (may) run into stability issues with Collabora CODE Server just randomly breaking and not allowing users to edit documents. If this happens, you can follow this document to stand-up a dedicated Collabora CODE Server on the same host as your Nextcloud server.

Assumptions

It is assumed that you are running an ACME Certificate Bot on your Nextcloud server to generate certificates for Nextcloud.
It is also assumed that you are running Ubuntu Server 24.04.3 LTS. This document does not outline the process for setting up an ACME Certificate Bot.
It is lastly assumed that (until changes are made to allow such) this will only work for internal access. Unless you port-forward port 9980 Collabora will not function for public internet-facing access.

Install Docker and Configure Portainer¶

The first thing you need to do is install Docker then Portainer. You can do this by following the Portainer Deployment documentation.

Portainer Stack¶

docker-compose.yml

name: app
services:
  code:
    image: collabora/code
    container_name: collabora
    restart: always
    networks:
      - collabora-net
    environment:
      - domain=${NEXTCLOUD_COLLABORA_URL}
      - aliasgroup1=${NEXTCLOUD_COLLABORA_URL}
      - username=${CODESERVER_ADMIN_USER} # Used to login @ https://cloud.bunny-lab.io:9980/browser/dist/admin/admin.html
      - password=${CODESERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD} # Used to login @ https://cloud.bunny-lab.io:9980/browser/dist/admin/admin.html
      # CODE speaks HTTP internally, TLS is terminated at nginx
      - extra_params=--o:ssl.enable=false --o:ssl.termination=true
    # no direct port mapping; only reachable via proxy

  collabora-proxy:
    image: nginx:alpine
    container_name: collabora-proxy
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - code
    networks:
      - collabora-net
    ports:
      # Host port 9980 -> container port 443 (HTTPS)
      - "9980:443"
    volumes:
      # Our nginx vhost config (this exists outside of the container anywhere you want to put it, by default "/opt/collabora/nginx.conf")
      - /opt/collabora/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro

      # Mount the entire letsencrypt tree so symlinks keep working
      - /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt:ro

networks:
  collabora-net:
    driver: bridge

.env

NEXTCLOUD_COLLABORA_URL=cloud\\.bunny-lab\\.io
CODESERVER_ADMIN_USER=admin
CODESERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD=ChangeThisPassword

NGINX Reverse Proxy Configuration¶

If the container does not run on the same host as Traefik, you will need to manually add configuration to Traefik's dynamic config file, outlined below.

/opt/collabora/nginx.conf

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
    default upgrade;
    ''      close;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name cloud.bunny-lab.io;

    ssl_certificate     /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.bunny-lab.io/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.bunny-lab.io/privkey.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    # Main proxy to CODE
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://collabora:9980;

        # Required for WebSockets
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

        # Standard headers
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;

        proxy_read_timeout 36000;
        proxy_connect_timeout 36000;
        proxy_send_timeout 36000;

        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_request_buffering off;
    }
}

Configuring Nextcloud Office¶

Now that the Collabora CODE Server was deployed and instructed to use the existing LetsEncrypt SSL Certificates located in /etc/letsencrypt/live/cloud.bunny-lab.io/ on the Ubuntu host, we can proceed to reconfiguring Nextcloud to use this new server.

Login to the Nextcloud server as an administrator
Navigate to "Apps"
Ensure that any existing ONLYOFFICE or Built-in Collabora CODE Server apps are disabled / removed from Nextcloud itself
Navigate to "Administration Settings"
In the left-hand "Administration" sidebar, look for something like "Office" or "Nextcloud Office" and click on it
- Check the radio box that says "Use your own server"
- For the URL, enter https://cloud.bunny-lab.io:9980 and uncheck the "Disable certificate verification (insecure)" checkbox, then click the "Save" button.

Collabora Online Server is Reachable

At this point, you should see a green banner at the top of the Nextcloud webpage stating something like "Collabora Online Development Edition 25.04.7.2 a246f9ab3c". This would indicate that Nextcloud should be able to successfully talk with the Collabora CODE Server and that you can now proceed to verify that everything is working by trying to create and edit some documents and spreadsheets.

Administrating Collabora CODE Server¶

As aforementioned, we can manage Collabora CODE Server sessions and useful metrics about who is editing documents and being able to terminate their sessions if they get stuck or something can be useful. You can login to the management web interface at https://cloud.bunny-lab.io:9980/browser/dist/admin/admin.html using the CODESERVER_ADMIN_USER and CODESERVER_ADMIN_PASSWORD credentials.