99% of all Nextcloud tasks can be handled through the web GUI — we designed it so that you as a customer never need shell access. For very rare edge cases, OCC (Nextcloud’s CLI tool) is still the right tool. Here’s how we handle that.
The ground rule
At xaweho:
We look after the server foundation. You, as the Nextcloud admin, work in the GUI. There is no SSH access to the server — OCC tasks we take over via ticket.
Meaning:
- Updates, backups, performance tuning, OS patches: we do
- App management, user management, sharing: you do, in the GUI
- OCC tasks: on request via support ticket — we execute
That’s deliberate. It means:
- You can’t accidentally wreck the setup
- We can maintain the setup predictably
- Backup mechanisms aren’t broken by unknown manual interventions
OCC — what it is
occ (officially: the occ command, short for “ownCloud Console” — a historical name) is Nextcloud’s command-line tool. It handles tasks the GUI doesn’t offer:
- Change the full configuration in
config.php - Force a file scan / re-indexing
- User actions without the GUI (mass imports, etc.)
- Trigger cron jobs manually
- Repair commands (
occ maintenance:repair) - Re-index the full-text search
- Theming reset
- Manage encryption keys
Functionally very powerful — dangerous when used wrong.
When OCC makes sense
Typical cases where we run OCC commands via ticket:
Database index problems
Symptom: poor performance despite new hardware. Cause: missing database indexes after an app update.
Fix: occ db:add-missing-indices. We run it.
File scan after storage manipulation
If files landed on the storage manually (very rare — e.g. a migration), Nextcloud doesn’t know about them. Fix: occ files:scan --all. Takes hours on large setups.
App management broken in the GUI
Sometimes app management hangs after a failed update. Fix: occ app:disable <appname> + reinstall.
LDAP/SAML configuration
Complex identity-provider setups sometimes need CLI configuration.
Retraining the Recognize model
occ recognize:reanalyze — after misdetections or newly added people.
Repair after an aborted update
occ maintenance:repair — for the very rare cases where an update was interrupted mid-run (power loss, etc.).
How you request OCC commands from us
Via support ticket: write what you want to achieve (ideally with an example or the error message). We check, execute, report back.
Example ticket:
Hi, we installed a larger Nextcloud app yesterday (Recognize), and the gallery has been very slow since. Could you run
occ db:add-missing-indices? Thanks!
We typically do this within 1 business day, faster in urgent cases.
SSH access — is that possible?
No. Your Nextcloud runs fully managed — shell access to the system would make our maintenance, updates and backups incalculable. Everything that works via OCC, we run for you via ticket (see above); logs are visible in the admin GUI under Administration settings → Logging. If you have a use case that seemingly requires a shell: describe the problem in a ticket — in almost all cases there’s a way without one.
Which OCC commands are worth knowing anyway
As a Nextcloud admin (even without shell access) it’s still useful to understand the commands — in case we mention them in mails/tickets:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
occ status | Version info, maintenance mode |
occ db:add-missing-indices | Add missing database indexes, performance |
occ files:scan --all | Full re-scan of all files |
occ app:list | All apps with their status |
occ app:enable <app> | Enable an app |
occ app:disable <app> | Disable an app |
occ user:list | User list |
occ user:resetpassword <user> | Password reset for a user |
occ maintenance:mode --on/--off | Enable/disable maintenance mode |
occ config:list system | Show the system config |
More in the official Nextcloud documentation.
What experience has taught us
From our setups:
- 90% of all “I need SSH” requests are actually GUI tasks the customer doesn’t know about. We help with a GUI walk-through first.
- 8% are genuine OCC cases — we handle those via ticket.
- 2% are special cases (custom migrations, very particular setup wishes) — we solve those together via ticket, with a plan instead of a shell.
Which means: describe the problem, not the kind of access you’d like — there’s usually a more elegant solution.
Backup restore
If something has genuinely gone wrong (through your own action or ours):
- We keep seven daily backups, managed by us and accessible exclusively to us; longer retention or shorter intervals we set up on request
- The backups are mirrored across sites — a site outage never hits all copies at once
- A restore takes time (large setup: 1–4 hours) but works reliably
- Open a ticket: “please restore from
”
More in the plan details on the Nextcloud page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run occ in the web GUI?
There’s a small admin web OCC app, but we don’t enable it by default — the risk of someone turning on maintenance mode and never turning it off again is too high.
How long does a typical OCC command take with you? Fast commands (status, app:enable): under 1 minute once the ticket is picked up. Long commands (files:scan on 1 TB of storage): several hours, we send progress updates.
What does an OCC command cost? On the standard plan: included in the support flat rate. For frequent or complex requests, extra costs may apply — we tell you beforehand.
Viewing logs — how?
In the admin GUI: Administration settings → Logging. Shows the most recent log entries, with filtering. For deeper log diving (apache_access.log, php-fpm.log): open a ticket, we deliver the relevant excerpts.
Triggering cron jobs manually? The GUI usually has no option for that. Via ticket we can trigger cron immediately (e.g. after a Recognize update).
What happens with the OCC commands you run — is there an audit log? We keep internal logs of what we execute — traceable per ticket.
App update via OCC vs the GUI? Both do the same. The GUI update is the usual way. OCC only when the GUI hangs or for multi-batch updates.
What’s next
First login as a Nextcloud admin
What to do after your Nextcloud is provisioned — login, profile, the important first settings, what we handle and what you handle.
Admin GUI overview — what you'll find where
Nextcloud's administration settings are big. Here's a tour of the sections that matter and what they do.
Creating users and groups
Create users for family, club or team, organize groups, set quotas, control login behavior.
Sharing — files with others, internally and externally
Sharing files in Nextcloud — within your cloud with other users, with groups, or externally via sharing link.