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NextCloud is a PHP application and performs the role of , user interface, document store and WOPI authentication server. Collabora Online compatibility is now available via a bundled plugin and the only configuration needed is the URL for the Collabora service. When users open a file in NextCloud control is passed to Collabora Online, and the office application interface appears.

 

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A single Collabora Online service can be used by more than one NextCloud front-end.

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NextCloud's SAML implementation is currently rather limited, and only supports one IdP. This means that a proxy IdP would be needed to provide fully federated access to users.

 

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More advanced SAML features are planned and development seems to be active.

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The second SSO option is to rely on the web server (such as Apache or NGINX) and use basic user information passed as environment variables such as REMOTE_USER.

 

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This means that the Shibboleth SP software, OpenID Connect or even Kerberos can be used, but integration is weak - only the username is available.

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This would hinder usage across a federation (since users would not exist in the LDAP directory) but may help research organisations, as group membership and access control can be handled by a community LDAP server.

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Pilot Implementations

Three different demonstrations were set up, so that different features and integration combinations could be explored.

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Demonstration 2: External authentication (SAML) plus LDAP

 

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Demonstration 3: Integrated SAML with a federated IdP Proxy

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The External Storage plugin allows remote data storage to be used, including other NextCloud or OwnCloud services.

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Caveats

Speed

The display of Collabora is generated by sending many tile-like images over the web as individual files, and is rather slow. Over a normal broadband internet connection the display is not quite fast enough to keep up with typing.

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However, there is an unofficial project to help with installing an alternative open source version of the Collabora Online software without these limitations, and without Docker.

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Admin accounts must be created before switching to SSO

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