That’s how I’d answer if I set something up years ago and it was stable and never required me to come tinker with it.
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
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Nextcloud asked in a poll at https://mastodon.social/@nextcloud@mastodon.xyz/115095096413238457 what database its users are running. Interestingly one fifth replied they don't know. Should people know better where their data is stored, or is it a good thing everything is running so smoothly people don't need to know what their software stack is built upon?
Mine is managed hosted so I don't know.
It's awesome that you don't have to remember what software you're using underneath. I looked into it before I installed it, but I'd have to check which one I went with. I also have no idea what graphics card I'm using, which headset I'm using, what brand of eyeglass cleaner I'm using etc. I looked into it at the time, made a choice and promptly forgot about why and filled my brain with other things.
If I remembered which database I was running it means that I'd have enough problems with it that I'd look at it a lot.
I don’t think it matters
You could deploy a container and not know what DB is used
I set up everything I use "bare metal" or at least in an lxc container I directly build and maintain, but most people don't. Makes a lot of sense, to be honest. A lot of prepackaged software uses databases and nobody has to care exactly what it's up to.
Are people here trying to "I run arch btw" database services.
They really push you to install the aio container so it's not surprising to me.
That's because they push the all in one container.
There could be multiple factors. For example, I have a Nextcloud instance that is fully managed by Hetzner, and I didn't bother to find out what database it uses...
Should've specifically asked the operators/hosters if they need a better answer. But this has more engagement so
People don't care and/or haven't looked at the serverinfo page. That actually mentions the type of database in use.
So the "I don't know" option was probably just the easiest.
You can install NextCloud with snap.
Yeah, and after having dealt with the "I missed a few updates and then the last one put my files out of sync with my schema" Docker issues, I'm very much happy to use the snap. Been on that a couple years and it's been quite solid, even if I did have to install snapd on my Debian base for it
I use the prebuilt Hetzner one and have no idea either.
Yeah. I have used that. And I'm sure most with personal instances that just pressed the "Install NextCloud" button have no clue, including me.
My instance did required me to fix some db issue after an update(it still works but the fix was recommended*). So I knew I am using mariadb. Its not super smooth sailing.
East or West, SQLite is the best.
Not sure I understand... Can the type of database be customised during nextcloud installation? If not, then more than 37% gave a wrong answer, which is worse than the 18%?
Yes, all three are supported configurations. Technically all four, since "I don't know" is apparently a completely valid and functional configuration too.
Honestly I'm more concerned about those willingly using sqlite.
Unless it has changed a lot over the years, I remember it being orders of magnitude better with MariaDB than sqlite.
SQLite is fine for small amounts of data and very few users. The bottleneck with Nextcloud is almost never the database.
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I think that's really beautiful.