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?

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[–] sixty@sh.itjust.works 42 points 1 day ago

Whatever the docker compose file that I found had

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 58 points 2 days ago

"18% of car owners don't know their brake fluid DOT rating."

[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 54 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That is actually good news. Means that people more likely to be "normies" are adopting an alternative solution.

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[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 30 points 2 days ago

I have five users, max, and barely any files. I don't know which one Nextcloud AIO uses and I don't care. There's no wrong answer for such a small deployment. It uses whatever database Nextcloud felt was sensible as the default. They know more about picking the right tool for their requirements than I do.

If I'm building something for myself, then I care.

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

East or West, SQLite is the best.

[–] SparroHawc@lemmy.zip 180 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

If you're running it in a prebuilt container, as long as it works it shouldn't matter and you don't need to care.

Of course, when your database gets corrupted after Nextcloud updates because you had an app running that isn't supported in the new version, it will suddenly matter a lot.

[–] Pechente@feddit.org 56 points 2 days ago

I‘m using a hosted Nextcloud instance from Hetzner and I have no idea what this is running on either. There’s a significant number of people who didn’t set up their Nextcloud instance, so people not knowing what it’s running on isn’t too surprising.

[–] med@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

And if you don't know what database you're running, how are you backing it up?

If you don't know what database you're running, are you bothering to do a full shutdown before backups? Are you doing backups at all...

[–] SparroHawc@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Exactly. It's not important ... until it is. :D

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[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 114 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I write software for a living, and have worked with all 3 database options in the past. I don't know what DB backend my nextcloud server is using, nor do I care.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 52 points 2 days ago (12 children)

Yeah, that is the kind of concern for the service developer or a very opinionated sys admin. For self-hosting, few people will reach the workload where such a decision has any material or measurable impact.

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[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] 4k93n2@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

my computer is really slow. where can i download more rams?

[–] interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

Enable hugepage allocation, it will deduplicate memory chunks and save you lotsaram Especially good with an hypervisor desktop

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 days ago

Theres heaps of hosted nextcloud services. Those users wouldn't know.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

. >18% of people running next cloud are not backing it up.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Where are you getting that from? The fastest and easiest way to back up any server is a full filesystem backup, especially if you're using something like zfs or btrfs.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I can't decide if you don't know what you're talking about or you're just trying to troll me.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 1 points 13 hours ago

Neither, I'm trying to explain that you don't need to know the implementation details of the software running on your server to backup the entire thing.

[–] fodor@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is a fallacious. If you have a very small set of users, what exact data is in the database that you would be upset at losing? Maybe your contacts and your calendar. Which you could back up manually, which might actually be simpler than backing up the database.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 1 points 19 hours ago

I'm sorry, but writing down the data from your organizational program and re-entering it all from scratch is NOT a backup solution.

If you have such scant data to do that, you didn't need to have nextcould installed in the first place.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I also have no idea if my place has PVC or galvanized steel plumbing; or its designed electrical load. Why should users care about the DBMS.

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[–] 3dcadmin@lemmy.relayeasy.com 16 points 2 days ago

Nextcloud is pushed as an easy to use docker setup these days, heck most people I know who "use" it don't do much with it at all so what database it is using is gonna be way back in their list of priorities...
Plus the users outweigh the admins surely (as in those that just install then forget)

[–] Zozano@aussie.zone 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Where's the option for "what's a database?"

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[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago

The rule of internet polls is that the funniest answer is always over-represented.

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

TIL that NextCloud can use an external database.

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[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (15 children)

Every person using a computer should know what their filesystem is and what database they are using. Otherwise they are fools.

Can you believe kids don’t know what NTFS or APFS are these days?! Stupid iPad babies.

[–] paper_moon@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Haha at some point it did matter to regular folks though. I remember in Junior high when I would try to pirate games or software on Windows, I learned the big difference between fat32 and the new filesystem Microsoft released, NTFS because I couldn't download files larger than 4GB on fat32.

[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It’s important if you’re using flash drives across platforms though that’s pretty rare these days too. My wife has run into this problem by formatting as ExFAT (GUID partition table) when print shops’ terrible machines only support FAT32 and/or MBR partition tables.

Thankfully macOS at home understands ExFAT otherwise those formatted drives from her Windows work computer wouldn’t even work.

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[–] justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 days ago

I mean.. I set it up many many years ago... Without looking it up I can also just guess.

[–] sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 3 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 29 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Isn't that the whole point of containerised solutions? Having some pre-setup, auto-updating solution with very little requirement to dive into the details like what your database is and which dependencies you need to manage...

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[–] bent@feddit.dk 5 points 2 days ago

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.

[–] stratself@lemdro.id 4 points 1 day ago

Should've specifically asked the operators/hosters if they need a better answer. But this has more engagement so

[–] nshibj@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

*18% of the people who answered a poll on Mastodon

[–] fodor@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 days ago

Well that's kind of misleading, right? If they didn't set one up, then it's probably SQLite. But if they did set one up, that was years ago, and who cares what it is, if it's working.

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