@romu79230 said:

Is there any technically viable and supported method to migrate this Nextcloud application directly from Cloudron 7.4.1 to an existing Cloudron 7.3.6 instance, without upgrading the destination?

It is no longer possible since the app store API changed. You will have to update.

@romu79230 said:

If we use a recent Cloudron version, can we import the historical Nextcloud 4.17.0 application backup into an existing destination instance without affecting its other applications or users?

If you try to import an app from e.g.: Cloudron 10.1.0 to Cloudron 7.3.6 or Cloudron 7.4.1. No, the same issue as above.
Also, another issue is that newer Cloudron version use different MySQL and PostgreSQL versions which might not be backwards compatible.

In all honesty, the best approach would be to install a new Cloudron server on the latest version and slowly migrate all the apps from the outdated ones to this new Cloudron server.
This also is protecting the current running infrastructure from any issues.
And with every software, keep it updated.

Thank you for your explanations and recommendations.

To clarify the reason for our migration scenario: Cloudron 7.3.6 is the version currently installed on the existing destination server in our internship environment. It is a bare-metal server already hosting applications and users.

Our goal is to migrate only the Nextcloud application from the source Cloudron 7.4.1 instance, while preserving all other applications, users and platform settings on the destination.

We understand that upgrading the destination is the recommended approach, but this decision requires approval from our technical supervisor.

Before proposing a solution, could you clarify two points?

1. Is there any technically viable and supported method to migrate this Nextcloud application directly from Cloudron 7.4.1 to an existing Cloudron 7.3.6 instance, without upgrading the destination?

2. If we use a recent Cloudron version, can we import the historical Nextcloud 4.17.0 application backup into an existing destination instance without affecting its other applications or users?

We will test the recommended approach in our laboratory before proposing any infrastructure changes.

Thank you again for your assistance.

Both of your existing servers are extremely outdated.

• Cloudron version 7.3.6 https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/8268/cloudron-7-3-released
• Cloudron version 7.4.1 https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/9179/cloudron-7-4-released

Both from 2022/2023 and did not update Cloudron since then.

@romu79230 said:

Given these constraints, is a migration from Cloudron 7.4.1 to 7.3.6 technically supported, or would upgrading the destination be necessary before restoring Nextcloud?

Yes and No.

Yes you should upgrade your servers to the latest Cloudron version.
Is it needed to test a migration from server A=>B, no.

When you install a new Cloudron server, with the latest Cloudron version you can install Nextcloud version 4.17.0 and then import the backup config from the production Cloudron.
This way you can test a migration from the production Cloudron server 7.4.1 to a fresh latest version Cloudron.

I want to clarify and understand the following:

@romu79230 said:

Source: Cloudron 7.4.1, running Nextcloud 26.0.1 (package 4.17.0).
Destination: Cloudron 7.3.6.

Why would you want to migrate a Nextcloud app from one outdated Cloudron to an even more outdated Cloudron?

Thank you both for your replies.

To clarify, we are not trying to downgrade Cloudron because of minBoxVersion. We are reproducing an existing infrastructure in a test lab as part of my technical internship.

The actual environment consists of two Cloudron instances:

• Source: Cloudron 7.4.1, running Nextcloud 26.0.1 (package 4.17.0).
• Destination: Cloudron 7.3.6.

We have reproduced these versions on two separate physical servers to investigate the feasibility and limitations of migrating Nextcloud between them.

Our objective is to document a reliable migration procedure, preserve data integrity, and identify potential compatibility issues without affecting the existing infrastructure.

We understand that minBoxVersion: 7.3.0 specifies a minimum supported version and does not require Cloudron 7.3.6.

Given these constraints, is a migration from Cloudron 7.4.1 to 7.3.6 technically supported, or would upgrading the destination be necessary before restoring Nextcloud?

Thank you again for your help!

@romu79230 said:

I need to reproduce an existing environment using Cloudron 7.4.1 and Nextcloud 26.0.1 (Cloudron package 4.17.0), with Cloudron 7.3.6 as the migration target.

Am I reading this correct that you are trying to migrate from 7.4.1 to 7.3.6? So a downgrade?
Why do that?
Did you maybe misunderstand minBoxVersion: 7.3.0 in the sense that the version 7.3 is needed?
It is the minimal version required. So if you install the latest version of Cloudron you can also run Nextcloud 4.17.0.

Cloudron generally is designed to be more of an evergreen platform, mostly because server software exposed to the internet always need to be kept fresh because of security issues.

I guess one alternative around this to still use the old nextlcoud, you could build the tag from the nextcloud package repo https://git.cloudron.io/packages/nextcloud-app If that still builds is a bit unknown given that this also requires other upstream resources to be installed, but probably worth a try.

Please send us a mail to support@cloudron.io with the details both of your Cloudron instances.