MILE: All current services confirmed working on a fresh arch vps

roles/nextcloud/README.md

@@ -78,6 +78,40 @@ nextcloud_php_memory_limit: "512M"
 nextcloud_php_upload_limit: "512M"
 ```
 
+## Deployment Strategy
+
+This role uses a **two-phase deployment** approach to work correctly with the Nextcloud container's initialization process:
+
+### Phase 1: Container Initialization (automatic)
+1. Create empty directories for volumes
+2. Deploy environment configuration (`.env`)
+3. Start Nextcloud container
+4. Container entrypoint detects first-time setup (no `version.php`)
+5. Container copies Nextcloud files to `/var/www/html/`
+6. Container runs `occ maintenance:install` with PostgreSQL
+7. Installation creates `config.php` with database credentials
+
+### Phase 2: Custom Configuration (automatic)
+8. Ansible waits for `occ status` to report `installed: true`
+9. Ansible deploys custom `redis.config.php` (overwrites default)
+10. Container restart applies custom configuration
+
+**Why this order?**
+
+The Nextcloud container's entrypoint uses `version.php` as a marker to determine if installation is needed. If you deploy any files into `/opt/nextcloud/config/` before the container starts, the initialization process fails:
+
+- Container copies files including `version.php`
+- Entrypoint sees `version.php` exists → assumes already installed
+- Skips running `occ maintenance:install`
+- Result: Empty `config.php`, 503 errors
+
+By deploying custom configs **after** installation completes, we:
+- ✅ Allow the container's auto-installation to run properly
+- ✅ Override specific configs (like Redis) after the fact
+- ✅ Maintain idempotency (subsequent runs just update configs)
+
+See the official [Nextcloud Docker documentation](https://github.com/nextcloud/docker#auto-configuration-via-environment-variables) for more details on the auto-configuration process.
+
 ## Usage
 
 ### Include in Playbook
@@ -232,11 +266,13 @@ This role disables Redis sessions by **not setting** `REDIS_HOST` in the environ
 
 **If you need Redis sessions** (e.g., multi-server setup with session sharing), you must:
 1. Enable `REDIS_HOST` in `nextcloud.env.j2`
-2. Set proper lock parameters in a custom PHP ini file
+2. Add a custom PHP ini file with proper lock parameters:
-3. Increase FPM workers significantly (15-20+)
+   - `redis.session.lock_expire = 30` (locks expire after 30 seconds)
-4. Monitor for orphaned session locks
+   - `redis.session.lock_retries = 100` (max 100 retries, not infinite)
-
+   - `redis.session.lock_wait_time = 50000` (50ms between retries)
-See `templates/redis-session-override.ini.j2` for an example of session lock tuning.
+3. Mount the ini file with `zz-` prefix to load after the entrypoint's redis-session.ini
+4. Increase FPM workers significantly (15-20+)
+5. Monitor for orphaned session locks
 
 ## Troubleshooting
 

roles/nextcloud/tasks/main.yml

@@ -52,21 +52,12 @@
   notify: restart nextcloud
   tags: [config]
 
-- name: Deploy custom Redis caching configuration
+# NOTE: Custom Redis config is deployed AFTER installation completes (see below)
-  template:
+# to avoid interfering with the container's first-time initialization process
-    src: redis.config.php.j2
-    dest: "{{ nextcloud_config_dir }}/redis.config.php"
-    mode: '0640'
-  notify: restart nextcloud
-  tags: [config, redis]
 
-- name: Deploy Redis session lock override configuration
+# NOTE: redis-session-override.ini is NOT deployed because we use file-based sessions
-  template:
+# (not Redis sessions). If you enable REDIS_HOST in the future, you'll need to add
-    src: redis-session-override.ini.j2
+# proper session lock configuration.
-    dest: "{{ nextcloud_home }}/redis-session-override.ini"
-    mode: '0644'
-  notify: restart nextcloud
-  tags: [config, redis]
 
 - name: Create Quadlet systemd directory (system scope)
   file:
@@ -130,21 +121,43 @@
   delay: 10
   tags: [verification]
 
+- name: Wait for Nextcloud installation to complete
+  shell: podman exec nextcloud php occ status --output=json 2>/dev/null || echo '{"installed":false}'
+  register: nc_status
+  until: (nc_status.stdout | from_json).installed | default(false) == true
+  retries: 60
+  delay: 5
+  changed_when: false
+  tags: [verification]
+
+- name: Deploy custom Redis caching configuration (post-installation)
+  template:
+    src: redis.config.php.j2
+    dest: "{{ nextcloud_config_dir }}/redis.config.php"
+    mode: '0644'
+  notify: restart nextcloud
+  tags: [config, redis]
+
 - name: Display Nextcloud deployment status
   debug:
     msg: |
       ✅ Nextcloud Cloud Storage deployed successfully!
       
       🌐 Domain: {{ nextcloud_domain }}
-      🗄️ Database: {{ nextcloud_db_name }} (Unix socket)
+      🗄️ Database: {{ nextcloud_db_name }} (PostgreSQL via Unix socket)
-      🗄️ Cache: Valkey DB {{ nextcloud_valkey_db }} (Unix socket)
+      🗄️ Cache: Valkey DB {{ nextcloud_valkey_db }} (Redis-compatible via Unix socket)
       🐳 Container: FPM via Podman Quadlet
       🔒 Admin: {{ nextcloud_admin_user }}
       
+      ⚙️  Configuration:
+      - Redis caching enabled (application-level cache & file locking)
+      - PHP sessions use file-based storage (not Redis)
+      - Custom redis.config.php deployed post-installation
+      
       🚀 Ready for file storage and collaboration!
       
       📋 Next Steps:
-      - Access https://{{ nextcloud_domain }} to complete setup
+      - Access https://{{ nextcloud_domain }} to log in
       - Install desired Nextcloud apps
-      - Configure user accounts
+      - Configure user accounts and storage quotas
   tags: [verification]

roles/nextcloud/templates/nextcloud.container

@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@ Volume={{ nextcloud_config_dir }}:/var/www/html/config:Z
 # Custom apps (world-readable)
 Volume={{ nextcloud_custom_apps_dir }}:/var/www/html/custom_apps:Z
 
-# Redis session configuration override (zz- prefix ensures it loads last)
-Volume={{ nextcloud_home }}/redis-session-override.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/zz-redis-session-override.ini:Z,ro
-
 # Infrastructure sockets (mounted with world-readable permissions on host)
 Volume={{ postgresql_unix_socket_directories }}:{{ postgresql_unix_socket_directories }}:Z
 Volume={{ valkey_unix_socket_path | dirname }}:{{ valkey_unix_socket_path | dirname }}:Z

roles/nextcloud/templates/redis-session-override.ini.j2

@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-; Redis Session Lock Override for Nextcloud
-; Prevents orphaned session locks from causing infinite hangs
-;
-; Default Nextcloud container settings:
-;   redis.session.lock_expire = 0       (locks NEVER expire - causes infinite hangs)
-;   redis.session.lock_retries = -1     (infinite retries - causes worker exhaustion)
-;   redis.session.lock_wait_time = 10000 (10 seconds per retry - very slow)
-;
-; These settings ensure locks auto-expire and failed requests don't block workers forever:
-;   - Locks expire after 30 seconds (prevents orphaned locks)
-;   - Max 100 retries = 5 seconds total wait time (prevents infinite loops)
-;   - 50ms wait between retries (reasonable balance)
-
-redis.session.lock_expire = 30
-redis.session.lock_retries = 100
-redis.session.lock_wait_time = 50000

roles/postgresql/tasks/main.yml

@@ -126,6 +126,11 @@
   delay: 3
   when: postgresql_service_state == "started" and postgresql_unix_socket_enabled and postgresql_listen_addresses == ""
 
+# Containerized applications mount socket directories. If handlers run at the end of playbooks this will mount stale sockets.
+- name: Flush handlers for socket connection
+  meta: flush_handlers
+  tags: always
+
 - name: Display PostgreSQL infrastructure status
   debug:
     msg: |
@@ -136,4 +141,4 @@
       📊 Checksums: {{ 'Enabled' if postgresql_data_checksums else 'Disabled' }}
       {% if postgresql_unix_socket_enabled %}🔌 Socket: {{ postgresql_unix_socket_directories }} (mode {{ postgresql_unix_socket_permissions }}){% endif %}
       
-      🏗️ Ready for applications to create databases/users
+      🏗️ Ready for applications to create databases/users

roles/valkey/tasks/main.yml

@@ -143,6 +143,11 @@
   failed_when: valkey_ping_result_socket.stdout != "PONG"
   when: valkey_service_state == "started" and valkey_unix_socket_enabled
 
+# Containerized applications mount socket directories. If handlers run at the end of playbooks this will mount stale sockets.
+- name: Flush handlers for socket connection
+  meta: flush_handlers
+  tags: always
+
 - name: Display Valkey infrastructure status
   debug:
     msg: |