ownCloud Infinite Scale

What Infinite Scale does

ownCloud Infinite Scale, usually shortened to oCIS, is ownCloud’s rewrite of its file sync and share server in Go. Users get a web interface, desktop sync and mobile apps, and can share files and folders with others. Instead of tying everything to a user’s home folder, Infinite Scale uses spaces: a personal space for each user plus project spaces that are assigned to teams, so files do not disappear when someone leaves.

The server talks to clients over WebDAV and the CS3 APIs and is built on reva, a storage framework. The web client is developed in the same repository, and the existing ownCloud desktop, Android and iOS apps connect to it. Office documents can be edited in the browser by connecting Collabora Online, OnlyOffice or Microsoft Office Online Server through a WOPI gateway.

Architecture and authentication

The design choices are what set it apart from PHP-based servers. Infinite Scale needs no external database: files and their metadata live on the storage itself. It is delivered as a single binary or container that contains many micro-services. On a small machine they all run in one process; in a larger deployment you can run them separately and scale them, up to a Kubernetes cluster.

Users authenticate with OpenID Connect. A small identity provider (LibreGraph Connect) is built in, or you can use an external one such as Keycloak and reuse your existing directory. The README sums it up as needing neither an external database nor an external identity provider to start.

The documentation reviewed does not describe server-side or end-to-end encryption features beyond TLS for transport, so encryption at rest is left to the storage layer.

Self-hosting Infinite Scale

The admin documentation describes container deployments, with a Docker Compose example for a production server, and a quick evaluation that runs with a couple of Docker commands. For simple testing, a Raspberry Pi 4 or a laptop with 512 MB of RAM is enough; for more serious testing ownCloud recommends a multicore CPU with at least 4 GB of RAM. Memory needs grow with the number of spaces, because the server caches metadata for each one, and the prerequisites page explains how to estimate this. Building from source needs a recent Go toolchain and a C build environment.

With no database, backups mostly mean backing up the storage and configuration.

License and builds

The source code is Apache 2.0 and contributions do not require a CLA. However, the README warns that some builds of stable releases provided by ownCloud GmbH are covered by an End User License Agreement. That EULA forbids commercial use and redistribution of those builds. If you run it in a business, check which build you install or build it from source. ownCloud belongs to Kiteworks, which acquired it in 2023.

Hosted version

ownCloud does not list a hosted Infinite Scale service of its own. owncloud.com promotes ownCloud.online, a SaaS hosted in Germany, but that site is operated by BW-Tech GmbH and does not say it runs Infinite Scale.

Limitations

There is no add-on ecosystem comparable to Nextcloud’s: it focuses on files, sharing and office integration. The EULA on some official builds adds a licensing check that pure open source projects do not need. Encryption at rest is not a documented application feature.

Who it suits

Infinite Scale fits organizations that want a modern file sync and share service, already run OpenID Connect or Kubernetes, and prefer not to maintain PHP and a database. OpenCloud has a very similar design and is worth comparing; existing ownCloud 10 users can also stay on ownCloud Classic.