110 lines
7.6 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
7.6 KiB
Markdown
# Server Delegation
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To have a server on a subdomain (e.g. `matrix.<your-domain>`) handle Matrix federation traffic for the base domain (`<your-domain>`), we need to instruct the Matrix network of such a delegation.
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By default, this playbook guides you into setting up [Server Delegation via a well-known file](#server-delegation-via-a-well-known-file).
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However, that method may have some downsides that are not to your liking. Hence this guide about alternative ways to set up Server Delegation.
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It is a complicated matter, so unless you are affected by the [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation), we suggest you stay on the simple/default path.
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## Server Delegation via a well-known file
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Serving a `/.well-known/matrix/server` file from the base domain is the most straightforward way to set up server delegation, but it suffers from some problems that we list in [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation).
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As we already mention in [Configuring DNS](configuring-dns.md) and [Configuring Service Discovery via .well-known](configuring-well-known.md),
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this playbook already properly guides you into setting up such delegation by means of a `/.well-known/matrix/server` file served from the base domain (`<your-domain>`).
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If this is okay with you, feel free to not read ahead.
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### Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation
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Server Delegation by means of a `/.well-known/matrix/server` file is the most straightforward, but suffers from the following downsides:
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- you need to have a working HTTPS server for the base domain (`<your-domain>`). If you don't have any server for the base domain at all, you can easily solve it by making the playbook [serve the base domain from the Matrix server](configuring-playbook-base-domain-serving.md).
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- any downtime on the base domain (`<your-domain>`) or network trouble between the matrix subdomain (`matrix.<your-domain>`) and the base `<domain>` may cause Matrix Federation outages. As the [Server-Server spec says](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/server_server/r0.1.0.html#server-discovery):
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> Errors are recommended to be cached for up to an hour, and servers are encouraged to exponentially back off for repeated failures.
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**For most people, this is a reasonable tradeoff** given that it's easy and straightforward to set up. We recommend you stay on this path.
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Otherwise, you can decide to go against the default for this playbook, and instead set up [Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record (advanced)](#server-delegation-via-a-dns-srv-record-advanced) (much more complicated).
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## Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record (advanced)
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**NOTE**: doing Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record is a more **advanced** way to do it and is not the default for this playbook. This is usually **much more complicated** to set up, so **we don't recommend it**. If you're not an experience sysadmin, you'd better stay away from this.
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As per the [Server-Server spec](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/server_server/r0.1.0.html#server-discovery), it's possible to do Server Delegation using only a SRV record (without a `/.well-known/matrix/server` file).
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This prevents you from suffering the [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation).
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To use DNS SRV record validation, you need to:
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- ensure that `/.well-known/matrix/server` is **not served** from the base domain, as that would interfere with DNS SRV record Server Delegation. To make the playbook **not** generate and serve the file, use the following configuration: `matrix_static_files_file_matrix_server_enabled: false`.
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- ensure that you have a `_matrix._tcp` DNS SRV record for your base domain (`<your-domain>`) with a value of `10 0 8448 matrix.<your-domain>`
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- ensure that you are serving the Matrix Federation API (tcp/8448) with a certificate for `<your-domain>` (not `matrix.<your-domain>`!). Getting this certificate to the `matrix.<your-domain>` server may be complicated. The playbook's automatic SSL obtaining/renewal flow will likely not work and you'll need to copy certificates around manually. See below.
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For more details on [how to configure the playbook to work with SRV delegation](howto-srv-server-delegation.md)
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### Obtaining certificates
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How you can obtain a valid certificate for `<your-domain>` on the `matrix.<your-domain>` server is up to you.
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If `<your-domain>` and `matrix.<your-domain>` are hosted on the same machine, you can let the playbook obtain the certificate for you, by following our [Obtaining SSL certificates for additional domains](configuring-playbook-ssl-certificates.md#obtaining-ssl-certificates-for-additional-domains) guide.
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If `<your-domain>` and `matrix.<your-domain>` are not hosted on the same machine, you can copy over the certificate files manually.
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Don't forget that they may get renewed once in a while, so you may also have to transfer them periodically. How often you do that is up to you, as long as the certificate files don't expire.
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### Serving the Federation API with your certificates
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Regardless of which method for obtaining certificates you've used, once you've managed to get certificates for your base domain onto the `matrix.<your-domain>` machine you can put them to use.
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Based on your setup, you have different ways to go about it:
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- [Server Delegation](#server-delegation)
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- [Server Delegation via a well-known file](#server-delegation-via-a-well-known-file)
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- [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation)
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- [Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record (advanced)](#server-delegation-via-a-dns-srv-record-advanced)
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- [Obtaining certificates](#obtaining-certificates)
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- [Serving the Federation API with your certificates](#serving-the-federation-api-with-your-certificates)
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- [Serving the Federation API with your certificates and another webserver](#serving-the-federation-api-with-your-certificates-and-another-webserver)
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- [Serving the Federation API with your certificates and Synapse handling Federation](#serving-the-federation-api-with-your-certificates-and-synapse-handling-federation)
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### Serving the Federation API with your certificates and another webserver
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**If you are using some other webserver**, you can set up reverse-proxying for the `tcp/8448` port by yourself.
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Make sure to use the proper certificates for `<your-domain>` (not for `matrix.<your-domain>`) when serving the `tcp/8448` port.
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As recommended in our [Fronting the integrated reverse-proxy webserver with another reverse-proxy](./configuring-playbook-own-webserver.md#fronting-the-integrated-reverse-proxy-webserver-with-another-reverse-proxy) documentation section, we recommend you to expose the Matrix Federation entrypoint from traffic at a local port (e.g. `127.0.0.1:8449`), so your reverese-proxy should send traffic there.
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### Serving the Federation API with your certificates and Synapse handling Federation
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**Alternatively**, you can let Synapse handle Federation by itself.
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To do that, make sure the certificate files are mounted into the Synapse container:
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```yaml
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matrix_synapse_container_extra_arguments:
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- "--mount type=bind,src=/some/path/on/the/host,dst=/some/path/inside/the/container,ro"
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```
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You can then tell Synapse to serve Federation traffic over TLS on `tcp/8448`:
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```yaml
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matrix_synapse_tls_federation_listener_enabled: true
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matrix_synapse_tls_certificate_path: /some/path/inside/the/container/certificate.crt
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matrix_synapse_tls_private_key_path: /some/path/inside/the/container/private.key
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```
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Make sure to reload Synapse once in a while (`systemctl reload matrix-synapse`), so that newer certificates can kick in.
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Reloading doesn't cause any downtime.
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