Matrix (An open network for secure, decentralized communication) server setup using Ansible and Docker

Purpose

This Ansible playbook is meant to easily let you run your own Matrix homeserver.

That is, it lets you join the Matrix network with your own @<username>:<your-domain> identifier, all hosted on your own server.

Using this playbook, you can get the following services configured on your server:

• a Matrix Synapse homeserver - storing your data and managing your presence in the Matrix network

• a PostgreSQL database for Matrix Synapse - providing better performance than the default SQLite database

• a STUN server for WebRTC audio/video calls

• a Riot web UI

• free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, which secures the connection to the Synapse server and the Riot web UI

Basically, this playbook aims to get you up-and-running with all the basic necessities around Matrix, without you having to do anything else.

What's different about this Ansible playbook?

This is similar to the EMnify/matrix-synapse-auto-deploy Ansile deployment, but:

• this one is a complete Ansible playbook (instead of just a role), so it should be easier to run - especially for folks not familiar with Ansible

• this one can be re-ran many times without causing trouble

• this one runs everything in Docker containers (like silviof/docker-matrix and silviof/matrix-riot-docker), so it's likely more predictable

• this one retrieves and automatically renews free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates for you

Special thanks goes to:

• EMnify/matrix-synapse-auto-deploy - for the inspiration

• silviof/docker-matrix - for packaging Matrix Synapse as a Docker image

• silviof/matrix-riot-docker - for packaging Riot as a Docker image

Prerequisites

• CentOS server with no services running on port 80/443 (making this run on non-CentOS servers should be possible in the future)

• the Ansible program, which is used to run this playbook and configures everything for you

• properly configured DNS SRV record for <your-domain> (details in Configuring DNS below)

• matrix.<your-domain> domain name pointing to your new server - this is where the Matrix Synapse server will live (details in Configuring DNS below)

• riot.<your-domain> domain name pointing to your new server - this is where the Riot web UI will live (details in Configuring DNS below)

Configuring DNS

In order to use an identifier like @<username>:<your-domain>, you don't actually need to install anything on the actual <your-domain> server.

All services created by this playbook are meant to be installed on their own server (such as matrix.<your-domain>).

In order to do this, you must first instruct the Matrix network of this by setting up a DNS SRV record (think of it as a "redirect"). The SRV record should look like this:

• Name: _matrix._tcp (use this text as-is)
• Content: 10 0 8448 matrix.<your-domain> (replace <your-domain> with your own)

Once you've set up this DNS SRV record, you should create 2 other domain names (matrix.<your-domain> and riot.<your-domain>) and point both of them to your new server's IP address (DNS A record or CNAME is fine).

This playbook can then install all the services on that new server and you'll be able to join the Matrix network as @<username>:<your-domain>, even though everything is installed elsewhere (not on <your-domain>).

Configuration

Once you have your server and you have configured your DNS records, you can proceed with configuring this playbook, so that it knows what to install and where.

You can follow these steps:

• create a directory to hold your configuration (mkdir inventory/matrix.<your-domain>)

• copy the sample configuration file (cp examples/host-vars.yml inventory/matrix.<your-domain>/vars.yml)

• edit the configuration file (inventory/matrix.<your-domain>/vars.yml) to your liking

• copy the sample inventory hosts file (cp examples/hosts inventory/hosts)

• edit the inventory hosts file (inventory/hosts) to your liking

Installing

Once you have your server and you have configured your DNS records, you can proceed with installing.

To make use of this playbook, you should invoke the setup.yml playbook multiple times, with different tags.

Configuring a server

Run this as-is to set up a server. This doesn't start any services just yet (another step does this later - below). Feel free to re-run this any time you think something is off with the server configuration.

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-main

Restoring an existing SQLite database (from another installation)

Run this if you'd like to import your database from a previous default installation of Matrix Synapse. (don't forget to import your media_store files as well - see below).

While this playbook always sets up PostgreSQL, by default, a Matrix Synapse installation would run using an SQLite database.

If you have such a Matrix Synapse setup and wish to migrate it here (and over to PostgreSQL), this command is for you.

Run this command (make sure to replace <local-path-to-homeserver.db> with a file path on your local machine):

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='local_path_homeserver_db=<local-path-to-homeserver.db>' --tags=import-sqlite-db

Note: <local-path-to-homeserver.db> must be a file path to a homeserver.db file on your local machine (not on the server!). This file is copied to the server and imported.

Restoring media_store data files from an existing installation

Run this if you'd like to import your media_store files from a previous installation of Matrix Synapse.

Run this command (make sure to replace <local-path-to-media_store> with a path on your local machine):

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='local_path_media_store=<local-path-to-media_store>' --tags=import-media-store

Note: <local-path-to-media_store> must be a file path to a media_store directory on your local machine (not on the server!). This directory's contents are then copied to the server.

Starting the services

Run this as-is to start all the services and to ensure they'll run on system startup later on.

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=start

Registering a user

Run this to create a new user account on your Matrix server.

You can do it via this Ansible playbook (make sure to edit the <your-username> and <your-password> part below):

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='username=<your-username> password=<your-password>' --tags=register-user

or using the command-line after SSH-ing to your server (requires that all services have been started):

matrix-synapse-register-user <your-username> <your-password>

Note: <your-username> is just a plain username (like john), not your full @<username>:<your-domain> identifier.

Deficiencies

This Ansible playbook can be improved in the following ways:

• setting up automatic backups to one or more storage providers

• enabling TURN support for the Coturn server - see https://github.com/silvio/docker-matrix#coturn-server

• importing an old SQLite database likely works because of a patch, but may be fragile until this is fixed