Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- computing:synapse [2022/11/20 08:58] – oemb1905
+++ computing:synapse [2024/01/30 03:17] (current) – oemb1905
@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
   * **Jonathan Haack**
   * **Haack's Networking**
   * **webmaster@haacksnetworking.org**
 -------------------------------------------
@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 -------------------------------------------
-This tutorial is for users of Debian GNU/Linux who want to create their own [[https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installation.html|Synapse]] instance. The official documentation was pretty solid, but/and I also used some online tutorials, especially the one at [[https://docs.hackliberty.org/books/self-hosted-services/page/how-to-install-matrix-synapse-on-debian-11|Hack Liberty]]. Although I give credit to these sites, I must say that they both had tons of small to medium mistakes which, combined with the complexity of the project, made this a fairly challenging instance to create. I am quite glad the VM is built, backed up and tarballed. Okay, so first, install synapse and add the gpg keys for their repo, etc.:
+This tutorial is for users of Debian GNU/Linux who want to create their own synapse/matrix instance. The  [[https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installation.html|official documentation]] was solid and the [[https://docs.hackliberty.org/books/self-hosted-services/page/how-to-install-matrix-synapse-on-debian-11|Hack Liberty]] tutorial had many great insights. I have everything up and running now with nginx except for the MTA/email functionality. Although I originally intended to use apache, I could not get the ProxyPass for .well-known to work and it could not federate, although everything else worked fine. I will solve that issue later and post an addenda here when I do. For now, let me step you through what I did. First, the prerequisites are to set up A records for your domains, and adjust to your needs. I established gnulinux.club, matrix.gnulinux.club, element.gnulinux.club, and jitsi.gnulinux.club. After those cached, I then shelled into my VM and established ufw rules for ssh, http, https, matrix, and jitsi:
+  sudo ufw allow 22
+  sudo ufw allow 80
+  sudo ufw allow 443
+  sudo ufw allow 8448
+  sudo ufw allow 10000/udp
+  sudo ufw allow 3478/udp
+  sudo ufw allow 5349/tcp
+You should also make sure that you have [[https://wiki.haacksnetworking.org/doku.php?id=computing:fail2ban|fail2ban]] installed and configured before proceeding. I would also recommend hardening your [[https://wiki.haacksnetworking.org/doku.php?id=computing:ssh|sshd_config]] file. Once those prerequisites are done, let's install nginx web server:
+  sudo apt install nginx
+  cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
+  cp default gnulinux.club
+  cp default matrix.gnulinux.club
+  cp default element.gnulinux.club
+You will notice that I did not create a server block for jitsi becuase it's installer script will take care of this automatically later on. Once these are created, delete everything in the block file except the [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/nginx/http-block.com|basic http block]] and make some small edits:
+  nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gnulinux.club
+  <server_name gnulinux.club;>
+  <root /var/www/gnulinux.club/;>
+The matrix.gnulinux.club block needs to have the proxy_pass directive set. To limit confusion, I have just provided the config directly. Also, note that web root is irrelevant for this block because it will not be serving any files directly but is merely sending requests back to matrix/localhost on port 8008.
+  nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/matrix.gnulinux.club
+[[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/nginx/matrix-block.domain.com|matrix.gnulinux.club]]
+As for the element.gnulinux.club block (adjusted for your domain, of course), make sure to add a directory to the end of the block directory itself. This will help later when upgrades to Element come out, because you can just re-symlink the new update. We will do the symlink later when installing the package, for now:
+  nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/element.gnulinux.club
+  <server_name element.gnulinux.club;>
+  <root /var/www/element.gnulinux.club/element/;>
+  systemctl restart nginx
+Conduct a url request on gnulinux.club (adjusted for you) to ensure that your domain resolves and nginx is functioning properly. Once that's confirmed, we can now set up Let's Encrypt certs:
+  sudo apt install python3-certbot-nginx
+  certbot --nginx -d gnulinux.club -d matrix.gnulinux.club -d element.gnulinux.club
+Conduct another url request on gnulinux.club (adjusted for you) to ensure that your domain now has the TLS lock and redirected properly. Once that's setup, it is now time to install the matrix-synapse-py3 server. Always check the official documentation page for this, but as of this installation, that was done as follows:
   sudo apt install -y lsb-release wget apt-transport-https
@@ Line 18: / Line 60: @@
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install matrix-synapse-py3
+  <name of the server: gnulinux.club>
+  <report statistics yes>
+Verify that the matrix-synapse server is running with ''ps -aux | grep synapse'' and then move on to federating the server. To federate the server, you can either create a srv DNS record, or leverage .well-known. I chose the latter, and did the following:
+  mkdir -p /var/www/gnulinux.club/.well-known/matrix
+  cd /var/www/gnulinux.club/.well-known/matrix/
+  nano server
+  <{ "m.server": "matrix.gnulinux.club:443" }>
+Once that's created, run curl and make sure the output matches what you specified in the server file:
+  curl -L https://gnulinux.club/.well-known/matrix/server
+  { "m.server": "matrix.gnulinux.club:443" }
+As long as that functions, you can now move on to installing Element. That involves making a web root directory of the server block, creating a dedicated user that owns and downloads the latest package (always check official release page), symlinking the current package to the location specified in the server block, and lastly configuring the config.json file for your domain and particular instance. Here goes:
+  mkdir /var/www/element.gnulinux.club/
+  cd /var/www/elemenet.gnulinux.club/
+  sudo useradd -m elementweb
+  <password>
+  sudo --user elementweb wget https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/releases/download/v1.10.12/element-v1.10.12.tar.gz
+  sudo --user elementweb tar -xvf element-v1.10.12.tar.gz
+  rm element-v1.10.12.tar.gz
+  cd /var/www/element.gnulinux.club/
+  ln -s element-v1.10.12/ element
+  cd /var/www/element.gnulinux.club/element
+  cp config-sample.json config.json
+  nano config.json
+  <"base_url": "https://matrix.gnulinux.club",>
+  <"server_name": "gnulinux.club">
+Once Element is installed, you need to enable registration. Matrix no longer allows unchallenged / non-tokened registration without an explicit override, so after seeing how involved token auth was, I added a [[https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/|Google Captcha v2]] instead.
+  sudo nano /etc/matrix-synapse/homserver.yaml
+  enable_registration: true [needs to be disabled when creating the db users from command line]
+  enable_registration_captcha: true
+  recaptcha_public_key: "yourmomspublickey"
+  recaptcha_private_key: "yourdadsprivatekey" #On Google, Turn verify origin off
+  registration_shared_secret: "yourcousinssharedsecret"
+  federation_client_minimum_tls_version: 1.2
-You now need to install postgresql and create a database with a dedicated non-root user:
+At this stage, you could theoretically add a user through the web GUI, however the instance is still using sqlite3 and I preferred something more robust. For that reason, I waited and first created a proper database and dedicated database user, both for scaling and hardening purposes:
   sudo apt install postgresql
   sudo -u postgres bash
-  createuser --pwprompt synapse_user
+  createuser --pwprompt synapseusr
-  createdb --encoding=UTF8 --locale=C --template=template0 --owner=synapse_user synapse
+  createdb --encoding=UTF8 --locale=C --template=template0 --owner=synapseusr synapsedb
   exit
-After creating the database, inform synapse of how to reach it in the ''pg_hba.conf'' file as follows:
-  nano /etc/postgresql/13/main/pg_hba.conf
+After recording the password you specified, make sure to configure ''homeserver.yaml'' to use the database instead of the default sqlite3 one.
-  <host    synapse     synapse_user    ::1/128     md5>
-  sudo systemctl reload postgresql
-It's now time to edit the file ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml''. Remove the default database configuration, and replace it with the credentials you just made:
+  sudo nano /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml
   <database:>
   <name: psycopg2>
   <txn_limit: 10000>
   <args:>
-    <user: synapse_user>
+    <user: synapseusr>
-    <password: secretpassword>
+    <password: mommalovesU>
-    <database: synapse>
+    <database: synapsedb>
     <host: localhost>
     <port: 5432>
@@ Line 47: / Line 125: @@
     <cp_max: 10>
-There are now some options that you can configure based on personal preference. Hack Liberty has its own recommendations, and I agreed with some and not with others. Moreover, I also found that Matrix/Synapse is currently requiring a stricter recipe for the yaml config than their template or even the official docs recommend. I was unable to get to the ''homeserver.yaml'' to work without adding a ''base_url'' line and a Google V2 challenge. Make sure to refer to Synapse's [[https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/develop/usage/configuration/config_documentation.html|official docs]] for your use case and so that you understand what they each do. Here are the "optional" configurations that I have active, some of which I had to configure to make everything work:
+After creating the database, inform synapse of how to reach it in the ''pg_hba.conf'' file as follows:
-  <public_baseurl: "https://gnulinux.club">
+  nano /etc/postgresql/13/main/pg_hba.conf
-  <require_auth_for_profile_requests: true>
+  <host    synapsedb     synapseusr    ::1/128     md5>
-  <limit_profile_requests_to_users_who_share_rooms: true>
+  sudo systemctl reload postgresql
-  <include_profile_data_on_invite: false>
-  <allow_public_rooms_over_federation: true>
-  <allow_profile_lookup_over_federation: true>
-  <allow_device_name_lookup_over_federation: true>
-  <enable_registration: True>
-  <enable_registration_captcha: True>
-  <recaptcha_public_key: "enter pub key here">
-  <recaptcha_private_key: "enter priv key here">
-  <registration_shared_secret: "yourmomismykey">
-In my case, matrix was not currently allowing un-challenged, or un-tokened user registration, so adding the [[https://www.google.com/recaptcha/about/|Google Challenge]] was required in order to make it functional (keep verify origin off). I also had to define the ''base_url'' and ''enable_registration'' explicitly. From researching forums and reddits online, I was able to ascertain that this is because Matrix changes their criteria/allowances depending on exploits, current threats, etc., actively, meaning that what might be allowed on day x is no longer supported on day y, etc. Now that synapse is more or less configured, it's time to install your web server of choice. I prefer apache2 since I have a long history of making reverse proxy configs for it, and even got some changes [[https://gitlab.com/oemb1905|committed]](see June 8, 2022) to the recipes project on gitlab (yay!). Note: Since ACME's ''cert-only'' command always fails for me, whenever I do apache reverse proxies, I first set up a slim website with stock virtualhost, A records on my DNS host, pull in certs on it, then disable it, as follows:
-  sudo apt install apache2
+Check that the configuration you established is functioning by restarting the service with ''systemctl restart matrix-synapse''. As long as everything is functioning, you can now create an admin user. Temporarily comment out user registration on ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml'' and restart the service again ''systemctl restart matrix-synapse'' in order to create the user. Note: the user creation will fail if you do not do this.
-  sudo certbot --authenticator standalone --installer apache -d gnulinux.club --pre-hook "systemctl stop apache2" --post-hook "systemctl start apache2"
-  a2dissite 000-default.conf
-Refer to [[https://wiki.haacksnetworking.org/doku.php?id=computing:apachesurvival|apache survival]] if you need help on setting up virtual hosts, etc. and/or apache/LAMP stacks. Once you build the certs and disabled the dummy website, then create two reverse proxy virtual hosts like these:
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/apache/virtualhosts/synapse.conf|virtualhost-80.conf]]
+  sudo -u postgres bash
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/apache/virtualhosts/synapse-ssl.conf|virtualhost-443.conf]]
+  register_new_matrix_user -c /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml http://localhost:8008
-Once the reverse proxies are setup, restart the service with ''systemctl restart apache2.service''. It's now time to set up a turn server so clients behind NAT can function properly. To do that, do as follows:
+Record the password you chose in a safe location, and then uncomment the user registration on ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml'' again and once again restart the service ''systemctl restart matrix-synapse''. This is required because you cannot manually create users while the ''enable_registration: true'' parameter is active. Likely, you will now want to also create a non-admin user for yourself, and the webgui is very convenient for this so just visit element.gnulinux.club and then register. Once you log in, make sure that you can access federated instances, spaces, and rooms. The last thing we need to do is add the ability for the server to send emails so users can recover accounts when needed via email. To do that, first make sure you have a working [[https://wiki.haacksnetworking.org/doku.php?id=computing:exim4|https://wiki.haacksnetworking.org/doku.php?id=computing:exim4]]email server. Please note that an incoming (IMAP) server is not needed, only outgoing (smtp/MTA). Once that is setup, add the following lines to your ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml'' configuration:
-  sudo apt install coturn
-  mkdir -p /etc/coturn/certs
-  sudo chown -R turnserver:turnserver /etc/coturn/
-  chmod -R 700 /etc/coturn/
-  pwgen -s 64 1
-  <it dumps a key>
-  sudo nano /etc/turnserver.conf
-  <use-auth-secret>
-  <static-auth-secret=YOUR-STATIC-AUTH-SECRET-HERE>
-  <realm=yoursite.com:5349>
-  <no-tcp-relay>
-  <denied-peer-ip=10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255>
-  <denied-peer-ip=192.168.0.0-192.168.255.255>
-  <denied-peer-ip=172.16.0.0-172.31.255.255>
-  <allowed-peer-ip=10.0.0.1>
-  <user-quota=12>
-  <total-quota=1200>
-  <cert=/etc/coturn/certs/fullchain.pem>
-  <pkey=/etc/coturn/certs/privkey.pem>
-  sudo systemctl restart coturn
-Now that you have configured a turn server, make sure that synapse knows how to leverage it by adding a configuration block to ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml'' as follows:
-  turn_uris: [ "turns:yoursite.com:5349?transport=udp", "turns:yoursite.com:5349?transport=tcp" ]`
+  sudo nano /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml
-  turn_shared_secret: "YOUR-STATIC-AUTH-SECRET-HERE"
+  <public_baseurl: "https://matrix.gnulinux.club">
-  turn_user_lifetime: 86400000
+  <email:>
-  turn_allow_guests: false
+    <smtp_host: haacksnetworking.org>
+    <smpt_port: 25>
+    <notif_from: "admin@gnulinux.club">
+    <require_transport_security: true>
-Now, let's make sure that the turn server can use TLS encryption by copying the certs from Let's Encrypt to it's working directory. (Note: I think these should be updated to symlinks.)
+Again, note that there is no need to set up an incoming email server nor tolerate spam on the server you are sending to. In my case, my smtp server / MTA is a relay/MTA (only) with domains that are allowed to send through it explicitly white listed. Now that email is up, let's tweak the upload settings so that people can upload images that are larger than a megabyte and have reasonable purge directives:
-  cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/gnulinux.club/fullchain.pem /etc/coturn/certs/
+  sudo nano /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml
-  cp /etc/letsencrypt/live/gnulinux.club/privkey.pem /etc/coturn/certs/
+  <max_upload_size: 1000M>
-  sudo chown turnserver:turnserver -R /etc/coturn/
+  <dynamic_thumbnails: true>
-  sudo service coturn force-reload
+  <media_retention:>
-  sudo service coturn restart
+      <local_media_lifetime: 90d>
+      <remote_media_lifetime: 14d>
+Also, make sure to add the following line of code within each nginx http server block:
-So since I could not get token user creation to work, I ended up using Google Challenge instead. Nevertheless, I include this here because I did create this infrastructure, and will leverage it if/when token authentication begins to work again. Make sure to record all keys/passwords, etc., in a secure manager or FDE drive that's offline. Begin by creating two users for the instance, one that's the administrator for it, and another that's used as a proxy for registration requests with a token.
+  <client_max_body_size 1000M;>
-  register_new_matrix_user -c /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml http://localhost:8008
+Alright, so now it's time to carry on with setting up jitsi. Again, as with element and matrix, always check the [[https://jitsi.github.io/handbook/docs/devops-guide/devops-guide-quickstart/|official documentation]] for the latest releases/gpg keys, etc.:
-After the database users are thus created and passwords specified and recorded, you now need to install matrix/synapse's registration tool with python-pip.
+  curl https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi-key.gpg.key | sudo sh -c 'gpg --dearmor > /usr/share/keyrings/jitsi-keyring.gpg'
+  echo 'deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jitsi-keyring.gpg] https://download.jitsi.org stable/' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jitsi-stable.list > /dev/null
-  sudo apt install python3-pip
+  sudo apt update
-  pip3 install matrix-registration==1.0.0.dev7
+  sudo apt install jitsi-meet
-  pip3 install psycopg2-binary
+  <enter domain jitsi.gnulinux.club>
+  <generate self-signed>
-Once that's done, you will need to create a database user and database for the accounts. You will need to alternate between the user and root to do this and might have to tweak permissions.
-  sudo -u postgres bash
-  createuser --pwprompt matrix_reg_user
-  createdb --owner=matrix_reg_user matrix_reg
-Now that the database registration user and password have been created, configure the synapse/matrix instance to leverage those credentials by appending this additional entry to the ''pg_hba.conf'' file:
+Once the install finishes, let's create let's encrypt using the official script from Jitsi, which will automatically configure a turn server and create a server block in nginx for us:
-  nano /etc/postgresql/13/main/pg_hba.conf
+  /usr/share/jitsi-meet/scripts/install-letsencrypt-cert.sh
-  host    matrix_reg     matrix_reg_user    ::1/128     md5
-You now need to specify how the reverse proxy for registration can find the base url and the synapse/matrix services, etc. To do that, you create a ''config.yaml'' file as follows:
+We now need to configure Element to use jitsi, which we do as follows:
-  sudo nano /home/registration/matrix-registration/config.yaml
-The contents of ''config.yaml'' should look like this:
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/configs/config.yaml|config.yaml]]
-It's now best practice to create a systemd unit for the registration service itself since this is accordingly a public instance and might need the registration toolchain restarted etc. To do that, the official docs call for creating a systemd unit as follows:
-  sudo useradd -m registration
-  sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/matrix-registration.service
-The contents of the ''matrix-registration.service'' file should have locations that match the configurations you made for registration above. Something like the following is recommended:
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/configs/matrix-registration.service|matrix-registration.service]]
+  nano /var/www/element.gnulinux.club/element/config.json
+  <"preferredDomain": "jitsi.gnulinux.club">
+  systemctl restart matrix-synapse
-Once the systemd unit is created and the locations in the block linked to your production locations, then enable the unit, reload the units, and start the service. Note: As the first block states, you won't need to individually restart this service as it will restart when you restart the default service ''systemctl restart matrix-synapse.service''.
+You can verify that jitsi is working by ''ps -aux | jitsi'' and then visit jitsi.gnulinux.club (adjusted for your domain) to verify you can create and join a new meeting. Additionally, you can navigate to ''etc/turnserver.conf'' to see the entries jitsi created and likewise verify the server block it created at ''/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/jitsi.gnulinux.club''. To upgrade, find the latest release, and download it:
-  systemctl daemon-reload
+  https://github.com/element-hq/element-web/releases
-  systemctl --user enable matrix-registration
+  wget https://github.com/element-hq/element-web/releases/download/v1.11.55/element-v1.11.55.tar.gz
-  systemctl --user start matrix-registration
+  tar -xvf element-v1.11.55.tar.gz
+  cd /var/www/gnulinux.club/element
-Once the registration and account creation services are installed and functional, it is now time to create the web client, which will be used for clients who want to register or test out the instance, and also for users to directly create new matrix accounts on your instance. To do that, let's add a dedicated user for element, which is the standard/default web client, and install the element-web content management system:
+  cp -ar config.json ../
+  ln -s element-v1.10.12/ element
-  sudo useradd -m elementweb
-  cd /home/elementweb/
+Make sure to have .well-knowns established for client and support as well:
-  sudo --user elementweb wget https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/releases/download/v1.10.12/element-v1.10.12.tar.gz
-  sudo --user elementweb tar -xvf element-v1.10.12.tar.gz
+  sudo touch /var/www/gnulinux.club/.well-known/matrix/client
-  mv element-v1.10.12 /var/www/element
-  cd /var/www/element
+With the following:
-  nano config.json
+  {
+    "m.homeserver": {
+        "base_url": "https://matrix.gnulinux.club"
+    }
+  }
+Also identify support:
-The ''config.json'' file should like something like what I have below. Note: this file is notorious for causing the "host cannot be found error" that is all over forums. Remember to change all the entries to your domain and make sure the ''base_url'' matches what you have in ''/etc/matrix-synapse/homserver.yaml''. Here's what mine looks like:
+  sudo touch /var/www/gnulinux.club/.well-known/matrix/support
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/configs/config.json|config.json]]
+With the following:
-If you have not already done so, make sure to add an A record for element.domain.tld to your DNS host. It's now time to create an apache virtual host for the subdomain as follows:
+  {"contacts": [{"matrix_id": "@oemb1905:gnulinux.club", "email_address": "webmaster@haacksnetworking.org","club.gnulinux.phone_number": "+13105651874", "role": "m.role.admin"}],"support_page": "https://gnulinux.club/code-conduct.pdf"}
-  sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/element80.conf
+Finally, make sure that browsers don't download these by adding a location to your TLD block:
-  sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/element443.conf
-Contents:
+  location /.well-known/matrix {
+    allow all;
+    add_header access-control-allow-origin *;
+    add_header content-type application/json;
+  }
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/apache/virtualhosts/element.matrix.conf|element80.conf]]
+More updates below when they come.
-  * [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/apache/virtualhosts/element.matrix-ssl.conf|element443.conf]]
-Then create the certs, and enable the virtualhosts:
-  sudo certbot --authenticator standalone --installer apache -d element.gnulinux.club --pre-hook "systemctl stop apache2" --post-hook "systemctl start apache2"
-  a2ensite element80.conf
-  a2ensite element443.conf
-  systemctl restart apache2.service
-Once the apache web server is restarted, it's time to debug your instance. To do that, remember these two essential skills:
-  tail -f /var/log/example.log
-  sudo apache2ctl configtest
-Between these two debugging tools, you should be in good shape to get everything up and running! Okay, that took a lot to document but it's worth it. Also, if you are serving others in a public facing community, make sure you have [[https://repo.haacksnetworking.org/oemb1905/haackingclub/-/blob/master/scripts/sane-vm-backup.sh|appropriate backup scripts]] for this VM. Utilize rsync or similar to ensure you have those backups offsite as well as on site, and also provision a hot-spare in case your self-hosted or co-located hardware fails.
- --- //[[jonathan@haacksnetworking.org|oemb1905]] 2022/11/20 01:58//
+ --- //[[jonathan@haacksnetworking.org|oemb1905]] 2024/01/30 03:09//

Haack's Wiki

User Tools

Site Tools

Differences

Page Tools