- Ejabberd is a server for the XMPP protocol written in Erlang. + Ejabberd is a server for the XMPP protocol written in Erlang. It's easier to configure and setup than Prosody due to having most of its modules built-in and pre-configured by default.

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@

Ejabberd presumes that you have already created all the required and optional subdomains for its operation prior to running it.

- +

Depending on the usecase, you may need any or all of the following domains for XMPP functionality:

example.org - Your XMPP hostname
proxy.example.org - For SOCKS5 proxy support
pubsub.example.org - For publish-subscribe support

- +

This guide will assume all these subdomains have been created.

Installation

Ejabberd is available in the Debian repositories:

apt install ejabberd

- +

Configuration

The ejabberd server is configured in /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.yml. Changes are only applied by restarting the ejabberd daemon in systemd:

systemctl restart ejabberd

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@

Certificates

Unlike Prosody, ejabberd doesn't come equipped with a script that can automatically copy over the relevant certificates to a directory where the ejabberd user can read them.

- +

One way of organizing certificates for ejabberd is to have them stored in /etc/ejabberd/certs, with each domain having a separate directory for both the fullchain cert and private key.

Using certbot, this process can be easily automated with this one-liner:

@@ -76,9 +76,9 @@ certbot --nginx -d $DOMAIN certonly; mkdir /etc/ejabberd/certs/$DOMAIN; cp /etc/ user: admin

This would make admin@example.org the user with administrator privileges.

- +

Message Archives

- +

The ejabberd server supports keeping archives of messages through its mod_mam module. This can be enabled by uncommenting the following lines:

mod_mam:
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ certbot --nginx -d $DOMAIN certonly; mkdir /etc/ejabberd/certs/$DOMAIN; cp /etc/
 
 	Configuring ejabberd to use PostgreSQL
 	Finally, add the following configuration to ejabberd.yml:
-	
+
 	sql_type: pgsql
 sql_server: "localhost"
 sql_database: "ejabberd"
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ sql_password: "psql_password"
 	To begin using ejabberd, firstly start the ejabberd daemon:
 
 	systemctl restart ejabberd
-	
+
 	Then, using ejabberdctl as the ejabberd user, register the admin user which is set in ejabberd.yml:
 
 	su -c "ejabberdctl register admin example.org password" ejabberd
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index f8dac9f..50c4d87 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ img { border: none ;}
         Host your own services, social media and more.
 
         
-             XMPP
Minimalist and federated chat server
+             Prosody
Minimalist and federated chat server
+             ejabberd
Another option for an XMPP server
              Pleroma
A federated Twitter-like microblogging site
              PeerTube
A federated YouTube-like video site
              Nextcloud
Setting up a Nextcloud Instance (file hosting and more)
@@ -77,8 +78,8 @@ img { border: none ;}
              Cgit
A hyperfast web frontend for git repositories
              Gitea
A fully-featured git and issue tracking site
              IRC
Installing and managing a classic internet relay chat server
-            RSS Bridge
Creating RSS feeds for social media sites
-            Matrix
An easy-to-use, free and federated chat and channel server.
+             RSS Bridge
Creating RSS feeds for social media sites
+             Matrix
An easy-to-use, free and federated chat and channel server.
              Calibre
A library server
             I2P
Host your site on a  private and peer-to-peer internet layer.
             Tor
Host your site on private onion-routing.
@@ -100,15 +101,6 @@ img { border: none ;}
         Subscribe to our RSS feed for updates.
         
 
-        Articles and Tutorials in Progress...
-
-        
-            Full HTML tutorial
-            Full CSS tutorial
-            RSS feeds
-            SearX (search engine)
-        
-
         On the look out for...
 
         
@@ -123,7 +115,6 @@ img { border: none ;}
             
BTCPay (Docker install permitted only in this case.)
             Email webclients
             Simple static site generators
-            XMPP ejabberd
             Movim for XMPP
             Nitter
         
diff --git a/matrix.html b/matrix.html
index 32da2da..ed0126d 100644
--- a/matrix.html
+++ b/matrix.html
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ apt install matrix-synapse-py3

} diff --git a/prosody.html b/prosody.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5ca89d --- /dev/null +++ b/prosody.html @@ -0,0 +1,257 @@ + + + + Prosody (an XMPP Server) – LandChad.net + + + + + + + +

Prosody (an XMPP Server)

+ +

XMPP is a fantastically simple protocol that's usually used as a messenger. + It's highly extensible, + better than IRC, + lighter and more decentralized and Matrix + and Telegram and normie social media can't hold a candle to it. +

+ +

+ XMPP is so decentralized and extensible that there are many different XMPP servers. + Here, let's set up an Prosody XMPP server. +

+ +

Installation

+ +

+ Prosody is in the Debian repositories, so we can easily install it on our server with the following command: +

+ +

apt install prosody

+ + +

Configuration

+ +

+The Prosody configuration file is in /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua. +To set it all up, we will be changing several things. +

+ +

Setting Admins

+ +

+Let's go ahead and set who our admin(s) will be. +Find the line that says admins = { } and to this we can specify one or more server admins. +

+ +

# To add one admin:
+admins = { "chad@example.org" }
+
+# We can add more than one by separating them by commas. (This file is written in Lua.)
+admins = { "chad@example.org", "chadmin@example.org" }

+ +

+Note that we have not created these accounts yet, we will do this below. +

+ +

Set the Server URL

+ +

+Find the line VirtualHost "localhost" and replace localhost with your domain. +In our case, we will have VirtualHost "example.org" +

+ +

Multi-User Chats

+ +

+Most people will probably want the ability to have chats with more than two users. +This is easily enough to enable. +In the config file, add the following: +

+ +

Component "chat.example.org" "muc"
+    modules_enabled = { "muc_mam" }
+    restrict_room_creation = "admin"

+ +

+On the first line, you must have a separate subdomain for your multi-user chats. +I use the chat. subdomain, but some use muc.. +Anything if possible. +

+ +

+The second line is important because it prevents non-admins from creating and squatting rooms on your server. +The only situation where you might not want that is if you indend to open a general public chat system for people you don't know. +

+ + + +

Enabling chat histories

+ +

+By default, Prosody will send out messages received only to the first available clients. +That means that if you have your desktop client turned off and your cell phone receives a message, it will not be available to the desktop client when you start it. +

+ +

While this may be preferred in some cases, enable the MAM module (Message Archive Management) to have the server hold on messages and sync them to all clients.

+ +

+Within the modules_enabled block, you can uncomment the mam line to enable it. +You can see other settings for this module here like, for example, how long a server should hold on to message histories for synching. +

+ +

+Note also that Prosody comes with the carbons activated module by default, which is related. This will send received messages to all active clients (your phone and desktop), although it will not save messages like MAM for clients not online or to be added later. +

+ +

File sharing

+ +

With this we can bring XMPP to the level of other popular instant messaging applications like Matrix and whatsapp. It is extremely easy to setup. This part is optional, but it can make XMPP more normie-friendly if you plan on moving family members and friends over to XMPP.

+ +

First we need to install extra prosody modules. Run the following command:

apt install prosody-modules

+ +

Then we can add the following line to you prosody config file to enable file uploads:

Component "uploads.example.org" "http_upload"

+ +

As you will notice, you need another subdomain for this. We will add an ssl certficate for this later.

+ +

You will also need to go back to modules_enabled and uncomment the http_files module. This is used to actually serve the files to users.

+ +

And the last part of the setup is to enable the built in proxy server. This helps with file transfers for devices behind a NAT, and unless you are using XMPP in a LAN, you probably need this. Enable the proxy by adding the following line to the config:

+ +

Component "proxy.example.org" "proxy65"

+ +

As you can see, another subdomain is needed. We will add ssl certificates for this later.

+ +

At this point, file sharing is now setup and ready to be used. Although there are some concerns that should be addressed.

+ +

A big concern with file sharing is large files, seeing as all files shared over XMPP will be stored on your server. This can become a problem when many (and large) files are being shared. We can put a cap on large files by adding the following line to our config:

http_upload_file_size_limit = 20971520

+ +

This puts a 20MB cap on all files being shared. The value is specified in bytes. You can also specify after how long files should be deleted by adding the following line:

http_upload_expire_after = 60 * 60 * 24 * 7

+ +

The value is specified in seconds. The above line will make prosody delete files after a week.

+ +

If it is for some reason neccessary, you can also manually invoke expiry with the following command:

+ +

prosodyctl mod_http_upload expire

+ +

Other things to check

+ +

Check the config file for other settings you might want to change. +For example, if you want to run a general public XMPP server, you can allow anyone to create an account by changing allow_registration to true. +

+ +

Another thing you can do is enable the csi_simple module, which will add some optimizations for mobile devices.

+ +

Another thing worth noting is the archive_expires_after = "1w" line. This specifies after how long message archives will be deleted.

+ +

Also the smacks module helps a lot with slow internet connections.

+ +

Certificates

+ +

+Obviously, we want to have client-to-server and server-to-server encryption. +Nowadays, use can use Certbot to generate certificates and use a convenient command below prosodyctl to import them. +

+ +

+If you have multi-user chat enabled, be sure to get a certificate for that subdomain as well. +Include the --nginx option assuming you have an Nginx server running. +

+ +

certbot -d chat.example.org --nginx

+ +

+If you have file sharing enabled, be sure to get a certificate for those subdomains as well. +

certbot -d uploads.example.org --nginx
+certbot -d proxy.example.org --nginx
+

+ +

+Once you have the certificates for encryption, run the following to import them into Prosody. +

+ +

prosodyctl --root cert import /etc/letsencrypt/live/

+ +

+Note that you might get an error that a certificate has not been found if your muc subdomain and your main domain share a certificate. +It should still work, this is just notifying you that no specific certificate for the subdomain. +

+ +

Note: The above command will need to be rerun when certificates are renewed. +You may want to create a cronjob to have this done automatically.

+ + + +

Creating users/admins manually

+ +

+Let's manually create the admin user we prepared for above. +Note that you can indeed do this in your XMPP client if you have not disabled registration, but this is how it is done on the command line: +

+ +

prosodyctl adduser chad@example.org

+ +

This will prompt you to create a password as well.

+ + +

Make changes active

+ +

+With any system service, use systemctl reload or systemctl restart to make the new settings active: +

+ +

systemctl restart prosody

+ +

Using your Server!

+ +

+Once your server is set up, you just need an XMPP client to use your new and secure chat system. +

+ +

GNU/Linux: Dino or Gajim
Windows: Gajim also runs on Windows.
Android: Conversations.im or snikket
Mac/iOS: Monal IM or Siskin for iOS alone
command-line (GNU/Linux, MacOS, Windows): Profanity
See a more complete list kept by XMPP

+ +

+Install whichever of these clients you want on your computer or phone and you can log into your new XMPP server with the account you made. +Note that if you enabled public registration, anyone can create an account on your server through one of these clients. +

+ +

Account addresses

+ +

+XMPP account addressed look just like email addresses: username@example.org. +You can message any account on any XMPP server on the internet with that format. +

+ +

Note on MUCs (multi-user chats)

+ +

+Remember that MUCs are kept on a separate subdomain that we created and should've gotten a certificate for above, for example, chat.example.org. +Chatrooms are created and referred to in the following format: #chatroomname@chat.example.org. +

+ +

+ + + diff --git a/xmpp.html b/xmpp.html deleted file mode 100644 index ae3aaef..0000000 --- a/xmpp.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,257 +0,0 @@ - - - - XMPP Server (Prosody) – LandChad.net - - - - - - - -

XMPP Server (Prosody)

- -

XMPP is a fantastically simple protocol that's usually used as a messenger. - It's highly extensible, - better than IRC, - lighter and more decentralized and Matrix - and Telegram and normie social media can't hold a candle to it. -

- -

- XMPP is so decentralized and extensible that there are many different XMPP servers. - Here, let's set up an Prosody XMPP server. -

- -

Installation

- -

- Prosody is in the Debian repositories, so we can easily install it on our server with the following command: -

- -

apt install prosody

- - -

Configuration

- -

-The Prosody configuration file is in /etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua. -To set it all up, we will be changing several things. -

- -

Setting Admins

- -

-Let's go ahead and set who our admin(s) will be. -Find the line that says admins = { } and to this we can specify one or more server admins. -

- -

# To add one admin:
-admins = { "chad@example.org" }
-
-# We can add more than one by separating them by commas. (This file is written in Lua.)
-admins = { "chad@example.org", "chadmin@example.org" }

- -

-Note that we have not created these accounts yet, we will do this below. -

- -

Set the Server URL

- -

-Find the line VirtualHost "localhost" and replace localhost with your domain. -In our case, we will have VirtualHost "example.org" -

- -

Multi-User Chats

- -

-Most people will probably want the ability to have chats with more than two users. -This is easily enough to enable. -In the config file, add the following: -

- -

Component "chat.example.org" "muc"
-    modules_enabled = { "muc_mam" }
-    restrict_room_creation = "admin"

- -

-On the first line, you must have a separate subdomain for your multi-user chats. -I use the chat. subdomain, but some use muc.. -Anything if possible. -

- -

-The second line is important because it prevents non-admins from creating and squatting rooms on your server. -The only situation where you might not want that is if you indend to open a general public chat system for people you don't know. -

- - - -

Enabling chat histories

- -

-By default, Prosody will send out messages received only to the first available clients. -That means that if you have your desktop client turned off and your cell phone receives a message, it will not be available to the desktop client when you start it. -

- -

While this may be preferred in some cases, enable the MAM module (Message Archive Management) to have the server hold on messages and sync them to all clients.

- -

-Within the modules_enabled block, you can uncomment the mam line to enable it. -You can see other settings for this module here like, for example, how long a server should hold on to message histories for synching. -

- -

-Note also that Prosody comes with the carbons activated module by default, which is related. This will send received messages to all active clients (your phone and desktop), although it will not save messages like MAM for clients not online or to be added later. -

- -

File sharing

- -

First we need to install extra prosody modules. Run the following command:

apt install prosody-modules

- -

Then we can add the following line to you prosody config file to enable file uploads:

Component "uploads.example.org" "http_upload"

- -

As you will notice, you need another subdomain for this. We will add an ssl certficate for this later.

- -

You will also need to go back to modules_enabled and uncomment the http_files module. This is used to actually serve the files to users.

- -

Component "proxy.example.org" "proxy65"

- -

As you can see, another subdomain is needed. We will add ssl certificates for this later.

- -

At this point, file sharing is now setup and ready to be used. Although there are some concerns that should be addressed.

- -

http_upload_file_size_limit = 20971520

- -

This puts a 20MB cap on all files being shared. The value is specified in bytes. You can also specify after how long files should be deleted by adding the following line:

http_upload_expire_after = 60 * 60 * 24 * 7

- -

The value is specified in seconds. The above line will make prosody delete files after a week.

- -

If it is for some reason neccessary, you can also manually invoke expiry with the following command:

- -

prosodyctl mod_http_upload expire

- -

Other things to check

- -

Check the config file for other settings you might want to change. -For example, if you want to run a general public XMPP server, you can allow anyone to create an account by changing allow_registration to true. -

- -

Another thing you can do is enable the csi_simple module, which will add some optimizations for mobile devices.

- -

Another thing worth noting is the archive_expires_after = "1w" line. This specifies after how long message archives will be deleted.

- -

Also the smacks module helps a lot with slow internet connections.

- -

Certificates

- -

-Obviously, we want to have client-to-server and server-to-server encryption. -Nowadays, use can use Certbot to generate certificates and use a convenient command below prosodyctl to import them. -

- -

-If you have multi-user chat enabled, be sure to get a certificate for that subdomain as well. -Include the --nginx option assuming you have an Nginx server running. -

- -

certbot -d chat.example.org --nginx

- -

-If you have file sharing enabled, be sure to get a certificate for those subdomains as well. -

certbot -d uploads.example.org --nginx
-certbot -d proxy.example.org --nginx
-

- -

-Once you have the certificates for encryption, run the following to import them into Prosody. -

- -

prosodyctl --root cert import /etc/letsencrypt/live/

- -

-Note that you might get an error that a certificate has not been found if your muc subdomain and your main domain share a certificate. -It should still work, this is just notifying you that no specific certificate for the subdomain. -

- -

Note: The above command will need to be rerun when certificates are renewed. -You may want to create a cronjob to have this done automatically.

- - - -

Creating users/admins manually

- -

-Let's manually create the admin user we prepared for above. -Note that you can indeed do this in your XMPP client if you have not disabled registration, but this is how it is done on the command line: -

- -

prosodyctl adduser chad@example.org

- -

This will prompt you to create a password as well.

- - -

Make changes active

- -

-With any system service, use systemctl reload or systemctl restart to make the new settings active: -

- -

systemctl restart prosody

- -

Using your Server!

- -

-Once your server is set up, you just need an XMPP client to use your new and secure chat system. -

- -

GNU/Linux: Dino or Gajim
Windows: Gajim also runs on Windows.
Android: Conversations.im or snikket
Mac/iOS: Monal IM or Siskin for iOS alone
command-line (GNU/Linux, MacOS, Windows): Profanity
See a more complete list kept by XMPP

- -

-Install whichever of these clients you want on your computer or phone and you can log into your new XMPP server with the account you made. -Note that if you enabled public registration, anyone can create an account on your server through one of these clients. -

- -

Account addresses

- -

-XMPP account addressed look just like email addresses: username@example.org. -You can message any account on any XMPP server on the internet with that format. -

- -

Note on MUCs (multi-user chats)

- -

-Remember that MUCs are kept on a separate subdomain that we created and should've gotten a certificate for above, for example, chat.example.org. -Chatrooms are created and referred to in the following format: #chatroomname@chat.example.org. -

- -

- - - diff --git a/xmpp.html b/xmpp.html new file mode 120000 index 0000000..0796663 --- /dev/null +++ b/xmpp.html @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +prosody.html \ No newline at end of file -- cgit v1.2.3

XMPP Server (ejabberd)

ejabberd (an XMPP Server)

Installation

Configuration

Certificates

Message Archives

Configuring ejabberd to use PostgreSQL

Articles and Tutorials in Progress...

On the look out for...

Prosody (an XMPP Server)

Installation

Configuration

Setting Admins

Set the Server URL

Multi-User Chats

Enabling chat histories

File sharing

Other things to check

Certificates

Creating users/admins manually

Make changes active

Using your Server!

Account addresses

Note on MUCs (multi-user chats)

XMPP Server (Prosody)

Installation

Configuration

Setting Admins

Set the Server URL

Multi-User Chats

Enabling chat histories

File sharing

Other things to check

Certificates

Creating users/admins manually

Make changes active

Using your Server!

Account addresses

Note on MUCs (multi-user chats)