Matrix Synapse Server – LandChad.net

Matrix is easy-to-use, decentralized and encrypted private chat software. + Matrix is federated, meaning that with a Matrix account on any server, including your own, you can talk to any other Matrix account on the internet, similar to email. + Matrix also allows fully end-to-end encrypted group chats. +

+ +

Synapse is the name of the default Matrix server. It is written in Python.

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Installation

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Synapse is not in the Debian package repositories by default, but we can easily add Matrix's repository including it:

+ +

apt install -y lsb-release wget apt-transport-https
+wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg https://packages.matrix.org/debian/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg
+echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.matrix.org/debian/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/matrix-org.list

After we update our packages lists, we will be able to install Synapse with apt.

+ +

apt update
+apt install matrix-synapse-py3

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When prompted, give your main domain name (not a subdomain). This will be the domain appended to your Matrix address, e.g. @chad:landchad.net.

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Nginx configuration

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Create an Nginx configuration file for Matrix, say /etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix and add the content below: +

+ +

server {
+         server_name matrix.example.org ;
+        listen 80;
+        listen [::]:80;
+        location / {
+                proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
+        }
+        location ~* ^(\/_matrix|\/_synapse\/client) {
+                proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
+                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
+                client_max_body_size 50M ;
+        }
+        location /.well-known/matrix/client {
+                return 200 '{"m.homeserver": {"base_url": "https://matrix.example.org"}}';
+                default_type application/json;
+                add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin *;
+        }
+}

+ + + +

Now let's enable the Nginx Matrix site and reload Nginx to make it active.

+ +

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
+systemctl reload nginx

+ +

Encryption

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Obviously, we need to encrypt our matrix subdomain as well. Let's do that with certbot:

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certbot --nginx -d matrix.example.org

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Configuration

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+ The configuration file for Matrix is in /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml. + It is well documented and commented, so you can read about the settings, but let's change the essential ones here. +

+ +

This article isn't finished. Deal with basic settings and registering accounts.