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Matrix (Synapse + Riot) in Docker with Traefik and federation

Matrix

matrix.org chat is split into two parts, the server and the client. The server we are going to use is called Synapse and the client is Riot.im. The Synapse will also need Postgres database and Redis for caching.

0. Folders

Make sure your folder structure looks like this.

example/
  data/
    postgres/
      data/
        (empty)
    traefik/
      (empty)
    matrix/
      nginx/
        (empty)
      synapse/
        (empty)
      riot/
        (empty)
  docker-compose.yml

You can generate them via:

mkdir -p data/postgres/data
mkdir -p data/traefik
mkdir -p data/matrix/{nginx,synapse,riot}
touch docker-compose.yml

1. Traefik

Create your basic Traefik configuration. The following should work out of the box, if you change your email in the ACME section.

# data/traefik/traefik.yml
entryPoints:
  web:
    address: ":80"
  web-secure:
    address: ":443"

api:
  dashboard: true
  insecure: true

providers:
  file:
    directory: "/config"
    watch: true
  docker:
    endpoint: "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"
    network: "example_default"
    watch: true
    exposedByDefault: false

certificatesResolvers:
  letsencrypt:
    acme:
      email: "[email protected]"
      storage: "/acme.json"
      httpChallenge:
        entryPoint: "web"

The following additional Traefik config is useful for http to https automatic redirection. This is purely optional, you don't need these two files.

# data/traefik/config/routers.yml
http:
  routers:
    redirecttohttps:
      entryPoints:
        - "web"
      middlewares:
        - "httpsredirect"
      rule: "HostRegexp(`{host:.+}`)"
      service: "noop@internal"
# data/traefik/config/middlewares.yml
http:
  middlewares:
    httpsredirect:
      redirectScheme:
        scheme: https
        permanent: true

One more thing, you will have to create an empty JSON file for the acme.json. This file will store Let's Encrypt certificates. Simply create a file data/traefik/acme.json with an empty JSON object such as the following:

{}

Finally, the most importing part, you will have to use the following Docker compose config to run Traefik:

services:
  traefik:
    image: "traefik:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro"
      - "./data/traefik/traefik.yml:/etc/traefik/traefik.yml:ro"
      - "./data/traefik/config:/config:ro"
      - "./data/traefik/acme.json:/acme.json"
    # The following labels are optional. If you keep them, you will be able to
    # access Traefik dashboard via https://traefik.example.com/
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.traefik.loadbalancer.server.port=8080"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.rule=Host(`traefik.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.entrypoints=web-secure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"

2. Postgres

Make sure you have a postgres database with a login for the Synapse server.

The following is a sample docker-compose config for Postgres.

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    image: "postgres:9.6"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: "admin"
    volumes:
      - "./data/postgres/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data"

The following code will create a database synapse with user synapse and password password. Make sure that your database has the correct encoding!

CREATE ROLE synapse;
ALTER ROLE synapse WITH PASSWORD 'password';
ALTER ROLE synapse WITH LOGIN;
CREATE DATABASE synapse ENCODING 'UTF8' LC_COLLATE='C' LC_CTYPE='C' template=template0 OWNER synapse;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE synapse TO synapse;

3. Redis

Make sure you have redis running. Example docker-compose configuration:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    ...
  redis:
    image: "redis:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"

4. Synapse

Note: You will have two sub-domains for Synapse via Traefik. One matrix.example.com which will be handled by Nginx and a second one synapse.example.com which will point directly into your Synapse server. It will be explained in a later section below.

First create a sample config. This will also create your signing key and bunch of other secrets.

docker run -it --rm \
    -v $(pwd)/data/matrix/synapse:/data \
    -e SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=matrix.example.com \
    -e SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=yes \
    -e UID=1000 \
    -e GID=1000 \
    matrixdotorg/synapse:latest generate

This will create the following files:

example/
  data/
    ...
    matrix/
      nginx/
        (empty)
      synapse/
        homeserver.yaml
        matrix.example.com.log.config
        matrix.example.com.signing.key
      riot/
        (empty)

Edit the homeserver.yaml so you end up with something like the config below. (notice the enable_registration!)

# data/matrix/synapse/homeserver.yaml
server_name: "matrix.example.com"

pid_file: /data/homeserver.pid

web_client_location: https://riot.example.com/

public_baseurl: https://synapse.example.com/

report_stats: true

enable_registration: true

listeners:
  - port: 8008
    tls: false
    type: http
    x_forwarded: true

    resources:
      - names: [client, federation]
        compress: false

retention:
  enabled: true

federation_ip_range_blacklist:
  - '127.0.0.0/8'
  - '10.0.0.0/8'
  - '172.16.0.0/12'
  - '192.168.0.0/16'
  - '100.64.0.0/10'
  - '169.254.0.0/16'
  - '::1/128'
  - 'fe80::/64'
  - 'fc00::/7'

database:
  name: psycopg2
  args:
    user: synapse
    password: password
    database: synapse
    host: postgres   
    cp_min: 5
    cp_max: 10

log_config: "/data/matrix.example.com.log.config"

media_store_path: "/data/media_store"

registration_shared_secret: "abc"

macaroon_secret_key: "abc"

form_secret: "abc"

signing_key_path: "/data/matrix.example.com.signing.key"

trusted_key_servers:
  - server_name: "matrix.org"

redis:
  enabled: true
  host: redis
  port: 6379

Now add your docker-compose config for Synapse:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    ...
  redis:
    ...
  synapse:
    image: "matrixdotorg/synapse:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      SYNAPSE_CONFIG_DIR: "/data"
      SYNAPSE_CONFIG_PATH: "/data/homeserver.yaml"
      UID: "1000"
      GID: "1000"
      TZ: "Europe/London"
    volumes:
      - "./data/matrix/synapse:/data"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.synapse.loadbalancer.server.port=8008"
      - "traefik.http.routers.synapse.rule=Host(`synapse.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.synapse.entrypoints=web-secure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.synapse.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"

Now when you go to https://synapse.example.com/ you should be redirected to https://synapse.example.com/_matrix/static/ and you should see It works! Synapse is running.

5. Nginx

So the Synapse server is running, but this is not everything you need for federation. You may have noticed that we have used two domains: synapse.example.com and matrix.example.com.

The federation documentation is bit configusing if you don't know enough about how Matrix works internally. Hopefully this example below will explain it.

Create the following files:

The Nginx configuration file at data/matrix/nginx/matrix.conf relative to your docker-compose.yml with the following contents:

server {
  listen         80 default_server;
  server_name    matrix.example.com;

 # Traefik -> nginx -> synapse
 location /_matrix {
    proxy_pass http://synapse:8008;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
    client_max_body_size 128m;
  }

  location /.well-known/matrix/ {
    root /var/www/;
    default_type application/json;
    add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin  *;
  }
}

The data/matrix/nginx/www/.well-known/matrix/client with the following contents:

{
  "m.homeserver": {
    "base_url": "https://matrix.example.com"
  }
}

And the data/matrix/nginx/www/.well-known/matrix/server with the following contents:

{
  "m.server": "synapse.example.com:443"
}

And the docker-compose config for Nginx:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    ...
  redis:
    ...
  synapse:
    ...
  nginx:
    image: "nginx:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    volumes:
      - "./data/matrix/nginx/matrix.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/matrix.conf"
      - ./data/matrix/nginx/www:/var/www/
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.matrix.loadbalancer.server.port=80"
      - "traefik.http.routers.matrix.rule=Host(`matrix.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.matrix.entrypoints=web-secure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.matrix.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"

After you start the container, you should be able to access https://matrix.example.com/.well-known/matrix/client which gives you "base_url": "https://matrix.example.com".

And also you should be able to access https://matrix.example.com/.well-known/matrix/server which gives you "m.server": "synapse.example.com:443".

And also accessing https://matrix.example.com/_matrix/static/ should show you the exact same page as shown at https://synapse.example.com/_matrix/static/.

The Nginx simply acts as a proxy in this case, with two additional files.

6. Federation tester

Now, when you go to https://federationtester.matrix.org/ and type in your domain name, in this case matrix.example.com (without https) you should get all green checks.

7. Riot Web UI

The last thing is to set up the Riot Web UI which will be used to send the messages.

Create a new file at data/matrix/riot/config.json with the following contents:

{
  "default_server_config": {
    "m.homeserver": {
      "base_url": "https://matrix.example.com",
      "server_name": "matrix.example.com"
    },
    "m.identity_server": {
      "base_url": "https://vector.im"
    }
  },
  "disable_custom_urls": false,
  "disable_guests": false,
  "disable_login_language_selector": false,
  "disable_3pid_login": false,
  "brand": "Element",
  "integrations_ui_url": "https://scalar.vector.im/",
  "integrations_rest_url": "https://scalar.vector.im/api",
  "integrations_widgets_urls": [
    "https://scalar.vector.im/_matrix/integrations/v1",
    "https://scalar.vector.im/api",
    "https://scalar-staging.vector.im/_matrix/integrations/v1",
    "https://scalar-staging.vector.im/api",
    "https://scalar-staging.riot.im/scalar/api"
  ],
  "bug_report_endpoint_url": "https://riot.im/bugreports/submit",
  "defaultCountryCode": "GB",
  "showLabsSettings": false,
  "features": {
    "feature_new_spinner": "labs",
    "feature_pinning": "labs",
    "feature_custom_status": "labs",
    "feature_custom_tags": "labs",
    "feature_state_counters": "labs"
  },
  "default_federate": true,
  "default_theme": "light",
  "roomDirectory": {
    "servers": [
      "matrix.org"
    ]
  },
  "welcomeUserId": "@riot-bot:matrix.org",
  "piwik": {
    "url": "https://piwik.riot.im/",
    "whitelistedHSUrls": [
      "https://matrix.org"
    ],
    "whitelistedISUrls": [
      "https://vector.im",
      "https://matrix.org"
    ],
    "siteId": 1
  },
  "enable_presence_by_hs_url": {
    "https://matrix.org": false,
    "https://matrix-client.matrix.org": false
  },
  "settingDefaults": {
    "breadcrumbs": true
  },
  "jitsi": {
    "preferredDomain": "jitsi.riot.im"
  }
}

And add Riot to your docker-compose file:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    ...
  redis:
    ...
  synapse:
    ...
  nginx:
    ...
  riot:
    image: "vectorim/riot-web:latest"
    volumes:
      - "./data/matrix/riot/config.json:/app/config.json:ro"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.services.riot.loadbalancer.server.port=80"
      - "traefik.http.routers.riot.rule=Host(`riot.example.com`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.riot.entrypoints=web-secure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.riot.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"

8. Logging in

Go to https://riot.example.com and click register and select "Advanced" and enter the Homeserver URL as https://matrix.example.com (NOT https://synapse.example.com!).

After creating an account, simply log in. That's it.

9. Testing federation by joinin public room

Navigate to https://riot.example.com/#/room/#hello-matrix:matrix.org This will join you to #hello-matrix:matrix.org room on <matrix.org>.

If you get 401 unauthorized error in your logs (Synapse logs), check the SVR DNS record below.

10. SVR DNS record

Note: This may not be needed!

Add the following SVR record to your DNS server:

_matrix._tcp.matrix.example.com

With value of:

1 10 443 synapse.example.com

After it is done, you should be able to test if it is correct via dig or similar CLI tool:

dig -t SRV _matrix._tcp.matrix.example.com @8.8.8.8

And should print the following:

;; ANSWER SECTION:
_matrix._tcp.matrix.example.com. 299 IN SRV 1 10 443 synapse.example.com.

Optional OpenLDAP

It is possible to integrate Synapse with OpenLDAP. In this case you don't need to create any user from the Riot Web UI. All authentication will be handled by OpenLDAP server.

Add this into your homeserver.yml file:

password_providers:
  - module: "ldap_auth_provider.LdapAuthProvider"
    config:
      enabled: true
      uri: "ldap://openldap:389"
      start_tls: false
      base: "ou=users,dc=example,dc=com"
      attributes:
         uid: "uid"
         mail: "email"
         name: "cn"
      bind_dn: cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
      bind_password: password
      filter: "(memberOf=cn=matrix,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com)"

Assuming that:

  • Your OpenLDAP server can be accessed via Docker network at openldap:389.
  • You have domain of dc=example,dc=com.
  • You have admin (or any user for bind) cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com.
  • You have an organization unit of users at ou=users,dc=example,dc=com.
  • You have a groupOfUniqueNames as cn=matrix,ou=example,dc=example,dc=com.
  • Your users are added into the group cn=matrix so they have a property memberOf.

I recommend using OpenLDAP as the following:

services:
  openldap:
    image: "osixia/openldap:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    environment:
      LDAP_ORGANISATION: "Homelab"
      LDAP_DOMAIN: "dc=example,dc=com"
      LDAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD: "password"
      LDAP_REMOVE_CONFIG_AFTER_SETUP: "false"
    volumes:
      - "./data/ldap/data:/var/lib/ldap"
      - "./data/ldap/config:/etc/ldap/slapd.d"

Optional Turn Server (video calls)

You will need to do this if you want to enable VoIP. This guide will not explain what a Turn server is. First, create a data/matrix/coturn/turnserver.conf file with the following contents.

use-auth-secret
static-auth-secret=SomeSecretPasswordForMatrix
realm=matrix.example.com
listening-port=3478
tls-listening-port=5349
min-port=49160
max-port=49200
verbose
allow-loopback-peers
cli-password=SomePasswordForCLI
external-ip=192.168.0.2/123.123.123.123

You will have to replace the SomeSecretPasswordForMatrix and SomePasswordForCLI with your own password. You can generate a random password by using the following command:

openssl rand -hex 32

You will also have to modify your external-ip! This is a two part value divided by a slash /. The left part is your local IP address allocated to your server. You can find it by executing ip route get 1 (for example, src 192.168.0.2 uid 1000). The right part is your public IP address, you can find it here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/

You will then have to edit your Matrix yml configuration, found in data/matrix/synapse/homeserver.yaml and add the following lines at the bottom:

turn_uris: 
  - "turn:matrix.example.com:3478?transport=udp"
  - "turn:matrix.example.com:3478?transport=tcp"
  - "turns:matrix.example.com:3478?transport=udp"
  - "turns:matrix.example.com:3478?transport=tcp"

turn_shared_secret: "SomeSecretPasswordForMatrix"
turn_user_lifetime: 86400000
turn_allow_guests: True

You will have to match the password you have set for static-auth-secret.

Note: Changing Synapse's homeserver.yml file requires a service restart. Do it via docker restart example_matrix_synapse_1 command.

Next, add the Coturn server into the docker-compose.yml file:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  traefik:
    ...
  postgres:
    ...
  redis:
    ...
  synapse:
    ...
  nginx:
    ...
  riot:
    ...
  coturn:
    image: "instrumentisto/coturn:latest"
    restart: "unless-stopped"
    volumes:
      - "./data/matrix/coturn/turnserver.conf:/etc/coturn/turnserver.conf"
    ports:
      - "49160-49200:49160-49200/udp"
      - "3478:3478"
      - "5349:5349"

Next, you will have to enable these ports in your firewall, if you are using one. In case of ufw on Ubuntu server, the following commands will be sufficient:

sudo ufw allow from 0.0.0.0/0 to any port 5349
sudo ufw allow from 0.0.0.0/0 to any port 3478
sudo ufw allow from 0.0.0.0/0 to any port 49160:49200 proto udp

Next, you will have to allow these ports (5349 udp+tcp, 3478 udp+tcp, and 49160-49200 udp) in your router and forward them to your server! This is specific to your router and I can not provide a guide for all of the routers that exists, you will have to find out on your own. You probably already did this for your HTTP+HTTPS anyway.

If you are using EC2, all you have to do is to modify the security group of your EC2 instance that is running your Matrix, and allow traffic from anywhere to ports 5349/tcp, 5349/udp, 3478/tcp, 3478/udp, and 49160-49200/udp.

Next, deploy the Coturn server by running docker-compose up -d. You will also have to restart your Synapse (because the config has changed) via docker restart example_matrix_synapse_1. You can find the name of your Synapse container by simply running docker ps | grep synapse.

That is all, you should be now be able to make calls.

Note: I highly recommend testing this on two separate ISP networks! If your Coturn or the port-forwarding is misconfigured, you will very likely be able to make calls within your local network, and you will not realise that there is a problem. The best way to test is that you create two accounts on your Matrix and call each other from different ISP networks. Perhaps try using your 4G connection on your phone with the Riot app?

Note: If you do not have a public IP and you are using some kind of VPN, then the allow-loopback-peers in Coturn config file is required! Also, the external-ip= becomes your local VPN IP address (the address of your tun0 interface) followed by / followed by the external VPN IP address that is accessible from the internet. Do not use your LAN IP address and do not use 127.0.0.1.

The end

In the end, your files should look like this:

example/
  data/
    postgres/
      data/
        ... stuff ...
    traefik/
      config/
        middlewares.yml
        routers.yml
      traefik.yml
      acme.json
    matrix/
      coturn/ (optional)
        turnserver.conf
      nginx/
        www/
          .well-known/
            matrix/
              server
              client
        matrix.conf
      synapse/
        media_store/
          ... stuff ...
        homeserver.yml
        matrix.example.com.log.config
        matrix.example.com.signing.key
      riot/
        config.json
  docker-compose.yml
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