Common operations on X-as-a-Service¶

Matrix-as-a-Service¶

Ask @Timothée Floure for help if needed.

Contact customer for setup informations¶

Do not forget to replace $CUSTMER!

Hello $CUSTOMER,

I will deploy your Matrix homeserver and need a few configuration details from
you. I do not know how familiar you are with Matrix or technical terms:
do not hesitate to tell me if I go to fast or to slow for you.

First of all, each Matrix homeserver is linked to domain name (you users will look
like `@username:domain.tld`) for federation. I can offer you two options here,
but remember that the chosen domain name cannot be changed afterward:

  * Your own domain (e.g. domain.tld).
  * One domain controlled by ungleich (e.g. $CUSTOMER.0co2.cloud,
    $CUSTOMER.ungleich.cloud).

Secondly, I will deploy a Riot web matrix client for convenience (you can use
the desktop or smartphone clients as well) and need a domain for that as well:

  * Your own domain (e.g. matrix.domain.tld)
  * One domain controlled by ungleich (e.g. matrix.$CUSTOMER.0c02.cloud).

Lastly, I will configure the Matrix homeserver for you. You can ask us to set
any configuration option but we at least need to know your preferences in term
of registration:
  * Should it be backed by an existing user directory (LDAP)?
  * Should registrations be filtered by domain of email address? (e.g. anyone
    with a @domain.tld email address can register).
  * Should anyone be allowed to register?

Feel free to ask me any matrix-related question, as I am a heavy matrix user
myself.

Best Regards,

-- 

Deploy new MaaS instance¶

Note: synapse and riot extra parameters are documented in the __matrix_synapse and __matrix_riot types.

• Contact customer to get configuration details (this might take some time => do it first).
• Allocate VM in OpenNebula, based on Debian 10 (IPv6Only).
• Attach HDD storage to created VM (Help: Common operations at DCLIPv6OnlyHosting).
  - Create EXT4 filesystem: mkfs.ext4 $DEVICE
  - Add FSTAB entry for /var on $DEVICE.
  - Get UUID with blkid.
  - Should look like: UUID=$MY_UUID /var ext4 errors=remount-ro 1 2
  - Mount data disk on /mnt.
  - Move content of /var to /mnt.
  - Unmount data disk from /mnt.
  - Mount data disk to /var with mount -a (uses configuration in /etc/fstab).
  - Reboot and make sure that /var is properly mounted.
• Make sure VM is up-to-date (base image might be old).
  - apt update
  - apt upgrade

• Once you get details from customer, configure DNS entries:
  - Main homeserver address: $CUSTOMER.matrix.ungleich.cloud
  - files/dns/matrix.ungleich.cloud in dot-cdist.
  - Whatever is needed for Riot-web.
  - Do not forget to configure the IPv4-to-IPv6 proxy! See Common operations on IPv4-to-IPv6-Proxy.

• Add server to matrix-as-a-service manifest in dot-cdist. Deploy.
  - You can find the detailed parameters of synapse and riot in the __matrix_synapse and __matrix_riot.
• Create initial admin user:
  - Register new user, either via riot (standard user to be promoted afterwards) or /usr/bin/register_new_matrix_user on server.
  - Any user can be promoted by a simple SQL query:
  + On server, open postgresql shell: sudo -u postgres psql matrix-synapse
  + List users: SELECT * FROM users;
  + Make user admin: UPDATE users SET admin = 1 WHERE name = '@fnux:matrix-staging.ungleich.ch';
  - Once the initial admin user is created, you can access the web management UI: https://admin.matrix.ungleich.cloud/ (use server FQDN as homeserver).
• Configure federation:
  - Federation defaults to port 8448 and matrix server name. We have to redirect it to $CUSTOMER.matrix.ungleich.cloud on port 443.
  - Delegation works with a well-known URL served on matrix server name: /.well-known/matrix/server returning {"m.server": "$CUSTOMER.matrix.ungleich.cloud:443"}.
  - While we are at it, also configure homeserver discovery for clients: /.wll-known/matrix/client returning { "m.homeserver": { "base_url": "https://ungleich.matrix.ungleich.cloud" } }.
  - For a custom domain, either the client do it by himself or redirect the domain to the the matrix server. There are examples in the matrix-as-a-service manifest.
  - Check that everything looks good with the Federation tester: https://federationtester.matrix.org/
• Optional: customize hoster riot welcome page (--homepage riot extra parameter)

Upgrade a running MaaS instance¶

Always read synapse changelog first!
Always work and test on the staging instance first!

• ssh root@staging.matrix.ungleich.cloud
• https://matrix-staging.ungleich.cloud

Unattended upgrade automatically apply security upgrades to the VM: you only have to update synapse (the matrix homserver) from time to time. It usually boils down to a simple apt update; apt upgrade.

Note: the matrix-synapse synapse comes from the debian (buster) backports repository. APT can be told/forced to use it with the -t buster-backports flag.

Deploy Matterbridge application service¶

You can directly use the __matterbridge type:

• See deployment on ungleich.matrix.ungleich.cloud for inspirations (matrix-as-a-service dot-cdist manifest)
• Matterbridge doc: https://github.com/42wim/matterbridge/wiki