Open Infrastructure

h1. Common operations on X-as-a-Service

h2. Matrix-as-a-Service

Ask @fnux for help if needed.

h3. Contact customer for setup informations

Do not forget to replace @$CUSTMER@!

<pre>

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,

-- 

</pre>

h3. 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)

h3. Upgrade a running MaaS instance

*Always read "synapse changelog":https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/releases 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":https://packages.debian.org/buster-backports/matrix-synapse. APT can be told/forced to use it with the @-t buster-backports@ flag.

h3. 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