## Synapse v0.99 support and preparation for Synapse v1.0
Matrix is undergoing a lot of changes as it matures towards Synapse v1.0.
The first step is the Synapse v0.99 transitional release, which this playbook now supports.
If you've been using this playbook successfully until now, you'd be aware that we've been doing [Server Delegation](docs/howto-server-delegation.md) using a `_matrix._tcp` DNS SRV record (as per [Configuring DNS](docs/configuring-dns.md)).
Due to changes related to certificate file requirements that will affect us at Synapse v1.0, we'll have to stop using a **`_matrix._tcp` DNS SRV record in the future** (when Synapse goes to v1.0 - around 5th of March 2019). We **still need to keep the SRV record for now**, for backward compatibility with older Synapse versions (lower than v0.99).
**What you need to do now** is make use of this transitional Synapse v0.99 release to **prepare your federation settings for the future**. You have 2 choices to prepare yourself for compatibility with the future Synapse v1.0:
- (recommended) set up [Server Delegation via a well-known file](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#server-delegation-via-a-well-known-file), unless you are affected by the [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation). If you had previously set up the well-known `client` file, depending on how you've done it, it may be that there is nothing new required of you (besides [upgrading](docs/maintenance-upgrading-services.md)). After upgrading, you can [run a self-check](docs/maintenance-checking-services.md), which will tell you if you need to do anything extra with regard to setting up [Server Delegation via a well-known file](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#server-delegation-via-a-well-known-file). After some time, when most people have upgraded to Synapse v0.99 and older releases have disappeared, be prepared to drop your `_matrix._tcp` SRV record.
- (more advanced) if the [Downsides of well-known-based Server Delegation](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#downsides-of-well-known-based-server-delegation) are not to your liking, **as an alternative**, you can set up [Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#server-delegation-via-a-dns-srv-record-advanced). In such a case, you get to keep using your existing `_matrix._tcp` DNS SRV record forever and need to NOT set up a `/.well-known/matrix/server` file. Don't forget that you need to do certificate changes though. Follow the guide at [Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record](docs/howto-server-delegation.md#server-delegation-via-a-dns-srv-record-advanced).
Now that the [nginx Docker image](https://hub.docker.com/_/nginx) has [added support for TLS v1.3](https://github.com/nginxinc/docker-nginx/issues/190), we have enabled that protocol by default.
When using:
- the **integrated nginx server**: TLS v1.3 support might not kick in immediately, because the nginx version hasn't been bumped and you may have an older build of the nginx Docker image (currently `nginx:1.15.8-alpine`). Typically, we do not re-pull images that you already have. When the nginx version gets bumped in the future, everyone will get the update. Until then, you could manually force-pull the rebuilt Docker image by running this on the server: `docker pull nginx:1.15.8-alpine`.
- **your own external nginx server**: if your external nginx server is too old, the new configuration we generate for you in `/matrix/nginx-proxy/conf.d/` might not work anymore, because it mentions `TLSv1.3` and your nginx version might not support that. You can adjust the SSL protocol list by overriding the `matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_protocols` variable. Learn more in the documentation page for [Using your own webserver, instead of this playbook's nginx proxy](docs/configuring-playbook-own-webserver.md)
- **another web server**: you don't need to do anything to accommodate this change
[Devon Maloney (@Plailect)](https://github.com/Plailect) has done some great work bringing IRC bridging support via [matrix-appservice-irc](https://github.com/TeDomum/matrix-appservice-irc).
To learn more, see the [Setting up Appservice IRC](docs/configuring-playbook-bridge-appservice-irc.md) documentation page.
For additional security, various capabilities are also dropped (see [why it's important](https://github.com/projectatomic/atomic-site/issues/203)) for all containers.
Additionally, most containers now use a read-only filesystem (see [why it's important](https://www.projectatomic.io/blog/2015/12/making-docker-images-write-only-in-production/)).
Containers are given write access only to the directories they need to write to.
A minor breaking change is the `matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_api_client_max_body_size` variable having being renamed to `matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_api_client_max_body_size_mb` (note the `_mb` suffix). The new variable expects a number value (e.g. `25M` -> `25`).
If you weren't customizing this variable, this wouldn't affect you.
## matrix-mailer is now based on Exim, not Postfix
While we would have preferred to stay with [Postfix](http://www.postfix.org/), we found out that it cannot run as a non-root user.
We've had to replace it with [Exim](https://www.exim.org/) (via the [devture/exim-relay](https://hub.docker.com/r/devture/exim-relay) container image).
The internal `matrix-mailer` service (running in a container) now listens on port `8025` (used to be `587` before).
The playbook will update your Synapse and mxisd email settings to match (`matrix-mailer:587` -> `matrix-mailer:8025`).
Using the [devture/exim-relay](https://hub.docker.com/r/devture/exim-relay) container image instead of [panubo/postfix](https://hub.docker.com/r/panubo/postfix/) also gives us a nice disk usage reduction (~200MB -> 8MB).
## (BC Break) Making the playbook's roles more independent of one another
The following change **affects people running a more non-standard setup** - external Postgres or using our roles in their own other playbook.
**Most users don't need to do anything**, besides becoming aware of the new glue variables file [`group_vars/matrix-servers`](group_vars/matrix-servers).
Because people like using the playbook's components independently (outside of this playbook) and because it's much better for maintainability, we've continued working on separating them.
Still, we'd like to offer a turnkey solution for running a fully-featured Matrix server, so this playbook remains important for wiring up the various components.
- glue variables had to be introduced to the playbook, so it can wire together the various components. Those glue vars are stored in the [`group_vars/matrix-servers`](group_vars/matrix-servers) file. When overriding variables for a given component (role), you need to be aware of both the role defaults (`role/ROLE/defaults/main.yml`) and the role's corresponding section in the [`group_vars/matrix-servers`](group_vars/matrix-servers) file.
-`matrix_postgres_use_external` has been superceeded by the more consistently named `matrix_postgres_enabled` variable and a few other `matrix_synapse_database_` variables. See the [Using an external PostgreSQL server (optional)](docs/configuring-playbook-external-postgres.md) documentation page for an up-to-date replacement.
- Postgres tools (`matrix-postgres-cli` and `matrix-make-user-admin`) are no longer installed if you're not enabling the `matrix-postgres` role (`matrix_postgres_enabled: false`)
- roles, being more independent now, are more minimal and do not do so much magic for you. People that are building their own playbook using our roles will definitely need to take a look at the [`group_vars/matrix-servers`](group_vars/matrix-servers) file and adapt their playbooks with the same (or similar) wiring logic.
For better maintainability, the playbook logic (which all used to reside in a single `matrix-server` role)
has been split out into a number of different roles: `matrix-synapse`, `matrix-postgres`, `matrix-riot-web`, `matrix-mxisd`, etc. (see the `roles/` directory).
To keep the filesystem more consistent with this separation, the **Postgres data had to be relocated**.
The default value of `matrix_postgres_data_path` was changed from `/matrix/postgres` to `/matrix/postgres/data`. The `/matrix/postgres` directory is what we consider a base path now (new variable `matrix_postgres_base_path`). **Your Postgres data files will automatically be relocated by the playbook** (`/matrix/postgres/*` -> `/matrix/postgres/data/`) when you run with `--tags=setup-all` (or `--tags=setup-postgres`). While this shouldn't cause data-loss, **it's better if you do a Postgres backup just in case**. You'd need to restart all services after this migration (`--tags=start`).
## (BC Break) Cronjob schedule no longer configurable
Due to the way we manage cronjobs now, you can no longer configure the schedule they're invoked at.
If you were previously using `matrix_ssl_lets_encrypt_renew_cron_time_definition` or `matrix_nginx_proxy_reload_cron_time_definition`
to set a custom schedule, you should note that these variables don't affect anything anymore.
If you miss this functionality, please [open an Issue](https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/issues/new) and let us know about your use case!
## (BC Break) mxisd upgrade with multiple base DN support
mxisd has bee upgraded to [version 1.2.2](https://github.com/kamax-matrix/mxisd/releases/tag/v1.2.2), which supports [multiple base DNs](https://github.com/kamax-matrix/mxisd/blob/v1.2.2/docs/stores/ldap.md#base).
If you were configuring this playbook's `matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDn` variable until now (a string containing a single base DN), you'll need to change to configuring the `matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDns` variable (an array containing multiple base DNs).
The [LDAP identity store for mxisd](https://github.com/kamax-matrix/mxisd/blob/master/docs/stores/ldap.md) can now be configured easily using playbook variables (see the `matrix_mxisd_ldap_` variables in `roles/matrix-server/defaults/main.yml`).
The playbook now allows you to set the log levels used by Synapse. The default logging levels remain the same.
You can now override following variables with any of the supported log levels listed here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.html#logging-levels
This now allows you use a custom integrations manager like [Dimesion](https://dimension.t2bot.io). For example, if you wish to use the Dimension instance hosted at dimension.t2bot.io, you can set the following in your vars.yml file:
There's now a new `matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_protocols` playbook variable, which controls the SSL protocols used to serve Riot and Synapse. Its default value is `TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2`. This playbook previously used `TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2` to serve Riot and Synapse.
If you have have an existing setup, it's likely running on an older Postgres version (9.x or 10.x). You can easily upgrade by following the [upgrading PostgreSQL guide](docs/maintenance-postgres.md#upgrading-postgresql).
Due to the large amount of features added to this playbook lately, to keep things manageable we've had to reorganize its configuration variables a bit.
The following playbook variables were renamed:
- from `matrix_docker_image_mxisd` to `matrix_mxisd_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_mautrix_telegram` to `matrix_mautrix_telegram_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_mautrix_whatsapp` to `matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_mailer` to `matrix_mailer_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_coturn` to `matrix_coturn_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_goofys` to `matrix_s3_goofys_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_riot` to `matrix_riot_web_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_nginx` to `matrix_nginx_proxy_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_synapse` to `matrix_synapse_docker_image`
- from `matrix_docker_image_postgres_v9` to `matrix_postgres_docker_image_v9`
- from `matrix_docker_image_postgres_v10` to `matrix_postgres_docker_image_v10`
- from `matrix_docker_image_postgres_latest` to `matrix_postgres_docker_image_latest`
The playbook now supports bridging with [Whatsapp](https://www.whatsapp.com/) by installing the [mautrix-whatsapp](https://github.com/tulir/mautrix-whatsapp) bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to [@izissise](https://github.com/izissise).
Additional details are available in [Setting up Mautrix Whatsapp bridging](docs/configuring-playbook-bridge-mautrix-whatsapp.md).
The playbook can now help you with [Controlling Matrix federation](docs/configuring-playbook-federation), should you wish to run a more private (isolated) server.
The playbook can now enable/disable user presence-status tracking in Synapse, through the playbook's `matrix_synapse_use_presence` variable (having a default value of `true` - enabled).
If users participate in large rooms with many other servers, disabling presence will decrease server load significantly.
The playbook now makes the Synapse cache factor configurable, through the playbook's `matrix_synapse_cache_factor` variable (having a default value of `0.5`).
Changing that value allows you to potentially decrease RAM usage or to increase performance by caching more stuff.
Some information on it is available here: https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse#help-synapse-eats-all-my-ram
`--log-driver=none` is used for all Docker containers now.
All these containers are started through systemd anyway and get logged in journald, so there's no need for Docker to be logging the same thing using the default `json-file` driver. Doing that was growing `/var/lib/docker/containers/..` infinitely until service/container restart.
As a result of this, things like `docker logs matrix-synapse` won't work anymore. `journalctl -u matrix-synapse` is how one can see the logs.
The playbook now helps you set up [service discovery](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.4.0.html#server-discovery) using a `/.well-known/matrix/client` file.
Additional details are available in [Configuring service discovery via .well-known](docs/configuring-well-known.md).
The playbook now supports bridging with [Telegram](https://telegram.org/) by installing the [mautrix-telegram](https://github.com/tulir/mautrix-telegram) bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to [@izissise](https://github.com/izissise).
Additional details are available in [Setting up Mautrix Telegram bridging](docs/configuring-playbook-bridge-mautrix-telegram.md).
The playbook now supports enabling password-peppering for increased security in Matrix Synapse via the `matrix_synapse_password_config_pepper` playbook variable. Using a password pepper is disabled by default (just like it used to be before this playbook variable got introduced) and is not to be enabled/disabled after initial setup, as that would invalidate all existing passwords.
## Statistics-reporting support for Matrix Synapse
There's now a new `matrix_synapse_report_stats` playbook variable, which controls the `report_stats` configuration option for Matrix Synapse. It defaults to `false`, so no change is required to retain your privacy.
If you'd like to start reporting statistics about your homeserver (things like number of users, number of messages sent, uptime, load, etc.) to matrix.org, you can turn on stats reporting.
## Changing the way SSL certificates are retrieved
We've been using [acmetool](https://github.com/hlandau/acme) (with the [willwill/acme-docker](https://hub.docker.com/r/willwill/acme-docker/) Docker image) until now.
Due to the Docker image being deprecated, and things looking bleak for acmetool's support of the newer ACME v2 API endpoint, we've switched to using [certbot](https://certbot.eff.org/) (with the [certbot/certbot](https://hub.docker.com/r/certbot/certbot/) Docker image).
Changed the way the Docker containers are linked together. The ones that need to communicate with others operate in a `matrix` network now and not in the default bridge network.
