matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/CHANGELOG.md

2024-11-23

(Backward Compatibility Break) The playbook now defaults to Valkey, instead of KeyDB

TLDR: if the playbook installed KeyDB (or Redis) as a dependency for you before, it will now replace it with Valkey (a drop-in alternative). We previously switched from Redis to KeyDB, but Valkey is a better alternative, so we're switching again.

The playbook used to install Redis or KeyDB if services have a need for a Redis-compatible implementation (enabling worker support for Synapse, enabling Hookshot encryption, etc.).

Earlier this year, we switched from Redis to KeyDB - see (Backward Compatibility Break) The playbook now defaults to KeyDB, instead of Redis.

Because Valkey seems to be a better successor to Redis (than KeyDB) and likely doesn't suffer from issues like this one, we now replace KeyDB with Valkey.

Valkey (like KeyDB and Redis in the past) is an implicitly enabled dependency - you don't need custom configuration in vars.yml to enable it.

Next time your run the playbook (via the setup-all tag), KeyDB will be automatically uninstalled and replaced with Valkey. Some Synapse downtime may occur while the switch happens.

Users on arm32 should be aware that there's neither a prebuilt arm32 container image for Valkey, nor the Valkey role supports self-building yet. Users on this architecture likely don't run Synapse with workers, etc., so they're likely in no need of Valkey (or Redis/KeyDB). If Redis is necessary in an arm32 deployment, disabling Valkey and making the playbook fall back to Redis is possible (see below).

The playbook still supports Redis and you can keep using Redis (for now) if you'd like, by adding this additional configuration to your vars.yml file:

# Explicitly disable both Valkey and KeyDB.
#
# Redis will be auto-enabled if necessary,
# because there's no other Redis-compatible implementation being enabled.
valkey_enabled: false
keydb_enabled: false

The playbook still supports KeyDB and you can keep using KeyDB (for now) if you'd like, by adding this additional configuration to your vars.yml file:

# Explicitly disable Valkey  enable KeyDB.
#
# Redis will not be auto-enabled beandcause a Redis-compatible implementation (KeyDB) is enabled.
valkey_enabled: false
keydb_enabled: true

At some point in time in the future, we'll remove both KeyDB and Redis from the playbook, so we recommend that you migrate to Valkey earlier anyway.

2024-11-14

HTTP-compression support for Traefik-based setups

The playbook now automatically enables HTTP-compression support for major services powered by the playbook, like Cinny, Element Web, Hydrogen, as well as for Matrix Client-Server and Federation APIs (matrix.example.com).

Other services installed by the playbook are currently not compression-enabled, but may become so over time. This change is rolled out on a per-service basis (as opposed to doing it globally, at the Traefik entrypoint level) to allow certain services or route endpoints which do not behave well when compressed (e.g. issue 3749) to be excluded from compression.

A long time ago, various services were operating with gzip-compression enabled at the nginx level. Since the switch to Traefik (see Goodbye, matrix-nginx-proxy 🪦), all services (with the exception of Matrix APIs for Synapse worker-enabled setups which are powered by nginx via synapse-reverse-proxy-companion) have been operating without HTTP-compression support.

HTTP-compression is now done via Traefik's compress middleware. We use the default configuration for this middleware, which enables zstd, br and gzip support (in this order). This middleware's configuration can be configured via variables in the Traefik role (see traefik_config_http_middlewares_compression_middleware_options).

If you're using your own Traefik reverse-proxy server (Traefik managed by you) instead of the playbook's integrated Traefik service, you can benefit from the same by:

• defining a compress middleware (via the file or Docker providers)
• setting matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_traefik_middleware_compression_enabled to true
• specifying the middleware's name in matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_traefik_middleware_compression_name (e.g. matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_traefik_middleware_compression_name: my-compression-middleware@file)

Timeout adjustments for Traefik-based setups

The playbook now supports configuring various transport.respondingTimeouts timeout values (readTimeout, writeTimeout, idleTimeout) for the web, web-secure and matrix-federation entrypoints.

If you're using your own Traefik reverse-proxy server (Traefik managed by you) instead of the playbook's integrated Traefik service, you may wish to do similar configuration changes to your setup manually.

The most interesting of these is the readTimeout configuration value (the maximum duration for reading the entire request, including the body), which used to default to 60s. For large and slowly progressing file uploads, 60s would often not be enough for the transfer to finish and uploads would end up being interrupted. The playbook now raises the readTimeout value to 5 minutes (300s) to improve this use-case.

The traefik_config_entrypoint_web_transport_respondingTimeouts_* variables (for the web entrypoint) cascade to affecting the timeout values for the web-secure and matrix-federation entrypoints, so you can easily adjust all timeout values using them.

Example of the default timeout values used by the playbook:

traefik_config_entrypoint_web_transport_respondingTimeouts_readTimeout: 300s

# 0s means "no timeout"
traefik_config_entrypoint_web_transport_respondingTimeouts_writeTimeout: 0s

traefik_config_entrypoint_web_transport_respondingTimeouts_idleTimeout: 180s

Alternatively, you may adjust the timeout values for specific entrypoints (like web-secure and matrix-federation) using dedicated variables (like traefik_config_entrypoint_web_secure_transport_respondingTimeouts_readTimeout and matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_config_transport_respondingTimeouts_readTimeout).

2024-11-08

Support for synapse-admin auto-configuration via /.well-known/matrix/client

You can administrate your Synapse-powered homeserver using synapse-admin hosted externally (e.g. admin.etke.cc) and the synapse-admin instance would still auto-configure itself correctly for your server by reading its /.well-known/matrix/client file.

The playbook now configures the /.well-known/matrix/client file for this by default, injecting into it a cc.etke.synapse-admin section that contains the full synapse-admin configuration. This is done even if you don't enable the synapse-admin service in your configuration. The reason for always doing it is to allow users to skip the (small) overhead of self-hosting the non-core synapse-admin service, yet still be able to use it from elsewhere when needed.

If you don't ever plan on using synapse-admin from other servers (besides your own due to self-hosting synapse-admin), you can disable this /.well-known/matrix/client configuration via matrix_static_files_file_matrix_client_property_cc_etke_synapse_admin_enabled: false

2024-10-28

(BC Break) Postmoogle's variable names need adjustments

Due to the recategorization of Postmoogle from the bot to the bridge, its variables were renamed (matrix_bot_postmoogle_ -> matrix_postmoogle_). You need to adjust your vars.yml configuration accordingly.

2024-10-19

Support for Matrix Authentication Service

The playbook now supports installing and configuring Matrix Authentication Service (MAS).

Huge thanks to Quentin Gliech from the Element / Matrix Authentication Service team for answering our numerous questions about MAS.

This is an experimental service and there are still certain issues with it (see Expectations). Matrix server administrators should only consider switching if they identify with one or more reasons to use Matrix Authentication Service. As MAS adoption improves and more services are adjusted to support it, we expect that using MAS will become the norm.

Our Setting up Matrix Authentication Service documentation page has more details about this new service, what you might expect from the switch and how you can migrate your existing (Synapse) homeserver setup to MAS.

2024-09-27

(BC Break) Postgres & Traefik roles have been relocated and variable names need adjustments

Various roles have been relocated from the devture organization to the mother-of-all-self-hosting organization.

Along with the relocation, the devture_ prefix was dropped from their variable names, so you need to adjust your vars.yml configuration.

You need to do the following replacements:

• devture_postgres_ -> postgres_
• devture_traefik_ -> traefik_

As always, the playbook would let you know about this and point out any variables you may have missed.

2024-09-12

Support for baibot

The playbook now supports installing baibot (pronounced bye-bot) - a Matrix bot developed by etke.cc that exposes the power of AI / Large Language Models to you. 🤖

It supports OpenAI's ChatGPT models, as well as many other ☁️ providers.

It's designed as a more private and ✨ featureful alternative to the now-unmaintained matrix-chatgpt-bot.

To get started, see the Setting up baibot documentation page.

Switching synapse-admin to etke.cc's fork

The playbook now installs etke.cc's fork of synapse-admin (originally developed by Awesome-Technologies). This fork is a drop-in replacement for the original software.

The creation of the fork has been provoked by users frequently encountering issues with the original synapse-admin software, such as unintentionally deleting their one-and-only admin user account (fixed here and also contributed upstream here - to no avail for now). Since its inception, a bunch of other quality-of-life improvements have been made to the fork.

If upstream synapse-admin picks up the pace and improves, the etke.cc fork may disappear and the playbook may switch to the original software again. Until that time comes, we believe that etke.cc's fork is the better software to use right now.

If you'd like to switch back to the original synapse-admin software, you can do so by adding the following configuration to your vars.yml file:

matrix_synapse_admin_docker_image: "{{ matrix_synapse_admin_docker_image_name_prefix }}awesometechnologies/synapse-admin:{{ matrix_synapse_admin_version }}"
matrix_synapse_admin_docker_image_name_prefix: "{{ 'localhost/' if matrix_synapse_admin_container_image_self_build else matrix_container_global_registry_prefix }}"

matrix_synapse_admin_version: 0.10.3

# If you need self-building (if running on arm32), uncomment this.
# matrix_synapse_admin_container_image_self_build_repo: "https://github.com/Awesome-Technologies/synapse-admin.git"

2024-08-17

New appservice-double-puppet service for better double-puppeting

Mautrix bridges are undergoing large changes as announced in the August 2024 releases & progress blog post.

The playbook has already upgraded to the rewritten mautrix-slack (v0.1.0) and mautrix-signal (v0.7.0) bridges.

The newly rewritten bridges do not support double-puppeting via Shared Secret Auth anymore, which has prompted us to switch to the new & better appservice method for double-puppeting. The playbook automates this double-puppeting setup for you if you enable the new Appservice Double Puppet service.

All non-deprecated mautrix bridges in the playbook have been reworked to support double-puppeting via an Appservice. Most bridges still support double-puppeting via Shared Secret Auth, so the playbook supports it too. If only Shared Secret Auth is enabled, double-puppeting will be configured using that method (for the bridges that support it). That said, Shared Secret Auth double-puppeting is being phased out and we recommend replacing it with the new Appservice method.

We recommend enabling double-puppeting via the new Appservice method by adding the following configuration to your vars.yml file:

matrix_appservice_double_puppet_enabled: true

You can still keep Shared Secret Auth enabled. Non-mautrix bridges and other services (e.g. matrix-corporal) may still require it.

When both double-puppeting methods are enabled, the playbook will automatically choose the new and better Appservice method for bridges that support it.

2024-08-15

matrix-media-repo now configured for Authenticated Media

Thanks to Michael Hollister from FUTO, our matrix-media-repo implementation now automatically sets up signing keys for Authenticated Media (as per MSC3916).

If you had never heard of Authenticated Media before, the Sunsetting unauthenticated media article on matrix.org is a good introduction.

This feature is enabled for matrix-media-repo installations by default and will append an additional (matrix-media-repo-generated signing key) to your homeserver's (Synapse or Dendrite) signing key. See the Signing keys and Key backup and revoking sections of the matrix-media-repo documentation for more details.

If you'd like to avoid this new feature, you can disable it by setting matrix_media_repo_generate_signing_key: false in your vars.yml configuration file.

2024-08-08

(Backward Compatibility Break) matrix-corporal has been upgraded to v3

The playbook now installs matrix-corporal v3.0.0, which brings support for power-level management (thanks to this PR).

This upgrade necessitates configuration policy changes as described in matrix-corporal's changelog entry.

If you'd like to remain on the old (v2) version of matrix-corporal, you can do so by adding the following configuration to your vars.yml file:

matrix_corporal_version: 2.8.0

2024-07-25

synapse-usage-exporter support

Thanks to Michael Hollister from FUTO, the creators of the Circles app, the playbook can now set up synapse-usage-exporter - a small Flask-based webservice which can capture usage statistics from Synapse (via HTTP PUT) and then make them available for Prometheus to scrape.

To learn more see our Enabling synapse-usage-exporter for Synapse usage statistics documentation page.

2024-07-06

matrix-alertmanager-receiver support

For those wishing to more easily integrate Prometheus' alerting service (Alertmanager) with Matrix, the playbook can now set up matrix-alertmanager-receiver.

See Setting up Prometheus Alertmanager integration via matrix-alertmanager-receiver for more details.

Traefik v3 and HTTP/3 are here now

TLDR: Traefik was migrated from v2 to v3. Minor changes were done to the playbook. Mostly everything else worked out of the box. Most people will not have to do any tweaks to their configuration. In addition, HTTP/3 support is now auto-enabled for the web-secure (port 443) and matrix-federation (port 8448) entrypoints. If you have a firewall in front of your server and you wish to benefit from HTTP3, you will need to open the 443 and 8448 UDP ports in it.

Traefik v3

The reverse-proxy that the playbook uses by default (Traefik) has recently been upgraded to v3 (see this blog post to learn about its new features). Version 3 includes some small breaking configuration changes requiring a migration.

We have updated the playbook to Traefik v3 (make sure to run just roles / make roles to get it).

There were only minor playbook changes required to adapt to Traefik v3, and only to the Ansible role for matrix-media-repo where we changed a few PathPrefix instances to PathRegexp, because these instances were using a regular expression instead of a fixed path. For fixed-path values, PathPrefix is still the preferred matcher function to use.

Most people using the playbook should not have to do any changes.

If you're using the playbook's Traefik instance to reverse-proxy to some other services of your own (not managed by the playbook), you may wish to review their Traefik labels and make sure they're in line with the Traefik v2 to v3 migration guide.

If you've tweaked any of this playbook's _path_prefix variables and made them use a regular expression, you will now need to make additional adjustments. The playbook makes extensive use of PathPrefix() matchers in Traefik rules and PathPrefix does not support regular expressions anymore. To work around it, you may now need to override a whole _traefik_rule variable and switch it from PathPrefix to PathRegexp.

If you're not using matrix-media-repo (the only role we had to tweak to adapt it to Traefik v3), you may potentially downgrade to Traefik v2 (if necessary) by adding traefik_verison: v2.11.4 to your configuration. People using matrix-media-repo cannot downgrade this way, because matrix-media-repo has been adjusted to use PathRegexp - a routing matcher that Traefik v2 does not understand.

HTTP/3 is enabled by default

In Traefik v3, HTTP/3 support is no longer considered experimental now. Due to this, the playbook auto-enables HTTP3 for the web-secure (port 443) and matrix-federation (port 8448) entrypoints.

HTTP3 uses the UDP protocol and the playbook (together with Docker) will make sure that the appropriate ports (443 over UDP & 8448 over UDP) are exposed and whitelisted in your server's firewall. However, if you have another firewall in front of your server (as is the case for many cloud providers), you will need to manually open these UDP ports.

If you do not open the UDP ports correctly or there is some other issue, clients (browsers, mostly) will fall-back to HTTP/2 or even HTTP/1.1.

Still, if HTTP/3 cannot function correctly in your setup, it's best to disable advertising support for it (and misleading clients into trying to use HTTP/3).

To disable HTTP/3, you can use the following configuration:

traefik_config_entrypoint_web_secure_http3_enabled: false

# Disabling HTTP/3 for the web-secure entrypoint (above),
# automatically disables it for the Matrix Federation entrypoint as well,
# so you do not necessarily need the configuration line below.
#
# Feel free to only keep it around if you're keeping HTTP/3 enabled for web-secure (by removing the line above),
# and would only like to disable HTTP/3 for the Matrix Federation entrypoint.
matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_config_http3_enabled: false

If you are using your own webserver (in front of Traefik), port binding on UDP port 8448 by default due to HTTP/3 is either unnecessary or may get in the way. If it does, you can disable it:

# Disable HTTP/3 for the federation entrypoint.
# If you'd like HTTP/3, consider configuring it for your other reverse-proxy.
#
# Disabling this also sets `matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_host_bind_port_udp` to an empty value.
# If you'd like to keep HTTP/3 enabled here (for whatever reason), you may wish to explicitly
# set `matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_host_bind_port_udp` to something like '127.0.0.1:8449'.
matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_config_http3_enabled: false

2024-07-01

synapse-admin is now restricted to your homeserver's URL by default

A new feature introduced in synapse-admin v0.10.0 (released and supported by the playbook since a a few months ago) provides the ability to restrict its usage to a specific homeserver (or multiple homeservers).

The playbook has just started making use of this feature. From now on, your synapse-admin instance will be restricted to the homeserver you're managing via the playbook. When configured like this, the Homeserver URL field in synapse-admin's web UI changes from a text field to a dropdown having a single value (the URL of your homeserver). This makes usage simpler for most people, as they won't need to manually enter a Homeserver URL anymore.

If you'd like to go back to the old unrestricted behavior, use the following configuration:

# Use this configuration to allow synapse-admin to manage any homeserver instance.
matrix_synapse_admin_config_restrictBaseUrl: []

2024-06-25

The URL-prefix for Hookshot generic webhooks has changed

Until now, generic Hookshot webhook URLs looked like this: https://matrix.example.com/hookshot/webhooks/:hookId.

The /hookshot/webhooks common prefix gets stripped by Traefik automatically, so Hookshot only sees the part that comes after (/:hookId).

A few years ago, Hookshot started to prefer to handle webhooks at a /webhook/:hookId path (instead of directly at /:hookId).

To avoid future problems, we've reconfigured our Hookshot configuration to use webhook URLs that include /webhook in the URL suffix (e.g. /hookshot/webhooks/webhook/:hookId, instead of /hookshot/webhooks/:hookId). This means that when we strip the common prefi (/hookshot/webhooks), we'll end up sending /webhook/:hookId to Hookshot, just like recommended.

When generating new webhooks, you should start seeing the new URLs being used.

For now, both old URLs (/hookshot/webhooks/:hookId) and new URLs (/hookshot/webhooks/webhook/:hookId) continue to work*, so your webhooks will not break just yet.

However, we recommend that you update all your old webhook URLs (configured in other systems) to include the new /webhook path component, so that future Hookshot changes (whenever they come) will not break your webhooks. You don't need to do anything on the Hookshot side - you merely need to reconfigure the remote systems that use your webhook URLs.

2024-06-22

The maubot user is now managed by the playbook

To make things easier and to be consistent with other roles, the maubot user (bot.maubot by default) is now automatically created be the playbook.

If you have an existing maubot installation, you will need to specify matrix_bot_maubot_initial_password in your vars.yml file to make the playbook not complain about it being undefined. Since the bot is already registered in your installation, there's nothing for the playbook to do anyway. In case you don't remember the password you've registered your maubot user account with, you can specify any value for this variable.

If you've registered another username for the bot (other than the recommended default of bot.maubot), consider adjusting the matrix_bot_maubot_login variable (e.g. matrix_bot_maubot_login: my.maubot.username).

2024-06-03

WeChat bridging support

Thanks to Tobias Diez's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to WeChat via the matrix-wechat bridge.

See our Setting up WeChat bridging documentation page for getting started.

2024-03-26

(Backward Compatibility Break) The playbook now defaults to KeyDB, instead of Redis

TLDR: if the playbook used installed Redis as a dependency for you before, it will now replace it with KeyDB (a drop-in alternative) due to Redis having changed its license.

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook now uses KeyDB (a drop-in alternative for Redis), instead of Redis.

The playbook used to install Redis (and now installs KeyDB in its place) if services have a need for it (enabling worker support for Synapse, enabling Hookshot encryption, etc.) or if you explicitly enabled the service (redis_enabled: true or keydb_enabled: true).

This change is provoked by the fact that Redis is now "source available". According to the Limitations of the new license (as best as we understand them, given that we're not lawyers), using Redis in the playbook (even in a commercial FOSS service like etke.cc) does not violate the new Redis license. That said, we'd rather neither risk it, nor endorse shady licenses and products that pretend to be free-software. Another high-quality alternative to Redis seems to be Dragonfly, but the Dragonfly license is no better than Redis's.

Next time your run the playbook (via the setup-all tag), Redis will be automatically uninstalled and replaced with KeyDB. Some Synapse downtime may occur while the switch happens.

Users on arm32 should be aware that there's neither a prebuilt arm32 container image for KeyDB, nor the KeyDB role supports self-building yet. Users on this architecture likely don't run Synapse with workers, etc., so they're likely in no need of KeyDB (or Redis). If Redis is necessary in an arm32 deployment, disabling KeyDB and making the playbook fall back to Redis is possible (see below).

The playbook still supports Redis and you can keep using Redis (for now) if you'd like, by adding this additional configuration to your vars.yml file:

# Explicitly disable KeyDB, which will auto-enable Redis
# if the playbook requires it as a dependency for its operation.
keydb_enabled: false

2024-03-24

Initial work on IPv6 support

Thanks to Tilo Spannagel, the playbook can now enable IPv6 for container networks for various components (roles) via the devture_systemd_docker_base_ipv6_enabled variable.

It should be noted that:

• Matrix roles (roles/custom/matrix-*) respect this variable, but external roles (those defined in requirements.yml and installed via just roles) do not respect it yet. Additional work is necessary
• changing the variable subsequently may not change existing container networks. Refer to these instructions
• this is all very new and untested

Pantalaimon support

Thanks to Julian Foad, the playbook can now install the Pantalaimon E2EE aware proxy daemon for you. It's already possible to integrate it with Draupnir to allow it to work in E2EE rooms - see our Draupnir docs for details.

See our Setting up Pantalaimon documentation to get started.

2024-03-05

Support for Draupnir-for-all

Thanks to FSG-Cat, the playbook can now install Draupnir for all (aka multi-instance Draupnir running in appservice mode).

This is an alternative to running Draupnir in bot mode, which is still supported by the playbook.

The documentation page for Draupnir for all contains more information on how to install it.

2024-02-19

Support for bridging to Facebook/Messenger via the new mautrix-meta bridge

The mautrix-facebook and mautrix-instagram bridges are being superseded by a new bridge - the mautrix-meta bridge.

The playbook now supports the new mautrix-meta bridge - a single bridge, which can run in different modes and bridge to Messenger (via Facebook, Facebook over Tor or via Messenger) and Instagram. The playbook makes this bridge available via 2 separate Ansible roles, allowing you to easily run 2 instances of mautrix-meta, for bridging to both services at the same time.

If you're using mautrix-facebook or mautrix-instagram right now, you can still continue using the old bridges, but may wish to change to the new bridge implementations. See:

• Setting up Instagram bridging via Mautrix Meta

• Setting up Messenger bridging via Mautrix Meta

The documentation pages contain more information on how to migrate.

2024-02-14

Much larger Synapse caches and cache auto-tuning enabled by default

Thanks to FSG-Cat, the playbook now uses much larger caches and enables Synapse's cache auto-tuning functionality. This work and the default values used by the playbook are inspired by Tom Foster's Synapse homeserver guide.

The playbook has always used a very conservative cache factor (matrix_synapse_caches_global_factor) value of 0.5, which may be OK for small and underactive deployments, but is not ideal for larger servers. Paradoxically, a small global cache factor value does not necessarily decrease RAM usage as a whole.

The playbook now uses a 20x larger cache factor (currently 10), adjusts a few other cache-related variables, and enables cache auto-tuning via the following variables:

• matrix_synapse_cache_autotuning_max_cache_memory_usage - defaults to 1/8 of total RAM with a cap of 2GB; values are specified in bytes
• matrix_synapse_cache_autotuning_target_cache_memory_usage - defaults to 1/16 of total RAM with a cap of 1GB; values are specified in bytes
• matrix_synapse_cache_autotuning_min_cache_ttl - defaults to 30s

These values should be good defaults for most servers, but may change over time as we experiment further.

Refer to our new Tuning caches and cache autotuning documentation section for more details.

2024-01-31

(Backward-compatibility break) Minor changes necessary for some people serving a static website at the base domain

This only affects people who are Serving a static website at the base domain, but not managing its index.html through the playbook.

That is, for people who have matrix_static_files_file_index_html_enabled: false in their vars.yml configuration, the playbook has a new default behavior. Since the playbook is not managing the index.html file, it will default to a more sensible way of handling the base domain - redirecting https://example.com/ to https://matrix.example.com/, instead of serving a 404 page.

If you are managing your static website by yourself (by dropping files into /matrix/static-files/public somehow), then you probably don't wish for such redirection to happen. You can disable it by adding matrix_static_files_container_labels_base_domain_root_path_redirection_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file.

2024-01-20

Support for more efficient (specialized) Synapse workers

Thanks to Charles Wright from FUTO, the creators of the Circles app, the playbook has received support for load-balancing the Synapse workload via specialized workers which are supposed to work better than our old generic workers implementation.

For now, playbook defaults remain unchanged and the one-of-each workers preset continues being the default. However, the default may change in the future. If you'd like to remain on this preset even if/when the defaults change, consider explicitly adding matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each to your vars.yml configuration.

Our specialized workers setup is based on recommendations found in Tom Foster's Synapse homeserver guide. What's special about our new setup is that we try to parse information out of the request (who the user is; which room is being operated on) and try to forward similar requests to the same worker. As an example, this means that once a worker caches some room information, subsequent requests for the same room will be routed to the same worker (which supposedly still has the room's state cached).

To get started, refer to our Specialized workers documentation section.

2024-01-17

Switching to Element's AGPLv3-licensed Synapse release

A few months ago, the Element company has announced that their work on the Synapse homeserver would no longer be available under the permissive Apache-2.0 license, but only under:

• the AGPLv3 free-software license - the same license that this Ansible playbook has always used
• a proprietary license, for those wishing for Element to sell them an exception to the AGPLv3 license

You can also learn more in this post by the Matrix Foundation.

The change has already happened and the first Synapse release under the new license is here: v1.99.0.

There is no up-to-date alternative Synapse fork right now and this free-software (AGPLv3-licensed) playbook is definitely not against free-software licenses, so we are now switching to the Element-maintained Synapse release.

What does this mean to you?

For most home users, it doesn't mean anything. Your installation will continue working as it should and you don't need to do anything.

For people building commercial products on top of Synapse, they may have to either buy a license exception from Element (from what we hear, the fee depends on the number of monthly-active users on your instance) or they may need to release all related code as free-software (which is what we've been doing at etke.cc (here) all along).

We're no lawyers and this changelog entry does not aim to give you the best legal advice, so please research on your own!

If you'd like to continue using the old Apache-2.0-licensed Synapse (for a while longer anyway), the playbook makes it possible by intruducing a new Ansible variable. You can do it like this:

# Switch the organization that Synapse container images (or source code for self-building) are pulled from.
# Note: the new default value is `element-hq/synapse`.
matrix_synapse_github_org_and_repo: matrix-org/synapse

# Pin the Synapse version to the last one (v1.98.0) released by the Matrix Foundation
# under the old permissive Apache-2.0 license.
matrix_synapse_version: v1.98.0

Notes:

• if you had already upgraded Synapse to v1.99.0 by running this playbook, you will still be able to downgrade to v1.98.0, because both releases use the same database schema version (SCHEMA_COMPAT_VERSION = 83 - see here for v1.98.0 and here for v1.99.0). More details on Synapse's database schema are available here. It appears that there are no new database migrations introduced in v1.99.0, so going back to the older release is possible. This is not guaranteed to hold true for future Synapse releases, so if you're seeing this early-enough, consider pinning the version and organization before re-running the playbook and getting upgraded to the latest version

• running an outdated homeserver exposes you to security issues and incompatibilities. Only consider doing this as a short-term solution.

2024-01-16

Draupnir has been relicensed to AFL-3.0

As of #204 Draupnir changed its licence to AFL-3.0 from the CSL licence. This change affects playbook users who could not run Draupnir under the old license restrictions. The new license is considerably less restrictive and is OSI approved. Draupnir version v1.86.0 and later are covered by this license change.

2024-01-15

Goodbye, matrix-nginx-proxy 🪦

TLDR: All traces of the matrix-nginx-proxy reverse-proxy component are now gone. This brought about many other internal changes (and security improvements), so setups may need minor adjustments or suffer some (temporary) breakage. People who have been on the Traefik-native setup may upgrade without much issues. Those running their own Traefik instance may need minor changes. People who have been postponing the migration away from matrix-nginx-proxy (for more than a year already!) will now finally need to do something about it.

Backstory on matrix-nginx-proxy

We gather here today to celebrate the loss of a once-beloved component in our stack - matrix-nginx-proxy. It's been our nginx-based reverse-proxy of choice since the first commit of this playbook, 7 years ago.

For 6 years, matrix-nginx-proxy has been the front-most reverse-proxy in our setup (doing SSL termination, etc.). After transitioning to Traefik last year, matrix-nginx-proxy took a step back. Nevertheless, since it was so ingrained into the playbook, it still remained in use - even if only internally. Despite our warnings of its imminent death, many of you have indubitably continued to use it instead of Traefik. Its suffering continued for too long, because it served many different purposes and massive effort was required to transition them to others.

To us, matrix-nginx-proxy was:

• an nginx-based reverse-proxy
• an Ansible role organizing the work of certbot - retrieving free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates for matrix-nginx-proxy and for the Coturn TURN server
• a central component for reverse-proxying to the long list of services supported by the playbook. As such, it became a dependency that all these services had to inject themselves into during runtime
• an intermediary through which addons (bridges, bots) communicated with the homeserver. Going through an intermediary (instead of directly talking to the homeserver) is useful when certain components (like matrix-media-repo or matrix-corporal) are enabled, because it lets these services "steal routes" from the homeserver
• a webserver for serving the /.well-known/matrix static files (generated by the matrix-base role until now)
• a webserver serving your base domain (and also generating the index.html page for it)
• a central component providing global HTTP Basic Auth password-protection for all /metrics endpoints when metrics were exposed publicly for consumption from a remote Prometheus server

Talk about a jack of all trades! The UNIX philosophy (and Docker container philosophy) of "do one thing and do it well" had been severely violated for too long.

On a related note, we also had a large chain of reverse-proxies in the mix. In the worst case, it was something like this: (Traefik -> matrix-nginx-proxy:8080 -> matrix-nginx-proxy:12080 -> matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion:8008 -> matrix-synapse:8008).

Due to complexity and the playbook's flexibility (trying to accommodate a mix of tens of components), many layers of indirection were necessary. We do like reverse-proxies, but.. not quite enough to enjoy going through a chain of ~4 of them before reaching the target service.

After a ton of work in the last weeks (200+ commits, which changed 467 files - 8684 insertions and 8913 deletions), we're finally saying goodbye to matrix-nginx-proxy.

Going Traefik-native and cutting out all middlemen

In our new setup, you'll see the bare minimum number of reverse-proxies.

In most cases, there's only Traefik and all services being registered directly with it. When Synapse workers are enabled, matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion remains as an extra reverse-proxy that requests go through (for load-balancing to the correct Synapse worker), but in all other cases services are exposed directly.

This reduces "network" hops (improving performance) and also decreases the number of components (containers). Each Ansible role in our setup is now independent and doesn't need to interact with other roles during runtime.

Traefik now has an extra job

Previously, Traefik had a single purpose - being the main reverse-proxy. It was either front-most (terminating SSL, etc.) or you were fronting Traefik with your own other reverse-proxy. In any case - it had this central (yet decentralized) job.

Now, Traefik has one more role - it serves as an intermediary which allows addon services (bridges, bots, etc.) to communicate with the homeserver. As mentioned above, such an intermediary service is not strictly necessary in all kinds of setups, but more complex setups (including matrix-media-repo or matrix-corporal) benefit from it.

To perform this new role, Traefik now has a new internal entrypoint called matrix-internal-matrix-client-api. All homeservers (Conduit, Dendrite, Synapse and even matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion) and homeserver-related core services (matrix-media-repo, matrix-corporal and potentially others) register their routes (using container labels) not only on the public entrypoints (web-secure, matrix-federation), but also on this new internal entrypoint.

Doing so, services can contact Traefik on this entrypoint's dedicated port (the URL defaults to http://matrix-traefik:8008) and reach the homeserver Client-Server API as they expect. Internally, Traefik takes care of the routing to the correct service.

We've also considered keeping it simple and having services talk to the homeserver over the public internet (e.g. https://matrix.example.com) thus reusing all existing Traefik routing labels. In this scenario, performance was incredibly poor (e.g. 70 rps, instead of 1400 rps) due to TLS and networking overhead. The need for fast internal communication (via the new internal non-TLS-enabled Traefik entrypoint) is definitely there. In our benchmarks, Traefik even proved more efficient than nginx at doing this: ~1200 rps for Traefik compared to ~900 rps for nginx (out of ~1400 rps when talking to the Synapse homeserver directly).

Traefik serving this second purpose has a few downsides:

• Traefik becomes a runtime dependency for all homeserver-dependant container services
• all homeserver-dependant services now need to be connected to the traefik container network, even if they don't need public internet exposure

Despite these downsides (which the playbook manages automatically), we believe it's still a good compromise given the amount of complexity it eliminates and the performance benefits it yields. One alternative we've considered was adding a new intermediary service (e.g. matrix-homeserver-proxy powered by nginx), but this both had much higher complexity (one more component in the mix; duplication of effort to produce nginx-compatible route definitions for it) and slightly worse performance (see above).

People running the default Traefik setup do not need to do anything to make Traefik take on this extra job. Your Traefik configuration will be updated automatically.

People runnning their own Traefik reverse-proxy need to do minor adjustments, as described in the section below.

You may disable Traefik acting as an intermediary by explicitly setting matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_enabled to false. Services would then be configured to talk to the homeserver directly, giving you a slight performance boost and a "simpler" Traefik setup. However, such a configuration is less tested and will cause troubles, especially if you enable more services (like matrix-media-repo, etc.) in the future. As such, it's not recommended.

People managing their own Traefik instance need to do minor changes

This section is for people managing their own Traefik instance on the Matrix server. Those using Traefik managed by the playbook don't need to do any changes.

Because Traefik has an extra job now, you need to adapt your configuration to add the additional matrix-internal-matrix-client-api entrypoint and potentially configure the matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_container_network variable. See the Traefik managed by you documentation section for more details.

People fronting Traefik with another reverse proxy need to do minor changes

We've already previously mentioned that you need to do some minor configuration changes related to traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto.

If you don't do these changes (switching from traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto to multiple other variables), your Traefik setup will not automatically receive the new matrix-internal-matrix-client-api Traefik entrypoint and Traefik would not be able to perform its new duty of connecting addons with the homeserver.

Supported reverse proxy types are now fewer

This section is for people using a more custom reverse-proxy setup - those having matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type set to a value different than the default (playbook-managed-traefik).

Previously, we allowed you to set matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type to 7 different values to accommodate various reverse-proxy setups.

The complexity of this is too high, so we only support 3 values right now:

• (the default) playbook-managed-traefik, when you're using Traefik managed by the playbook
• other-traefik-container, when you're managing your own Traefik instance on the Matrix server
• none, when you wish for no reverse-proxy integration to be done at all

The none value is not recommended and may not work adequately, due to lack of testing and Traefik's new responsibilities in our setup.

Previous values that are now gone (and the playbook would report them as such) are: playbook-managed-nginx, other-nginx-non-container, other-on-same-host and other-on-another-host.

If you were using these values as a way to stay away from Traefik, you now have 2 options:

• (recommended) Fronting Traefik with another reverse-proxy
• (not recommended) Using no reverse-proxy on the Matrix side at all and reverse-proxying to each and every service manually

Container networking changes

Now that matrix-nginx-proxy is not in the mix, it became easier to clear out some other long-overdue technical debt.

Since the very beginning of this playbook, all playbook services were connected to a single (shared) matrix container network. Later on, some additional container networks appeared, but most services (database, etc.) still remained in the matrix container network. This meant that any random container in this network could try to talk (or attack) the Postgres database operating in the same matrix network.

Moving components (especially the database) into other container networks was difficult - it required changes to many other components to ensure correct connectivity.

All the hard work has been done now. We've added much more isolation between services by splitting them up into separate networks (matrix-homeserver, matrix-addons, matrix-monitoring, matrix-exim-relay, etc). Components are only joined to the networks they need and should (for the most part) not be able to access unrelated things.

Carrying out these container networking changes necessitated modifying many components, so we're hoping not too many bugs were introduced in the process.

We've refrained from creating too many container networks (e.g. one for each component), to avoid exhausting Docker's default network pool and contaminating the container networks list too much.

Metrics exposure changes

This section is for people who are exposing monitoring metrics publicly, to be consumed by an external Prometheus server.

Previously, matrix-nginx-proxy was potentially password-protecting all /metrics/* endpoints with the same username and password (specified as plain-text in your vars.yml configuration file).

From now on, there are new variables for doing roughly the same - matrix_metrics_exposure_enabled, matrix_metrics_exposure_http_basic_auth_enabled and matrix_metrics_exposure_http_basic_auth_users. See the Prometheus & Grafana docs page for details.

matrix-nginx-proxy is not acting as a "global guardian" anymore. Now, each role provides its own metrics exposure and protection by registering with Traefik. Nevertheless, all roles are wired (via playbook configuration in group_vars/matrix_servers) to obey these new matrix_metrics_exposure_* variables. We've eliminated the centralization, but have kept the ease of use. Now, you can also do per-service password-protection (with different credentials), should you need to do that for some reason.

The playbook will tell you about all variables that you need to migrate during runtime, so rest assured - you shouldn't be able to miss anything!

Matrix static files

As mentioned above, static files like /.well-known/matrix/* or your base domain's index.html file (when serving the base domain via the Matrix server was enabled) were generated by the matrix-base or matrix-nginx-proxy roles and put into a /matrix/static-files directory on the server. Then matrix-nginx-proxy was serving all these static files.

All of this has been extracted into a new matrix-static-files Ansible role that's part of the playbook. The static files generated by this new role still live at roughly the same place (/matrix/static-files/public directory, instead of /matrix/static-files).

The playbook will migrate and update the /.well-known/matrix/* files automatically but not your own files in nginx-proxy/data/matrix-domain/ you will need to back these up yourself otherwise they will be lost. It will also warn you about usage of old variable names, so you can adapt to the new names.

A note on performance

Some of you have been voicing their concerns (for a long time) about Traefik being too slow and nginx being better.

Some online benchmarks support this by demonstrating slightly higher SSL-termination performance in favor of nginx. The upcoming Traefik v3 release is said to improve Traefik's SSL performance by some 20%, but that still ends up being somewhat slower than nginx.

We believe that using Traefik provides way too many benefits to worry about this minor performance impairment.

The heaviest part of running a Matrix homeserver is all the slow and potentially inefficient things the homeserver (e.g. Synapse) is doing. These things affect performance much more than whatever reverse-proxy is in front. Your server will die the same way by joining the famously large Matrix HQ room, no matter which reverse-proxy you put in front.

Even our previously mentioned benchmarks (yielding ~1300 rps) are synthetic - hitting a useless /_matrix/client/versions endpoint. Real-use does much more than this.

If this is still not convincing enough for you and you want the best possible performance, consider Fronting Traefik with another reverse-proxy (thus having the slowest part - SSL termination - happen elsewhere) or Using no reverse-proxy on the Matrix side at all. The playbook will not get in your way of doing that, but these options may make your life much harder. Performance comes at a cost, after all.

Migration procedure

The updated playbook will automatically perform some migration tasks for you:

1. It will stop and remove the matrix-nginx-proxy systemd service and container for you. This behavior cannot be disabled. It's essential that this service gets stopped, because it remaining running (and having container labels) may confuse Traefik as to where to route HTTP requests.

2. It will delete the /matrix/nginx-proxy directory and all files within it. You can disable this behavior by adding matrix_playbook_migration_matrix_nginx_proxy_uninstallation_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file. Doing so will leave its data around.

3. It will delete the /matrix/ssl directory and all files within it. You can disable this behavior by adding matrix_playbook_migration_matrix_ssl_uninstallation_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file. If you have some important certificates there for some reason, take them out or temporarily disable removal of these files until you do.

4. It will tell you about all variables (matrix_nginx_proxy_* and many others - even from other roles) that have changed during this large nginx-elimination upgrade. You can disable this behavior by adding matrix_playbook_migration_matrix_nginx_proxy_elimination_variable_transition_checks_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file.

5. It will tell you about any leftover matrix_nginx_proxy_* variables in your vars.yml file. You can disable this behavior by adding matrix_playbook_migration_matrix_nginx_proxy_leftover_variable_validation_checks_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file.

6. It will tell you about any leftover matrix_ssl_* variables in your vars.yml file. You can disable this behavior by adding matrix_playbook_migration_matrix_ssl_leftover_variable_checks_enabled: false to your vars.yml configuration file.

We don't recommend changing these variables and suppressing warnings, unless you know what you're doing.

Most people should just upgrade as per-normal, bearing in mind that a lot has changed and some issues may arise. The playbook would guide you through renamed variables automatically.

Conclusion

Thousands of lines of code were changed across hundreds of files. All addons (bridges, bots) were rewired in terms of container networking and in terms of how they reach the homeserver.

I don't actively use all the ~100 components offered by the playbook (no one does), nor do I operate servers exercising all edge-cases. As such, issues may arise. Please have patience and report (or try to fix) these issues!

2024-01-14

(Backward Compatibility) Configuration changes required for people fronting the integrated reverse-proxy webserver with another reverse-proxy

If you're on the default setup (using the Traefik reverse-proxy as installed by the playbook), you don't need to do anything.

People who are Fronting the integrated Traefik reverse-proxy webserver with another reverse-proxy, as per our previous instructions are redefining traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto in their vars.yml configuration.

Such a full variable redefinion is intrustive, because it prevents the playbook from injecting additional entrypoints into the Traefik webserver. In the future, the playbook may have a need to do so.

For this reason, we no longer recommend completely redefining traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto. The playbook now defines various matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_* variables in the defaults/main.yml file of the matrix-base role which can be used as a safer alternative to traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto.

Adapt your configuration as seen below:

-traefik_additional_entrypoints_auto:
-  - name: matrix-federation
-    port: 8449
-    host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8449'
-    config: {}
-    # If your reverse-proxy runs on another machine, remove the config above and use this config instead:
-    # config:
-    #   forwardedHeaders:
-    #     insecure: true
-    #     # trustedIPs: ['IP-ADDRESS-OF-YOUR-REVERSE-PROXY']
+# Uncomment and tweak the variable below if the name of your federation entrypoint is different
+# than the default value (matrix-federation).
+# matrix_federation_traefik_entrypoint: matrix-federation
+
+# Uncomment and tweak the variable below if you really wish to change the internal port number
+# that the federation endpoint uses. Changing it is generally not necessary.
+# Usually, changing `matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_host_bind_port` below is enough.
+#matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_port: 8449
+
+matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_host_bind_port: 127.0.0.1:8449
+
+# Adapt the variable below based on where your reverse-proxy runs:
+# - if it's on the Matrix server: keep `forwardedHeaders` and `insecure: true` as is
+# - if it's on another machine: remove `forwardedHeaders` and `insecure: true` and enable/configure `trustedIPs`
+matrix_playbook_public_matrix_federation_api_traefik_entrypoint_config_custom:
+  forwardedHeaders:
+    insecure: true
+  # trustedIPs: ['IP-ADDRESS-OF-YOUR-REVERSE-PROXY']

Also, feel free to read the Fronting the integrated Traefik reverse-proxy webserver with another reverse-proxy documentation section again for additional details.

2024-01-13

matrix-reminder-bot update with more secure (backward-incompatible) default settings

TLDR: your updated (to v0.3.0) matrix-reminder-bot is now more secure. By default, like other bridges/bots managed by the playbook, it will only provide its services to users of your own server (not to anyone, even across the Matrix Federation). If that's fine, there's nothing you need to do.

Maintenance of matrix-reminder-bot has been picked up by Kim Brose and @svierne.

Thanks to them, a new v0.3.0 release is out. The new version is now available for the ARM64 architecture, so playbook users on this architecture will no longer need to wait for self-building to happen.

The new version also comes with new allowlist and blocklist settings, which make it possible to restrict who can use the bot. Previously anyone, even across the Matrix Federation could talk to it and schedule reminders.

The playbook defaults all bridges and bots (where possible) to only be exposed to users of the current homeserver, not users across federation. Thanks to the new version of this bot making such a restriction possible, we're now making use of it. The playbook (via its group_vars/matrix_servers file) automatically enables the allowlist (matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_enabled: true) and configures it in such a way (matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_regexes_auto) so as to restrict the bot to your homeserver's users.

If you need to undo or tweak these security improvements, you can change your vars.yml file to:

• disable the allowlist (matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_enabled: false), making the bot allow usage by anyone, anywhere

• inject additional allowed servers or users by adding additional (on top of the default allowlist in matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_regexes_auto) custom regexes in the matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_regexes_custom list variable (see the syntax reference)

• override the default allowlist (in the group_vars/matrix_servers file) by redefining matrix_bot_matrix_reminder_bot_allowlist_regexes_auto

2024-01-05

matrix-mailer has been replaced by the exim-relay external role

We're continuing our effort to make the playbook use external roles for some things, so as to avoid doing everything ourselves and to facilitate code re-use.

The matrix-mailer role has been moved to its own repository (ansible-role-exim-relay) that this playbook now includes.

To migrate:

• pull the playbook changes, as usual
• update your roles (run just roles or make roles)
• update your vars.yml, renaming matrix_mailer-prefixed variables to exim_relay-prefixed ones (e.g. matrix_mailer_sender_address -> exim_relay_sender_address). If you find none, it means you're using the default configuration and your migraiton job is even simpler.
• re-run the playbook (install-all or setup-all)

The playbook will take care of stopping the old matrix-mailer systemd service, relocating its directory and restarting it under the new name (matrix-exim-relay.service).

2024-01-02

mautrix-signal now powered by the new Go-based bridge

The old Python-based mautrix-signal bridge is no longer maintained upstream. It's also known to have issues linking new devices.

It seems like the path forward is to switch to the new mautrix-signal bridge written in Golang, which we did thanks to PR #3031 by Pierre 'McFly' Marty.

The playbook should automatically migrate your mautrix-signal installation to the new bridge code. You will need to relink all your devices to continue your bridged conversations.

2023-10-23

Enabling allow_public_rooms_over_federation by default for Synapse

TDLR: if your Matrix server is federating (which it mostly likely is, unless you've disabled federation), your public rooms will not only be joinable across federation (as they've always been), but from now on will be discoverable (made available as a list across federation). We're changing this by flipping the value for Synapse's allow_public_rooms_over_federation setting to true, going against the upstream default. Servers that disable federation are not affected. Servers that have public rooms which are not published to the room directory are also not affected.

We generally try to stick to the default configuration for Synapse (and all other components), unless these defaults seem wrong or harmful. One such previous case from a few months ago was us Enabling forget_rooms_on_leave by default for Synapse - the default value was making Synapse more wasteful of resources by default.

Today, we're going against upstream defaults again and flipping the allow_public_rooms_over_federation configuration option to true. This way, public rooms on your server will be made discoverable by others via federation, using the GET /_matrix/federation/v1/publicRooms of the Server-Server API.

The upstream Synapse default is false (disabled), so that public rooms are not exposed for other servers to discover (learn about their existence). Nevertheless, even if these rooms are not exposed (listed) for discovery, they are still joinable by anyone who knows their address or is invited to the room by an existing member.

We go against the upstream default in an effort to make Matrix federation more useful - a public room should be globally public - not only joinable, but also discoverable across federation.

The historical reasoning behind this change is as follows:

• allow_public_rooms_over_federation seems to have been enabled by default for Synapse until v1.7.0 (~2019), just like we believe it should be for a globally-federating network - rooms should be joinable and discoverable across federation.

• In Synapse v1.7.0 (~2019), allow_public_rooms_over_federation got disabled by default in a security-by-obscurity workaround for misconfigured servers. See the Avoiding unwelcome visitors on private Matrix servers matrix.org blog article. We believe that people wishing for a truly private server, should disable federation, instead of having a fully-federating server and trying to hide its public rooms. We also provide other workarounds below. We (and the Synapse team, obviously) believe that Matrix should federate by default, so federating the public room list seems to make sense.

• etke.cc has been developing the free-software Matrix Rooms Search project for a while now. One public (demo) instance of it is hosted at matrixrooms.info. This search engine tries to go through the Matrix federation and discover & index public rooms to allow people to find them. We believe it's vital for Matrix (and any chat or social network for that matter) to be more discoverable, so that people can find communities and others to talk to. Today (on 23rd of October 2023), matrixrooms.info is indexing 23066 Matrix servers. Of these, only 1567 servers (7%) are making their public rooms discoverable. Who knows what wonderful communities and rooms are available on these 93% other Matrix servers that are supposedly federating, but are still gate-keeping their public room list. Indubitably, many of these servers are hosted via matrix-docker-ansible-deploy, so we feel partially responsible for making Matrix federation less useful.

Here are actions you may wish to take as a result of this change:

• (recommended) embrace the new default. If your Matrix server is federating, your public rooms have always been joinable across federation anyway. Exposing the list of public rooms does no harm and more-so does good by contributing to the usefulness of the Matrix network by facilitating room discovery.

• (switch to a better way of doings things on your semi-private server) The problem that the Synapse team appears to have solved by flipping the allow_public_rooms_over_federation default in Synapse v1.7.0 seems to for "mostly private" servers, which federate and have a bunch of rooms made public (and published in their room directory) in an effort to allow people on the same homeserver to easily find and join them (self-onboarding). With the introduction of Matrix Spaces, you can reorganize your flow around spaces - you can auto-join your users to a Matrix Space (via Synapse's auto_join_rooms setting - controlled by our matrix_synapse_auto_join_rooms variable), then add a bunch of rooms to the space and make them joinable by people belonging to the space. That is to say, do not make rooms public and do not publish them to the room directory unless they are really public. Instead, use other mechanisms for semi-public rooms or private rooms. One alternative is to stick to what you're doing (public rooms published to your rooms directory) but having a m.federate: true flag set during creation (clients like Element Web have a nice UI checkbox for this) to explicitly disable federation for them.

• (keeping the old behavior) if you wish to keep doing what you're doing (keeping your Matrix server federating, but hiding its public rooms list), add matrix_synapse_allow_public_rooms_over_federation: false to your vars.yml configuration. This restores the old behavior. You may also consider disabling federation completely instead of relying on security-by-obscurity measures.

2023-10-18

Postgres parameters are automatically tuned now

The playbook has provided some hints about Tuning PostgreSQL for quite a while now.

From now on, the Postgres Ansible role automatically tunes your Postgres configuration with the same calculation logic that powers https://pgtune.leopard.in.ua/.

Our Tuning PostgreSQL documentation page has details about how you can turn auto-tuning off or adjust the automatically-determined Postgres configuration parameters manually.

People who enable load-balancing with Synapse workers no longer need to increase the maximum number of Postgres connections manually (previously done via postgres_process_extra_arguments). There's a new variable (postgres_max_connections) for controlling this number and the playbook automatically raises its value from 200 to 500 for setups which enable workers.

2023-08-31

SchildiChat Web support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now set up the SchildiChat Web client.

See our Configuring SchildiChat Web documentation to get started.

2023-08-23

mautrix-wsproxy support

Thanks to Johan Swetzén's efforts (who finished what was started by James Reilly and Shreyas Ajjarapu), the playbook now supports bridging to Android SMS and Apple iMessage via the mautrix-wsproxy service (in combination with a mautrix-imessage bridge running on your Mac or Android phone).

See our Setting up Mautrix wsproxy for bridging Android SMS or Apple iMessage documentation page for getting started.

2023-07-24

matrix-registration-bot usage changed

matrix-registration-bot got some updates and now supports password-only-based login. Therefore the bot now doesn't need any manual configuration except setting a password in your vars.yml. The bot will be registered as admin and access tokens will be obtained automatically by the bot.

For existing users You need to set matrix_bot_matrix_registration_bot_bot_password if you previously only used matrix_bot_matrix_registration_bot_bot_access_token. Please also remove the following deprecated settings

• matrix_bot_matrix_registration_bot_bot_access_token
• matrix_bot_matrix_registration_bot_api_token

2023-07-21

mautrix-gmessages support

Thanks to Shreyas Ajjarapu's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Google Messages via the mautrix-gmessages bridge. See our Setting up Mautrix Google Messages bridging documentation page for getting started.

2023-07-17

matrix-media-repo support

Thanks to Michael Hollister from FUTO, the creators of the Circles app, the playbook can now set up matrix-media-repo - an alternative way to store homeserver media files, powered by a homeserver-independent implementation which supports S3 storage, IPFS, deduplication and other advanced features.

To learn more see our Storing Matrix media files using matrix-media-repo documentation page.

2023-05-25

Enabling forget_rooms_on_leave by default for Synapse

With the Synapse v1.84.0 update, we've also changed the default value of the forget_rooms_on_leave setting of Synapse to a value of true. This way, when you leave a room, Synapse will now forget it automatically.

The upstream Synapse default is false (disabled), so that you must forget rooms manually after leaving.

We go against the upstream default (somewhat controversially) in an effort to make Synapse leaner and potentially do what we believe most users would expect their homeserver to be doing.

If you'd like to go back to the old behavior, add the following to your configuration: matrix_synapse_forget_rooms_on_leave: false

2023-04-03

The matrix-jitsi role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-jitsi role is now included from the ansible-role-jitsi repository, part of the MASH playbook. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-jitsi role has been relocated in its own repository, part of the MASH playbook project - an Ansible playbook for self-hosting a growing list of FOSS software. If hosting a Jitsi stack on the Matrix server itself did not stand right with you or you always wanted to host most stuff, you can now use this new playbook to do so.

As part of the extraction process of this role out of the Matrix playbook, a few other things improved:

• native Traefik support has been added
• support for hosting under a subpath has been added, although it suffers from a few minor issues listed here

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're using Jitsi or not.

If you're making use of Jitsi via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file:

• matrix_jitsi_*_docker_image_ -> matrix_jitsi_*_container_image_
• matrix_jitsi_ -> jitsi_
• some other internal variables have changed, but the playbook will tell you about them

2023-03-22

ntfy Web App is disabled by default

ntfy provides a web app, which is now disabled by default, because it may be unknown to and unused by most users of this playbook. You can enable it by setting ntfy_web_root: "app" (see ntfy documentation).

This change was already applied a while before this entry, but as some users were reporting the missing web app, this entry was added (see #2529).

2023-03-21

The matrix-prometheus role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-prometheus role is now included from the ansible-role-prometheus repository, part of the MASH playbook. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-prometheus role has been relocated in its own repository, part of the MASH playbook project - an Ansible playbook for self-hosting a growing list of FOSS software. If hosting a Prometheus stack on the Matrix server itself did not stand right with you or you always wanted to host most stuff, you can now use this new playbook to do so.

Extracting the Prometheus role out of this Matrix playbook required huge internal refactoring to the way the Prometheus configuration (scraping jobs) is generated. If you notice any breakage after upgrading, let us know.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're using Prometheus or not.

If you're making use of Prometheus via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file:

• matrix_prometheus_docker_image_ -> matrix_prometheus_container_image_
• matrix_prometheus_ -> prometheus_
• some other internal variables have changed, but the playbook will tell you about them

2023-03-12

synapse-auto-compressor support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now set up rust-synapse-compress-state's synapse_auto_compressor tool to run periodically.

If enabled, synapse_auto_compressor runs on a schedule and compresses your Synapse database's state_groups table. It was possible to run rust-synapse-compress-state manually via the playbook even before - see Compressing state with rust-synapse-compress-state. However, using synapse_auto_compressor is better, because:

• it runs on a more up-to-date version of rust-synapse-compress-state
• it's a set-it-and-forget-it tool that you can enable and never have to deal with manual compression anymore

This tool needs to be enabled manually, for now. In the future, we're considering enabling it by default for all Synapse installations.

See our Setting up synapse-auto-compressor documentation to get started.

2023-03-07

Sliding Sync proxy (Element X) support

Thanks to Benjamin Kampmann for getting it started, FSG-Cat for fixing it up and me (Slavi) for polishing it up, the playbook can now install and configure the sliding-sync proxy.

The upcoming Element X clients (Element X iOS and Element X Android) require the sliding-sync proxy to do their job. These clients are still in beta (especially Element X Android, which requires manual compilation to get it working with a non-matrix.org homeseserver). Playbook users can now easily give these clients a try and help test them thanks to us having sliding-sync support.

To get started, see our Setting up the Sliding Sync proxy documentation page.

2023-03-02

The matrix-etherpad role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-etherpad role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're using Etherpad or not.

If you're making use of Etherpad via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file:

• Rename matrix_etherpad_public_endpoint to etherpad_path_prefix

• Replace matrix_etherpad_mode: dimension with:

  • for matrix-nginx-proxy users:
    • etherpad_nginx_proxy_dimension_integration_enabled: true
    • etherpad_hostname: "{{ matrix_server_fqn_dimension }}"
  • for Traefik users:
    • define your own etherpad_hostname and etherpad_path_prefix as you see fit

• Rename all other variables:

  • matrix_etherpad_docker_image_ -> matrix_etherpad_container_image_
  • matrix_etherpad_ -> etherpad_

Along with this relocation, the new role also:

• supports self-building, so it should work on arm32 and arm64 architectures
• has native Traefik reverse-proxy support (Etherpad requests no longer go through matrix-nginx-proxy when using Traefik)

2023-02-26

Traefik is the default reverse-proxy now

TLDR: new installations will now default to Traefik as their reverse-proxy. Existing users need to explicitly choose their reverse-proxy type. Switching to Traefik is strongly encouraged. matrix-nginx-proxy may break over time and will ultimately be removed.

As mentioned 2 weeks ago in (Backward Compatibility) Reverse-proxy configuration changes and initial Traefik support, the playbook is moving to Traefik as its default SSL-terminating reverse-proxy.

Until now, we've been doing the migration gradually and keeping full backward compatibility. New installations were defaulting to matrix-nginx-proxy (just like before), while existing installations were allowed to remain on matrix-nginx-proxy as well. This makes things very difficult for us, because we need to maintain and think about lots of different setups:

• Traefik managed by the playbook
• Traefik managed by the user in another way
• another reverse-proxy on the same host (127.0.0.1 port exposure)
• another reverse-proxy on another host (0.0.0.0 port exposure)
• matrix-nginx-proxy - an nginx container managed by the playbook
• nginx webserver operated by the user, running without a container on the same server

Each change we do and each new feature that comes in needs to support all these different ways of reverse-proxying. Because matrix-nginx-proxy was the default and pretty much everyone was (and still is) using it, means that new PRs also come with matrix-nginx-proxy as their main focus and Traefik as an afterthought, which means we need to spend hours fixing up Traefik support.

We can't spend all this time maintaining so many different configurations anymore. Traefik support has been an option for 2 weeks and lots of people have already migrated their server and have tested things out. Traefik is what we use and preferentially test for.

It's time for the next step in our migration process to Traefik and elimination of matrix-nginx-proxy:

• Traefik is now the default reverse-proxy for new installations
• All existing users need to explicitly choose their reverse-proxy type by defining the matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type variable in their vars.yml configuration file. We strongly encourage existing users to switch the Traefik, as the nginx setup is bound to become more and more broken over time until it's ultimately removed

How do I switch my existing setup to Traefik?

For users who are on matrix-nginx-proxy (the default reverse-proxy provided by the playbook), switching to Traefik can happen with a simple configuration change. Follow this section from 2 weeks ago: How do I explicitly switch to Traefik right now?.

If you experience trouble:

1. Follow How do I remain on matrix-nginx-proxy? to bring your server back online using the old reverse-proxy
2. Ask for help in our support channels
3. Try switching to Traefik again later

For users with a more special reverse-proxying setup (another nginx server, Apache, Caddy, etc.), the migration may not be so smooth. Follow the Using your own webserver guide. Ideally, your custom reverse-proxy will be configured in such a way that it fronts the Traefik reverse-proxy provided by the playbook. Other means of reverse-proxying are more fragile and may be deprecated in the future.

I already use my own Traefik server. How do I plug that in?

See the Traefik managed by the playbook section.

Why is matrix-nginx-proxy used even after switching to Traefik?

This playbook manages many different services. All these services were initially integrated with matrix-nginx-proxy.

While we migrate all these components to have native Traefik support, some still go through nginx internally (Traefik -> local matrix-nginx-proxy -> component). As time goes on, internal reliance on matrix-nginx-proxy will gradually decrease until it's completely removed.

How do I remain on matrix-nginx-proxy?

Most new work and testing targets Traefik, so remaining on nginx is not "the good old stable" option, but rather the "still available, but largely untested and likely to be broken very soon" option.

To proceed regardless of this warning, add matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type: playbook-managed-nginx to your configuration.

At some point in the near future (days, or even weeks at most), we hope to completely get rid of matrix-nginx-proxy (or break it enough to make it unusable), so you will soon be forced to migrate anyway. Plan your migration accordingly.

How do I keep using my own other reverse-proxy?

We recommend that you follow the guide for Fronting the integrated reverse-proxy webserver with another reverse-proxy.

2023-02-25

rageshake support

Thanks to Benjamin Kampmann, the playbook can now install and configure the rageshake bug report server.

Additional details are available in Setting up rageshake.

2023-02-17

Synapse templates customization support

The playbook can now help you customize Synapse's templates.

Additional details are available in the Customizing templates section of our Synapse documentation.

The matrix-redis role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-redis role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-redis role (which configures Redis) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository. This makes it possible to easily use it in other Ansible playbooks.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're enabling Ntfy or not. If you're making use of Ntfy via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file (matrix_redis_ -> redis_).

The matrix-ntfy role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-ntfy role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-ntfy role (which configures Ntfy) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository. This makes it possible to easily use it in other Ansible playbooks.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're enabling Ntfy or not. If you're making use of Ntfy via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file (matrix_ntfy_ -> ntfy_).

2023-02-15

The matrix-grafana role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-grafana role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-grafana role (which configures Grafana) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository. This makes it possible to easily use it in other Ansible playbooks.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're enabling Grafana or not. If you're making use of Grafana via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file (matrix_grafana_ -> grafana_).

2023-02-13

The matrix-backup-borg role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-backup-borg role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

Thanks to moan0s, the matrix-backup-borg role (which configures BorgBackup) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository. This makes it possible to easily use it in other Ansible playbooks and will become part of nextcloud-docker-ansible-deploy soon.

You need to update your roles (just roles or make roles) regardless of whether you're enabling Borg's backup functionality or not. If you're making use of BorgBackup via this playbook, you will need to update variable references in your vars.yml file (matrix_backup_borg_ -> backup_borg_).

2023-02-12

(Backward Compatibility) Reverse-proxy configuration changes and initial Traefik support

TLDR:

• there's a new matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type variable (see roles/custom/matrix-base/defaults/main.yml), which lets you tell the playbook what reverse-proxy setup you'd like to have. This makes it easier for people who want to do reverse-proxying in other ways.
• the default reverse-proxy (matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type) is still playbook-managed-nginx (via matrix-nginx-proxy), for now. Existing matrix-nginx-proxy users should not observe any changes and can stay on this for now.
• Users who use their own other webserver (e.g. Apache, etc.) need to change matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type to something like other-on-same-host, other-on-another-host or other-nginx-non-container
• we now have optional Traefik support, so you could easily host Matrix and other Traefik-native services in containers on the same server. Traefik support is still experimental (albeit, good enough) and will improve over time. It does work, but certain esoteric features may not be there yet.
• Traefik will become the default reverse-proxy in the near future. matrix-nginx-proxy will either remain as an option, or be completely removed to simplify the playbook

Motivation for redoing our reverse-proxy setup

The playbook has supported various reverse-proxy setups for a long time. We have various configuration variables (matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled, various _host_bind_port variables, etc.) which allow the playbook to adapt to these different setups. The whole situation was messy though - hard to figure out and with lots of variables to toggle to make things work as you'd expect - huge operational complexity.

We love containers, proven by the fact that everything that this playbook manages runs in a container. Yet, we weren't allowing people to easily host other web-exposed containers alongside Matrix services on the same server. We were using matrix-nginx-proxy (our integrated nginx server), which was handling web-exposure and SSL termination for our own services, but we weren't helping you with all your other containers.

People who were using matrix-nginx-proxy were on the happy path on which everything worked well by default (Matrix-wise), but could not easily run other web-exposed services on their Matrix server because matrix-nginx-proxy was occupying ports 80 and 443. Other services which wanted to get web exposure either had to be plugged into matrix-nginx-proxy (somewhat difficult) or people had to forgo using matrix-nginx-proxy in favor of something else.

Of those that decided to forgo matrix-nginx-proxy, many were using nginx on the same server without a container. This was likely some ancient nginx version, depending on your choice of distro. The Matrix playbook was trying to be helpful and even with matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled: false was still generating nginx configuration in /matrix/nginx-proxy/conf.d. Those configuration files were adapted for inclusion into an nginx server running locally. Disabling the matrix-nginx-proxy role like this, yet still having it produce files is a bit disgusting, but it's what we've had since the early beginnings of this playbook.

Others still, wanted to run Matrix locally (no SSL certificates), regardless of which web server technology this relied on, and then reverse-proxy from another machine on the network which was doing SSL termination. These people were:

• either relying on matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled: false as well, combined with exposing services manually (setting _bind_port variables)
• or better yet, they were keeping matrix-nginx-proxy enabled, but in http-only mode (no SSL certificate retrieval).

Despite this operational complexity, things worked and were reasonably flexible to adapt to all these situations.

When using matrix-nginx-proxy as is, we still had another problem - one of internal playbook complexity. Too many services need to be web-exposed (port 80/443, SSL certificates). Because of this, they all had to integrate with the matrix-nginx-proxy role. Tens of different roles explicitly integrating with matrix-nginx-proxy is not what we call clean. The matrix-nginx-proxy role contains variables for many of these roles (yikes). Other roles were more decoupled from it and were injecting configuration into matrix-nginx-proxy at runtime - see all the inject_into_nginx_proxy.yml task files in this playbook (more decoupled, but still.. yikes).

The next problem is one of efficiency, interoperability and cost-saving. We're working on other playbooks:

• vaultwarden-docker-ansible-deploy for hosting the Vaultwarden server - an alternative implementation of the Bitwarden password manager
• gitea-docker-ansible-deploy - for hosting the Gitea git source code hosting service
• nextcloud-docker-ansible-deploy - for hosting the Nextcloud groupware platform

We'd love for users to be able to seamlessly use all these playbooks (and others, even) against a single server. We don't want matrix-nginx-proxy to have a monopoly on port 80/443 and make it hard for other services to join in on the party. Such a thing forces people into running multiple servers (one for each service), which does provide nice security benefits, but is costly and ineffiecient. We'd like to make self-hosting these services cheap and easy.

These other playbooks have been using Traefik as their default reverse-proxy for a long time. They can all coexist nicely together (as an example, see the Interoperability documentation for the Nextcloud playbook). Now that this playbook is gaining Traefik support, it will be able to interoperate with them. If you're going this way, make sure to have the Matrix playbook install Traefik and have the others use *_reverse_proxy_type: other-traefik-container.

Finally, at etke.cc - a managed Matrix server hosting service (built on top of this playbook, and coincidentally turning 2 years old today 🎉), we're allowing people to host some additional services besides Matrix components. Exposing these services to the web requires ugly hacks and configuration files being dropped into /matrix/nginx-proxy/conf.d. We believe that everything should run in independent containers and be exposed to the web via a Traefik server, without a huge Ansible role like matrix-nginx-proxy that everything else needs to integrate with.

How do these changes fix all these problems?

The new matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type lets you easily specify your preferred reverse-proxy type, including other-on-same-host, other-on-another-host and none, so people who'd like to reverse-proxy with their own web server have more options now.

Using Traefik greatly simplifies things, so going forward we'll have a simpler and easier to maintain playbook, which is also interoperable with other services.

Traefik is a web server, which has been specifically designed for reverse-proxying to services running in containers. It's ideal for usage in an Ansible playbook which runs everything in containers.

Traefik obtains SSL certificates automatically, so there's no need for plugging additional tools like Certbot into your web server (like we were doing in the matrix-nginx-proxy role). No more certificate renewal timers, web server reloading timers, etc. It's just simpler.

Traefik is a modern web server. HTTP/3 is supported already (experimentally) and will move to stable soon, in the upcoming Traefik v3 release.

Traefik does not lock important functionality we'd like to use into plus packages like nginx does, leading us to resolve to configuration workarounds. The default Traefik package is good enough as it is.

Where we're at right now?

matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type still defaults to a value of playbook-managed-nginx.

Unless we have some regression, existing matrix-nginx-proxy users should be able to update their Matrix server and not observe any changes. Their setup should still remain on nginx and everything should still work as expected.

Users using their own webservers will need to change matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type to something like other-on-same-host, other-on-another-host or other-nginx-non-container. Previously, they could toggle matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled to false, and that made the playbook automatically expose services locally. Currently, we only do this if you change the reverse-proxy type to other-on-same-host, other-on-another-host or other-nginx-non-container.

How do I explicitly switch to Traefik right now?

Users who wish to migrate to Traefik today, can do so by adding this to their configuration:

matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type: playbook-managed-traefik

traefik_config_certificatesResolvers_acme_email: YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS

You may still need to keep certain old matrix_nginx_proxy_* variables (like matrix_nginx_proxy_base_domain_serving_enabled), even when using Traefik. For now, we recommend keeping all matrix_nginx_proxy_* variables just in case. In the future, reliance on matrix-nginx-proxy will be removed.

Switching to Traefik will obtain new SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt (stored in /matrix/traefik/ssl/acme.json). The switch is reversible. You can always go back to playbook-managed-nginx if Traefik is causing you trouble.

Note: toggling matrix_playbook_reverse_proxy_type between Traefik and nginx will uninstall the Traefik role and all of its data (under /matrix/traefik), so you may run into a Let's Encrypt rate limit if you do it often.

Treafik directly reverse-proxies to some services right now, but for most other services it goes through matrix-nginx-proxy (e.g. Traefik -> matrix-nginx-proxy -> Ntfy). So, even if you opt into Traefik, you'll still see matrix-nginx-proxy being installed in local-only mode. This will improve with time.

Some services (like Coturn and Postmoogle) cannot be reverse-proxied to directly from Traefik, so they require direct access to SSL certificate files extracted out of Traefik. The playbook does this automatically thanks to a new com.devture.ansible.role.traefik_certs_dumper role utilizing the traefik-certs-dumper tool.

Our Traefik setup mostly works, but certain esoteric features may not work. If you have a default setup, we expect you to have a good experience.

Where we're going in the near future?

The matrix-nginx-proxy role is quite messy. It manages both nginx and Certbot and its certificate renewal scripts and timers. It generates configuration even when the role is disabled (weird). Although it doesn't directly reach into variables from other roles, it has explicit awareness of various other services that it reverse-proxies to (roles/custom/matrix-nginx-proxy/templates/nginx/conf.d/matrix-ntfy.conf.j2, etc.). We'd like to clean this up. The only way is probably to just get rid of the whole thing at some point.

For now, matrix-nginx-proxy will stay around.

As mentioned above, Traefik still reverse-proxies to some (most) services by going through a local-only matrix-nginx-proxy server. This has allowed us to add Traefik support to the playbook early on (without having to rework all services), but is not the final goal. We'll work on making each service support Traefik natively, so that traffic will not need to go through matrix-nginx-proxy anymore. In the end, choosing Traefik should only give you a pure Traefik installation with no matrix-nginx-proxy in sight.

As Traefik support becomes complete and proves to be stable for a while, especially as a playbook default, we will most likely remove matrix-nginx-proxy completely. It will likely be some months before this happens though. Keeping support for both Traefik and nginx in the playbook will be a burden, especially with most of us running Traefik in the future. The Traefik role should do everything nginx does in a better and cleaner way. Users who use their own nginx server on the Matrix server will be inconvenienced, as nothing will generate ready-to-include nginx configuration for them. Still, we hope it won't be too hard to migrate their setup to another way of doing things, like:

• not using nginx anymore. A common reason for using nginx until now was that you were running other containers and you need your own nginx to reverse-proxy to all of them. Just switch them to Traefik as well.
• running Traefik in local-only mode (traefik_config_entrypoint_web_secure_enabled: false) and using some nginx configuration which reverse-proxies to Traefik (we should introduce examples for this in examples/nginx).

How do I help?

You can help by:

• explicitly switching your server to Traefik right now (see example configuration in How do I explicitly switch to Traefik right now? above), testing, reporting troubles

• adding native Traefik support to a role (requires adding Traefik labels, etc.) - for inspiration, see these roles (prometheus_node_exporter, prometheus_postgres_exporter) and how they're hooked into the playbook via group_vars/matrix_servers.

• adding reverse-proxying examples for nginx users in examples/nginx. People who insist on using their own nginx server on the same Matrix host, can run Traefik in local-only mode (traefik_config_entrypoint_web_secure_enabled: false) and reverse-proxy to the Traefik server

2023-02-10

Matrix Authentication Support for Jitsi

Thanks to Jakob S. (zakk gGmbH), Jitsi can now use Matrix for authentication (via Matrix User Verification Service).

Additional details are available in the Authenticate using Matrix OpenID (Auth-Type 'matrix').

Draupnir moderation tool (bot) support

Thanks to FSG-Cat, the playbook can now install and configure the Draupnir moderation tool (bot). Draupnir is a fork of Mjolnir (which the playbook has supported for a long time) maintained by Mjolnir's former lead developer.

Additional details are available in Setting up Draupnir.

2023-02-05

The matrix-prometheus-postgres-exporter role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-prometheus-postgres-exporter role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-prometheus-postgres-exporter role (which configures Prometheus Postgres Exporter) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository at https://github.com/mother-of-all-self-hosting/ansible-role-prometheus-postgres-exporter

It's still part of the playbook, but is now installed via ansible-galaxy (by running just roles / make roles). Some variables have been renamed (matrix_prometheus_postgres_exporter_ -> prometheus_postgres_exporter_, etc.). The playbook will report all variables that you need to rename to get upgraded. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-prometheus-services-proxy-connect role has bee adjusted to help integrate the new prometheus_postgres_exporter role with our own services (matrix-nginx-proxy)

Other roles which aren't strictly related to Matrix are likely to follow this fate of moving to their own repositories. Extracting them out allows other Ansible playbooks to make use of these roles easily.

2023-01-26

Coturn can now use host-networking

Large Coturn deployments (with a huge range of ports specified via matrix_coturn_turn_udp_min_port and matrix_coturn_turn_udp_max_port) experience a huge slowdown with how Docker publishes all these ports (setting up firewall forwarding rules), which leads to a very slow Coturn service startup and shutdown.

Such deployments don't need to run Coturn within a private container network anymore. Coturn can now run with host-networking by using configuration like this:

matrix_coturn_container_network: host

With such a configuration, Docker no longer needs to configure thousands of firewall forwarding rules each time Coturn starts and stops. This, however, means that you will need to ensure these ports are open in your firewall yourself.

Thanks to us tightening Coturn security, running Coturn with host-networking should be safe and not expose neither other services running on the host, nor other services running on the local network.

(Backward Compatibility) Tightening Coturn security can lead to connectivity issues

TLDR: users who run and access their Matrix server on a private network (likely a small minority of users) may experience connectivity issues with our new default Coturn blocklists. They may need to override matrix_coturn_denied_peer_ips and remove some IP ranges from it.

Inspired by this security article, we've decided to make use of Coturn's denied-peer-ip functionality to prevent relaying network traffic to certain private IP subnets. This ensures that your Coturn server won't accidentally try to forward traffic to certain services running on your local networks. We run Coturn in a container and in a private container network by default, which should prevent such access anyway, but having additional block layers in place is better.

If you access your Matrix server from a local network and need Coturn to relay to private IP addresses, you may observe that relaying is now blocked due to our new default denied-peer-ip lists (specified in matrix_coturn_denied_peer_ips). If you experience such connectivity problems, consider overriding this setting in your vars.yml file and removing certain networks from it.

We've also added no-multicast-peers to the default Coturn configuration, but we don't expect this to cause trouble for most people.

2023-01-21

The matrix-prometheus-node-exporter role lives independently now

TLDR: the matrix-prometheus-node-exporter role is now included from another repository. Some variables have been renamed. All functionality remains intact.

The matrix-prometheus-node-exporter role (which configures Prometheus node exporter) has been extracted from the playbook and now lives in its own repository at https://github.com/mother-of-all-self-hosting/ansible-role-prometheus-node-exporter

It's still part of the playbook, but is now installed via ansible-galaxy (by running just roles / make roles). Some variables have been renamed (matrix_prometheus_node_exporter_ -> prometheus_node_exporter_, etc.). The playbook will report all variables that you need to rename to get upgraded. All functionality remains intact.

A new matrix-prometheus-services-proxy-connect role was added to the playbook to help integrate the new prometheus_node_exporter role with our own services (matrix-nginx-proxy)

Other roles which aren't strictly related to Matrix are likely to follow this fate of moving to their own repositories. Extracting them out allows other Ansible playbooks to make use of these roles easily.

2023-01-13

Support for running commands via just

We've previously used make for easily running some playbook commands (e.g. make roles which triggers ansible-galaxy, see Makefile). Our Makefile is still around and you can still run these commands.

In addition, we've added support for running commands via just - a more modern command-runner alternative to make. Instead of make roles, you can now run just roles to accomplish the same.

Our justfile already defines some additional helpful shortcut commands that weren't part of our Makefile. Here are some examples:

• just install-all to trigger the much longer ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=install-all,ensure-matrix-users-created,start command
• just install-all --ask-vault-pass - commands also support additional arguments (--ask-vault-pass will be appended to the above installation command)
• just run-tags install-mautrix-slack,start - to run specific playbook tags
• just start-all - (re-)starts all services
• just stop-group postgres - to stop only the Postgres service
• just register-user john secret-password yes - registers a john user with the secret-password password and admin access (admin = yes)

Additional helpful commands and shortcuts may be defined in the future.

This is all completely optional. If you find it difficult to install just or don't find any of this convenient, feel free to run all commands manually.

2023-01-11

mautrix-slack support

Thanks to Cody Neiman's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Slack via the mautrix-slack bridge. See our Setting up Mautrix Slack bridging documentation page for getting started.

Note: this is a new Slack bridge. The playbook still retains Slack bridging via matrix-appservice-slack and mx-puppet-slack. You're free to use the bridge that serves you better, or even all three of them (for different users and use-cases).

2023-01-10

ChatGPT support

Thanks to @bertybuttface, the playbook can now help you set up matrix-chatgpt-bot - a bot through which you can talk to the ChatGPT model.

See our Setting up matrix-bot-chatgpt documentation to get started.

2022-11-30

matrix-postgres-backup has been replaced by the ansible-role-postgres-backup external role

Just like we've replaced Postgres with an external role on 2022-11-28, we're now replacing matrix-postgres-backup with an external role - com.devture.ansible.role.postgres_backup.

You'll need to rename your matrix_postgres_backup-prefixed variables such that they use a postgres_backup prefix.

2022-11-28

matrix-postgres has been replaced by the ansible-role-postgres external role

TLDR: the tasks that install the integrated Postgres server now live in an external role - ansible-role-postgres. You'll need to run make roles to install it, and to also rename your matrix_postgres-prefixed variables to use a devture_postgres prefix (e.g. matrix_postgres_connection_password -> postgres_connection_password). All your data will still be there! Some scripts have moved (/usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli -> /matrix/postgres/bin/cli).

The matrix-postgres role that has been part of the playbook for a long time has been replaced with the ansible-role-postgres role. This was done as part of our work to use external roles for some things for better code re-use and maintainability.

The new role is an upgraded version of the old matrix-postgres role with these notable differences:

• it uses different names for its variables (matrix_postgres -> devture_postgres)
• when Vacuuming PostgreSQL, it will vacuum all your databases, not just the Synapse one

You'll need to run make roles to install the new role. You would also need to rename your matrix_postgres-prefixed variables to use a devture_postgres prefix.

Note: the systemd service still remains the same - matrix-postgres.service. Your data will still be in /matrix/postgres, etc. Postgres-related scripts will be moved to /matrix/postgres/bin (/usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli -> /matrix/postgres/bin/cli, etc). Also see The playbook no longer installs scripts in /usr/local/bin.

The playbook no longer installs scripts to /usr/local/bin

The locations of various scripts installed by the playbook have changed.

The playbook no longer contaminates your /usr/local/bin directory. All scripts installed by the playbook now live in bin/ directories under /matrix. Some examples are below:

• /usr/local/bin/matrix-remove-all -> /matrix/bin/remove-all
• /usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli -> /matrix/postgres/bin/cli
• /usr/local/bin/matrix-ssl-lets-encrypt-certificates-renew -> /matrix/ssl/bin/lets-encrypt-certificates-renew
• /usr/local/bin/matrix-synapse-register-user -> /matrix/synapse/bin/register-user

2022-11-25

2x-5x performance improvements in playbook runtime

TLDR: the playbook is 2x faster for running --tags=setup-all (and various other tags). It also has new --tags=install-* tags (like --tags=install-all), which skip uninstallation tasks and bring an additional 2.5x speedup. In total, the playbook can maintain your server 5 times faster.

Our etke.cc managed Matrix hosting service runs maintenance against hundreds of servers, so the playbook being fast means a lot. The etke.cc Ansible playbook (which is an extension of this one) is growing to support more and more services (besides just Matrix), so the Matrix playbook being leaner prevents runtimes from becoming too slow and improves the customer experience.

Even when running ansible-playbook manually (as most of us here do), it's beneficial not to waste time and CPU resources.

Recently, a few large optimizations have been done to this playbook and its external roles (see The playbook now uses external roles for some things and don't forget to run make roles):

1. Replacing Ansible import_tasks calls with include_tasks, which decreased runtime in half. Using import_tasks is slower and causes Ansible to go through and skip way too many tasks (tasks which could have been skipped altogether by not having Ansible include them in the first place). On an experimental VM, deployment time was decreased from ~530 seconds to ~250 seconds.

2. Introducing new install-* tags (install-all and install-COMPONENT, e.g. install-synapse, install-bot-mjolnir), which only run Ansible tasks pertaining to installation, while skipping uninstallation tasks. In most cases, people are maintaining the same setup or they're adding new components. Removing components is rare. Running thousands of uninstallation tasks each time is wasteful. On an experimental VM, deployment time was decreased from ~250 seconds (--tags=setup-all) to ~100 seconds (--tags=install-all).

You can still use --tags=setup-all. In fact, that's the best way to ensure your server is reconciled with the vars.yml configuration.

If you know you haven't uninstalled any services since the last time you ran the playbook, you could run --tags=install-all instead and benefit from quicker runtimes. It should be noted that a service may become "eligible for uninstallation" even if your vars.yml file remains the same. In rare cases, we toggle services from being auto-installed to being optional, like we did on the 17th of March 2022 when we made ma1sd not get installed by default. In such rare cases, you'd also need to run --tags=setup-all.

2022-11-22

Automatic matrix_architecture determination

From now on, the playbook automatically determines your server's architecture and sets the matrix_architecture variable accordingly. You no longer need to set this variable manually in your vars.yml file.

Docker and the Docker SDK for Python are now installed via external roles

We're continuing our effort to make the playbook use external roles for some things, so as to avoid doing everything ourselves and to facilitate code re-use.

Docker will now be installed on the server via the geerlingguy.docker Ansible role. If you'd like to manage the Docker installation yourself, you can disable the playbook's installation of Docker by setting matrix_playbook_docker_installation_enabled: false.

The Docker SDK for Python (named docker-python, python-docker, etc. on the different platforms) is now also installed by another role (com.devture.ansible.role.docker_sdk_for_python). To disable this role and install the necessary tools yourself, use devture_docker_sdk_for_python_installation_enabled: false.

If you're hitting issues with Docker installation or Docker SDK for Python installation, consider reporting bugs or contributing to these other projects.

These additional roles are downloaded into the playbook directory (to roles/galaxy) via an ansible-galaxy .. command. make roles is an easy shortcut for invoking the ansible-galaxy command to download these roles.

2022-11-20

(Backward Compatibility Break) Changing how reverse-proxying to Synapse works - now via a matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion service

TLDR: There's now a matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion nginx service, which helps with reverse-proxying to Synapse and its various worker processes (if workers are enabled), so that matrix-nginx-proxy can be relieved of this role. matrix-nginx-proxy still remains as the public SSL-terminating reverse-proxy in the playbook. matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion is just one more reverse-proxy thrown into the mix for convenience. People with a more custom reverse-proxying configuration may be affected - see Webserver configuration below.

Background

Previously, matrix-nginx-proxy forwarded requests to Synapse directly. When Synapse is running in worker mode, the reverse-proxying configuration is more complicated (different requests need to go to different Synapse worker processes). matrix-nginx-proxy had configuration for sending each URL endpoint to the correct Synapse worker responsible for handling it. However, sometimes people like to disable matrix-nginx-proxy (for whatever reason) as detailed in Using your own webserver, instead of this playbook's nginx proxy.

Because matrix-nginx-proxy was so central to request forwarding, when it was disabled and Synapse was running with workers enabled, there was nothing which could forward requests to the correct place anymore.. which caused problems such as this one affecting Dimension.

Solution

From now on, matrix-nginx-proxy is relieved of its function of reverse-proxying to Synapse and its various worker processes. This role is now handled by the new matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion nginx service and works even if matrix-nginx-proxy is disabled. The purpose of the new matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion service is to:

• serve as a companion to Synapse and know how to reverse-proxy to Synapse correctly (no matter if workers are enabled or not)

• provide a unified container address for reaching Synapse (no matter if workers are enabled or not)

  • matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion:8008 for Synapse Client-Server API traffic
  • matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion:8048 for Synapse Server-Server (Federation) API traffic

• simplify matrix-nginx-proxy configuration - it now only needs to send requests to matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion or matrix-dendrite, etc., without having to worry about workers

• allow reverse-proxying to Synapse, even if matrix-nginx-proxy is disabled

matrix-nginx-proxy still remains as the public SSL-terminating reverse-proxy in the playbook. All traffic goes through it before reaching any of the services. It's just that now the Synapse traffic is routed through matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion like this:

(matrix-nginx-proxy -> matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion -> (matrix-synapse or some Synapse worker)).

Various services (like Dimension, etc.) still talk to Synapse via matrix-nginx-proxy (e.g. http://matrix-nginx-proxy:12080) preferentially. They only talk to Synapse via the reverse-proxy companion (e.g. http://matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion:8008) if matrix-nginx-proxy is disabled. Services should not be talking to Synapse (e.g. https://matrix-synapse:8008 directly anymore), because when workers are enabled, that's the Synapse master process and may not be serving all URL endpoints needed by the service.

Webserver configuration

• if you're using matrix-nginx-proxy (matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled: true, which is the default for the playbook), you don't need to do anything

• if you're using your own nginx webserver running on the server, you shouldn't be affected. The /matrix/nginx/conf.d configuration and exposed ports that you're relying on will automatically be updated in a way that should work

• if you're using another local webserver (e.g. Apache, etc.) and haven't changed any ports (matrix_*_host_bind_port definitions), you shouldn't be affected. You're likely sending Matrix traffic to 127.0.0.1:8008 and 127.0.0.1:8048. These ports (8008 and 8048) will still be exposed on 127.0.0.1 by default - just not by the matrix-synapse container from now on, but by the matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion container instead

• if you've been exposing matrix-synapse ports (matrix_synapse_container_client_api_host_bind_port, etc.) manually, you should consider exposing matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion ports instead

• if you're running Traefik and reverse-proxying directly to the matrix-synapse container, you should start reverse-proxying to the matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion container instead. See our updated Traefik example configuration. Note: we now recommend calling the federation entry point federation (instead of synapse) and reverse-proxying the federation traffic via matrix-nginx-proxy, instead of sending it directly to Synapse (or matrix-synapse-reverse-proxy-companion). This makes the configuration simpler.

2022-11-05

(Backward Compatibility Break) A new default standalone mode for Etherpad

Until now, Etherpad (which the playbook could install for you) required the Dimension integration manager to also be installed, because Etherpad was hosted on the Dimension domain (at dimension.example.com/etherpad).

From now on, Etherpad can be installed in standalone mode on etherpad.example.com and used even without Dimension. This is much more versatile, so the playbook now defaults to this new mode (etherpad_mode: standalone).

If you've already got both Etherpad and Dimension in use you could:

• either keep hosting Etherpad under the Dimension domain by adding etherpad_mode: dimension to your vars.yml file. All your existing room widgets will continue working at the same URLs and no other changes will be necessary.

• or, you could change to hosting Etherpad separately on etherpad.example.com. You will need to configure a DNS record for this new domain. You will also need to reconfigure Dimension to use the new pad URLs (https://etherpad.example.com/...) going forward (refer to our configuring Etherpad documentation). All your existing room widgets (which still use https://dimension.example.com/etherpad/...) will break as Etherpad is not hosted there anymore. You will need to re-add them or to consider not using standalone mode

2022-11-04

The playbook now uses external roles for some things

TLDR: when updating the playbook and before running it, you'll need to run make roles to make ansible-galaxy download dependency roles (see the requirements.yml file) to the roles/galaxy directory. Without this, the playbook won't work.

We're in the process of trimming the playbook and making it reuse Ansible roles.

Starting now, the playbook is composed of 2 types of Ansible roles:

• those that live within the playbook itself (roles/custom/*)

• those downloaded from other sources (using ansible-galaxy to roles/galaxy, based on the requirements.yml file). These roles are maintained by us or by other people from the Ansible community.

We're doing this for greater code-reuse (across Ansible playbooks, including our own related playbooks gitea-docker-ansible-deploy and nextcloud-docker-ansible-deploy) and decreased maintenance burden. Until now, certain features were copy-pasted across playbooks or were maintained separately in each one, with improvements often falling behind. We've also tended to do too much by ourselves - installing Docker on the server from our matrix-base role, etc. - something that we'd rather not do anymore by switching to the geerlingguy.docker role.

Some variable names will change during the transition to having more and more external (galaxy) roles. There's a new custom/matrix_playbook_migration role added to the playbook which will tell you about these changes each time you run the playbook.

From now on, every time you update the playbook (well, every time the requirements.yml file changes), it's best to run make roles to update the roles downloaded from other sources. make roles is a shortcut (a roles target defined in Makefile and executed by the make utility) which ultimately runs ansible-galaxy to download Ansible roles. If you don't have make, you can also manually run the commands seen in the Makefile.

2022-10-14

synapse-s3-storage-provider support

synapse-s3-storage-provider support is very new and still relatively untested. Using it may cause data loss.

You can now store your Synapse media repository files on Amazon S3 (or another S3-compatible object store) using synapse-s3-storage-provider - a media provider for Synapse (Python module), which should work faster and more reliably than our previous Goofys implementation (Goofys will continue to work).

This is not just for initial installations. Users with existing files (stored in the local filesystem) can also migrate their files to synapse-s3-storage-provider.

To get started, see our Storing Synapse media files on Amazon S3 with synapse-s3-storage-provider documentation.

Synapse container image customization support

We now support customizing the Synapse container image by adding additional build steps to its Dockerfile.

Our synapse-s3-storage-provider support is actually built on this. When s3-storage-provider is enabled, we automatically add additional build steps to install its Python module into the Synapse image.

Besides this kind of auto-added build steps (for components supported by the playbook), we also let you inject your own custom build steps using configuration like this:

matrix_synapse_container_image_customizations_enabled: true

matrix_synapse_container_image_customizations_dockerfile_body_custom: |
 RUN echo 'This is a custom step for building the customized Docker image for Synapse.'
 RUN echo 'You can override matrix_synapse_container_image_customizations_dockerfile_body_custom to add your own steps.'
 RUN echo 'You do NOT need to include a FROM clause yourself.' 

People who have needed to customize Synapse previously had to fork the git repository, make their changes to the Dockerfile there, point the playbook to the new repository (matrix_synapse_container_image_self_build_repo) and enable self-building from scratch (matrix_synapse_container_image_self_build: true). This is harder and slower.

With the new Synapse-customization feature in the playbook, we use the original upstream (pre-built, if available) Synapse image and only build on top of it, right on the Matrix server. This is much faster than building all of Synapse from scratch.

2022-10-02

matrix-ldap-registration-proxy support

Thanks to @TheOneWithTheBraid, we now support installing matrix-ldap-registration-proxy - a proxy which handles Matrix registration requests and forwards them to LDAP.

See our Setting up matrix-ldap-registration-proxy documentation to get started.

2022-09-15

(Potential Backward Compatibility Break) Major improvements to Synapse workers

People who are interested in running a Synapse worker setup should know that our Synapse worker implementation is much more powerful now:

• we've added support for Stream writers
• we've added support for multiple federation sender workers
• we've added support for multiple pusher workers
• we've added support for running background tasks on a worker
• we've restored support for appservice workers
• we've restored support for user_dir workers
• we've made it possible to reliably use more than 1 media_repository worker
• see the Potential Backward Incompatibilities after these Synapse worker changes

Stream writers support

From now on, the playbook lets you easily set up various stream writer workers which can handle different streams (events stream; typing URL endpoints, to_device URL endpoints, account_data URL endpoints, receipts URL endpoints, presence URL endpoints). All of this work was previously handled by the main Synapse process, but can now be offloaded to stream writer worker processes.

If you're using matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each, you'll automatically get 6 additional workers (one for each of the above stream types). Our little-federation-helper preset (meant to be quite minimal and focusing in improved federation performance) does not include stream writer workers.

If you'd like to customize the number of workers we also make that possible using these variables:

# Synapse only supports more than 1 worker for the `events` stream.
# All other streams can utilize either 0 or 1 workers, not more than that.
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_events_stream_workers_count: 5
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_typing_stream_workers_count: 1
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_to_device_stream_workers_count: 1
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_account_data_stream_workers_count: 1
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_receipts_stream_workers_count: 1
matrix_synapse_workers_stream_writer_presence_stream_workers_count: 1

Multiple federation sender workers support

Until now, we only supported a single federation_sender worker (matrix_synapse_workers_federation_sender_workers_count could either be 0 or 1). From now on, you can have as many as you want to help with your federation traffic.

Multiple pusher workers support

Until now, we only supported a single pusher worker (matrix_synapse_workers_pusher_workers_count could either be 0 or 1). From now on, you can have as many as you want to help with pushing notifications out.

Background tasks can run on a worker

From now on, you can put background task processing on a worker.

With matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each, you'll get one background worker automatically. You can also control the background workers count with matrix_synapse_workers_background_workers_count. Only 0 or 1 workers of this type are supported by Synapse.

Appservice worker support is back

We previously had an appservice worker type, which Synapse deprecated in v1.59.0. So did we, at the time.

The new way to implement such workers is by using a generic_worker and dedicating it to the task of talking to Application Services. From now on, we have support for this.

With matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each, you'll get one appservice worker automatically. You can also control the appservice workers count with matrix_synapse_workers_appservice_workers_count. Only 0 or 1 workers of this type are supported by Synapse.

User Directory worker support is back

We previously had a user_dir worker type, which Synapse deprecated in v1.59.0. So did we, at the time.

The new way to implement such workers is by using a generic_worker and dedicating it to the task of serving the user directory. From now on, we have support for this.

With matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each, you'll get one user_dir worker automatically. You can also control the user_dir workers count with matrix_synapse_workers_user_dir_workers_count. Only 0 or 1 workers of this type are supported by Synapse.

Using more than 1 media repository worker is now more reliable

With matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each, we only launch one media_repository worker.

If you've been configuring matrix_synapse_workers_media_repository_workers_count manually, you may have increased that to more workers. When multiple media repository workers are in use, background tasks related to the media repository must always be configured to run on a single media_repository worker via media_instance_running_background_jobs. Until now, we weren't doing this correctly, but we now are.

Potential Backward Incompatibilities after these Synapse worker changes

Below we'll discuss potential backward incompatibilities.

• Worker names (container names, systemd services, worker configuration files) have changed. Workers are now labeled sequentially (e.g. matrix-synapse-worker_generic_worker-18111 -> matrix-synapse-worker-generic-0). The playbook will handle these changes automatically.

• Due to increased worker types support above, people who use matrix_synapse_workers_preset: one-of-each should be aware that with these changes, the playbook will deploy 9 additional workers (6 stream writers, 1 appservice worker, 1 user_dir worker, 1 background task worker). This may increase RAM/CPU usage, etc. If you find your server struggling, consider disabling some workers with the appropriate matrix_synapse_workers_*_workers_count variables.

• Metric endpoints have also changed (/metrics/synapse/worker/generic_worker-18111 -> /metrics/synapse/worker/generic-worker-0). If you're collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server, consider revisiting our Collecting Synapse worker metrics to an external Prometheus server docs and updating your Prometheus configuration. If you're collecting metrics to the integrated Prometheus server (not enabled by default), your Prometheus configuration will be updated automatically. Old data (from before this change) may stick around though.

• the format of matrix_synapse_workers_enabled_list has changed. You were never advised to use this variable for directly creating workers (we advise people to control workers using matrix_synapse_workers_preset or by tweaking matrix_synapse_workers_*_workers_count variables only), but some people may have started using the matrix_synapse_workers_enabled_list variable to gain more control over workers. If you're one of them, you'll need to adjust its value. See roles/custom/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml for more information on the new format. The playbook will also do basic validation and complain if you got something wrong.

2022-09-09

Cactus Comments support

Thanks to Julian-Samuel Gebühr (@moan0s), the playbook can now set up Cactus Comments - federated comment system for the web based on Matrix.

See our Setting up Cactus Comments documentation to get started.

2022-08-23

Postmoogle email bridge support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now set up the new Postmoogle email bridge. Postmoogle is like the email2matrix bridge (also already supported by the playbook), but more capable and with the intention to soon support sending emails, not just receiving.

See our Setting up Postmoogle email bridging documentation to get started.

2022-08-10

mautrix-whatsapp default configuration changes

In Pull Request #2012, we've made some changes to the default configuration used by the mautrix-whatsapp bridge.

If you're using this bridge, you should look into this PR and see if the new configuration suits you. If not, you can always change individual preferences in your vars.yml file.

Most notably, spaces support has been enabled by default. The bridge will now group rooms into a Matrix space. If you've already bridged to Whatsapp prior to this update, you will need to send !wa sync space to the bridge bot to make it create the space and put your existing rooms into it.

2022-08-09

Conduit support

Thanks to Charles Wright, we now have optional experimental Conduit homeserver support for new installations. This comes as a follow-up to the playbook getting Dendrite support earlier this year.

Existing Synapse or Dendrite installations do not need to be updated. Synapse is still the default homeserver implementation installed by the playbook.

To try out Conduit, we recommend that you use a new server and the following vars.yml configuration:

matrix_homeserver_implementation: conduit

The homeserver implementation of an existing server cannot be changed (e.g. from Synapse or Dendrite to Conduit) without data loss.

2022-07-29

mautrix-discord support

Thanks to MdotAmaan's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Discord via the mautrix-discord bridge. See our Setting up Mautrix Discord bridging documentation page for getting started.

Note: this is a new Discord bridge. The playbook still retains Discord bridging via matrix-appservice-discord and mx-puppet-discord. You're free to use the bridge that serves you better, or even all three of them (for different users and use-cases).

2022-07-27

matrix-appservice-kakaotalk support

The playbook now supports bridging to Kakaotalk via matrix-appservice-kakaotalk - a bridge based on node-kakao (now unmaintained) and some mautrix-facebook code. Thanks to hnarjis for helping us add support for this!

See our Setting up Appservice Kakaotalk bridging documentation to get started.

2022-07-20

maubot support

Thanks to Stuart Mumford (@Cadair) for starting (PR #373 and PR #622) and to Julian-Samuel Gebühr (@moan0s) for finishing up (in PR #1894), the playbook can now help you set up maubot - a plugin-based Matrix bot system.

See our Setting up maubot documentation to get started.

2022-07-14

mx-puppet-skype removal

The playbook no longer includes the mx-puppet-skype bridge, because it has been broken and unmaintained for a long time. Users that have matrix_mx_puppet_skype_enabled in their configuration files will encounter an error when running the playbook until they remove references to this bridge from their configuration.

To completely clean up your server from mx-puppet-skype's presence on it:

• ensure your Ansible configuration (vars.yml file) no longer contains matrix_mx_puppet_skype_* references
• stop and disable the systemd service (run systemctl disable --now matrix-mx-puppet-skype on the server)
• delete the systemd service (run rm /etc/systemd/system/matrix-mx-puppet-skype.service on the server)
• delete /matrix/mx-puppet-skype (run rm -rf /matrix/mx-puppet-skype on the server)
• drop the matrix_mx_puppet_skype database (run /usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli on the server, and execute the DROP DATABASE matrix_mx_puppet_skype; query there)

If you still need bridging to Skype, consider switching to go-skype-bridge instead. See Setting up Go Skype Bridge bridging.

If you think this is a mistake and mx-puppet-skype works for you (or you get it to work somehow), let us know and we may reconsider this removal.

signald (0.19.0+) upgrade requires data migration

In Pull Request #1921 we upgraded signald (used by the mautrix-signal bridge) from v0.18.5 to v0.20.0.

Back in the v0.19.0 released of signald (which we skipped and migrated straight to v0.20.0), a new --migrate-data command had been added that migrates avatars, group images, attachments, etc., into the database (those were previously stored in the filesystem).

If you've been using the mautrix-signal bridge for a while, you may have files stored in the local filesystem, which will need to be upgraded.

We attempt to do this data migration automatically every time Signald starts (matrix-mautrix-signal-daemon.service) using a ExecStartPre systemd unit definition.

Keep an eye on your Signal bridge and let us know (in our support room or in Pull Request #1921) if you experience any trouble!

2022-07-05

Ntfy push notifications support

Thanks to Julian Foad, the playbook can now install a ntfy push notifications server for you.

See our Setting up the ntfy push notifications server documentation to get started.

2022-06-23

(Potential Backward Compatibility Break) Changes around metrics collection

TLDR: we've made extensive changes to metrics exposure/collection, which concern people using an external Prometheus server. If you don't know what that is, you don't need to read below.

Why do major changes to metrics? Because various services were exposing metrics in different, hacky, ways. Synapse was exposing metrics at /_synapse/metrics and /_synapse-worker-.../metrics on the matrix.example.com. The Hookshot role was repurposing the Granana web UI domain (stats.example.com) for exposing its metrics on stats.example.com/hookshot/metrics, while protecting these routes using Basic Authentication normally used for Synapse (/_synapse/metrics). Node-exporter and Postgres-exporter roles were advising for more stats.example.com usage in manual ways. Each role was doing things differently and mixing variables from other roles. Each metrics endpoint was ending up in a different place, protected by who knows what Basic Authentication credentials (if protected at all).

The solution: a completely revamped way to expose metrics to an external Prometheus server. We are introducing new https://matrix.example.com/metrics/* endpoints, where various services can expose their metrics, for collection by external Prometheus servers. To enable the /metrics/* endpoints, use matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_metrics_enabled: true. There's also a way to protect access using Basic Authentication. See the matrix-nginx-proxy role or our Collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server documentation for additional variables around matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_metrics_enabled.

If you are using the Hookshot bridge, you may find that:

1. Metrics may not be enabled by default anymore:
   • If Prometheus is enabled (prometheus_enabled: true), then Hookshot metrics will be enabled automatically (matrix_hookshot_metrics_enabled: true). These metrics will be collected from the local (in-container) Prometheus over the container network.
   • If Prometheus is not enabled (you are either not using Prometheus or are using an external one), Hookshot metrics will not be enabled by default anymore. Feel free to enable them by setting matrix_hookshot_metrics_enabled: true. Also, see below.
2. When metrics are meant to be consumed by an external Prometheus server, matrix_hookshot_metrics_proxying_enabled needs to be set to true, so that metrics would be exposed (proxied) "publicly" on https://matrix.example.com/metrics/hookshot. To make use of this, you'll also need to enable the new https://matrix.example.com/metrics/* endpoints mentioned above, using matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_metrics_enabled. Learn more in our Collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server documentation.
3. We've changed the URL we're exposing Hookshot metrics at for external Prometheus servers. Until now, you were advised to consume Hookshot metrics from https://stats.example.com/hookshot/metrics (working in conjunction with matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_synapse_metrics). From now on, this no longer works. As described above, you need to start consuming metrics from https://matrix.example.com/metrics/hookshot.

If you're using node-exporter (matrix_prometheus_node_exporter_enabled: true) and would like to collect its metrics from an external Prometheus server, see matrix_prometheus_node_exporter_metrics_proxying_enabled described in our Collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server documentation. You will be able to collect its metrics from https://matrix.example.com/metrics/node-exporter.

If you're using postgres-exporter (prometheus_postgres_exporter_enabled: true) and would like to collect its metrics from an external Prometheus server, see matrix_prometheus_services_proxy_connect_prometheus_postgres_exporter_metrics_proxying_enabled described in our Collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server documentation. You will be able to collect its metrics from https://matrix.example.com/metrics/postgres-exporter.

If you're using Synapse and would like to collect its metrics from an external Prometheus server, you may find that:

1. Exposing metrics is now done using matrix_synapse_metrics_proxying_enabled, not matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_synapse_metrics: true. You may still need to enable metrics using matrix_synapse_metrics_enabled: true before exposing them.
2. Protecting metrics endpoints using Basic Authentication is now done in another way. See our Collecting metrics to an external Prometheus server documentation
3. If Synapse metrics are exposed, they will be made available at https://matrix.example.com/metrics/synapse/main-process or https://matrix.example.com/metrics/synapse/worker/TYPE-ID (when workers are enabled), not at https://matrix.example.com/_synapse/metrics and https://matrix.example.com/_synapse-worker-.../metrics
4. The playbook still generates an external_prometheus.yml.example sample file for scraping Synapse from Prometheus as described in Collecting Synapse worker metrics to an external Prometheus server, but it's now saved under /matrix/synapse (not /matrix).

If you where already using a external Prometheus server before this change, and you gave a hashed version of the password as a variable, the playbook will now take care of hashing the password for you. Thus, you need to provide the non-hashed version now.

2022-06-13

go-skype-bridge bridging support

Thanks to CyberShadow, the playbook can now install the go-skype-bridge bridge for bridging Matrix to Skype.

See our Setting up Go Skype Bridge bridging documentation to get started.

The playbook has supported mx-puppet-skype bridging (see Setting up MX Puppet Skype bridging) since 2020-04-09, but mx-puppet-skype is reportedly broken.

2022-06-09

Running Ansible in a container can now happen on the Matrix server itself

If you're tired of being on an old and problematic Ansible version, you can now run run Ansible in a container on the Matrix server itself.

2022-05-31

Synapse v1.60 upgrade may cause trouble and require manual intervention

Synapse v1.60 will try to add a new unique index to state_group_edges upon startup and could fail if your database is corrupted.

We haven't observed this problem yet, but the Synapse v1.60.0 upgrade notes mention it, so we're giving you a heads up here in case you're unlucky.

If Synapse fails to start after your next playbook run, you'll need to:

• SSH into the Matrix server
• launch /usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli
• switch to the synapse database: \c synapse
• run the following SQL query:

BEGIN;
DELETE FROM state_group_edges WHERE (ctid, state_group, prev_state_group) IN (
  SELECT row_id, state_group, prev_state_group
  FROM (
    SELECT
      ctid AS row_id,
      MIN(ctid) OVER (PARTITION BY state_group, prev_state_group) AS min_row_id,
      state_group,
      prev_state_group
    FROM state_group_edges
  ) AS t1
  WHERE row_id <> min_row_id
);
COMMIT;

You could then restart services: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=start

2022-04-25

Buscarron bot support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now set up the Buscarron bot. It's a bot you can use to send any form (HTTP POST, HTML) to a (encrypted) Matrix room

See our Setting up Buscarron documentation to get started.

2022-04-21

matrix-registration-bot support

Thanks to Julian-Samuel Gebühr (@moan0s), the playbook can now help you set up matrix-registration-bot - a bot that is used to create and manage registration tokens for a Matrix server.

See our Setting up matrix-registration-bot documentation to get started.

2022-04-19

BorgBackup support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now set up Borg backups with borgmatic of your Matrix server.

See our Setting up BorgBackup documentation to get started.

(Compatibility Break) Upgrading to Synapse v1.57 on setups using workers may require manual action

If you're running a worker setup for Synapse (matrix_synapse_workers_enabled: true), the Synapse v1.57 upgrade notes say that you may need to take special care when upgrading:

Synapse v1.57.0 includes a change to the way transaction IDs are managed for application services. If your deployment uses a dedicated worker for application service traffic, it must be stopped when the database is upgraded (which normally happens when the main process is upgraded), to ensure the change is made safely without any risk of reusing transaction IDs.

If you're not running an appservice worker (matrix_synapse_workers_preset: little-federation-helper or matrix_synapse_workers_appservice_workers_count: 0), you are probably safe to upgrade as per normal, without taking any special care.

If you are running a setup with an appservice worker, or otherwise want to be on the safe side, we recommend the following upgrade path:

0. Pull the latest playbook changes
1. Stop all services (ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=stop)
2. Re-run the playbook (ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all)
3. Start Postgres (systemctl start matrix-postgres on the server)
4. Start the main Synapse process (systemctl start matrix-synapse on the server)
5. Wait a while so that Synapse can start and complete the database migrations. You can use journalctl -fu matrix-synapse on the server to get a clue. Waiting a few minutes should also be enough.
6. It should now be safe to start all other services. ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=start will do it for you

2022-04-14

(Compatibility Break) Changes to docker-src permissions necessitating manual action

Users who build container images from source will need to manually correct file permissions of some directories on the server.

When self-building, the playbook used to git clone repositories (into /matrix/SERVICE/docker-src) using the root user, but now uses matrix instead to work around the following issue with git 2.35.2.

If you're on a non-amd64 architecture (that is, you're overriding matrix_architecture in your vars.yml file) or you have enabled self-building for some service (e.g. matrix_*_self_build: true), you're certainly building some container images from source and have docker-src directories with mixed permissions lying around in various /matrix/SERVICE directories.

The playbook could correct these permissions automatically, but that requires additional Ansible tasks in some ~45 different places - something that takes considerable effort. So we ask users observing errors related to docker-src directories to correct the problem manually by running this command on the Matrix server (which deletes all /matrix/*/docker-src directories): find /matrix -maxdepth 2 -name 'docker-src' | xargs rm -rf

2022-03-17

(Compatibility Break) ma1sd identity server no longer installed by default

The playbook no longer installs the ma1sd identity server by default. The next time you run the playbook, ma1sd will be uninstalled from your server, unless you explicitly enable the ma1sd service (see how below).

The main reason we used to install ma1sd by default in the past was to prevent Element clients from talking to the matrix.org / vector.im identity servers, by forcing it to talk to our own self-hosted (but otherwise useless) identity server instead, thus preventing contact list leaks.

Since Element clients no longer default to using a public identity server if another one is not provided, we can stop installing ma1sd.

If you need to install the ma1sd identity server for some reason, you can explicitly enable it by adding this to your vars.yml file:

matrix_ma1sd_enabled: true

2022-02-12

matrix_encryption_disabler support

We now support installing the matrix_encryption_disabler Synapse module, which lets you prevent End-to-End-Encryption from being enabled by users on your homeserver. The popular opinion is that this is dangerous and shouldn't be done, but there are valid use cases for disabling encryption discussed here.

To enable this module (and prevent encryption from being used on your homserver), add matrix_synapse_ext_encryption_disabler_enabled: true to your configuration. This module provides further customization. Check its other configuration settings (and defaults) in roles/custom/matrix-synapse/defaults/main.yml.

2022-02-01

matrix-hookshot bridging support

Thanks to HarHarLinks, the playbook can now install the matrix-hookshot bridge for bridging Matrix to multiple project management services, such as GitHub, GitLab and JIRA. See our Setting up matrix-hookshot documentation to get started.

2022-01-31

ARM support for matrix-corporal

matrix-corporal (as of version 2.2.3) is now published to Docker Hub (see devture/matrix-corporal) as a multi-arch container image with support for all these platforms: linux/amd64, linux/arm64/v8 and linux/arm/v7. The playbook no longer resorts to self-building matrix-corporal on these ARM architectures.

2022-01-07

Dendrite support

TLDR: We now have optional experimental Dendrite homeserver support for new installations. Existing (Synapse) installations need to be updated, because some internals changed. See Adapting the configuration for existing Synapse installations.

Jip J. Dekker did the initial work of adding Dendrite support to the playbook back in January 2021. Lots of work (and time) later, Dendrite support is finally ready for testing.

We believe that 2022 will be the year of the non-Synapse Matrix server!

The playbook was previously quite Synapse-centric, but can now accommodate multiple homeserver implementations. Only one homeserver implementation can be active (installed) at a given time.

Synapse is still the default homeserver implementation installed by the playbook. A new variable (matrix_homeserver_implementation) controls which server implementation is enabled (synapse or dendrite at the given moment).

Adapting the configuration for existing Synapse installations

Because the playbook is not so Synapse-centric anymore, a small configuration change is necessary for existing installations to bring them up to date.

The vars.yml file for existing installations will need to be updated by adding this additional configuration:

# All secrets keys are now derived from `matrix_homeserver_generic_secret_key`, not from `matrix_synapse_macaroon_secret_key`.
# To keep them all the same, define `matrix_homeserver_generic_secret_key` in terms of `matrix_synapse_macaroon_secret_key`.
# Using a new secret value for this configuration key is also possible and should not cause any problems.
#
# Fun fact: new installations (based on the new `examples/vars.yml` file) do this in reverse.
# That is, the Synapse macaroon secret is derived from `matrix_homeserver_generic_secret_key`.
matrix_homeserver_generic_secret_key: "{{ matrix_synapse_macaroon_secret_key }}"

Trying out Dendrite

Finally, to try out Dendrite, we recommend that you use a new server and the following addition to your vars.yml configuration:

matrix_homeserver_implementation: dendrite

The homeserver implementation of an existing server cannot be changed (e.g. from Synapse to Dendrite) without data loss.

We're excited to gain support for other homeserver implementations, like Conduit, etc!

Honoroit bot support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook can now help you set up Honoroit - a helpdesk bot.

See our Setting up Honoroit documentation to get started.

2022-01-06

Cinny support

Thanks to Aine of etke.cc, the playbook now supports Cinny - a new simple, elegant and secure Matrix client.

By default, we still install Element Web. Still, people who'd like to try Cinny out can now install it via the playbook.

Additional details are available in Setting up Cinny.

2021-12-22

Twitter bridging support via mautrix-twitter

Thanks to Matthew Cengia and Shreyas Ajjarapu, besides mx-puppet-twitter, bridging to Twitter can now also happen with mautrix-twitter.

2021-12-14

(Security) Users of the Signal bridge may wish to upgrade it to work around log4j vulnerability

Recently, a security vulnerability affecting the Java logging package log4j has been discovered. Software that uses this Java package is potentially vulnerable.

One such piece of software that is part of the playbook is the mautrix-signal bridge, which has been patched already. If you're running this bridge, you may wish to upgrade.

2021-11-11

Dropped support for Postgres v9.6

Postgres v9.6 reached its end of life today, so the playbook will refuse to run for you if you're still on that version.

Synapse still supports v9.6 (for now), but we're retiring support for it early, to avoid having to maintain support for so many Postgres versions. Users that are still on Postgres v9.6 can easily upgrade Postgres via the playbook.

2021-10-23

Hangouts bridge no longer updated, superseded by a Googlechat bridge

The mautrix-hangouts bridge is no longer receiving updates upstream and is likely to stop working in the future. We still retain support for this bridge in the playbook, but you're encouraged to switch away from it.

There's a new mautrix-googlechat bridge that you can install using the playbook. Your Hangouts bridge data will not be migrated, however. You need to start fresh with the new bridge.

2021-08-23

LinkedIn bridging support via beeper-linkedin

Thanks to Alexandar Mechev, the playbook can now install the beeper-linkedin bridge for bridging to LinkedIn Messaging.

This brings the total number of bridges supported by the playbook up to 20. See all supported bridges here.

To get started with bridging to LinkedIn, see Setting up Beeper LinkedIn bridging.

2021-08-20

Sygnal upgraded - ARM support and no longer requires a database

The Sygnal push gateway has been upgraded from v0.9.0 to v0.10.1.

This is an optional component for the playbook, so most of our users wouldn't care about this announcement.

Since this feels like a relatively big (and untested, as of yet) Sygnal change, we're putting up this changelog entry.

The new version is also available for the ARM architecture. It also no longer requires a database anymore. If you need to downgrade to the previous version, changing matrix_sygnal_version or matrix_sygnal_docker_image will not be enough, as we've removed the database configuration completely. You'd need to switch to an earlier playbook commit.

2021-05-21

Hydrogen support

Thanks to Aaron Raimist, the playbook now supports Hydrogen - a new lightweight Matrix client with legacy and mobile browser support.

By default, we still install Element Web, as Hydrogen is still not fully-featured. Still, people who'd like to try Hydrogen out can now install it via the playbook.

Additional details are available in Setting up Hydrogen.

2021-05-19

Heisenbridge support

Thanks to Toni Spets (hifi), the playbook now supports bridging to IRC using yet another bridge (besides matrix-appservice-irc), called Heisenbridge.

Additional details are available in Setting up Heisenbridge bouncer-style IRC bridging.

2021-04-16

Disabling TLSv1 and TLSv1.1 for Coturn

To improve security, we've removed TLSv1 and TLSv1.1 support from our default Coturn configuration.

If you need to support old clients, you can re-enable both (or whichever one you need) with the following configuration:

matrix_coturn_tls_v1_enabled: true
matrix_coturn_tls_v1_1_enabled: true

2021-04-05

Automated local Postgres backup support

Thanks to foxcris, the playbook can now make automated local Postgres backups on a fixed schedule using docker-postgres-backup-local.

Additional details are available in Setting up postgres backup.

2021-04-03

Mjolnir moderation tool (bot) support

Thanks to Aaron Raimist, the playbook can now install and configure the Mjolnir moderation tool (bot).

Additional details are available in Setting up Mjolnir.

2021-03-20

Sygnal push gateway support

The playbook can now install the Sygnal push gateway for you.

This is only useful to people who develop/build their own Matrix client applications.

Additional details are available in our Setting up the Sygnal push gateway docs.

2021-03-16

Go-NEB support

Thanks to Zir0h, the playbook can now install and configure the Go-NEB bot.

Additional details are available in Setting up Go-NEB.

2021-02-19

GroupMe bridging support via mx-puppet-groupme

Thanks to Cody Neiman, the playbook can now install the mx-puppet-groupme bridge for bridging to GroupMe.

This brings the total number of bridges supported by the playbook up to 18. See all supported bridges here.

To get started, follow our Setting up MX Puppet GroupMe docs.

Mautrix Instagram bridging support

The playbook now supports bridging with Instagram by installing the mautrix-instagram bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to @MarcProe.

Additional details are available in Setting up Mautrix Instagram bridging.

Synapse workers support

After lots and lots of work (done over many months by Marcel Partap, Max Klenk, a few others from the Technical University of Dresden, Germany and various other contributors), support for Synapse workers has finally landed.

Having support for workers makes the playbook suitable for larger homeserver deployments.

Our setup is not yet perfect (we don't support all types of workers; scaling some of them (like pusher, federation_sender) beyond a single instance is not yet supported). Still, it's a great start and can already power homeservers with thousands of users, like the Matrix deployment at TU Dresden discussed in Matrix Live S06E09 - TU Dresden on their Matrix deployment.

By default, workers are disabled and Synapse runs as a single process (homeservers don't necessarily need the complexity and increased memory requirements of running a worker-based setup).

To enable Synapse workers, follow our Load balancing with workers documentation.

2021-02-12

(Potential Breaking Change) Monitoring/metrics support using Prometheus and Grafana

Thanks to @Peetz0r, the playbook can now install a bunch of tools for monitoring your Matrix server: the Prometheus time-series database server, the Prometheus node-exporter host metrics exporter, and the Grafana web UI.

To get get these installed, follow our Enabling metrics and graphs (Prometheus, Grafana) for your Matrix server docs page.

This update comes with a potential breaking change for people who were already exposing Synapse metrics (for consumption via another Prometheus installation). From now on, matrix_synapse_metrics_enabled: true no longer exposes metrics publicly via matrix-nginx-proxy (at https://matrix.example.com/_synapse/metrics). To do so, you'd need to explicitly set matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_synapse_metrics: true.

2021-01-31

Etherpad support

Thanks to @pushytoxin, the playbook can now install the Etherpad realtime collaborative text editor. It can be used in a Jitsi audio/video call or integrated as a widget into Matrix chat rooms via the Dimension integration manager.

To get it installed, follow our Etherpad docs page.

2021-01-22

(Breaking Change) Postgres changes that require manual intervention

We've made a lot of changes to our Postgres setup and some manual action is required (described below). Sorry about the hassle.

TLDR: people running an external Postgres server don't need to change anything for now. Everyone else (the common/default case) is affected and manual intervention is required.

Why?

• we had a default Postgres password (matrix_postgres_connection_password: synapse-password), which we think is not ideal for security anymore. We now ask you to generate/provide a strong password yourself. Postgres is normally not exposed outside the container network, making it relatively secure, but still:
  • by tweaking the configuration, you may end up intentionally or unintentionally exposing your Postgres server to the local network (or even publicly), while still using the default default credentials (synapse + synapse-password)
  • we can't be sure we trust all these services (bridges, etc). Some of them may try to talk to or attack matrix-postgres using the default credentials (synapse + synapse-password)
  • you may have other containers running on the same Docker network, which may try to talk to or attack matrix-postgres using the default credentials (synapse + synapse-password)
• our Postgres usage was overly-focused on Synapse (default username of synapse and default/main database of homeserver). Additional homeserver options are likely coming in the future (Dendrite, Conduit, The Construct), so being too focused on matrix-synapse is not great. From now on, Synapse is just another component of this playbook, which happens to have an additional database (called synapse) on the Postgres server.
• we try to reorganize things a bit, to make the playbook even friendlier to people running an external Postgres server. Work on this will proceed in the future.

So, this is some effort to improve security and to prepare for a brighter future of having more homeserver options than just Synapse.

What has really changed?

• the default superuser Postgres username is now matrix (used to be synapse)
• the default Postgres database is now matrix (used to be homeserver)
• Synapse's database is now synapse (used to be homeserver). This is now just another "additional database" that the playbook manages for you
• Synapse's user called synapse is just a regular user that can only use the synapse database (not a superuser anymore)

What do I do if I'm using the integrated Postgres server (default)?

By default, the playbook runs an integrated Postgres server for you in a container (matrix-postgres). Unless you've explicitly configured an external Postgres server, these steps are meant for you.

To migrate to the new setup, expect a few minutes of downtime, while you follow these steps:

1. We believe the steps below are safe and you won't encounter any data loss, but consider making a Postgres backup anyway. If you've never backed up Postgres, now would be a good time to try it.

2. Generate a strong password to be used for your superuser Postgres user (called matrix). You can use pwgen -s 64 1 to generate it, or some other tool. The maximum length for a Postgres password is 100 bytes (characters). Don't go crazy!

3. Update your playbook's inventory/host_vars/matrix.example.com/vars.yml file, adding a line like this:

   matrix_postgres_connection_password: 'YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE'
   

.. where YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE is to be replaced with the password you generated during step #2.

4. Stop all services: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=stop

5. Log in to the server via SSH. The next commands will be performed there.

6. Start the Postgres database server: systemctl start matrix-postgres

7. Open a Postgres shell: /usr/local/bin/matrix-postgres-cli

8. Execute the following query, while making sure to change the password inside (don't forget the ending ;):

   CREATE ROLE matrix LOGIN SUPERUSER PASSWORD 'YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE';
   

.. where YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_HERE is to be replaced with the password you generated during step #2.

9. Execute the following queries as you see them (no modifications necessary, so you can just paste them all at once):

   CREATE DATABASE matrix OWNER matrix;
   
   ALTER DATABASE postgres OWNER TO matrix;
   ALTER DATABASE template0 OWNER TO matrix;
   ALTER DATABASE template1 OWNER TO matrix;
   
   \c matrix;
   
   ALTER DATABASE homeserver RENAME TO synapse;
   
   ALTER ROLE synapse NOSUPERUSER NOCREATEDB NOCREATEROLE;
   
   \quit
   

   You may need to press Enter after pasting the lines above.

10. Re-run the playbook normally: ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start

What do I do if I'm using an external Postgres server?

If you've explicitly configured an external Postgres server, there are no changes that you need to do at this time.

The fact that we've renamed Synapse's database from homeserver to synapse (in our defaults) should not affect you, as you're already explicitly defining matrix_synapse_database_database (if you've followed our guide, that is). If you're not explicitly defining this variable, you may wish to do so (matrix_synapse_database_database: homeserver), to avoid the new synapse default and keep things as they were.

2021-01-20

(Breaking Change) The mautrix-facebook bridge now requires a Postgres database

Update from 2021-11-15: SQLite support has been re-added to the mautrix-facebook bridge in v0.3.2. You can ignore this changelog entry.

A new version of the mautrix-facebook bridge has been released. It's a full rewrite of its backend and the bridge now requires Postgres. New versions of the bridge can no longer run on SQLite.

TLDR: if you're NOT using an external Postgres server and have NOT forcefully kept the bridge on SQLite during The big move to all-on-Postgres (potentially dangerous), you will be automatically upgraded without manual intervention. All you need to do is send a login message to the Facebook bridge bot again.

Whether this change requires your intervention depends mostly on:

• whether you're using an external Postgres server. If yes, then you need to do something.
• or whether you've force-changed the bridge's database engine to SQLite (matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: 'sqlite' in your vars.yml) some time in the past (likely during The big move to all-on-Postgres (potentially dangerous)).

As already mentioned above, you most likely don't need to do anything. If you rerun the playbook and don't get an error, you've been automatically upgraded. Just send a login message to the Facebook bridge bot again. Otherwise, read below for a solution.

Upgrade path for people NOT running an external Postgres server (default for the playbook)

If you're not running an external Postgres server, then this bridge either already works on Postgres for you, or you've intentionally kept it back on SQLite with custom configuration (matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: 'sqlite' in your vars.yml) .

Simply remove that custom configuration from your vars.yml file (if it's there) and re-run the playbook. It should upgrade you automatically. You'll need to send a login message to the Facebook bridge bot again.

Alternatively, you can stay on SQLite for a little longer.

Upgrade path for people running an external Postgres server

For people using the internal Postgres server (the default for the playbook):

• we automatically create an additional matrix_mautrix_facebook Postgres database and credentials to access it
• we automatically adjust the bridge's matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_* variables to point the bridge to that Postgres database
• we use pgloader to automatically import the existing SQLite data for the bridge into the matrix_mautrix_facebook Postgres database

If you are using an external Postgres server, unfortunately we currently can't do any of that for you.

You have 3 ways to proceed:

• contribute to the playbook to make this possible (difficult)
• or, do the migration "steps" manually:
  • stop the bridge (systemctl stop matrix-mautrix-facebook)
  • create a new matrix_mautrix_facebook Postgres database for it
  • run pgloader manually (we import this bridge's data using default settings and it works well)
  • define matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_* variables in your vars.yml file (credentials, etc.) - you can find their defaults in roles/custom/matrix-mautrix-facebook/defaults/main.yml
  • switch the bridge to Postgres (matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: 'postgres' in your vars.yml file)
  • re-run the playbook (--tags=setup-all,start) and ensure the bridge works (systemctl status matrix-mautrix-facebook and journalctl -fu matrix-mautrix-facebook)
  • send a login message to the Facebook bridge bot again
• or, stay on SQLite for a little longer (temporary solution)

Staying on SQLite for a little longer (temporary solution)

To keep using this bridge with SQLite for a little longer (not recommended), use the following configuration in your vars.yml file:

# Force-change the database engine to SQLite.
matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: 'sqlite'

# Force-downgrade to the last bridge version which supported SQLite.
matrix_mautrix_facebook_docker_image: "{{ matrix_mautrix_facebook_docker_image_name_prefix }}tulir/mautrix-facebook:da1b4ec596e334325a1589e70829dea46e73064b"

If you do this, keep in mind that you can't run this forever. This SQLite-supporting bridge version is not getting any updates and will break sooner or later. The playbook will also drop support for SQLite at some point in the future.

2021-01-17

matrix-corporal goes 2.0

matrix-corporal v2 has been released and the playbook also supports it now.

No manual intervention is required in the common case.

The new matrix-corporal version is also the first one to support Interactive Authentication. If you wish to enable that (hint: you should), you'll need to set up the REST auth password provider. There's more information in our matrix-corporal docs.

2021-01-14

Moving from cronjobs to systemd timers

We no longer use cronjobs for Let's Encrypt SSL renewal and matrix-nginx-proxy/matrix-coturn reloading. Instead, we've switched to systemd timers.

The largest benefit of this is that we no longer require you to install a cron daemon, thus simplifying our install procedure.

The playbook will migrate you from cronjobs to systemd timers automatically. This is just a heads up.

2021-01-08

(Breaking Change) New SSL configuration

SSL configuration (protocols, ciphers) can now be more easily controlled thanks to us making use of configuration presets.

We define a few presets (old, intermediate, modern), following the Mozilla SSL Configuration Generator.

A new variable matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_preset controls which preset is used (defaults to "intermediate").

Compared to before, this changes nginx's ssl_prefer_server_ciphers to off (used to default to on). It also add some more ciphers to the list, giving better performance on mobile devices, and removes some weak ciphers. More information in the documentation.

To revert to the old behaviour, set the following variables:

matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_ciphers: "EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH"
matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_prefer_server_ciphers: "on"

Just like before, you can still use your own custom protocols by specifying them in matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_protocols. Doing so overrides the values coming from the preset.

2021-01-03

Signal bridging support via mautrix-signal

Thanks to laszabine's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Signal via the mautrix-signal bridge. See our Setting up Mautrix Signal bridging documentation page for getting started.

If you had installed the mautrix-signal bridge while its Pull Request was still work-in-progress, you can migrate your data to the new and final setup by referring to this comment.

2020-12-23

The big move to all-on-Postgres (potentially dangerous)

TLDR: all your bridges (and other services) will likely be auto-migrated from SQLite/nedb to Postgres, hopefully without trouble. You can opt-out (see how below), if too worried about breakage.

Until now, we've only used Postgres as a database for Synapse. All other services (bridges, bots, etc.) were kept simple and used a file-based database (SQLite or nedb).

Since this huge pull request, all of our services now use Postgres by default. Thanks to Johanna Dorothea Reichmann for starting the work on it and for providing great input!

Moving all services to Postgres brings a few benefits to us:

• improved performance
• improved compatibility. Most bridges are deprecating SQLite/nedb support or offer less features when not on Postgres.
• easier backups. It's still some effort to take a proper backup (Postgres dump + various files, keys), but a Postgres dump now takes you much further.
• we're now more prepared to introduce other services that need a Postgres database - Dendrite, the mautrix-signal bridge (existing pull request), etc.

Key takeway

• existing installations that use an external Postgres server should be unaffected (they remain on SQLite/nedb for all services, except Synapse)

• for existing installations which use our integrated Postgres database server (matrix-postgres, which is the default), we automatically migrate data from SQLite/nedb to Postgres and archive the database files (something.db -> something.db.backup), so you can restore them if you need to go back (see how below).

Opting-out of the Postgres migration

This is a very large and somewhat untested change (potentially dangerous), so if you're not feeling confident/experimental, opt-out of it for now. Still, it's the new default and what we (and various bridges) will focus on going forward, so don't stick to old ways for too long.

You can remain on SQLite/nedb (at least for now) by adding a variable like this to your vars.yml file for each service you use: matrix_COMPONENT_database_engine: sqlite (e.g. matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: sqlite).

Some services (like appservice-irc and appservice-slack) don't use SQLite, so use nedb, instead of sqlite for them.

Going back to SQLite/nedb if things went wrong

If you went with the Postgres migration and it went badly for you (some bridge not working as expected or not working at all), do this:

• stop all services (ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=stop)
• SSH into the server and rename the old database files (something.db.backup -> something.db). Example: mv /matrix/mautrix-facebook/data/mautrix-facebook.db.backup /matrix/mautrix-facebook/data/mautrix-facebook.db
• switch the affected service back to SQLite (e.g. matrix_mautrix_facebook_database_engine: sqlite). Some services (like appservice-irc and appservice-slack) don't use SQLite, so use nedb, instead of sqlite for them.
• re-run the playbook (ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start)
• get in touch with us

2020-12-11

synapse-janitor support removed

We've removed support for the unmaintained synapse-janitor script. There's been past reports of it corrupting the Synapse database. Since there hasn't been any new development on it and it doesn't seem too useful nowadays, there's no point in including it in the playbook.

If you need to clean up or compact your database, consider using the Synapse Admin APIs directly. See our Synapse maintenance and Postgres maintenance documentation pages for more details.

Docker 20.10 is here

(No need to do anything special in relation to this. Just something to keep in mind)

Docker 20.10 got released recently and your server will likely get it the next time you update.

This is the first major Docker update in a long time and it packs a lot of changes. Some of them introduced some breakage for us initially (see here and here), but it should be all good now.

2020-12-08

openid APIs exposed by default on the federation port when federation disabled

We've changed some defaults. People running with our default configuration (federation enabled), are not affected at all.

If you are running an unfederated server (matrix_synapse_federation_enabled: false), this may be of interest to you.

When federation is disabled, but ma1sd or Dimension are enabled, we'll now expose the openid APIs on the federation port. These APIs are necessary for some ma1sd features to work. If you'd like to prevent this, you can: matrix_synapse_federation_port_openid_resource_required: false.

2020-11-27

Recent Jitsi updates may require configuration changes

We've recently updated from Jitsi build 4857 to build 5142, which brings a lot of configuration changes.

If you use our default Jitsi settings, you won't have to do anything.

People who have fine-tuned Jitsi may find that some options got renamed now, others are gone and yet others still need to be defined in another way.

The next time you run the playbook installation command, our validation logic will tell you if you're using some variables like that and will recommend a migration path for each one.

Additionally, we've recently disabled transcriptions (jitsi_enable_transcriptions: false) and recording (jitsi_enable_recording: false) by default. These features did not work anyway, because we don't install the required dependencies for them (Jigasi and Jibri, respectively). If you've been somehow pointing your Jitsi installation to some manually installed Jigasi/Jibri service, you may need to toggle these flags back to enabled to have transcriptions and recordings working.

2020-11-23

Breaking change matrix-sms-bridge

Because of many problems using gammu as SMS provider, matrix-sms-bridge now uses (https://github.com/RebekkaMa/android-sms-gateway-server) by default. See (the docs)[./docs/configuring-playbook-bridge-matrix-bridge-sms.md] which new vars you need to add.

If you are using this playbook to deploy matrix-sms-bridge and still really want to use gammu as SMS provider, we could possibly add support for both android-sms-gateway-server and gammu.

2020-11-13

Breaking change matrix-sms-bridge

The new version of matrix-sms-bridge changed its database from neo4j to h2. You need to sync the bridge at the first start. Note that this only will sync rooms where the @smsbot:yourServer is member. For rooms without @smsbot:yourServer you need to kick and invite the telephone number or invite @smsbot:yourServer.

1. Add the following to your vars.yml file: matrix_sms_bridge_container_extra_arguments=['--env SPRING_PROFILES_ACTIVE=initialsync']
2. Login to your host shell and remove old systemd file from your host: rm /etc/systemd/system/matrix-sms-bridge-database.service
3. Run ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-matrix-sms-bridge,start
4. Login to your host shell and check the logs with journalctl -u matrix-sms-bridge until the sync finished.
5. Remove the var from the first step.
6. Run ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start.

2020-11-10

Dynamic DNS support

Thanks to Scott Crossen, the playbook can now manage Dynamic DNS for you using ddclient.

To learn more, follow our Dynamic DNS docs page.

2020-10-28

(Compatibility Break) https://matrix.example.com/ now redirects to https://element.example.com/

Until now, we used to serve a static page coming from Synapse at https://matrix.example.com/. This page was not very useful to anyone.

Since matrix.example.com may be accessed by regular users in certain conditions, it's probably better to redirect them to a better place (e.g. to Element Web).

If Element Web is installed (matrix_client_element_enabled: true, which it is by default), we now redirect people to it, instead of showing them a Synapse static page.

If you'd like to control where the redirect goes, use the matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_redirect_root_uri_to_domain variable. To restore the old behavior of not redirecting anywhere and serving the Synapse static page, set it to an empty value (matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_redirect_root_uri_to_domain: "").

2020-10-26

(Compatibility Break) /_synapse/admin is no longer publicly exposed by default

We used to expose the Synapse Admin APIs publicly (at https://matrix.example.com/_synapse/admin). These APIs require authentication with a valid access token, so it's not that big a deal to expose them.

However, following official Synapse's reverse-proxying recommendations, we're no longer exposing /_synapse/admin by default.

If you'd like to restore restore the old behavior and expose /_synapse/admin publicly, you can use the following configuration (in your vars.yml):

matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_client_api_forwarded_location_synapse_admin_api_enabled: true

2020-10-02

Minimum Ansible version raised to v2.7.0

We were claiming to support Ansible v2.5.2 and higher, but issues like #662 demonstrate that we need at least v2.7.0.

If you've been using the playbook without getting any errors until now, you're probably on a version higher than that already (or you're not using the matrix-ma1sd and matrix-client-element roles).

Our Ansible docs page contains information on how to run a more up-to-date version of Ansible.

2020-10-01

Postgres 13 support

The playbook now installs Postgres 13 by default.

If you have have an existing setup, it's likely running on an older Postgres version (9.x, 10.x, 11.x or 12.x). You can easily upgrade by following the upgrading PostgreSQL guide.

2020-09-01

matrix-registration support

The playbook can now help you set up matrix-registration - an application that lets you keep your Matrix server's registration private, but still allow certain users (those having a unique registration link) to register by themselves.

See our Setting up matrix-registration documentation page to get started.

2020-08-21

rust-synapse-compress-state support

The playbook can now help you use rust-synapse-compress-state to compress the state groups in your Synapse database.

See our Compressing state with rust-synapse-compress-state documentation page to get started.

2020-07-22

Synapse Admin support

The playbook can now help you set up synapse-admin.

See our Setting up Synapse Admin documentation to get started.

2020-07-20

matrix-reminder-bot support

The playbook can now help you set up matrix-reminder-bot.

See our Setting up matrix-reminder-bot documentation to get started.

2020-07-17

(Compatibility Break) Riot is now Element

As per the official announcement, Riot has been rebraned to Element.

The playbook follows suit. Existing installations have a few options for how to handle this.

See our Migrating to Element Web documentation page for more details.

2020-07-03

Steam bridging support via mx-puppet-steam

Thanks to Hugues Morisset's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Steam via the mx-puppet-steam bridge. See our Setting up MX Puppet Steam bridging documentation page for getting started.

2020-07-01

Discord bridging support via mx-puppet-discord

Thanks to Hugues Morisset's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Discord via the mx-puppet-discord bridge. See our Setting up MX Puppet Discord bridging documentation page for getting started.

Note: this is a new Discord bridge. The playbook still retains Discord bridging via matrix-appservice-discord. You're free too use the bridge that serves you better, or even both (for different users and use-cases).

2020-06-30

Instagram and Twitter bridging support

Thanks to Johanna Dorothea Reichmann's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Instagram via the mx-puppet-instagram bridge. See our Setting up MX Puppet Instagram bridging documentation page for getting started.

Thanks to Tulir Asokan's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Twitter via the mx-puppet-twitter bridge. See our Setting up MX Puppet Twitter bridging documentation page for getting started.

2020-06-28

(Post Mortem / fixed Security Issue) Re-enabling User Directory search powered by the ma1sd Identity Server

User Directory search requests used to go to the ma1sd identity server by default, which queried its own stores and the Synapse database.

ma1sd's security issue has been fixed in version 2.4.0, with this commit. ma1sd 2.4.0 is now the default version for this playbook. For more information on what happened, please check the mentioned issue.

We are re-enabling user directory search with this update. Those who would like to keep it disabled can use this configuration: matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_user_directory_search_enabled: false

As always, re-running the playbook is enough to get the updated bits.

2020-06-11

SMS bridging requires db reset

The current version of matrix-sms-bridge needs you to delete the database to work as expected. Just remove /matrix/matrix-sms-bridge/database/*. It also adds a new requried var matrix_sms_bridge_default_region.

To reuse your existing rooms, invite @smsbot:yourServer to the room or write a message. You are also able to use automated room creation with telephonenumers by writing sms send -t 01749292923 "Hello World" in a room with @smsbot:yourServer. See the docs for more information.

2020-06-05

SMS bridging support

Thanks to benkuly's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to SMS (with one telephone number only) via matrix-sms-bridge.

See our Setting up Matrix SMS bridging documentation page for getting started.

2020-05-19

(Compatibility Break / Security Issue) Disabling User Directory search powered by the ma1sd Identity Server

User Directory search requests used to go to the ma1sd identity server by default, which queried its own stores and the Synapse database.

ma1sd current has a security issue, which made it leak information about all users - including users created by bridges, etc.

Until the issue gets fixed, we're making User Directory search not go to ma1sd by default. You need to re-run the playbook and restart services to apply this workaround.

If you insist on restoring the old behavior (which has a security issue!), you might use this configuration: matrix_nginx_proxy_proxy_matrix_user_directory_search_enabled: "{{ matrix_ma1sd_enabled }}"

2020-04-28

Newer IRC bridge (with potential breaking change)

This upgrades matrix-appservice-irc from 0.14.1 to 0.16.0. Upstream made a change to how you define manual mappings. If you added a mapping to your configuration, you will need to update it accoring to the upstream instructions. If you did not include mappings in your configuration for IRC, no change is necessary. mappings is not part of the default configuration.

2020-04-23

Slack bridging support

Thanks to Rodrigo Belem's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Slack via the mx-puppet-slack bridge.

See our Setting up MX Puppet Slack bridging documentation page for getting started.

2020-04-09

Skype bridging support

Thanks to Rodrigo Belem's efforts, the playbook now supports bridging to Skype via the mx-puppet-skype bridge.

See our Setting up MX Puppet Skype bridging documentation page for getting started.

2020-04-05

Private Jitsi support

The Jitsi support we had landed a few weeks ago was working well, but it was always open to the whole world.

Running such an open instance is not desirable to most people, so teutat3s has contributed support for making Jitsi use authentication.

To make your Jitsi server more private, see the configure internal Jitsi authentication and guests mode section in our Jitsi documentation.

2020-04-03

(Potential Backward Compatibility Break) ma1sd replaces mxisd

Thanks to Marcel Partap's efforts, the mxisd identity server, which has been deprecated for a long time, has finally been replaced by ma1sd, a compatible fork.

If you're using the default playbook configuration, you don't need to do anything -- your mxisd installation will be replaced with ma1sd and all existing data will be migrated automatically the next time you run the playbook.

If you're doing something more special (defining custom matrix_mxisd_* variables), the playbook will ask you to rename them to matrix_ma1sd_*. You're also encouraged to test that ma1sd works well for such a more custom setup.

2020-03-29

Archlinux support

Thanks to Christian Lupus's efforts, the playbook now supports installing to an Archlinux server.

2020-03-24

Jitsi support

The playbook can now (optionally) install the Jitsi video-conferencing platform and integrate it with Riot.

See our Jitsi documentation page to get started.

2020-03-15

Raspberry Pi support

Thanks to Gergely Horváth's effort, the playbook supports installing to a Raspberry Pi server, for at least some of the services.

Since most ready-made container images do not support that architecture, we achieve this by building images locally on the device itself. See our Self-building documentation page for how to get started.

2020-02-26

Riot-web themes are here

The playbook now makes it easy to install custom riot-web themes.

To learn more, take a look at our riot-web documentation on Themes.

2020-02-24

Customize the server name in Riot's login page

You can now customize the server name string that Riot-web displays in its login page.

These playbook variables, with these default values, have been added:

matrix_riot_web_default_server_name: "{{ matrix_domain }}"

The login page previously said "Sign in to your Matrix account on matrix.example.org" (the homeserver's domain name). It will now say "Sign in ... on example.org" (the server name) by default, or "Sign in ... on Our Server" if you set the variable to "Our Server".

To support this, the config.json template is changed to use the configuration key default_server_config for setting the default HS/IS, and the new configuration key server_name is added in there.

2020-01-30

Disabling TLSv1.1

To improve security, we've removed TLSv1.1 support from our default matrix-nginx-proxy configuration.

If you need to support old clients, you can re-enable it with the following configuration: matrix_nginx_proxy_ssl_protocols: "TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3"

2020-01-21

Postgres collation changes (action required!)

By default, we've been using a UTF-8 collation for Postgres. This is known to cause Synapse some troubles (see the relevant issue) on systems that use glibc. We run Postgres in an Alpine Linux container (which uses musl, and not glibc), so our users are likely not affected by the index corruption problem observed by others.

Still, we might become affected in the future. In any case, it's imminent that Synapse will complain about databases which do not use a C collation.

To avoid future problems, we recommend that you run the following command:

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=upgrade-postgres --extra-vars='{"postgres_force_upgrade": true}'

It forces a Postgres database upgrade, which would recreate your Postgres database using the proper (C) collation. If you are low on disk space, or run into trouble, refer to the Postgres database upgrade documentation page.

2020-01-14

Added support for Appservice Webhooks

Thanks to a contribution from Björn Marten from netresearch, the playbook can now install and configure matrix-appservice-webhooks for you. This bridge provides support for Slack-compatible webhooks.

Learn more in Setting up Appservice Webhooks bridging.

2020-01-12

Added support for automatic Double Puppeting for all Mautrix bridges

Double Puppeting can now be easily enabled for all Mautrix bridges supported by the playbook (Facebook, Hangouts, Whatsapp, Telegram).

This is possible due to those bridges' integration with matrix-synapse-shared-secret-auth - yet another component that this playbook can install for you.

To get started, following the playbook's documentation for the bridge you'd like to configure.

2019-12-06

Added support for an alternative method for using another webserver

We have added support for making matrix-nginx-proxy not being so invasive, so that it would be easier to use your own webserver.

The documentation has been updated with a Method 2, which might make "own webserver" setup easier in some cases (such as reverse-proxying using Traefik).

Existing users are not affected by this and don't need to change anything. The defaults are still the same (matrix-nginx-proxy obtaining SSL certificates and doing everything for you automatically).

2019-11-10

Tightened security around room directory publishing

As per this advisory blog post, we've decided to change the default publishing rules for the Matrix room directory.

Our general goal is to favor privacy and security when running personal (family & friends) and corporate homeservers. Both of these likely benefit from having a more secure default of not showing the room directory without authentication and not publishing the room directory over federation.

As with anything else, these new defaults can be overriden by changing the matrix_synapse_allow_public_rooms_without_auth and matrix_synapse_allow_public_rooms_over_federation variables, respectively.

2019-10-05

Improved Postgres upgrading/importing

Postgres upgrading and importing have been improved to add support for multiple databases and roles.

Previously, the playbook would only take care of the homeserver database and synapse user. We now back up and restore all databases and users on the Postgres server.

For now, the playbook only uses that one database (homeserver) and that one single user (synapse), so it's all the same. However, in the future, additional components besides Synapse may also make use the Postgres database server. One such example is the matrix-appservice-slack bridge, which strongly encourages use of Postgres in its v1.0 release. We are yet to upgrade to it.

Additionally, Postgres upgrading now uses gzipped dump files by default, to minimize disk space usage.

2019-10-04

Postgres 12 support

The playbook now installs Postgres 12 by default.

If you have have an existing setup, it's likely running on an older Postgres version (9.x, 10.x or 11.x). You can easily upgrade by following the upgrading PostgreSQL guide.

2019-10-03

Synapse 1.4.0

Synapse 1.4.0 is out with lots of changes related to privacy.

Its new defaults (which we adopt as well) mean that certain old data will automatically get purged after a certain number of days. 1.4.0 automatically garbage collects redacted messages (defaults to 7 days) and removes unused IP and user agent information stored in the user_ips table (defaults to 30 days). If you'd like to preserve this data, we encourage you to look at the redaction_retention_period and user_ips_max_age options (controllable by the matrix_synapse_redaction_retention_period and matrix_synapse_user_ips_max_age playbook variables, respectively) before doing the upgrade. If you'd like to keep data indefinitely, set these variables to null (e.g. matrix_synapse_redaction_retention_period: ~).

From now on the trusted_key_servers setting for Synapse is configurable. It still defaults to matrix.org just like it always has, but in a more explicit way now. If you'd like to use another trusted key server, adjust the matrix_synapse_trusted_key_servers playbook variable.

Synapse 1.4.0 also changes lots of things related to identity server integration. Because Synapse will now by default be responsible for validating email addresses for user accounts, running without an identity server looks more feasible. We still have concerns over disabling the identity server by default, so for now it remains enabled.

2019-09-09

Synapse Simple Antispam support

There have been lots of invite-spam attacks lately and Travis has created a Synapse module (synapse-simple-antispam) to let people protect themselves.

From now on, you can easily install and configure this spam checker module through the playbook.

Learn more in Setting up Synapse Simple Antispam.

2019-08-25

Extensible Riot-web configuration

Similarly to Extensible Synapse configuration (below), Riot-web configuration is also extensible now.

From now on, you can extend/override Riot-web's configuration by making use of the matrix_riot_web_configuration_extension_json variable. This should be enough for most customization needs.

If you need even more power, you can now also take full control and override matrix_riot_web_configuration_default (or matrix_riot_web_configuration) directly.

Learn more in Configuring Riot-web.

2019-08-22

Extensible Synapse configuration

Previously, we had to create custom Ansible variables for each and every Synapse setting. This lead to too much effort (and configuration ugliness) to all of Synapse's settings, so naturally, not all features of Synapse could be controlled through the playbook.

From now on, you can extend/override the Synapse server's configuration by making use of the matrix_synapse_configuration_extension_yaml variable. This should be enough for most customization needs.

If you need even more power, you can now also take full control and override matrix_synapse_configuration (or matrix_synapse_configuration_yaml) directly.

Learn more here in Configuring Synapse.

2019-08-21

Slack bridging support

Thanks to the great work of kingoftheconnors and Stuart Mumford (Cadair), the playbook now supports bridging to Slack via the appservice-slack bridge.

Additional details are available in Setting up Appservice Slack bridging.

Google Hangouts bridging support

Thanks to the great work of Eduardo Beltrame (Munfred) and Robbie D (microchipster), the playbook now supports bridging to Google Hangouts via the mautrix-hangouts bridge.

Additional details are available in Setting up Mautrix Hangouts bridging.

2019-08-05

Email2Matrix support

Support for Email2Matrix has been added.

It's an optional feature that you can enable via the playbook.

To learn more, see the playbook's documentation on Email2Matrix.

2019-08-03

Synapse logging level has been reduced to WARNING

After some discussion in our support room, we've decided to change the default logging level for Synapse from INFO to WARNING.

This greatly reduces the number of log messages that are being logged, leading to:

• much less disk space dedicated to Synapse and thus, logs kept for longer
• easier to find some important WARNING, ERROR and CRITICAL messages, as they're not longer buried in thousands of non-important INFO messages

If you'd like to track down an issue, you can always increase the logging level as described here.

2019-07-08

Synapse Maintenance docs and synapse-janitor support are available

The playbook can now help you with Synapse's maintenance.

There's a new documentation page about Synapse maintenance and another section on Postgres vacuuming.

Among other things, if your Postgres database has grown significantly over time, you may wish to ask the playbook to purge unused data with synapse-janitor for you.

(BC Break) Rename run control variables

Some internal playbook control variables have been renamed.

This change only affects people who run this playbook's roles from another playbook. If you're using this playbook as-is, you're not affected and don't need to do anything.

The following variables have been renamed:

• from run_import_postgres to run_postgres_import
• from run_import_sqlite_db to run_postgres_import_sqlite_db
• from run_upgrade_postgres to run_postgres_upgrade
• from run_import_media_store to run_synapse_import_media_store
• from run_register_user to run_synapse_register_user
• from run_update_user_password to run_synapse_update_user_password

2019-07-04

Synapse no longer logs to text files

Following what the official Synapse Docker image is doing (#5565) and what we've been doing for mostly everything installed by this playbook, Synapse no longer logs to text files (/matrix/synapse/run/homeserver.log*).

From now on, Synapse would only log to console, which goes to systemd's journald. To see Synapse's logs, execute: journalctl -fu matrix-synapse

Because of this, the following variables have become obsolete and were removed:

• matrix_synapse_max_log_file_size_mb
• matrix_synapse_max_log_files_count

To prevent confusion, it'd be better if you delete all old files manually after you've upgraded (rm -f /matrix/synapse/run/homeserver.log*).

Because Synapse is incredibly chatty when it comes to logging (here's one such issue describing the problem), if you're running an ancient distribution (like CentOS 7.0), be advised that systemd's journald default logging restrictions may not be high enough to capture all log messages generated by Synapse. This is especially true if you've got a busy (Synapse) server. We advise that you manually add RateLimitInterval=0 and RateLimitBurst=0 under [Storage] in the /etc/systemd/journald.conf file, followed by restarting the logging service (systemctl restart systemd-journald).

2019-06-27

(BC Break) Discord bridge configuration is now entirely managed by the playbook

Until now, the config.yaml file for the Discord bridge was managed by the playbook, but the registration.yaml file was not.

From now on, the playbook will keep both configuration files sync for you.

This means that if you were making manual changes to the /matrix/appservice-discord/discord-registration.yaml configuration file, those would be lost the next time you run the playbook.

The bridge now stores configuration in a subdirectory (/matrix/appservice-discord/config).

Likewise, data is now also stored in a subdirectory (/matrix/appservice-discord/data). When you run the playbook with an existing database file (/matrix/appservice-discord/discord.db), the playbook will stop the bridge and relocate the database file to the ./data directory. There's no data-loss involved. You'll need to restart the bridge manually though (--tags=start).

The main directory (/matrix/appservice-discord) may contain some leftover files (user-store.db, room-store.db, config.yaml, discord-registration.yaml, invite_link). These are no longer necessary and can be deleted manually.

We're now following the default sample configuration for the Discord bridge. If you need to override some values, define them in matrix_appservice_discord_configuration_extension_yaml.

2019-06-24

(BC Break) WhatsApp bridge configuration is now entirely managed by the playbook

Until now, configuration files for the WhatsApp bridge were created by the playbook initially, but never modified later on.

From now on, the playbook will keep the configuration in sync for you.

This means that if you were making manual changes to the /matrix/mautrix-whatsapp/config.yaml or /matrix/mautrix-whatsapp/registration.yaml configuration files, those would be lost the next time you run the playbook.

The bridge now stores configuration in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-whatsapp/config), so your old configuration remains in the base directory (/matrix/mautrix-whatsapp). You need to migrate any manual changes over to the new matrix_mautrix_whatsapp_configuration_extension_yaml variable, so that the playbook would apply them for you.

Likewise, data is now also stored in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-whatsapp/data). When you run the playbook with an existing database file (/matrix/mautrix-whatsapp/mautrix-whatsapp.db), the playbook will stop the bridge and relocate the database file to the ./data directory. There's no data-loss involved. You'll need to restart the bridge manually though (--tags=start).

We're now following the default configuration for the WhatsApp bridge.

2019-06-20

(BC Break) IRC bridge configuration is now entirely managed by the playbook

Until now, configuration files for the IRC bridge were created by the playbook initially, but never modified later on.

From now on, the playbook will keep the configuration in sync for you.

This means that if you were making manual changes to the /matrix/appservice-irc/config.yaml or /matrix/appservice-irc/registration.yaml configuration files, those would be lost the next time you run the playbook.

The bridge now stores configuration in a subdirectory (/matrix/appservice-irc/config), so your old configuration remains in the base directory (/matrix/appservice-irc).

Previously, we asked people to configure bridged IRC servers by extending the bridge configuration (matrix_appservice_irc_configuration_extension_yaml). While this is still possible and will continue working forever, we now recommend defining IRC servers in the easier to use matrix_appservice_irc_ircService_servers variable. See our IRC bridge documentation page for an example.

If you decide to continue using matrix_appservice_irc_configuration_extension_yaml, you might be interested to know that ircService.databaseUri and a few other keys now have default values in the base configuration (matrix_appservice_irc_configuration_yaml). You may wish to stop redefining those keys, unless you really intend to override them. You most likely only need to override ircService.servers.

Bridge data (passkey.pem and database files) is now also stored in a subdirectory (/matrix/appservice-irc/data). When you run the playbook with an existing /matrix/appservice-irc/passkey.pem file, the playbook will stop the bridge and relocate the passkey and database files (rooms.db and users.db) to the ./data directory. There's no data-loss involved. You'll need to restart the bridge manually though (--tags=start).

2019-06-15

(BC Break) Telegram bridge configuration is now entirely managed by the playbook

Until now, configuration files for the Telegram bridge were created by the playbook initially, but never modified later on.

From now on, the playbook will keep the configuration in sync for you.

This means that if you were making manual changes to the /matrix/mautrix-telegram/config.yaml or /matrix/mautrix-telegram/registration.yaml configuration files, those would be lost the next time you run the playbook.

The bridge now stores configuration in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-telegram/config), so your old configuration remains in the base directory (/matrix/mautrix-telegram). You need to migrate any manual changes over to the new matrix_mautrix_telegram_configuration_extension_yaml variable, so that the playbook would apply them for you.

Likewise, data is now also stored in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-telegram/data). When you run the playbook with an existing database file (/matrix/mautrix-telegram/mautrix-telegram.db), the playbook will stop the bridge and relocate the database file to the ./data directory. There's no data-loss involved. You'll need to restart the bridge manually though (--tags=start).

Also, we're now following the default configuration for the Telegram bridge, so some default configuration values are different:

• edits_as_replies (used to be false, now true) - previously replies were not sent over to Matrix at all; ow they are sent over as a reply to the original message
• inline_images (used to be true, now false) - this has to do with captioned images. Inline-image (included caption) are said to exhibit troubles on Riot iOS. When false, the caption arrives on the Matrix side as a separate message.
• authless_portals (used to be false, now true) - creating portals from the Telegram side is now possible
• whitelist_group_admins (used to be false, now true) - allows Telegram group admins to use the bot commands

If the new values are not to your liking, use matrix_mautrix_telegram_configuration_extension_yaml to specify an override (refer to matrix_mautrix_telegram_configuration_yaml to figure out which variable goes where).

2019-06-12

Synapse v1.0

With Synapse v1.0 now available and most people being on at least Synapse v0.99, it's time to remove the _matrix._tcp DNS SRV record that we've been keeping for compatibility with old Synapse versions (<= 0.34).

According to the Server Discovery specification, it's no harm to keep the DNS SRV record. But since it's not necessary for federating with the larger Matrix network anymore, you should be safe to get rid of it.

Note: don't confuse the _matrix._tcp and _matrix-identity._tcp DNS SRV records. The latter, must not be removed.

For completeness, we must say that using a _matrix._tcp SRV record for Server Delegation is still valid and useful for certain deployments. It's just that our guide recommends the /.well-known/matrix/server Server Delegation method, due to its easier implementation when using this playbook.

Besides this optional/non-urgent DNS change, assuming you're already on Synapse v0.99, upgrading to Synapse v1.0 should be as simple as re-running the playbook.

2019-06-07

(BC Break) Facebook bridge configuration is now entirely managed by the playbook

Until now, configuration files for the Facebook bridge were created by the playbook initially, but never modified later on.

From now on, the playbook will keep the configuration in sync for you.

This means that if you were making manual changes to the /matrix/mautrix-facebook/config.yaml or /matrix/mautrix-facebook/registration.yaml configuration files, those would be lost the next time you run the playbook.

The bridge now stores configuration in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-facebook/config), so your old configuration remains in the base directory (/matrix/mautrix-facebook). You need to migrate any manual changes over to the new matrix_mautrix_facebook_configuration_extension_yaml variable, so that the playbook would apply them for you.

Likewise, data is now also stored in a subdirectory (/matrix/mautrix-facebook/data). When you run the playbook with an existing database file (/matrix/mautrix-facebook/mautrix-facebook.db), the playbook will stop the bridge and relocate the database file to the ./data directory. There's no data-loss involved. You'll need to restart the bridge manually though (--tags=start).

2019-05-25

Support for exposing container ports publicly (not just to the host)

Until now, various roles supported a matrix_*_expose_port variable, which would expose their container's port to the host. This was mostly useful for reverse-proxying manually (in case matrix-nginx-proxy was disabled). It could also be used for installing some playbook services (e.g. bridges, etc.) and wiring them to a separate (manual) Matrix setup.

matrix_*_expose_port variables were not granular enough - sometimes they would expose one port, other times multiple. They also didn't provide control over where to expose (to which port number and to which network interface), because they would usually hardcode something like 127.0.0.1:8080.

All such variables have been superseded by a better (more flexible) way to do it.

Most people (including those not using matrix-nginx-proxy), don't need to bother with this.

Porting examples follow for people having more customized setups:

• from matrix_synapse_container_expose_client_api_port: true to matrix_synapse_container_client_api_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8008'

• from matrix_synapse_container_expose_federation_api_port: true to matrix_synapse_container_federation_api_plain_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8048' and possibly matrix_synapse_container_federation_api_tls_host_bind_port: '8448'

• from matrix_synapse_container_expose_metrics_port: true to matrix_synapse_container_metrics_api_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:9100'

• from matrix_riot_web_container_expose_port: true to matrix_riot_web_container_http_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8765'

• from matrix_mxisd_container_expose_port: true to matrix_mxisd_container_http_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8090'

• from matrix_dimension_container_expose_port: true to matrix_dimension_container_http_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:8184'

• from matrix_corporal_container_expose_ports: true to matrix_corporal_container_http_gateway_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:41080' and possibly matrix_corporal_container_http_api_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:41081'

• from matrix_appservice_irc_container_expose_client_server_api_port: true to matrix_appservice_irc_container_http_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:9999'

• from matrix_appservice_discord_container_expose_client_server_api_port: true to matrix_appservice_discord_container_http_host_bind_port: '127.0.0.1:9005'

As always, if you forget to remove usage of some outdated variable, the playbook will warn you.

2019-05-23

(BC Break) Ansible 2.8 compatibility

Thanks to @danbob, the playbook now supports the new Ansible 2.8.

A manual change is required to the inventory/hosts file, changing the group name from matrix-servers to matrix_servers (dash to underscore).

To avoid doing it manually, run this:

• Linux: sed -i 's/matrix-servers/matrix_servers/g' inventory/hosts
• Mac: sed -i '' 's/matrix-servers/matrix_servers/g' inventory/hosts

2019-05-21

Synapse no longer required

The playbook no longer insists on installing Synapse via the matrix-synapse role.

If you would prefer to install Synapse another way and just use the playbook to install other services, it should be possible (matrix_synapse_enabled: false).

Note that it won't necessarily be the best experience, since the playbook wires things to Synapse by default. If you're using your own Synapse instance (especially one not running in a container), you may have to override many variables to point them to the correct place.

Having Synapse not be a required component potentially opens the door for installing alternative Matrix homeservers.

Bridges are now separate from the Synapse role

Bridges are no longer part of the matrix-synapse role. Each bridge now lives in its own separate role (roles/custom/matrix-bridge-*).

These bridge roles are independent of the matrix-synapse role, so it should be possible to use them with a Synapse instance installed another way (not through the playbook).

Renaming inconsistently-named Synapse variables

For better consistency, the following variables have been renamed:

• matrix_enable_room_list_search was renamed to matrix_synapse_enable_room_list_search
• matrix_alias_creation_rules was renamed to matrix_synapse_alias_creation_rules
• matrix_nginx_proxy_matrix_room_list_publication_rulesdata_path was renamed to matrix_synapse_room_list_publication_rules

2019-05-09

Besides a myriad of bug fixes and minor improvements, here are the more notable (bigger) features we can announce today.

Mautrix Facebook/Messenger bridging support

The playbook now supports bridging with Facebook by installing the mautrix-facebook bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to @izissise.

Additional details are available in Setting up Mautrix Facebook bridging.

mxisd Registration feature integration

The playbook can now help you integrate with mxisd's Registration feature.

Learn more in mxisd-controlled Registration.

2019-04-16

Caddy webserver examples

If you prefer using the Caddy webserver instead of our own integrated nginx, we now have examples for it in the examples/caddy directory

2019-04-10

Goofys support for other S3-compatible object stores

Until now, you could optionally host Synapse's media repository on Amazon S3, but we now also support using other S3-compatible object stores,

2019-04-03

Ansible >= 2.5 is required

Due to recent playbook improvements and the fact that the world keeps turning, we're bumping the version requirement for Ansible (2.4 -> 2.5).

We've also started building our own Docker image of Ansible (devture/ansible), which is useful for people who can't upgrade their local Ansible installation (see Using Ansible via Docker).

2019-03-19

TLS support for Coturn

We've added TLS support to the Coturn TURN server installed by the playbook by default. The certificates from the Matrix domain will be used for the Coturn server.

This feature is enabled by default for new installations. To make use of TLS support for your existing Matrix server's Coturn, make sure to rebuild both Coturn and Synapse:

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-coturn,setup-synapse,start

People who have an extra firewall (besides the iptables firewall, which Docker manages automatically), will need to open these additional firewall ports: 5349/tcp (TURN over TCP) and 5349/udp (TURN over UDP).

People who build their own custom playbook from our roles should be aware that:

• the matrix-coturn role and actually starting Coturn (e.g. --tags=start), requires that certificates are already put in place. For this reason, it's usually a good idea to have the matrix-coturn role execute after matrix-nginx-proxy (which retrieves the certificates).

• there are a few variables that can help you enable TLS support for Coturn. See the matrix-coturn section in group_vars/matrix-servers.

2019-03-12

matrix-nginx-proxy support for serving the base domain

If you don't have a dedicated server for your base domain and want to set up Server Delegation via a well-known file, the playbook has got you covered now.

It's now possible for the playbook to obtain an SSL certificate and serve the necessary files for Matrix Server Delegation on your base domain. Take a look at the new Serving the base domain documentation page.

(BC break) matrix-nginx-proxy data variable renamed

matrix_nginx_proxy_data_path was renamed to matrix_nginx_proxy_base_path.

There's a new matrix_nginx_proxy_data_path variable, which has a different use-purpose now (it's a subdirectory of matrix_nginx_proxy_base_path and is meant for storing various data files).

2019-03-10

Dimension integration manager support

Thanks to NullIsNot0, the playbook can now (optionally) install the Dimension integration manager. To learn more, see the Setting up Dimension documentation page.

2019-03-07

Ability to customize mxisd's email templates

Thanks to Sylvia van Os, mxisd's email templates can now be customized easily. To learn more, see the Customizing email templates documentation page.

2019-03-05

Discord bridging support

@Lionstiger has done some great work adding Discord bridging support via matrix-appservice-discord. To learn more, see the Setting up Appservice Discord bridging documentation page.

2019-02-19

Renaming variables

The following playbook variables were renamed:

• from host_specific_hostname_identity to matrix_domain
• from hostname_identity to matrix_domain
• from hostname_matrix to matrix_server_fqn_matrix
• from hostname_riot to matrix_server_fqn_riot
• from host_specific_matrix_ssl_lets_encrypt_support_email to matrix_ssl_lets_encrypt_support_email

Doing that, we've simplified things, made names less confusing (hopefully) and moved all variable names under the matrix_ prefix.

2019-02-16

Riot v1.0.1 support

You can now use the brand new and redesigned Riot.

The new version no longer has a homepage by default, so we've also removed the custom homepage that we've been installing.

However, we still provide you with hooks to install your own home.html file by specifying the matrix_riot_web_embedded_pages_home_path variable (used to be called matrix_riot_web_homepage_template before).

2019-02-14

Synapse v0.99.1

As we're moving toward Synapse v1.0, things are beginning to stabilize. Upgrading from v0.99.0 to v0.99.1 should be painless.

If you've been overriding the default configuration so that you can terminate TLS at the Synapse side (matrix_synapse_no_tls: false), you'll now have to replace this custom configuration with matrix_synapse_tls_federation_listener_enabled: true. The matrix_synapse_no_tls variable is no more.

2019-02-06

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 using a _matrix._tcp DNS SRV record (as per Configuring DNS).

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, unless you are affected by the 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). After upgrading, you can run a self-check, which will tell you if you need to do anything extra with regard to setting up 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 are not to your liking, as an alternative, you can set up Server Delegation via a DNS SRV record. 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.

2019-02-01

TLS v1.3 support

Now that the nginx Docker image has added support for TLS v1.3, 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

• another web server: you don't need to do anything to accommodate this change

2019-01-31

IRC bridging support

Devon Maloney (@Plailect) has done some great work bringing IRC bridging support via matrix-appservice-irc. To learn more, see the Setting up Appservice IRC bridging documentation page.

2019-01-29

Running container processes as non-root, without capabilities and read-only

To improve security, this playbook no longer starts container processes as the root user. Most containers were dropping privileges anyway, but we were trusting them with root privileges until they would do that. Not anymore -- container processes now start as a non-root user (usually matrix) from the get-go.

For additional security, various capabilities are also dropped (see why it's important) for all containers.

Additionally, most containers now use a read-only filesystem (see why it's important). 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, we found out that it cannot run as a non-root user. We've had to replace it with Exim (via the 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 container image instead of panubo/postfix also gives us a nice disk usage reduction (~200MB -> 8MB).

2019-01-17

(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.

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.

With the new changes, all roles are now only dependent on the minimal matrix-base role. They are no longer dependent among themselves.

In addition, the following components can now be completely disabled (for those who want/need to):

• matrix-coturn by using matrix_coturn_enabled: false
• matrix-mailer by using matrix_mailer_enabled: false
• matrix-postgres by using matrix_postgres_enabled: false

The following changes had to be done:

• 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 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 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) 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 file and adapt their playbooks with the same (or similar) wiring logic.

2019-01-16

Splitting the playbook into multiple roles

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).

2019-01-11

(BC Break) mxisd configuration changes

To be more flexible and to support the upcoming mxisd 1.3.0 (when it gets released), we've had to redo how mxisd gets configured.

The following variables are no longer supported by this playbook:

• matrix_mxisd_ldap_enabled
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_host
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_tls
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_port
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDn
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDns
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_bindDn
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_bindDn
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_bindPassword
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_filter
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_attribute_uid_type
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_attribute_uid_value
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_bindPassword
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_attribute_name
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_attribute_threepid_email
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_attribute_threepid_msisdn
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_identity_filter
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_identity_medium
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_auth_filter
• matrix_mxisd_ldap_directory_filter
• matrix_mxisd_template_config

You are encouraged to use the matrix_mxisd_configuration_extension_yaml variable to define your own mxisd configuration additions and overrides. Refer to the default variables file for more information.

This new way of configuring mxisd is beneficial because:

• it lets us support all mxisd configuration options, as the playbook simply forwards them to mxisd without needing to care or understand them
• it lets you upgrade to newer mxisd versions and make use of their features, without us having to add support for them explicitly

2019-01-08

(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 and let us know about your use case!

2018-12-23

(BC Break) More SSL certificate retrieval methods

The playbook now lets you decide between 3 different SSL certificate retrieval methods:

• (default) obtaining free SSL certificates from Let's Encrypt
• generating self-signed SSL certificates
• managing SSL certificates manually

Learn more in Adjusting SSL certificate retrieval.

For people who use Let's Encrypt (mostly everyone, since it's the default), you'll also have to rename a variable in your configuration:

• before: host_specific_matrix_ssl_support_email
• after: host_specific_matrix_ssl_lets_encrypt_support_email

(BC Break) mxisd upgrade with multiple base DN support

mxisd has bee upgraded to version 1.2.2, which supports multiple base DNs.

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).

Example change:

• before: matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDn: OU=Users,DC=example,DC=org
• after: matrix_mxisd_ldap_connection_baseDns: ['OU=Users,DC=example,DC=org']

2018-12-21

Synapse 0.34.0 and Python 3

Synapse has been upgraded to 0.34.0 and now uses Python 3. Based on feedback from others, running Synapse on Python 3 is supposed to decrease memory usage significantly (~2x).

2018-12-12

Riot homepage customization

You can now customize some parts of the Riot homepage (or even completely replace it with your own custom page). See the matrix_riot_web_homepage_ variables in roles/custom/matrix-riot-web/defaults/main.yml.

2018-12-04

mxisd extensibility

The LDAP identity store for mxisd can now be configured easily using playbook variables (see the matrix_mxisd_ldap_ variables in roles/custom/matrix-server/defaults/main.yml).

2018-11-28

More scripts

• matrix-remove-all allows to uninstall everything with a single command
• matrix-make-user-admin allows to upgrade a user's privileges

LDAP auth support via matrix-synapse-ldap3

The playbook can now install and configure LDAP auth support for you.

Additional details are available in Setting up the LDAP authentication password provider module.

2018-11-23

Support for controlling public registration and room auto-join

The playbook now lets you enable public registration for users (controlled via matrix_synapse_enable_registration). By default, public registration is forbidden.

You can also make people automatically get auto-joined to rooms (controlled via matrix_synapse_auto_join_rooms).

Support for changing the welcome user ID (welcome bot)

By default, @riot-bot:matrix.org is used to welcome newly registered users. This can be changed to something else (or disabled) via the new matrix_riot_web_welcome_user_id variable.

2018-11-14

Ability to set Synapse log levels

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

matrix_synapse_log_level: "INFO"
matrix_synapse_storage_sql_log_level: "INFO"
matrix_synapse_root_log_level: "INFO"

2018-11-03

Customize parts of Riot's config

You can now customize some parts of Riot's config.json. These playbook variables, with these default values, have been added:

matrix_riot_web_disable_custom_urls: true
matrix_riot_web_disable_guests: true
matrix_riot_web_integrations_ui_url: "https://scalar.vector.im/"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_rest_url: "https://scalar.vector.im/api"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_widgets_urls: "https://scalar.vector.im/api"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_jitsi_widget_url: "https://scalar.vector.im/api/widgets/jitsi.html"

This now allows you use a custom integration manager like Dimension. 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:

matrix_riot_web_integrations_ui_url: "https://dimension.t2bot.io/riot"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_rest_url: "https://dimension.t2bot.io/api/v1/scalar"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_widgets_urls: "https://dimension.t2bot.io/widgets"
matrix_riot_web_integrations_jitsi_widget_url: "https://dimension.t2bot.io/widgets/jitsi"

SSL protocols used to serve Riot and Synapse

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.

You may wish to reenable TLSv1 if you need to access Riot in older browsers.

Note: Currently the dockerized nginx doesn't support TLSv1.3. See https://github.com/nginxinc/docker-nginx/issues/190 for more details.

2018-11-01

Postgres 11 support

The playbook now installs Postgres 11 by default.

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.

(BC Break) Renaming playbook variables

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

2018-10-26

Mautrix Whatsapp bridging support

The playbook now supports bridging with Whatsapp by installing the mautrix-whatsapp bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to @izissise.

Additional details are available in Setting up Mautrix Whatsapp bridging.

2018-10-25

Support for controlling Matrix federation

The playbook can now help you with Controlling Matrix federation, should you wish to run a more private (isolated) server.

2018-10-24

Disabling riot-web guests

From now on, Riot's configuration setting disable_guests would be set to true. The homeserver was rejecting guests anyway, so this is just a cosmetic change affecting Riot's UI.

2018-10-21

Self-check maintenance command

The playbook can now check if services are configured correctly.

2018-10-05

Presence tracking made configurable

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.

2018-09-27

Synapse Cache Factor made configurable

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/element-hq/synapse#help-synapse-eats-all-my-ram

2018-09-26

Disabling Docker container logging

--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.

2018-09-17

Service discovery support

The playbook now helps you set up service discovery using a /.well-known/matrix/client file.

Additional details are available in Configuring service discovery via .well-known.

(BC Break) Renaming playbook variables

The following playbook variables were renamed:

• from matrix_nginx_riot_web_data_path to matrix_riot_web_data_path
• from matrix_riot_web_default_identity_server_url to matrix_identity_server_url

2018-09-07

Mautrix Telegram bridging support

The playbook now supports bridging with Telegram by installing the mautrix-telegram bridge. This playbook functionality is available thanks to @izissise.

Additional details are available in Setting up Mautrix Telegram bridging.

Events cache size increase and configurability for Matrix Synapse

The playbook now lets you configure Matrix Synapse's event_cache_size configuration via the matrix_synapse_event_cache_size playbook variable.

Previously, this value was hardcoded to "10K". From now on, a more reasonable default of "100K" is used.

Password-peppering support for Matrix Synapse

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.

2018-08-29

Changing the way SSL certificates are retrieved

We've been using acmetool (with the 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 (with the certbot/certbot Docker image).

Simply re-running the playbook will retrieve new certificates (via certbot) for you. To ensure you don't leave any old files behind, though, you'd better do this:

• systemctl stop 'matrix*'
• stop your custom webserver, if you're running one (only affects you if you've installed with matrix_nginx_proxy_enabled: false)
• mv /matrix/ssl /matrix/ssl-acmetool-delete-later
• re-run the playbook's installation
• possibly delete /matrix/ssl-acmetool-delete-later

2018-08-21

Matrix Corporal support

The playbook can now install and configure matrix-corporal for you.

Additional details are available in Setting up Matrix Corporal.

2018-08-20

Matrix Synapse rate limit control variables

The following new variables can now be configured to control Matrix Synapse's rate-limiting (default values are shown below).

matrix_synapse_rc_messages_per_second: 0.2
matrix_synapse_rc_message_burst_count: 10.0

Shared Secret Auth support via matrix-synapse-shared-secret-auth

The playbook can now install and configure matrix-synapse-shared-secret-auth for you.

Additional details are available in Setting up the Shared Secret Auth password provider module.

2018-08-17

REST auth support via matrix-synapse-rest-auth

The playbook can now install and configure matrix-synapse-rest-auth for you.

Additional details are available in Setting up the REST authentication password provider module.

Compression improvements

Shifted Matrix Synapse compression from happening in the Matrix Synapse, to happening in the nginx proxy that's in front of it.

Additionally, riot-web also gets compressed now (in the nginx proxy), which drops the initial page load's size from 5.31MB to 1.86MB.

Disabling some unnecessary Synapse services

The following services are not necessary, so they have been disabled:

• on the federation port (8448): the client service
• on the http port (8008, exposed over 443): the old Angular webclient and the federation service

Federation runs only on the federation port (8448) now. The Client APIs run only on the http port (8008) now.

2018-08-15

mxisd Identity Server support

The playbook now sets up an mxisd Identity Server for you by default. Additional details are available in Setting up ma1sd Identity Server.

2018-08-14

Email-sending support

The playbook now configures an email-sending service (postfix) by default. Additional details are available in Adjusting email-sending settings.

With this, Matrix Synapse is able to send email notifications for missed messages, etc.

2018-08-08

(BC Break) Renaming playbook variables

The following playbook variables were renamed:

• from matrix_max_upload_size_mb to matrix_synapse_max_upload_size_mb
• from matrix_max_log_file_size_mb to matrix_synapse_max_log_file_size_mb
• from matrix_max_log_files_count to matrix_synapse_max_log_files_count
• from docker_matrix_image to matrix_docker_image_synapse
• from docker_nginx_image to matrix_docker_image_nginx
• from docker_riot_image to matrix_docker_image_riot
• from docker_goofys_image to matrix_docker_image_goofys
• from docker_coturn_image to matrix_docker_image_coturn

If you're overriding any of them in your vars.yml file, you'd need to change to the new names.

Renaming Ansible playbook tag

The command for executing the whole playbook has changed. The setup-main tag got renamed to setup-all.

Docker container linking

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.