my client wants me to set up a self-hosted matrix server but i know almost nothing about self-hosting reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:00 he wants it built out in december so i have a few months to learn but i don’t even know where to begin. what do i need to know to be prepared to build out a self hosted matrix server in december? what should i focus on learning? where do i start? any guidance would be so appreciated and i’m sorry this is so surface level but i figured this would be the best place to come for help. thanks in advance :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Skotticus · 2023-10-06 17:08 I haven't messed around with Matrix, but from what I know there's a lot of different things it can do, so people may need some more details on what your client's use case is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:12 thank you for your comment anyway! i figure i was missing information but wasn’t sure what to include 😅 he’s just wanting a secure chat server, security is a big priority for him ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Affectionate-Fig-805 · 2023-10-06 17:32 Element (web/desktop) is the client, Synapse is the server and Matrix is the protocol. You install synapse either via docker, packages or pip (python) install. I myself is running a self hosted matrix server for about 500 clients. what particulat do you want to know? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:38 is there anything specific i need to know or learn to be able to set it up? like i said, i have zero experience with self hosting so i’m not sure what technical skills are needed to be able to do it. i’m a beginner when i comes to coding and haven’t interacted with docker containers before. i guess i’m mainly looking for guidance on where i should start! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nerdyviking88 · 2023-10-06 17:46 If he's just after chat, I'd recommend RocketChat instead. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GrandWizardZippy · 2023-10-06 17:49 Check this out. I have set it up manually and via this ansible script. The ansible route is so easy https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Edlace · 2023-10-06 17:52 First create a account on matrix, then join #synapse:matrix.org https://matrix.to/#/%23synapse%3Amatrix.org This is the room for synapse (the most popular matrix server system) there are people willing to help you install or point you to the right documentation. If you need more help, ask Before you setup your matrix server, do you have a plan for the server? (like the hardware usw. And os you want to use) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:55 he’s pretty set on matrix but i’ll suggest we look into rocketchat. thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:56 awesome thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 17:58 thank you so much! no plan yet, the only information i have so far is that he wants to set up a secure chat server using matrix in december but i’ll ask about specifics next week! is there any other information i should get from him? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Edlace · 2023-10-06 17:59 Want to add to this, you can also install synapse via deb packages https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installation.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr_Sister_Fister · 2023-10-06 18:04 +1 for the ansible playbook. You might need a Linux box to run ansible tho (wsl works) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Edlace · 2023-10-06 18:06 Do you have a reverseproxy, that maybe also can handle tls certificates? And (since you stated, that you are really just beginning) do you have a domain? If you have no reverseproxy, synapse can be configured to use a cert (but it’s not recommended) If you have a reverseproxy, you can serve tls cert with that and configure some other features/settings (you will see that when you read the docs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SolFlorus · 2023-10-06 18:17 https://element.io/pricing It sounds like you aren’t equipped to set this up and maintain. Outsource that to a company that can do it, and spend your time doing whatever it is that your consultancy does best. Matrix continuously bemoans the fact that they don’t have enough income to fund development, and this is how it gets funded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- flossraptor · 2023-10-06 18:32 Why do you have a client for something you have zero experience with? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-10-06 18:33 You should return his fees. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 18:35 we don’t have anything yet, the only thing i know so far is that he’s wanting this built out in december and i’m trying to be proactive and learn as much as i can before then. but i’m realizing now i need a bit more information from him to do that lol. i appreciate your help! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 18:39 i do variety of other things for him, this is just something he wants to add if i’m able to learn and help him out. he has no problem bringing someone else in if it isn’t feasible for me to learn how to do this before december since this isn’t at all what i do on a daily basis but i wanted to see if i can learn anyway. i get the confusion from my post though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Any_Square_8612 · 2023-10-06 18:41 I am so concerned… How can you sell a service with like zero knowledge. Self hosting based on some tutorials you saw leads to big security issues - which you obviously can’t fix either. Hope you have a good insurance… ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 18:41 this isn’t at all what i do on a daily basis for him, this is just something he’d like to get done and wanted to see if i was able to learn and do it. i get the confusion from my post though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 18:43 i appreciate the honesty! this isn’t something i usually do for him but he’s interested in getting it done so i thought i’d see if it’s at all possible for me to learn by december ---------------------------------------------------------------------- novatulane · 2023-10-06 18:44 i’m a general assistant, he didn’t hire me to do this specifically but wanted to see if i’m able to help him in anyway so i’m trying to be proactive and learn. this isn’t something i do on a daily basis. i get the confusion from my post though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Skotticus · 2023-10-06 19:41 Given your response to some of the other comments, you are also looking at learning about docker itself and a few satellite concepts and apps. I'm not sure what your familiarity with Linux is, but generally you will be running docker on a Linux platform. Lots of people just go with one of the standard Linux flavors (like Arch Linux, Debian, or Ubuntu). Proxmox is also very popular, especially for self hosting. You will also want to look into some docker management packages (portainer, docker compose, docker swarm) that are needed on most platforms to make running more than one docker container more manageable. For the most part you shouldn't need to learn anything about how to dockerize or containerize apps as most apps that you're looking to use will likely already have a docker version, but if you're looking to really learn about it, I recommend at least running through the Docker 101 tutorial so you can better understand what docker does. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MaxHedrome · 2023-10-06 20:24 Matrix is run by the feds dawg ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EndlessHiway · 2023-10-06 20:32 I apologize for being such an asshole. Hope you can figure it out and have great success. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LukasAtLocalhost · 2023-10-06 20:34 I setup a selfhosted server a few days ago for matrix use Conduit.rs ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RiseOverRunDMC · 2023-10-06 23:27 You weren't an asshole but thank you for saying that. :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Affectionate-Fig-805 · 2023-10-07 00:24 Yes. You should be familiar with Linux in general (comfortable in the command line), Python (at least can follow online instructions), postgreSQL commands, Docker (if you will containerize), Nginx, DNS, json, yaml... these are the things that came into mind.