Matrix Configuration

This is the configuration file for the matrix homeserver of the students of Centrale Nantes. It uses the Matrix Docker Ansible Deploy (MDAD) playbook.

See the config file for the details on the configuration.

Please refer to the Matrix Docker Ansible Deploy documentation if you want more information on how to use this configuration.

First Time Setup

You need to follow the MDAD documentation for your local setup.

Then you need to get the playbook using

git clone https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy.git
cd matrix-docker-ansible-deploy

Then run just update in order to download the dependencies (and also update the playbook to the latest version).

Now you will need to get the configuration from this repository:

git clone git@github.com:3cn-ecn/matrix-config.git inventory

We use ssh but you can also use https

If you want to deploy to another server, move the vars.yml file to the appropriate directory, change the server name in it and update the inventory/hosts file.

You also need to reconfigure all the vault encrypted variables.

Finally, you can run the playbook with:

just install-all --ask-vault-pass

If you removed components, you will need to run to actually remove them:

just setup-all --ask-vault-pass

To create a new user, you can run (yes at the end is for granting admin rights, use no if you don't want to):

just register-user YOUR_USERNAME YOUR_PASSWORD yes --ask-vault-pass

Design choices

Authentication

We use Matrix Authetication Service as authentication method in order to comply with the latest matrix clients. Nantral Platform is configured as an upstream account provider. This website is developed by ourselves and does the verification of the users for us. We can also add other accounts with token registration if we want to add external users.

To add someone with token registration, you can do it from the admin panel. Click add, let the first field empty, add a limit of 1 use (one token per user recommended) and add a expiration date (recommended). Then you can give the token to the user and they can use it to register on the server.

Federation

One of the great features of Matrix is federation, which allows users from different homeservers to communicate with each other.

However, we decided to disable it so our network can remain safe and private. Indeed, this server only aims to let the students of Centrale Nantes communicate with each other.

Media Storage

In order to save storage costs and improve performances, we use an S3 bucket to store all the media. All the files are uploaded there so that we save space on the VPS.

Element

We host our own element web client, in order to have more control on what is available. However, we do not host the mobile clients, so users would be required to use the official Element clients

Keep in mind that all matrix clients should be able to connect to the server, even if we recommend using our hosted Element web client.

Changing the Configuration

Please refer once again the MDAD documentation for all the available options and how to update the playbook on the remote host.