dendrite/INSTALL.md

Installing Dendrite

Dendrite can be run in one of two configurations:

• A cluster of individual components, dealing with different aspects of the Matrix protocol (see WIRING.md). Components communicate with one another via Apache Kafka.

• A monolith server, in which all components run in the same process. In this configuration, Kafka can be replaced with an in-process implementation called naffka.

Requirements

• Go 1.8+
• Postgres 9.5+
• For Kafka (optional if using the monolith server):
  • Unix-based system (https://kafka.apache.org/documentation/#os)
  • JDK 1.8+ / OpenJDK 1.8+
  • Apache Kafka 0.10.2+ (see https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/blob/master/travis-install-kafka.sh for up-to-date version numbers)

Setting up a development environment

Assumes Go 1.8 and JDK 1.8 are already installed and are on PATH.

# Get the code
git clone https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite
cd dendrite

# Build it
go get github.com/constabulary/gb/...
gb build

If using Kafka, install and start it:

MIRROR=http://apache.mirror.anlx.net/kafka/0.10.2.0/kafka_2.11-0.10.2.0.tgz

# Only download the kafka if it isn't already downloaded.
test -f kafka.tgz || wget $MIRROR -O kafka.tgz
# Unpack the kafka over the top of any existing installation
mkdir -p kafka && tar xzf kafka.tgz -C kafka --strip-components 1

# Start the zookeeper running in the background.
# By default the zookeeper listens on localhost:2181
kafka/bin/zookeeper-server-start.sh -daemon kafka/config/zookeeper.properties

# Start the kafka server running in the background.
# By default the kafka listens on localhost:9092
kafka/bin/kafka-server-start.sh -daemon kafka/config/server.properties

Configuration

Postgres database setup

Dendrite requires a postgres database engine, version 9.5 or later.

• Create role:

  sudo -u postgres createuser -P dendrite     # prompts for password
  

• Create databases:

  for i in account device mediaapi syncapi roomserver serverkey federationsender; do
      sudo -u postgres createdb -O dendrite dendrite_$i
  done
  

Crypto key generation

Generate the keys (unlike synapse, dendrite doesn't autogen yet):

# Generate a self-signed SSL cert for federation:
test -f server.key || openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout server.key -out server.crt -days 3650 -nodes -subj /CN=localhost

# generate ed25519 signing key
test -f matrix_key.pem || python3 > matrix_key.pem <<EOF
import base64;
r = lambda n: base64.b64encode(open("/dev/urandom", "rb").read(n)).decode("utf8");
print("-----BEGIN MATRIX PRIVATE KEY-----")
print("Key-ID:", "ed25519:" + r(3).rstrip("="))
print(r(32))
print("-----END MATRIX PRIVATE KEY-----")
EOF

Configuration

Create config file, based on dendrite-config.yaml. Call it dendrite.yaml. Things that will need editing include at least:

• server_name
• database/*

Starting a monolith server

It is possible to use 'naffka' as an in-process replacement to Kafka when using the monolith server. To do this, set use_naffka: true in dendrite.yaml.

The monolith server can be started as shown below. By default it listens for HTTP connections on port 8008, so point your client at http://localhost:8008. If you set --tls-cert and --tls-key as shown below, it will also listen for HTTPS connections on port 8448.

./bin/dendrite-monolith-server --tls-cert=server.crt --tls-key=server.key

Starting a multiprocess server

The following contains scripts which will run all the required processes in order to point a Matrix client at Dendrite. Conceptually, you are wiring together to form the following diagram:

                                                   DB:syncserver
                                                        |               roomserver_output_topic_dev
                                     /sync    +--------------------------+ <=====================
                                   +--------->| dendrite-sync-api-server |                     ||
                                   |          +--------------------------+        +----------------------+
Matrix      +------------------+   |        :7773               query API         | dendrite-room-server |--DB:roomserver
Clients --->| client-api-proxy |---+                           +----------------->+----------------------+
            +------------------+   |                           |               :7770           ^^
          :8008                    | CS API   +----------------------------+                   ||
                                   +--------->| dendrite-client-api-server |===================||
                                   |          +----------------------------+   roomserver_input_topic_dev
                                   |        :7771
                                   |
                                   | /media   +---------------------------+ 
                                   +--------->| dendrite-media-api-server |
                                              +---------------------------+
                                            :7774


   A --> B  = HTTP requests (A = client, B = server)
   A ==> B  = Kafka (A = producer, B = consumer)

Run a client api proxy

This is what Matrix clients will talk to. If you use the script below, point your client at http://localhost:8008.

#!/bin/bash

./bin/client-api-proxy \
--bind-address ":8008" \
--sync-api-server-url "http://localhost:7773" \
--client-api-server-url "http://localhost:7771" \
--media-api-server-url "http://localhost:7774"

Run a client api

This is what implements message sending. Clients talk to this via the proxy in order to send messages.

./bin/dendrite-client-api-server --config=dendrite.yaml

(If this fails with pq: syntax error at or near "ON", check you are using at least postgres 9.5.)

Run a room server

This is what implements the room DAG. Clients do not talk to this.

./bin/dendrite-room-server --config=dendrite.yaml

Run a sync server

This is what implements /sync requests. Clients talk to this via the proxy in order to receive messages.

./bin/dendrite-sync-api-server --config dendrite.yaml

Run a media server

This implements /media requests. Clients talk to this via the proxy in order to upload and retrieve media.

./bin/dendrite-media-api-server --config dendrite.yaml