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 scripts/install-local-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 (c.f. scripts/install-local-kafka.sh):

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

On MacOS, you can use homebrew for easier setup of kafka

brew install kafka
brew services start zookeeper
brew services start kafka

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 publicroomsapi appservice naffka; do
      sudo -u postgres createdb -O dendrite dendrite_$i
  done
  

(On macOS, omit sudo -u postgres from the above commands.)

Crypto key generation

Generate the keys:

# 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 || ./bin/generate-keys -private-key matrix_key.pem

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:

                                         /media   +---------------------------+
                      +----------->+------------->| dendrite-media-api-server |
                      ^            ^              +---------------------------+
                      |            |            :7774
                      |            |
                      |            |
                      |            |   /directory +----------------------------------+
                      |            |   +--------->| dendrite-public-rooms-api-server |<========++
                      |            |   |          +----------------------------------+         ||
                      |            |   |        :7775    |                                     ||
                      |            |   |    +<-----------+                                     ||
                      |            |   |    |                                                  ||
                      |            |   | /sync    +--------------------------+                 ||
                      |            |   +--------->| dendrite-sync-api-server |<================++
                      |            |   |    |     +--------------------------+                 ||
                      |            |   |    |   :7773    |         ^^                          ||
Matrix      +------------------+   |   |    |            |         ||    client_data           ||
Clients --->| client-api-proxy |-------+    +<-----------+         ++=============++           ||
            +------------------+   |   |    |                                     ||           ||
          :8008                    |   | CS API   +----------------------------+  ||           ||
                                   |   +--------->| dendrite-client-api-server |==++           ||
                                   |        |     +----------------------------+               ||
                                   |        |   :7771    |                                     ||
                                   |        |            |                                     ||
                                   |        +<-----------+                                     ||
                                   |        |                                                  ||
                                   |        |                                                  ||
                                   |        |           +----------------------+    room_event ||
                                   |        +---------->| dendrite-room-server |===============++
                                   |        |           +----------------------+               ||
                                   |        |         :7770                                    ||
                                   |        |                      ++==========================++
                                   |        +<------------+        ||
                                   |        |             |        VV
                                   |        |     +-----------------------------------+              Matrix
                                   |        |     | dendrite-federation-sender-server |------------> Servers
                                   |        |     +-----------------------------------+
                                   |        |   :7776
                                   |        |
                       +---------->+        +<-----------+
                       |                                 |
Matrix      +----------------------+  SS API  +--------------------------------+
Servers --->| federation-api-proxy |--------->| dendrite-federation-api-server |
            +----------------------+          +--------------------------------+
          :8448                             :7772


   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/client-api-proxy \
--bind-address ":8008" \
--client-api-server-url "http://localhost:7771" \
--sync-api-server-url "http://localhost:7773" \
--media-api-server-url "http://localhost:7774" \
--public-rooms-api-server-url "http://localhost:7775" \

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

Run public room server

This implements /directory requests. Clients talk to this via the proxy in order to retrieve room directory listings.

./bin/dendrite-public-rooms-api-server --config dendrite.yaml

Run a federation api proxy

This is what Matrix servers will talk to. This is only required if you want to support federation.

./bin/federation-api-proxy \
--bind-address ":8448" \
--federation-api-url "http://localhost:7772" \
--media-api-server-url "http://localhost:7774" \

Run a federation api server

This implements federation requests. Servers talk to this via the proxy in order to send transactions. This is only required if you want to support federation.

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

Run a federation sender server

This sends events from our users to other servers. This is only required if you want to support federation.

./bin/dendrite-federation-sender-server --config dendrite.yaml

Run an appservice server

This sends events from the network to application services running locally. This is only required if you want to support running application services on your homeserver.

./bin/dendrite-appservice-server --config dendrite.yaml