Mattermost

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From Mattermost's homepage:

Mattermost is an open source, self-hosted Slack-alternative. As an alternative to proprietary SaaS messaging, Mattermost brings all your team communication into one place, making it searchable and accessible anywhere.

This article describes how to install and configure the Mattermost server.

Installation

The Mattermost server can be installed in two ways:

An Electron-based desktop client is provided by the mattermost-desktopAUR package.

With Docker

By using Docker, you do not need to manually install a database server and configure Mattermost dependencies. Since the docker image comes with all the dependencies automatically bundled, this is less work for you.

However, the tradeoff is that you cannot choose the database back-end or web server you want, but only those provided in the docker images, unless you make your own. 

$ git clone https://github.com/mattermost/mattermost-docker.git
  • Edit the docker-compose.yml file
    • Uncomment the args: line.
    • For Team edition, remove the comments on the line: - edition=team.
    • Adopt the UID/GID in the section to those of the owner of your ./volumes/app/mattermost/* folders.
    • Add the port forwarding statements as a child of app section (e.g. between build and restart)
ports:
  - "127.0.0.1:8065:8000"
  • Build and start the docker container:
$ cd mattermost-docker
$ docker-compose build
$ docker-compose up -d

Please refer to the official guide for how to configure TLS, email, enable Enterprise features and use several server nodes using Docker Compose.

There are also some Docker images provided on the official Mattermost Docker Hub page. Please also refer to the repository of the Mattermost Docker images.

With package

Install the mattermost package, or mattermost-gitAUR for the development version.

  • The installation will create the mattermost user and group.
  • The configuration happens in /etc/webapps/mattermost/config.json where /etc/webapps/mattermost/ and /etc/webapps/mattermost/config.json are both owned by mattermost:mattermost.
  • In /var/lib/mattermost/ recursively owned by mattermost:mattermost, we can find:
    • files, a folder where all user files posted via messages, profile pictures and team pictures are stored;
    • client, a folder related to the webapp client which contains files rewritten by the webapp during runtime and, in the plugins subfolder, the web plugins installed via the webui;
    • plugins, a folder related to the plugins (server part).
  • In /var/log/mattermost, a folder created on the fly during the install process (cf. tmpfiles.d) which stores the server logs as json. /var/log/mattermost and /var/log/mattermost/mattermost.log are both owned by mattermost:mattermost.
  • The rest of the immutable Mattermost directory is located at /usr/share/webapps/mattermost/ and is recursively owned by root:root.

Continue with #Database setup.

Database setup

Mattermost requires a database back-end. If you plan to run it on the same machine, first install either MySQL or PostgreSQL as database.

Follow one of the following sections and then proceed with #Configuring Mattermost.

MySQL/MariaDB 

$ mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE mattermostdb;
CREATE USER mmuser IDENTIFIED BY 'mmuser_password';
GRANT ALL ON mattermostdb.* TO mmuser;

PostgreSQL

1. Install and configure PostgreSQL.

2. Choose between TCP or UNIX Socket, and jump to the corresponding section.

Note: When Mattermost and PostgreSQL are on the same machine, you should use a Unix socket, as it is faster and more secure.

With TCP socket

3. Create the new user while connecting to the server as postgres user (you will be prompted for a password for the new user): 

sudo -u postgres createuser -P mmuser

4. Create the Mattermost database, owned by mmuser user: 

sudo -u postgres createdb -O mmuser mattermostdb

5. PostgreSQL#Configure PostgreSQL to be accessible from remote hosts

6. Verify it works: 

$ psql --host=ip_address --dbname=mattermostdb --username=mmuser --password

With Unix socket

3. Create the new user while connecting to the server as postgres user: 

sudo -u postgres createuser mattermost

4. Create the Mattermost database, owned by mattermost user: 

sudo -u postgres createdb -O mattermost mattermostdb

5. Setup the Unix socket by adding the following line to /var/lib/postgres/data/pg_hba.conf: 

local    mattermostdb    mattermost    peer

6. Restart postgresql.service.

7. Verify it works: 

$ sudo -u mattermost psql --dbname=mattermostdb --username=mattermost

Configuring Mattermost

Mattermost is configured in /etc/webapps/mattermost/config.json. Strings need to be quoted.

There are two settings you need to adapt to your database.

The DriverName setting: mysql for MySQL and postgres for PostgreSQL.

The DataSource:

  • For MySQL, set it to mmuser:mmuser_password@unix(/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock)/mattermostdb?charset=utf8mb4,utf8.
  • For PostgreSQL
    • TCP socket: postgres://mmuser:mmuser_password@127.0.0.1:5432/mattermostdb?sslmode=disable&connect_timeout=10
    • Unix socket: postgres:///mattermostdb?host=/run/postgresql ; make sure there are 3 slashes after postgres:, mattermostdb is the name of the database and /run/postgresql is the directory containing the Unix socket
Note: Be sure to replace mmuser_password with the password of the user.

Start/enable mattermost.service and open http://localhost:8065/.

Setting up Mattermost

  1. Navigate to your Mattermost install and create a team and user.
  2. The first user in the system is automatically granted the system_admin role, which gives you access to the System Console.
  3. From the town-square channel click the dropdown and choose the System Console option.
  4. Update Notification > Email settings to setup an SMTP email service. The example below assumes AmazonSES.
    • Set Send Email Notifications to true
    • Set Require Email Verification to true
    • Set Feedback Name to No-Reply
    • Set Feedback Email to mattermost@example.com
    • Set SMTP Username to your_smtp_username
    • Set SMTP Password to your_smtp_password
    • Set SMTP Server to email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
    • Set SMTP Port to 465
    • Set Connection Security to TLS
    • Save the Settings
  5. Update File > Storage settings by changing Local Directory Location from ./data/ to /mattermost/data.
  6. Update General > Logging settings by setting Log to The Console to false.
  7. Feel free to modify other settings.
  8. Restart mattermost.service.

Plugins

Plugins are enabled by default, but require access to the plugins directory which needs to be created with the correct owner: 

$ mkdir /usr/share/webapps/mattermost/client/plugins
$ chown mattermost:mattermost /usr/share/webapps/mattermost/client/plugins

Useful tips

Valid HTTPS via reverse web-proxy

To securely access your Mattermost server from the Android and iOS apps, which do not support self-signed TLS certificates, you can setup a reverse web proxy.

The main benefits of a proxy are:

  • SSL termination
  • HTTP to HTTPS redirect
  • Port mapping 80 to 8065
  • Standard request logs

Proxying can be achieved with most web servers.

nginx

1. Install and run nginx, preferably nginx-mainline.

2. Point your domain name eg. mattermost.example.com to the server.

3. Configure nginx to proxy connections from the internet to the Mattermost Server. Create and edit the nginx configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-available/mattermost. 

upstream backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:8065;
    keepalive 32;
}

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=mattermost_cache:10m max_size=3g inactive=120m use_temp_path=off;

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name    mattermost.example.com;

    location ~ /api/v[0-9]+/(users/)?websocket$ {
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        client_max_body_size 50M;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
        proxy_buffers 256 16k;
        proxy_buffer_size 16k;
        client_body_timeout 60;
        send_timeout 300;
        lingering_timeout 5;
        proxy_connect_timeout 90;
        proxy_send_timeout 300;
        proxy_read_timeout 90s;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }

    location / {
        client_max_body_size 50M;
        proxy_set_header Connection "";
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN;
        proxy_buffers 256 16k;
        proxy_buffer_size 16k;
        proxy_read_timeout 600s;
        proxy_cache mattermost_cache;
        proxy_cache_revalidate on;
        proxy_cache_min_uses 2;
        proxy_cache_use_stale timeout;
        proxy_cache_lock on;
        proxy_pass http://backend;
    }
}

4. Enable the mattermost server: 

# mkdir /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
# ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mattermost /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mattermost

5. Restart nginx.service.

6. Verify you can access Mattermost through the proxy: 

curl http://localhost/
You should see a page titled Mattermost.

7. Set up Let’s Encrypt.

Lighttpd2

A configuration sample for lighttpd2-gitAUR to act as a proxy for Mattermost, assuming you have a certificate at /etc/lighttpd2/certs/lighttpd2.pem.

See mod_vhost if you want to transfer the proxy into a virtual host. 

/etc/lighttpd2/lighttpd.conf
setup {

    module_load [
        "mod_accesslog",
        "mod_proxy",
        "mod_openssl"
    ];

    openssl [
        "listen" => "0.0.0.0:443",
        "listen" => "[::]:443",
        "pemfile" => "/etc/lighttpd2/certs/lighttpd2.pem",
        "options" => ["ALL", "NO_TICKET"],
        "verify" => true,
        "verify-any" => true,
        "verify-depth" => 9
    ];

    listen "0.0.0.0:80";
    listen "[::]:80";

    log ["debug" => "", default => "/var/log/lighttpd2/error.log"];
    accesslog "/var/log/lighttpd2/access.log";
    accesslog.format "%h %V %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}\"";

    static.exlude_extensions [ ".php", ".pl", ".fcgi", "~", ".inc" ];

}

openssl.setenv "client-cert";
keepalive.timeout 360;

docroot "/srv/http";
index [ "index.php", "index.html", "index.htm" ];

include "/etc/lighttpd2/mimetypes.conf";

proxy "127.0.0.1:8065";

Testing translations and pull requests

You can use the unofficial script mattermost-prepare-pkgbuild to test languages and pull requests.