Synapse is a reference “homeserver” implementation of Matrix. In this article, I will show step by step how to install a Matrix server on a Raspberry Pi model B (1 generation) with Raspbian Buster. In my setup, the username of the Raspberry Pi user is pi, and the home directory is /home/pi.

For more information, see Matrix-Element : How to install the Synapse-Matrix - Raspberry PI - Rock 64 Server.

Synapse/Matrix service installation

Install the necessary packages:

sudo apt -y install build-essential make python3 python3-dev python3-dev python3-virtualenv python3-pip python3-setuptools libffi-dev libpq-dev  python3-cffi zlib1g-dev libxml2-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libssl-dev libjpeg-dev python3-lxml virtualenv libopenjp2-7 libtiff5

Project compilation:

mkdir -p ~/synapse
virtualenv -p python3 ~/synapse/env
cd ~/synapse/
source ~/synapse/env/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade setuptools
pip install matrix-synapse[all]

Generation of the configuration file for synapse-matrix

python3 -m synapse.app.homeserver --server-name YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME --config-path homeserver.yaml --generate-config --report-stats=no
deactivate

Service configuration

vim ~/synapse/homeserver.yaml

Edit these parameters:

[..]
server_name: "YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME"
[..]
#IP listening parameters :
listeners:
- port: 8008
    tls: false
    bind_addresses: ['0.0.0.0']
    type: http
    x_forwarded: true
    resources:
       - names: [client, federation]
         compress: false
[..]
enable_registration: true

Systemd configuration

addgroup synapse
sudo addgroup synapse
sudo adduser --system --home /home/pi/synapse/ --no-create-home --disabled-password --shell /bin/nologin --ingroup synapse synapse

Create the systemd file

sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/matrix-synapse.service

Add this content

[Unit]  
Description=Matrix Synapse service  
After=network.target

[Service]  
Type=forking  
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/synapse/  
ExecStart=/home/pi/synapse/env/bin/synctl start  
ExecStop=/home/pi/synapse/env/bin/synctl stop  
ExecReload=/home/pi/synapse/env/bin/synctl restart  
User=synapse  
Group=synapse  
Restart=always  
StandardOutput=syslog  
StandardError=syslog  
SyslogIdentifier=synapse

[Install]  
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Service activation at server startup

sudo systemctl enable matrix-synapse

Media storage directory and permissions

mkdir ~/synapse/media_store ~/synapse/uploads
chmod 770 ~/synapse/media_store ~/synapse/uploads
chmod 755 ~/synapse
sudo chown synapse:synapse ~/synapse ~/synapse/media_store ~/synapse/uploads

Starting the service

sudo systemctl start matrix-synapse

Creating the first account

sudo /home/pi/synapse/env/bin/register_new_matrix_user -c /home/pi/synapse/homeserver.yaml http://podcraft.ru:8008

The console asks you to enter the account name, password and answer “yes” to the question “Make admin”:

New user localpart[root]: admin  
Password: xxxxxxxxx  
Confirm password: xxxxxxx  
Make admin[no]: yes  
Sending registration request....  
Success

Configure HTTPS for matrix and a reverse proxy with Nginx (for example my domain - podcraft.ru)

Enable http for localhost only

vim ~/synapse/homeserver.yaml

Edit these parameters:

[..]
listeners:
- port: 8008
    tls: false
    bind_addresses: ['127.0.0.1']
    type: http
    x_forwarded: true
    resources:
       - names: [client, federation]
         compress: false
[..]

Restart synapse server

sudo systemctl stop matrix-synapse
sudo systemctl start matrix-synapse

Install nginx

sudo apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Deploying SSL certificate

sudo certbot --nginx

Configure Nginx

sudo vim /etc/nginx/sites-available/podcraft.ru

Add this rows:

server {

        server_name podcraft.ru;

        location / {
                proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
        }

        listen 8448 ssl;
        listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
        ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/podcraft.ru/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/podcraft.ru/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
        include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
        ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/podcraft.ru /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/podcraft.ru
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Check configuration

sudo nginx -t

Starting nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx

If you receive an error message nginx: [emerg] bind() to [::]:80 failed (98: Address already in use), check the available ports

sudo netstat -tulpn

Clean up the ports and restart

sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

If everything is ok, you will see the matrix webpage on https://YOUR_DOMAIN/

Change the NAT settings on your router if you need to

Installation of Element clients (mobile and/or Desktop) and connection to the Matrix server

I refer you to the Element website from where you can download the client adapted to your platform.

Start the Element client, by default, it offers a connection to the Matrix.org servers, click on “change”, indicate in the “url of the host server” box: “https://YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME“, or use the IP address of the server that hosts the Matrix application: “https://[IP address]:[Matrix Port]" Ex: http://192.168.1.10:8008 when Matrix listens on port 8008.