Dendrite

Dendrite is a second-generation Matrix homeserver written in Go! Following the microservice architecture model, Dendrite is designed to be efficient, reliable and scalable. Despite being beta, many Matrix features are already supported.

Note

For this guide you should be familiar with the basic concepts of

PostgreSQL in the version 12+.
web backends
supervisord

The Matrix protocol uses the subfolder isabell.example/_matrix. That makes it easy to run Dendrite via HTTPS without affecting your regular website and without any special DNS setup. Only two .well-known entries need to be added.

Installation

Clone Dendrite’s git repository into your home directory:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ git clone https://github.com/matrix-org/dendrite.git
Cloning into 'dendrite'...
[…]
Resolving deltas: 100% (30826/30826), done.
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Check out a stable version (replace v0.13.5 with the latest version):

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/dendrite/
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ git checkout v0.13.5
Note: switching to 'v0.13.5'.
[…]
HEAD is now at b7054f42 Version 0.13.5 (#3285)
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Build the application including utility commands with go:

[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ go build -o bin/ ./cmd/...
go: downloading github.com/getsentry/sentry-go v0.14.0
[…]
go: downloading github.com/modern-go/concurrent v0.0.0-20180306012644-bacd9c7ef1dd
go: downloading github.com/modern-go/reflect2 v1.0.2
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Database

Make sure you run PostgreSQL in the required version. Create both a user (role) and a database:

[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ createuser -P dendrite
Enter password for new role:
Enter it again:
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ createdb -O dendrite -E UTF-8 dendrite
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Write down the key, you will need it later.

Service

Create a supervisord service by adding the following content to the new file ~/etc/services.d/dendrite.ini:

[program:dendrite]
directory=%(ENV_HOME)s/dendrite
command=%(ENV_HOME)s/dendrite/bin/dendrite -config dendrite.yaml -http-bind-address 0.0.0.0:8008
startsecs=30

After creating the configuration, tell supervisord to refresh its configuration and start the service:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl reread
SERVICE: available
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl update
SERVICE: added process group
[isabell@stardust ~]$ supervisorctl status
SERVICE                            RUNNING   pid 26020, uptime 0:03:14
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Web Backend

To make Dendrite available via HTTPS, create a web backend for /_matrix:

[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ uberspace web backend set /_matrix --http --port 8008
Set backend for /_matrix to port 8008; please make sure something is listening!
You can always check the status of your backend using "uberspace web backend list".
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Please adjust the port 8008 if you want to run Dendrite on a different port.

Well-known Delegation

To tell both Matrix servers and clients how to find your Dendrite server, create .well-known files.

Create a file ~/html/.well-known/matrix/client with the following content:

{
  "m.homeserver": {
    "base_url": "https://isabell.example"
  }
}

Create a file ~/html/.well-known/matrix/server with the following content:

{
  "m.server": "isabell.example:443"
}

Configuration

A sample config file is provided at dendrite-sample.yaml. Copy it to dendrite.yaml and adjust the following settings.

Domain

Configure the domain you use for your Uberspace in the global section using the server_name property:

   global:
     server_name: isabell.example

Signing Keys

Matrix requires a signing key. You can create one using the generate-keys utility that comes with Dendrite:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/dendrite/
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ ./bin/generate-keys --private-key matrix_key.pem
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Add the filename to the configuration using the private_key property:

   global:
     private_key: matrix_key.pem

If you already have a signing key from an old installation or a Synapse installation, you can re-use it as described in the Dendrite manual.

Database

Adjust the connection_string property of the database section to match your PostgreSQL setup:

   database:
     connection_string: postgresql://dendrite:key@localhost/dendrite?sslmode=disable

Replace key with your PostgreSQL database key (see the corresponding installation step).

Additionally, it is recommended to lower the amount of database connections to reduce the resource consumption of PostgreSQL:

   database:
     connection_string: postgresql://dendrite:key@localhost/dendrite?sslmode=disable
     max_open_conns: 10

Logging

The log level is set to info by default. For a production instance reduce it to warn or error:

   logging:
     - type: std
       level: error
     - type: file
       level: warn
       params:
         path: ./logs

Presence

Presence events are disabled by default. If you want them to be processed, enabled inbound and outbound:

   global:
     presence:
       enable_inbound: true
       enable_outbound: true

Administration

Dendrite comes with several utility commands.

Adding Users

The create-account utility can be used to create a new user via commandline:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/dendrite/
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ ./bin/create-account -config dendrite.yaml -username myuser
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Maintenance

Backups

To back up the Dendrite database use PostgreSQL’s pg_dumpall command:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ pg_dumpall -f ~/pg_backup.sql
[isabell@stardust ~]$

Updates

To update the code, fetch all git updates and checkout the latest version (replace v0.13.5 with the latest version):

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/dendrite/
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ git fetch -p
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ git checkout v0.13.5
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Then, stop the Dendrite service, build the new version and start the service again:

[isabell@stardust ~]$ cd ~/dendrite/
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ supervisorctl stop dendrite
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ go build -o bin ./cmd/...
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$ supervisorctl start dendrite
[isabell@stardust dendrite]$

Written by: coderkun