Hi all,

I want to host my own matrix server, so that i can run bridges to all the other (stupid) messaging apps.

I am looking for any advice or experience in choosing which server to run, and if you know of any good tutorials, run throughs, etc. i typically would like a lighter instance, as i expect about 3 users, with 2 of us needing bridging.

  • dendrite
  • synapse
  • conduit
  • construct

and then the addition of bridges, (Signal, WA, Messenger and hopefully SMS).

I am fairly self sufficient when it comes to self hosting, and i run everything on linux, in docker, proxied by Nginx proxy manager. but typically prefer stuff that works more or less out of the box.

Thanks all!

  • @[email protected]English
    1•1 year ago

    I run my own Dendrite server and have had it work pretty well.

    Initially I chose Dendrite over Synapse as I heard about Synapse being quite heavy in terms of load, and my overall experience with Dendrite has been pretty good!

    I run the server just for myself, but have it setup with Signal and Messenger bridges that work flawlessly (apart from one time when Facebook thought my account was hacked and had to reauth!)

      • @[email protected]English
        1•1 year ago

        I would rate it 8/10 for ease of install, especially with the docker setup it is pretty easy.

        Only slightly annoying setup task was getting the matrix bridges setup as you need to mess with some config and I had some issues getting it to work initially.

        But once it was all setup, pretty solid for me ever since!

        • @[email protected]OPEnglish
          1•1 year ago

          I have the container up, but now some issues with ports. I can connect with element in the browser, but the app is having issues.

          What did you do with proxying? I was told I need to port forward 8448, but that doesn’t seem right.

          I’m using nginx proxy manager, default settings, and LE certs.

          • @[email protected]English
            1•1 year ago

            You can use whatever port if you’re proxying it to 8448 (assuming the container host is listening on that port which it would be by default).

            If you use matrix.example.com and proxy port 443 to 8448 then it should work as your user would be @user:matrix.example.com.

            You would need to portforward from outside your network if you want to access it and have it talk to other servers as they all need to communicate with your server.

            Personally I wanted matrix to show my user as @user:example.com at my actual domain not as a matrix subdomain, so I had to setup the .well-known/server type http path to tell it my server is actually at matrix.example.com.

            • @[email protected]OPEnglish
              2•1 year ago

              yep, i have my sub-domain proxying to the host <server>:8448, and i can use it locally. however the android element app is not able to connect, but the browser element can.

              it is a dilly of a pickle, and i am not sure what is missing.

              the docs at https://gitlab.com/famedly/conduit/-/blob/next/DEPLOY.md tell me to curl directly to port 8448… oh, dumbass! just typing this out i saw that it was an if not an and port 8448… never mind! i iwll post this to indicate my stupidity and hopefully figure out what i am doing wrong!

              $ curl https://your.server.name/_matrix/client/versions

# If using port 8448
$ curl https://your.server.name:8448/_matrix/client/versions