How To Install Mattermost messaging on Ubuntu 20.04

Companies and organizations need an internal chat platform to build their own messaging service. Mattermost is an open-source messaging system that is self-hosted for teams and developers to communicate in a single place. This high trust online chat service is written in the Golang and React programming languages. In this article, you will learn How to Install Mattermost messaging on Ubuntu 20.04. Due to your needs, you can buy a Linux VPS or prepare your own Ubuntu VPS and continue reading.

Tutorial Install Mattermost messaging on Ubuntu 20.04

To let this tutorial work better, please consider the below Prerequisites:

A non-root user with sudo privileges.

To set up, follow our Initial server setup on Ubuntu 20.04.

In this guide, we will use the PostgresSQL database or MySQL. You will install Mattermost with Nginx and Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 20.04. Stay with us to review the required steps.

Install Mattermost messaging on Ubuntu 20.04 | Ubuntu 18.04

According to news, Mattermost is an alternative to the Slack chat platform. Mattermost is a good idea to start a collaboration from anywhere or from your desktop, Android device, and iPhone. There are many of the world’s enterprises that are increasing their collaboration since Mattermost lets them connect people, tools, and automation. Let’s go through the steps of this guide to become an expert in Mattermost installation.

First, as we always recommend, get started with updating your system packages. So, run the command below:

apt-get update -y

Now, install other required dependencies using the following commands:

apt-get install curl wget vim git unzip gnupg2 -y

How to install and configure MariaDB

As we mentioned, Mattermost uses MySQL/MariaDB as a database backend. If you have not installed the MariaDB server yet, use the command below to do this.

apt-get install mariadb-server -y

You can log in to the MariaDB by running the following command when the installation is finished.

mysql

To create a database and user for Mttermost, type:

MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE DATABASE mattermostdb;  MariaDB [(none)]> CREATE USER 'mattermost'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Then, you can grant all the privileges to the Mattermost by running the command below:

MariaDB [(none)]> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mattermostdb.* TO 'mattermost'@'%';

And also flush the privileges and exit from the MariaDB shell.

MariaDB [(none)]> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;  MariaDB [(none)]> EXIT;

How to install and configure Mattermost

You are recommended to download the latest version of Mattermost from its official website. Also, you can use the command below to download it.

wget https://releases.mattermost.com/5.24.2/mattermost-5.24.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz

When you finished the download, use the command below to extract the downloaded file:

tar -xvzf mattermost-5.24.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Then, copy the extracted directory to the /opt:

cp -r mattermost /opt

And to create a data directory for Mettermost, run:

mkdir /opt/mattermost/data

Use the following command to create a separate user to run Mattermost.

useradd --system --user-group mattermost

It is time to change the ownership of the mattermost directory to mattermost and give proper permissions by running the command below:

chown -R mattermost:mattermost /opt/mattermost  chmod -R g+w /opt/mattermost

The mattermost default configuration file should be edited and then define your database settings and site URL. Use the following command to do this:

nano /opt/mattermost/config/config.json

Then, you can change the following lines due to your priorities:

"SiteURL": "https://mattermost.domain.com",

"DriverName": "mysql",  "DataSource": "mattermost:password@tcp(localhost:3306)/mattermostdb?charset=utf8mb4,utf8\u0026readTimeout=30s\u0026writeTimeout=30s",

You can save and close the file when you are finished.

How to create a Systemd service file for Mattermost

At this point, you need to create a system service file to manage the Mattermost service. To create it, type:

nano /lib/systemd/system/mattermost.service

And add the following lines:

[Unit]  Description=Mattermost  After=network.target  After=mysql.service  Requires=mysql.service

[Service]  Type=notify  User=mattermost  Group=mattermost  ExecStart=/opt/mattermost/bin/mattermost  TimeoutStartSec=3600  Restart=always  RestartSec=10  WorkingDirectory=/opt/mattermost  LimitNOFILE=49152

[Install]  WantedBy=mariadb.service

Then, you can save and close the file. Reload the system daemon by running:

systemctl daemon-reload

Now you can start Mattermost service and enable it to start at system reboot with the command below:

systemctl start mattermost  systemctl enable mattermost

To verify the status of the Mattermost service, use the following command;

systemctl status mattermost

The correct output should be like the below:

? mattermost.service - Mattermost  Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mattermost.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)  Active: active (running) since Sat 2020-08-01 09:12:52 UTC; 17s ago  Main PID: 4106 (mattermost)  Tasks: 20 (limit: 2353)  Memory: 85.9M  CGroup: /system.slice/mattermost.service  ??4106 /opt/mattermost/bin/mattermost  ??4198 plugins/com.mattermost.nps/server/dist/plugin-linux-amd64

Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.131499,"caller":"mlog/sugar.go:19","msg":"Sent notification of ne>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.1841655,"caller":"jobs/workers.go:73","msg":"Starting workers"}  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.1842792,"caller":"bleveengine/bleve.go:267","msg":"UpdateConf Ble>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.1930475,"caller":"jobs/schedulers.go:74","msg":"Starting schedule>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.20063,"caller":"app/web_hub.go:83","msg":"Starting websocket hubs>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.2099638,"caller":"app/license.go:37","msg":"License key from http>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.2205582,"caller":"app/server.go:525","msg":"Starting Server..."}  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.2208374,"caller":"app/server.go:594","msg":"Server is listening o>  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 mattermost[4106]: {"level":"info","ts":1596273172.2211802,"caller":"commands/server.go:106","msg":"Sending systemd >  Aug 01 09:12:52 ubuntu2004 systemd[1]: Started Mattermost.

In this way, Mattermost is running and listening on port 8065.

How to configure Nginx

In this step, you should configure Nginx as a reverse proxy for Mattermost. To install the Nginx package, type:

apt-get install nginx -y

When the installation is complete, run the command below to create an Nginx virtual host configuration file.

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/mattermost.conf

And again, add the following lines:

upstream mattermost {  server localhost: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.domain.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://mattermost;  }

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_http_version 1.1;  proxy_pass http://mattermost;  }  }

When you are finished, you can save and close the file. To activate the virtual host configuration, run:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/mattermost.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mattermost.conf

To verify the Nginx for any configuration error, type

nginx -t

The below output should be displayed:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok  nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

To apply the changes, restart the Nginx with the following command:

systemctl restart nginx

How to secure Mattermost with Let’s Encrypt SSL

To manage the Let’s Encrypt SSL, you need to install Certbot client in your system. Use the following command to do this:

apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx -y

Once you installed Certbot, run the command below to install the Let’s Encrypt SSL for your website.

certbot --nginx -d mattermost.domain.com

As shown below, you will be asked to provide a valid email address and accept the term of service.

Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log  Plugins selected: Authenticator nginx, Installer nginx  Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices) (Enter 'c' to  cancel): [email protected]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Please read the Terms of Service at  https://letsencrypt.org/documents/LE-SA-v1.2-November-15-2017.pdf. You must  agree in order to register with the ACME server at  https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  (A)gree/(C)ancel: A

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Would you be willing to share your email address with the Electronic Frontier  Foundation, a founding partner of the Let's Encrypt project and the non-profit  organization that develops Certbot? We'd like to send you email about our work  encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  (Y)es/(N)o: Y  Obtaining a new certificate  Performing the following challenges:  http-01 challenge for mattermost.domain.com  Waiting for verification...  Cleaning up challenges  Deploying Certificate to VirtualHost /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mattermost.conf

Then, you need to select whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  1: No redirect - Make no further changes to the webserver configuration.  2: Redirect - Make all requests redirect to secure HTTPS access. Choose this for  new sites, or if you're confident your site works on HTTPS. You can undo this  change by editing your web server's configuration.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Select the appropriate number [1-2] then [enter] (press 'c' to cancel): 2

Now, type 2 and press Enter to install the Let’s Encrypt SSL on your domain. then, you will see an output as below:

Redirecting all traffic on port 80 to ssl in /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/mattermost.conf

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  Congratulations! You have successfully enabled https://mattermost.domain.com

You should test your configuration at:  https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=mattermost.domain.com  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IMPORTANT NOTES:  - Congratulations! Your certificate and chain have been saved at:  /etc/letsencrypt/live/mattermost.domain.com/fullchain.pem  Your key file has been saved at:  /etc/letsencrypt/live/mattermost.domain.com/privkey.pem  Your cert will expire on 2020-10-30. To obtain a new or tweaked  version of this certificate in the future, simply run certbot again  with the "certonly" option. To non-interactively renew *all* of  your certificates, run "certbot renew"  - Your account credentials have been saved in your Certbot  configuration directory at /etc/letsencrypt. You should make a  secure backup of this folder now. This configuration directory will  also contain certificates and private keys obtained by Certbot so  making regular backups of this folder is ideal.  - If you like Certbot, please consider supporting our work by:

Donating to ISRG / Let's Encrypt: https://letsencrypt.org/donate  Donating to EFF: https://eff.org/donate-le

- We were unable to subscribe you the EFF mailing list because your  e-mail address appears to be invalid. You can try again later by  visiting https://act.eff.org.

How to access Mattermost web interface

Open a web browser and type the URL https://mattermost.domain.com to be redirected to the Mattermost sign up screen:

Then, enter your email address, name, password, and click on the ”Create Account” button. The following screen will display.

Now, click on the ”Create a team” button. Then, you will see the screen below:

Choose a name for your Team and click on the ”Next” button. The screen below is what you should see then:

Now, it is time to provide your team UPL and click on the ”Finish” button. A screen as mattermost Welcome screen will be displayed:

Finally, click on the ”Skip Tutorials” button to view the following screen as the Mattermost dashboard:

Conclusion

In this article, you learned How To Install Mattermost messaging On Ubuntu 20.04. Install Mattermost to ensure security and privacy for full control of data. It could work seamlessly with enterprise security, identity, and compliance systems.