How to Set Up Matrix/Synapse Server with Docker

WARNING: Please note that this guide is a summary of the commands used in the video tutorial. It's not a step-by-step tutorial itself. For detailed instructions, please refer to the video tutorial. 

Install Docker

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

apt-get update
apt-get install ca-certificates curl
install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

Add Docker repository to apt sources:

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
apt-get update

Install Docker and other required packages:

apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose docker-compose-plugin nano

Install Matrix with Docker

Create  docker-compose.yml

nano docker-compose.yml

Paste the lines below in the docker-compose.yml

version: '3'

services:
  matrix:
    image: matrixdotorg/synapse:latest
    ports:
      - "8008:8008"
      - "8448:8448"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    environment:
      - SYNAPSE_SERVER_NAME=<REPLACE.WITH.YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME>
      - SYNAPSE_REPORT_STATS=no
    restart: always

Generate Matrix container configuration

docker-compose run --rm matrix generate

Edit the homeserver.yml file in data directory and add the following configuration for TLS and registration:

  - port: 8448
    tls: true
    type: http
    x_forwarded: true
    resources:
      - names: [client, federation]
        compress: false

tls_certificate_path: "/data/cert.pem"  
tls_private_key_path: "/data/key.pem"

enable_registration: true
enable_registration_without_verification: true

Upload you ssl/tls key and full chain files to data directory and chnage permissions so your container has rights to access the two files.

Start your Matrix server:

docker-compose up -d

Useful Commands

Create admin user:

register_new_matrix_user -c /data/homeserver.yaml

Restart Matrix container:

docker-compose restart matrix

Access your container CLI:

docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/bash