Deployment Overview of Rocket.Chat on Server¶

Prerequisites and Basic Requirements¶

To successfully deploy Rocket.Chat on the server, the following requirements must be met:

• Operating System: AlmaLinux or Ubuntu (Docker-managed installation required).

• Privileges: Root access is necessary for configuration and container management.

• Domain Configuration: The server must be configured to resolve the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the format rocketchat[Server ID].hostkey.in.

• Ports:

• Internal communication: Port 3000 (used by the Rocket.Chat application).

• External access: Port 443 (HTTPS via the Nginx proxy).

FQDN of the Final Panel¶

The application is accessible via the following fully qualified domain name structure:

• Format: rocketchat[Server ID].hostkey.in:443

• Example: If the server ID is 123, the address is rocketchat123.hostkey.in.

File and Directory Structure¶

The deployment utilizes specific directories for configuration files, data storage, and certificates:

• Application Data: /opt/rocketchat

• Contains the rocketchat-compose repository.

• Hosts the .env configuration file.

• Nginx Configuration:

• Directory: /root/nginx (contains compose.yml).

• Configuration files: /data/nginx/user_conf.d/rocketchat[Server ID].hostkey.in.conf.

• SSL Certificates: Managed via the nginx_secrets volume, mounted at /etc/letsencrypt within the Nginx container.

• Nginx Environment: /data/nginx/nginx-certbot.env.

Application Installation Process¶

Rocket.Chat is deployed using Docker Compose with the following version parameters:

• Rocket.Chat Version: 8.1.0

• MongoDB Version: 8.2

• Repository: The deployment clones the official rocketchat-compose repository from https://github.com/RocketChat/rocketchat-compose.git into /opt/rocketchat.

• Environment File: The .env file is generated within /opt/rocketchat containing version definitions and the domain root URL.

Docker Containers and Their Deployment¶

The system utilizes two primary Docker Compose stacks:

Rocket.Chat Stack

• Project Source: /opt/rocketchat

• Compose Files:

• compose.database.yml (MongoDB service)

• compose.yml (Rocket.Chat application)

• Execution: The stack is started using the Docker Compose V2 plugin.

Nginx and Certbot Stack

• Project Source: /root/nginx

• Image: jonasal/nginx-certbot:latest

• Purpose: Handles SSL termination via Certbot and reverse proxying to the internal Rocket.Chat service.

• Network Mode: Host.

Proxy Servers¶

Nginx is configured as the reverse proxy to handle external traffic and SSL termination.

• Proxy Configuration: The Nginx server listens on port 443 and forwards requests to the internal Rocket.Chat service at 127.0.0.1:3000.

• Certbot Integration: The Nginx container includes Certbot to automatically obtain and renew SSL certificates for the domain.

• Configuration File: The proxy pass rule is defined in /data/nginx/user_conf.d/rocketchat[Server ID].hostkey.in.conf.

• Environment Variable: The CERTBOT_EMAIL is set to [email protected] for certificate notifications.

Databases¶

Rocket.Chat uses MongoDB as its backend database.

• Version: 8.2

• Deployment Method: Managed via Docker Compose using compose.database.yml.

• Location: Data is stored within the Docker volume system associated with the Rocket.Chat stack in /opt/rocketchat.

Available Ports for Connection¶

• Port 3000: Internal port for the Rocket.Chat application (accessible only within the container network or localhost).

• Port 443: External port for secure HTTPS access via the Nginx proxy.

Permission Settings¶

File and directory permissions are set during the deployment process to ensure security and proper function:

• /opt/rocketchat:

• Owner: root

• Group: root

• Mode: Standard directory permissions apply.

• /opt/rocketchat/.env:

• Owner: root

• Group: root

• Mode: 0644 (Read-only for group/others).

• /root/nginx:

• Owner: root

• Group: root

• Mode: 0755.

• /root/nginx/compose.yml:

• Owner: root

• Group: root

• Mode: 0644.

Starting, Stopping, and Updating¶

Service management is handled via Docker Compose commands targeting the specific project directories.

Rocket.Chat Stack

• To start or update:

  docker compose -f compose.database.yml -f compose.yml -p rocketchat up -d
  

  (Note: Run from the /opt/rocketchat directory)

• To stop:

  docker compose -f compose.database.yml -f compose.yml -p rocketchat down
  

Nginx Proxy Stack

• To start or update:

  docker compose -p nginx up -d
  

  (Note: Run from the /root/nginx directory)

• To stop:

  docker compose -p nginx down
  

Location of Configuration Files and Data¶

The following table summarizes the key configuration locations: