Matrix Protocol Server
The Jacksonville Linux Users Group Inc. operates a single Matrix protocol homeserver, an open standard and communication protocol for real-time audio, video, and text telecommunication services, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Unlike most all our other servers, this one is brand spanking new; ok, it was cloned from ns1, so not entirely true. This provides the first ever in-house self-hosted audio, video, and text telecommunication platform and services for the JaxLUG! We are very excited about this new server of ours, and we encourage JaxLUG members to deploy their own Matrix homeserver to connect to ours for fully decentralized communications; audio, video, and/or text.
For information on using our Matrix protocol homeserver, please see our interact with us Matrix page.
Synapse
The JaxLUG runs Synapse from Element for Matrix protocol homeserver software, this is the reference implementation of the Matrix protocol that is developed by the Matrix.org Foundation under the Element brand, which is the reference Matrix protocol client software available for mobile and web. There is a variety of Matrix protocol homeserver software available in the ecosystem, and we may switch from Synpase someday, or remain with it till the very end. Synapse is open-source software under the AGPL-3.0 + Commercial Licenses that is developed by the Matrix.org Foundation, for more information please visit Synapse's documentation page.
While many use proprietary protocols like Discord, this is a private and secure server that only local people administrate and have access to the telecommunications data and metadata, which affords for greater data privacy. No AI mining, or other usage of communication data.
Reverse Proxy via lighttpd
lighttpd is an open-source web server ideal for embedded and speed-critical environments, and was an undocumented reverse proxy for use with Matrix protocol homeserver until the JaxLUG contributed the documentation in Synapse Pull Request (PR) #19875, which has been merged, and will be part of documentation in all future releases.
lighttpd configuration
The JaxLUG's lighttpd configuration provides Matrix protocol homeserver proxy services over IPv4 and IPv6, HTTP for certificate renewal and some homeserver location URL endpoints, with primary communication over secure HTTPS using TLS and ultra-fast socket file communication to Synapse. The configuration is available with explanation in our resources, in addition to upstream documentation without explanation.
PostgreSQL
Not to be forgotten, our backend database for Synapse is the popular open-source RDBMS PostgreSQL, which resides on the same server, and someday may be on its own sever, as we deploy other database dependent services. The main long-term administration outside of updates for Synapse will be in managing the size of our Matrix protocol homeserver database.