Automating ESS Deployment

The .element-enterprise-server Directory

When you first run the installer binary, it will create a directory in your home folder, ~/.element-enterprise-server. This is where you'll find everything the installer uses / generates as part of the installation including your configuration, the installer itself and logs.

As you run through the GUI, it will output config files within ~/.element-enterprise-server/config that will be used when you deploy. This is the best way to get started, before any automation effort, you should run through the installer and get a working config that suits your requirements.

This will generate the config files, which can then be modified as needed, for your automation efforts, then in order to understand how deployments could be automated, you should understand what config is stored where.

The cluster.yml Config File

The Cluster YAML configuration file is populated with information used by all aspects of the installer. To start you'll find apiVersion:, kind: and metadata which are used by the installer itself to identify the version of your configuration file. In cases where you switch to a new version of the installer, it will then upgrade this config in-line with the latest versions requirements.

apiVersion: ess.element.io/v1alpha1
kind: InstallerSettings
metadata:
  annotations:
    k8s.element.io/version: 2023-07.09-gui
  name: first-element-cluster

The configuration information is then stored in the spec: section, for instance you'll see; your Postgres in cluster information; DNS Resolvers; EMS Token; etc. See the example below:

spec:
  connectivity:
    dockerhub: {}
  install:
    certManager:
      adminEmail: admin@example.com
    emsImageStore:
      password: examplesubscriptionpassword
      username: examplesubscriptionusername
    microk8s:
      dnsResolvers:
      - 8.8.8.8
      - 8.8.4.4
      postgresInCluster:
        hostPath: /data/postgres
        passwordsSeed: examplepasswordsseed

The deployment.yml Config File

The Deployment YAML configuration file is populated with the bulk of the configuration for you're deployment. As above, you'll find apiVersion:, kind: and metadata which are used by the installer itself to identify the version of your configuration file. In cases where you switch to a new version of the installer, it will then upgrade this config in-line with the latest versions requirements.

apiVersion: matrix.element.io/v1alpha1
kind: ElementDeployment
metadata:
  name: first-element-deployment
  namespace: element-onprem

The configuration is again found within the spec: section of this file, which itself has two main sections:

components: which contains the set configuration for each individual component i.e. Element Web or Synapse global: which contains configuration required by all components i.e. the root FQDN and Certificate Authority information

components:

First each component has a named section, such as elementWeb, integrator, synapseAdmin, or in this example synapse:

      synapse:

Within each component, there are two sections to organise the configuration:

config: which is configuration of the component itself i.e. whether Synapse registration is Open / Closed

      config:
        acceptInvites: manual
        adminPasswordSecretKey: adminPassword
        externalAppservices:
          configMaps: []
          files: {}
        federation:
          certificateAutoritiesSecretKeys: []
          clientMinimumTlsVersion: '1.2'
          trustedKeyServers: []
        log:
          rootLevel: Info
        macaroonSecretKey: macaroon
        maxMauUsers: 250
        media:
          maxUploadSize: 100M
          volume:
            size: 50Gi
        postgresql:
          passwordSecretKey: postgresPassword
          port: 5432
          sslMode: require
        registration: closed
        registrationSharedSecretSecretKey: registrationSharedSecret
        security:
          defaultRoomEncryption: not_set
        signingKeySecretKey: signingKey
        telemetry:
          enabled: true
          passwordSecretKey: telemetryPassword
          room: '#element-telemetry'
        urlPreview:
          config:
            acceptLanguage:
            - en
        workers: []

k8s: which is configuration of the pod itself in k8s i.e. CPU and Memory resource limits or FQDN

      k8s:
        common:
          annotations: {}
        haproxy:
          workloads:
            annotations: {}
            resources:
              limits:
                memory: 200Mi
              requests:
                cpu: 1
                memory: 100Mi
            securityContext:
              fsGroup: 10001
              runAsUser: 10001
        ingress:
          annotations: {}
          fqdn: synapse.example.com
          services: {}
          tls:
            certmanager:
              issuer: letsencrypt
            mode: certmanager
        redis:
          workloads:
            annotations: {}
            resources:
              limits:
                memory: 50Mi
              requests:
                cpu: 200m
                memory: 50Mi
            securityContext:
              fsGroup: 10002
              runAsUser: 10002
        synapse:
          common:
            annotations: {}
          monitoring:
            serviceMonitor:
              deploy: auto
          storage: {}
          workloads:
            annotations: {}
            resources:
              limits:
                memory: 4Gi
              requests:
                cpu: 1
                memory: 2Gi
            securityContext:
              fsGroup: 10991
              runAsUser: 10991
      secretName: synapse

global:

The global: section works just like component: above, split into two sections config: and k8s:, you can see an example below:

  global:
    config:
      adminAllowIps:
      - 0.0.0.0/0
      - ::/0
      certificateAuthoritySecretKey: ca.pem
      domainName: example.com
      genericSharedSecretSecretKey: genericSharedSecret
      supportDnsFederationDelegation: false
      verifyTls: true
    k8s:
      common:
        annotations: {}
      ingresses:
        annotations: {}
        services:
          type: ClusterIP
        tls:
          certmanager:
            issuer: letsencrypt
          mode: certmanager
      monitoring:
        serviceMonitor:
          deploy: auto
      workloads:
        annotations: {}
        hostAliases: []
        replicas: 2
        securityContext:
          forceUidGid: auto
          setSecComp: auto
    secretName: global

The secrets.yml Config File

The Secrets YAML configuration file is populated, as expected, the secrets used for your configuration. It consists of multiple entries, separated by lines of --- each following the below format:

apiVersion: v1
data:
  genericSharedSecret: Q1BoVmNIaEIzWUR6VVZjZXpkMXhuQnNubHhLVVlM
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: global
  namespace: element-onprem

The main section of interest for automation purposes, is the data: section, here you will find a dictionary of secrets, in the above you can see a genericSharedSecret and it's value opposite.

The legacy Directory

The legacy directory stores configuration for specific components not yet updated to the new format within the component: section of the deployment.yml. Work is steadily progressing on updating these legacy components to the new format, however in the meantime, you will find a folder for each legacy component here.

Within each components folder, you will see a .yml file, which is where the configuration of that component is stored. For instance, if you setup the IRC Bridge, it will create ~/.element-enterprise-server/config/legacy/ircbridge with bridge.yml inside. You can use the Integrations and Add-Ons chapter of our documentation for guidance on how these files are configured. Using the IRC Bridge example, you would have a bridge.yml like so:

key_file: passkey.pem
bridged_irc_servers:
- postgres_fqdn: ircbridge-postgres
  postgres_user: ircbridge
  postgres_db: ircbridge
  postgres_password: postgres_password
  admins:
  - "@user:example.com"
  logging_level: debug
  enable_presence: true
  drop_matrix_messages_after_seconds: 0
  bot_username: "ircbridgebot"
  provisioning_room_limit: 50
  rmau_limit: 100
  users_prefix: "irc_"
  alias_prefix: "irc_"
  address: irc.example.com
  parameters:
    name: "Example IRC"
    port: 6697
    ssl: true
    botConfig:
      enabled: true
      nick: "MatrixBot"
      username: "matrixbot"
      password: "some_password"
    dynamicChannels:
      enabled: true
    mappings:
      "#welcome":
        roomIds: ["!MLdeIFVsWCgrPkcYkL:example.com"]
    ircClients:
      allowNickChanges: true

There is also another important folder in legacy. The certs directory, here you will need to add any CA.pem file and certificates for the FQDN of any legacy components. As part of any automation, you will need to ensure these files are correct per setup and named correctly, the certificates in this directory should be named using the fully qualified domain name (.key and .crt).

Automating your deployment

Once you have a set of working configuration, you should make a backup of your ~/.element-enterprise-server/config directory. Through whatever form of automation you choose, automate the modification of your cluster.yml, deployment.yml, secrets.yml and any legacy *.ymls to adjust set values as needed.

For instance, perhaps you need 6 identical homeservers each with their own domain name, you would need to edit the fqdn of each component and the domainName in deployment.yml. You'd then have 6 config directories, each differing in domain, ready to be used by an installer binary.

On each of the 6 hosts, create the ~/.element-enterprise-server directory and copy that hosts specific config to ~/.element-enterprise-server/config. Copy the installer binary to the host, ensuring it's executable.

Running the installer unattended

Once host system is setup, you can use How do I run the installer without using the GUI?  to run the installer unattended. It will pickup the configuration and start the deployment installation without needing to use the GUI to get it started.