Host Section

The first section of the ESS installer GUI is the Host section, here you will configure essential details of how ESS will be installed including; deployment type; subscription credentials; PostgreSQL to use; and whether or not your setup is airgapped.

Settings configured via the UI in this section will mainly be saved to your cluster.yml. If performing a Kubernetes deployment, you will also be able to config Host Admin settings which will save configuration into both internal.yml and deployment.yml.

Depending on your environment you will need to select either Standalone or Kubernetes Application. Standalone will install microk8s locally on your machine, and deploy to it so all pods are running locally on the host machine. Kubernetes Application will deploy to your Kubernetes infrastructure in a context you will need to have already setup via your kube config.

Deployment (Standalone)

Install

Config Example

spec:
  connectivity:
    dockerhub:
      password: example
      username: example
  install:
    emsImageStore:
      password: example
      username: example
    webhooks:
      caPassphrase: example
  	# Options unique to selecting Standalone
    certManager:
      adminEmail: example@Dexample.com
    microk8s:
      dnsResolvers:
        - 8.8.8.8
        - 8.8.4.4
      postgresInCluster:
        hostPath: /data/postgres
        passwordsSeed: example

An example of the cluster.yml config generated when selecting Standalone, note that no specific flag is used within the config to specify selecting between Standalone or Kubernetes. If you choose to manually configure ESS bypassing the GUI, ensure only config options specific to how you wish to deploy are provided.

Cert Manager

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    # certManager: {} # When 'Skip Cert Manager' selected
    certManager:
      adminEmail: example@example.com

You should keep this enabled if you will be using Let's Encrypt to verify your domain and generate your certificates, simply provide the username where due to expire certificate notices will be sent.

If you plan to upload your own certificates, or they will be Externally Managed, you should select Skip Cert Manager.

EMS Image Store

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    emsImageStore:
      password: token
      username: test

Here you will need to provide your EMS Image Store Username and Token associated with your subscription, which you can find at https://ems.element.io/on-premise/subscriptions.

If you forget your token and hit 'Refresh' in the EMS Control Panel, you will need to ensure you redeploy your instance with the new token - otherwise subsequent deployments will fail.

MicroK8s

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    microk8s:
      persistentVolumesPath: /data/element-deployment
      registrySize: 25Gi

It is unlikely you should need to adjust these values and it is highly recommended to leave this as their defaults.

If you encounter a requirement to clean up your images cache, see the Cleaning up images cache section from the Post-Installation Essentials page.

DNS Resolvers

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    microk8s:
      dnsResolvers:
        - 8.8.8.8
        - 8.8.4.4

Defaulting to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, the DNS server IPs set here will be used by all deployed pods. Click Add more DNS Resolvers to add additional entries as required.

Nginx Extra Configuration

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    microk8s:
      # Not present when disabled
      nginxExtraConfiguration:
        custom-http-errors: '"404"'
        server-snippet: >-
          error_page 404 /404.html; location = /404.html { internal; return 200
          "<p>Hello World!</p>"; }

As linked via the ESS installer GUI, see the Ingress-Nginx Controller ConfigMaps documentation for the options that can be configured.

For example, if you wanted to replace the standard 404 error page, you could do this using both custom-http-errors and server-snippet. To configure via the installer, simply add the specify custom-http-errors as the Name and click Add to Nginx Extra Configuration, then provide the required value in the newly created field:

Repeat for server-snippet:

The above example is used to explain how to configure the Nginx Extra Configuration, and so is for demonstration purposes only, it is not recommended to use this example config. Ideally your web server should manage traffic that would otherwise hit a 404 being served by ESS.

PostgreSQL in Cluster

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    microk8s:
      # postgresInCluster: {} # If 'External PostgreSQL Server' selected
      postgresInCluster:
        hostPath: /data/postgres
        passwordsSeed: example

Only available in Standalone deployments you can have the installer deploy PostgreSQL for you, this will remove the requirement to configure PostgreSQL connection and authentication credentials in later parts of the installer. It is highly recommended to keep the default settings if you opt for this approach.

If you already have an external PostgreSQL server you wish to use, make sure you have followed the PostgreSQL Standalone Environment Prerequisites detailed on the Requirements and Recommendations page. Selecting this option will present an additional Database section in the installer process.

Internal Webhooks

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    webhooks:
      caPassphrase: YpiNQMMzBjalfVPQqxcxO4e211YFR5

Deployment (Kubernetes Application)

Install

Config Example

spec:
  connectivity:
    dockerhub:
      password: example
      username: example
  install:
    emsImageStore:
      password: example
      username: example
    webhooks:
      caPassphrase: example
  	# Options unique to selecting Standalone
    clusterDeployment: true
    kubeContextName: example
    namespaces: {}
    skipElementCrdsSetup: false
    skipOperatorSetup: false
    skipUpdaterSetup: false

An example of the cluster.yml config generated when selecting Kubernetes, note that no specific flag is used within the config to specify selecting between Standalone or Kubernetes. If you choose to manually configure ESS bypassing the GUI, ensure only config options specific to how you wish to deploy are provided.

Cluster Deployment

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    clusterDeployment: true

Deploy the operator & the updater using Cluster Roles.

Kube Context Name

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    kubeContextName: example

The name of the Kubernetes context you have already setup that ESS should be deployed into.

Skip Setup Options

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    skipElementCrdsSetup: false
    skipOperatorSetup: false
    skipUpdaterSetup: false

Selecting these will allow you to skip the setup of the Element CRDs, Operator and Updater as required.

Namespaces

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    # namespaces: {} # When left as default namespaces
    # namespaces: # When `Create Namespaces` is disabled
    #   createNamespaces: false
    namespaces: # When custom namespaces are provided
      elementDeployment: element-example # Omit any that should remain as default
      operator: operator-example
      updater: updater-example

Allows you to specify the namespaces you wish to deploy into, with the additional option to create them if they don't exist.

Namespace-scoped Deployments

Namespace-scoped deployments in Kubernetes offer a way to organize and manage resources within specific namespaces rather than globally across the entire cluster.

Preparing the Cluster

Installing the Helm Chart Repositories

The first step is to start on a machine with helm v3 installed and configured with your kubernetes cluster and pull down the two charts that you will need.

First, let's add the element-updater repository to helm:

helm repo add element-updater https://registry.element.io/helm/element-updater --username
ems_image_store_username --password 'ems_image_store_token'

Replace ems_image_store_username and ems_image_store_token with the values provided to you by Element.

Secondly, let's add the element-operator repository to helm:

helm repo add element-operator https://registry.element.io/helm/element-operator --username ems_image_store_username --password 'ems_image_store_token'

Replace ems_image_store_username and ems_image_store_token with the values provided to you by Element.

Now that we have the repositories configured, we can verify this by:

helm repo list

and should see the following in that output:

NAME                    URL                                               
element-operator        https://registry.element.io/helm/element-operator
element-updater         https://registry.element.io/helm/element-updater

Deploy the CRDs

Write the following values.yaml file:

clusterDeployment: true
deployCrds: true
deployCrdRoles: true
deployManager: false

To install the CRDs with the helm charts, simply run:

helm install element-updater element-updater/element-updater -f values.yaml
helm install element-operator element-operator/element-operator -f values.yaml

Now at this point, you should have the following two CRDs available:

[user@helm ~]$  kubectl get crds | grep element.io
elementwebs.matrix.element.io                         2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
wellknowndelegations.matrix.element.io                2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
elementcalls.matrix.element.io                        2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
hydrogens.matrix.element.io                           2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
mautrixtelegrams.matrix.element.io                    2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
sydents.matrix.element.io                             2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
synapseusers.matrix.element.io                        2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
bifrosts.matrix.element.io                            2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
lowbandwidths.matrix.element.io                       2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
synapsemoduleconfigs.matrix.element.io                2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
matrixauthenticationservices.matrix.element.io        2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
ircbridges.matrix.element.io                          2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
slidingsyncs.matrix.element.io                        2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
securebordergateways.matrix.element.io                2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
hookshots.matrix.element.io                           2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
matrixcontentscanners.matrix.element.io               2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
sygnals.matrix.element.io                             2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
sipbridges.matrix.element.io                          2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
livekits.matrix.element.io                            2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
integrators.matrix.element.io                         2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
jitsis.matrix.element.io                              2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
mautrixwhatsapps.matrix.element.io                    2023-11-15T09:03:48Z
synapseadminuis.matrix.element.io                     2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
synapses.matrix.element.io                            2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
groupsyncs.matrix.element.io                          2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
pipes.matrix.element.io                               2023-10-11T13:23:14Z
elementdeployments.matrix.element.io                  2023-10-11T13:34:25Z
chatterboxes.matrix.element.io                        2023-11-21T15:55:59Z

Namespace-scoped role

In the namespace where the ESS deployment will happen, to give a user permissions to deploy ESS, please create the following role and roles bindings:

User role:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: ess-additional
rules:
- apiGroups:
  - apiextensions.k8s.io
  resources:
  - customresourcedefinitions
  verbs:
  - list
  - watch
  - get
- apiGroups:
    - project.openshift.io
  resources:
    - projects
  verbs:
    - get
    - list
    - watch

User roles bindings:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: ess-additional
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: Role
  name: ess-additional
subjects:
# role subjects which maps to the user or its groups

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: ess
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: edit
subjects:
# role subjects which maps to the user or its groups

Once your cluster is prepared, you can setup your namespace-scoped deployment by configuring these settings:

Skip Operator Setup.
Unchecked
Skip Updater Setup.
Unchecked
Skip Element CRDs Setup.
Checked
Cluster Deployment.
Unchecked
Kube Context Name.
Set to user_kube_context_name
Namespaces.
- Create Namespaces.
  Unchecked
- Operator.
  Set to namespace_to_deploy_ess
- Updater.
  Set to same as Operator, namespace_to_deploy_ess
- Element Deployment.
  Set to same as Operator, namespace_to_deploy_ess

Internal Webhooks

Config Example

spec:
  install:
    webhooks:
      caPassphrase: YpiNQMMzBjalfVPQqxcxO4e211YFR5

Connectivity

Config Example

spec:
  connectivity:

Connected

Config Example

spec:
  connectivity:
    # dockerhub: {} # When Username & Password is disabled per default
    dockerhub:
      password: password
      username: test

Connected means the installer will use the previously provided EMS Image Store credentials to pull the required pod images as part of deployment, optionally, you can specify DockerHub credentials to reduce potential rate limiting.

Airgapped

Config Example

spec:
  connectivity:
    airgapped:
      localRegistry: localhost:32000
      sourceDirectory: /home/ubuntu/airgapped/
  	  # uploadCredentials not present if `Target an Existing Local Image Registry` selected
      # uploadCredentials: {} # If 'Upload without Authentication'
      uploadCredentials:
        password: example
        username: example

An airgapped environment is any environment in which the running hosts will not have access to the greater internet. This proposes a situation in which these hosts are unable to get access to various needed bits of software from Element and also are unable to share telemetry data back with Element.

Selecting Airgapped means the installer will rely on images stored in a registry local to your environment, by default the installer will host this registry uploading images found within the specified Source Directory, however you can alternatively specify one already present in your environment instead.

Getting setup within an Airgapped environment

Alongside each Installer binary available for download, for those customers with airgapped permissions, is an equivalent airgapped package element-enterprise-installer-airgapped-<version>-gui.tar.gz. Download and copy this archive to the machine running the installer, then use tar -xzvf element-enterprise-installer-airgapped-<version>-gui.tar.gz to extract out its contents, you should see a folder airgapped with the following directories within:

pip
galaxy
snaps
containerd
images

Copy the full path of the root airgapped folder, for instance, /home/ubuntu/airgapped and paste that into the Source Directory field. Should you ever update the ESS installer binary, you will need to ensure you delete and replace this airgapped folder, with its updated equivalent.

Your airgapped machine will still require access to airgapped linux repositories depending on your OS. If using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you will also need access to the EPEL repository in your airgapped environment.

Host Admin

Config Example

internal.yml

spec:
  fqdn: admin.example.com
  tls:
  # When selecting `Self Signed`
    # mode: self-signed

  # When selecting `Automatic Let's Encrypt`
    mode: automatic
    automatic:
      adminEmail: example@example.com

  # When selecting `Certificate File`
    # mode: certfile
    # certificate:
      # certFile: "example" # Base64 encoded string from certificate
      # privateKey: "example" # Base64 encoded string from certificate key

  # When selecting `Exsiting TLS Certificates in the Cluster`
    # mode: existing
    # secretName: example

  # When selecting `Externally Managed`
    # mode: external

deployment.yml

spec:
  components:
    synapseAdmin:
      config:
        hostOrigin: >-
          https://admin.example.com,https://admin.example.com:8443

The Host Admin section allows you to configure the domain name and certificates to use when serving the ESS installer GUI, when running directly on the host - changes here will take affect the next time you run the installer.