Rocket.chat Setup on LXC Container

Rocket.chat Setup

This a basic guide on how we can install Rocket.chat on Ubuntu LXC.

This is a part 1 of 2 part series. In this part, we will look into how to install MongoDB, NodeJS & Rocket.Chat and also configure them.

In the next part, we will see how to reverse proxy the localhost:3000 to a domain and install SSL certificate.

Requirements

Ubuntu: 20.04
NodeJS: 14.19.3
NPM: 6.14.17
Mongodb: 5.0

Installing Pre-requisites (NodeJS, NPM, & MongoDB)

NodeJS & NPM

We will be using nvm to install NodeJS and NPM.

Steps: Install NVM

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | shell

List all available NodeJS version

nvm ls-remote

Install specified NodeJS version, in our case it v14.19.3.

nvm install v14.19.3

Check NPM version

npm -v
6.14.17

MongoDB

We will be adding MongoDB from official repo, which is not in default Ubuntu LXC source list.

Steps:

Install gnupg

sudo apt install gnupg

Import mongodb key

wget -qO - https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-5.0.asc | sudo apt-key add -

Create the list file

/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-5.0.list

Add repo url to source list file

echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu focal/mongodb-org/5.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-5.0.list

Update local package db

sudo apt-get update

Install MongoDB

sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

Installing Rocket.Chat

Install dependencies

sudo apt install -y curl build-essential graphicsmagick

Download Rocket.Chat binary:

curl -L https://releases.rocket.chat/latest/download -o /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz

Extract the archive

tar -xzf /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz -C /tmp

Install npm packages:

cd /tmp/bundle/programs/server && npm install --production

NOTE: If you’re using the root account (not recommended), you’ll have to use sudo npm install --unsafe-perm --production instead of the above.

Copy built package to /opt folder

sudo mv /tmp/bundle /opt/Rocket.Chat

Configure the Rocket.Chat service

Add the rocketchat user

sudo useradd -M rocketchat && sudo usermod -L rocketchat

Set the right permissions on the Rocket.Chat folder

sudo chown -R rocketchat:rocketchat /opt/Rocket.Chat

Save node path in variable to pass it on service file

NODE_PATH=$(which node)

Create & save the systemd service file

cat << EOF |sudo tee -a /lib/systemd/system/rocketchat.service
[Unit]
Description=The Rocket.Chat server
After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target nginx.service mongod.service
[Service]
ExecStart=$NODE_PATH /opt/Rocket.Chat/main.js
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=rocketchat
User=rocketchat
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Passing environment variables

Pass some environment variables to the running process.

For more information of configuring via environment variables read this article.

Run:

sudo systemctl edit rocketchat

It will open in vim or nano based on your system. Now, write the following in the file

[Service]
Environment=ROOT_URL=http://localhost:3000
Environment=PORT=3000
Environment=MONGO_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/rocketchat?replicaSet=rs01
Environment=MONGO_OPLOG_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/local?replicaSet=rs01

Change the values as you need. Save and exit.

MongoDB Configuration

MongoDB config file should look something like the following:

storage:
  dbPath: /var/lib/mongodb
  journal:
    enabled: true
  engine: wiredTiger

systemLog:
  destination: file
  logAppend: true
  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log

net:
  port: 27017
  bindIp: 127.0.0.1

processManagement:
  fork: true
  timeZoneInfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

replication:
  replSetName: rs01

Start MongoDB with the following command:

sudo systemctl enable --now mongod

If MongoDB is already started, do a restart of the service

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Create the replicaset:

mongo --eval "printjson(rs.initiate())"

You can start Rocket.Chat now.

sudo systemctl enable --now rocketchat