Install Mattermost server

Install Mattermost Server on a 64-bit machine. Assume that the IP address of this server is 10.10.10.2.

1. Log in to the server that will host Mattermost Server and open a terminal window.

2. Download the latest version of the Mattermost Server. In the following command, replace X.X.X with the version that you want to download: wget https://releases.mattermost.com/X.X.X/mattermost-X.X.X-linux-amd64.tar.gz.

3. Extract the Mattermost Server files by running tar -xvzf mattermost*.gz.

4. Move the extracted file to the /opt directory by running sudo mv mattermost /opt.

5. Create the storage directory for files by running sudo mkdir /opt/mattermost/data.

Note

The storage directory will contain all the files and images that your users post to Mattermost, so you need to make sure that the drive is large enough to hold the anticipated number of uploaded files and images.

6. Set up a system user and group called mattermost that will run this service, and set the ownership and permissions.

1. Create the Mattermost user and group: sudo useradd --system --user-group mattermost.

2. Set the user and group mattermost as the owner of the Mattermost files: sudo chown -R mattermost:mattermost /opt/mattermost.

3. Give write permissions to the mattermost group: sudo chmod -R g+w /opt/mattermost.

7. Set up the database driver in the file /opt/mattermost/config/config.json. Open the file in a text editor and make the following changes:

   If you are using PostgreSQL:

   1. Set "DriverName" to "postgres"

   2. Set "DataSource" to the following value, replacing <mmuser-password> and <host-name-or-IP> with the appropriate values:

   "postgres://mmuser:<mmuser-password>@<host-name-or-IP>:5432/mattermost?sslmode=disable&connect_timeout=10".

   If you are using MySQL:

   1. Set "DriverName" to "mysql"

   2. Set "DataSource" to the following value, replacing <mmuser-password> and <host-name-or-IP> with the appropriate values. Also make sure that the database name is mattermost instead of mattermost_test:

   "mmuser:<mmuser-password>@tcp(<host-name-or-IP>:3306)/mattermost?charset=utf8mb4,utf8&writeTimeout=30s"

8. Set "SiteURL" to the full base URL of the site (e.g., "https://mattermost.example.com").

9. Test the Mattermost server to make sure everything works.

1. Change to the mattermost directory: cd /opt/mattermost.

2. Start the Mattermost server as the user mattermost: sudo -u mattermost ./bin/mattermost.

When the server starts, it shows some log information and the text Server is listening on :8065. You can stop the server by pressing pressing Ctrl C on Windows or Linux, or ⌘ C on Mac, in the terminal window.

10. Set up Mattermost to use systemd for starting and stopping.

1. Create a systemd unit file: sudo touch /lib/systemd/system/mattermost.service.

2. Open the unit file as root in a text editor, and copy the following lines into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Mattermost
After=network.target
After=postgresql.service
BindsTo=postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=notify
ExecStart=/opt/mattermost/bin/mattermost
TimeoutStartSec=3600
KillMode=mixed
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
WorkingDirectory=/opt/mattermost
User=mattermost
Group=mattermost
LimitNOFILE=49152

[Install]
  WantedBy=postgresql.service

Note

• If you are using MySQL, replace postgresql.service with mysql.service in two places in the [Unit] section and one place in the [Install] section.

• If you have installed MySQL or PostgreSQL on a dedicated server, then you need to complete the following, otherwise the Mattermost service won’t start:

  • Remove After=postgresql.service and BindsTo=postgresql.service or After=mysql.service and BindsTo=mysql.service lines in the [Unit] section.

  • Replace the WantedBy=postgresql.service or WantedBy=mysql.service line in the [Install] section with WantedBy=multi-user.target.

• Setting WantedBy to your local database service ensures that whenever the database service is started, the Mattermost server starts too. This prevents the Mattermost server from stopping to work after an automatic update of the database.

3. Make systemd load the new unit by running sudo systemctl daemon-reload.

4. Check to make sure that the unit was loaded by running sudo systemctl status mattermost.service. You should see an output similar to the following:

● mattermost.service - Mattermost
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mattermost.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)

5. Start the service by running sudo systemctl start mattermost.service.

6. Verify that Mattermost is running: curl http://localhost:8065. You should see the HTML that’s returned by the Mattermost server.

7. Set Mattermost to start on machine start up by running sudo systemctl enable mattermost.service.

Now that the Mattermost server is up and running, you can do some initial configuration and setup.