AWS Elastic Beanstalk Docker setup#

The following instructions use Docker to install Mattermost in Preview Mode for exploring product functionality. This configuration should not be used in production.

The Elastic Beanstalk application creation process used here is the easy Getting Started approach which combines Application and Environment creation in the same flow.

From your AWS console select Elastic Beanstalk.
Select the Create Application button on the Elastic Beanstalk home page.
Enter an Application name for the Elastic Beanstalk application.
(Optional) Specify Application tags.
Select Docker for the Platform.
Choose Docker running on 64bit Amazon Linux 2 for the Platform branch. Note that multi-container Docker is now deprecated.
Leave the platform version preselected as 3.4.8 (Recommended).
For Application code, select Upload your code.
Download the Dockerrun.aws.json file from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mattermost/mattermost-docker-preview/master/Dockerrun.aws.json.
Set a unique Version Label, choose Local File, then select Choose file button to browse for the downloaded file in the previous step. You should see a File successfully uploaded message.
Select Create Application. It may take a few minutes for Beanstalk to launch your environment. If the launch is successful, you will see a see a large green checkmark and the Health status displayed in green.
Test your environment by selecting the domain link next to your application name at the top of the dashboard. Alternatively, enter the domain into your browser in the form of http://<your-ebs-application-url>.elasticbeanstalk.com. You can also map your own domain if you prefer. When everything is working correctly, the domain navigates you to the Mattermost Login page. Enjoy exploring Mattermost!

Configuration Settings#

See Configuration Settings documentation to customize your deployment.

(Recommended) Enable Email#

The default Docker instance for Mattermost is designed for product evaluation, and sets SendEmailNotifications=false so the product can function without enabling email. To see the product’s full functionality, enabling SMTP email is recommended.

SMTP email setup#

Available on all plans

self-hosted deployments

In a production environment, Mattermost requires SMTP email enabled for email notifications and password resets when using email-based authentication.

Set up an SMTP email service#

Any SMTP email service can be used. You need a copy of the following information: Server Name, Port, SMTP Username, and SMTP Password.

Tip

If you don’t have an SMTP service you can set one up with Amazon Simple Email Service (SES):

Go to Amazon SES console then SMTP Settings > Create My SMTP Credentials.
Copy the Server Name, Port, SMTP Username, and SMTP Password values. You’ll need these values to configure Mattermost.
From the Domains menu, set up and verify a new domain, then enable Generate DKIM Settings for the domain. We recommend you set up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and/or Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) for your email domain.
Choose a sender address like mattermost@domain.com and select Send a Test Email to verify setup is working correctly.

Alternatively, you can use one of the services listed below, or can set up local sendmail by setting Server Name 127.0.0.1 with Port 25.

If deploying Mattermost using Docker, the standard docker 172.16.0.0/12 IP range isn’t used. Specify the IP range 192.168.0.0/24 to the email service to avoid relay access errors. If using postfix, under /etc/postfix/main.cf, specify mynetworks = 192.168.0.0/24. This may vary depending on how Mattermost is deployed. Ensure that Port 25 is open if a firewall is present.

Configure SMTP settings#

In Mattermost go to System Console > Authentication > Email, and set Allow Sign Up With Email to true.
In the System Console, go to Notifications > Email and configure Mattermost for your SMTP service. See the SMTP configuration documentation for details.

Set Send Email Notifications to true.

Set the Notification Display Name for the account sending notifications.

Set Notification Email Address for the email address used to send notifications.

Enter the SMTP Username, SMTP Password, SMTP Server, and SMTP Port you copied from initial setup.

We recommend setting Connection Security: to TLS (Recommended) to encrypt communication between Mattermost and your SMTP service.

Select Save.
Under Connection Security, select Test Connection. Mattermost will confirm whether a connection to the SMTP service is successful by sending you an email. If the test fails, Mattermost will provide details about why it failed in the System Console. See the check Mattermost logs section below for details.

Sample SMTP settings#

Amazon SES

Set SMTP Username to [YOUR_SMTP_USERNAME]
Set SMTP Password to [YOUR_SMTP_PASSWORD]
Set SMTP Server to email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
Set SMTP Port to 465
Set Connection Security to TLS

Postfix

Make sure Postfix is installed on the same machine as Mattermost.

Set SMTP Username to (empty)
Set SMTP Password to (empty)
Set SMTP Server to localhost
Set SMTP Port to 25
Set Connection Security to (empty)

Gmail

Set SMTP Username to your_email@gmail.com
Set SMTP Password to your_password
Set SMTP Server to smtp.gmail.com
Set SMTP Port to 587
Set Connection Security to STARTTLS

Warning

Additional configuration is required in Google to allow SMTP email to relay through their servers. See SMTP relay: Route outgoing non-Gmail messages through Google for the required steps.

Hotmail

Set SMTP Username to your_email@hotmail.com
Set SMTP Password to your_password
Set SMTP Server to smtp-mail.outlook.com
Set SMTP Port to 587
Set Connection Security to STARTTLS

Office365/Outlook

Set SMTP Username to your_email@hotmail.com
Set SMTP Password to your_password
Set SMTP Server Name to smtp.office365.com
Set SMTP Port to 587
Set Connection Security to STARTTLS

Troubleshooting SMTP#

TLS/STARTTLS requirements#

If you fill in SMTP Username and SMTP Password then you must set Connection Security to TLS or to STARTTLS

Troubleshooting using logs#

If you have issues with your SMTP install, from your Mattermost team site go to System Console > Logs to look for error messages related to your setup. You can do a search for the error code to narrow down the issue. Sometimes ISPs require nuanced setups for SMTP and error codes can hint at how to make the proper adjustments.

For example, if System Console > Logs displays the following error, search for 554 5.7.1 error and Client host rejected: Access denied.

Connection unsuccessful: Failed to add to email address - 554 5.7.1 <unknown[IP-ADDRESS]>: Client host rejected: Access denied

Checking your SMTP server is reachable#

Attempt to Telnet to the email service to make sure the server is reachable. For additional information, visit https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/mail-flow/test-smtp-with-telnet?view=exchserver-2019. If you’re using an earlier version than Exchange Server 2019, select your version from the left-hand navigation menu.
You must run the following commands from the same machine or virtual instance where mattermost/bin/mattermost is located.
Telnet to the email server with telnet mail.example.com 25. If the command works you should see something like:
```
Trying 24.121.12.143...
Connected to mail.example.com.
220 mail.example.com NO UCE ESMTP
```
Then type something like HELO <your mail server domain>. If the command works you should see something like:
```
250-mail.example.com NO UCE
250-STARTTLS
250-PIPELINING
250 8BITMIME
```

Note

Telnet isn’t included in official Mattermost Docker images, so you either need to use ping on those, or install Telnet yourself either directly or by modifying the Dockerfile.
For further assistance, review the Troubleshooting forum for previously reported errors, or join the Mattermost user community for troubleshooting help.