How to Install Rocket.Chat with Docker on AlmaLinux 8

Rocket.Chat is an open-source fully customizable communications platform developed in JavaScript for organizations with high standards of data protection. In this article, we are going to learn how to install Rocket.Chat on AlmaLinux 8. So, let’s get started.

Checkout the Rocket.Chat Project Here.

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Pre-requisites

A system with AlmaLinux 8 installed and running.
root access to the system.
Docker installed and running, for this, you can refer to one of our guides on installing Docker on AlmaLinux 8.

Once you're all set, we'll proceed with Rocket.Chat installation and configuration.

Install Nginx

Let's begin with installing Nginx. Install using the below codes.

yum install nginx -y

Enable services

systemctl enable nginx

systemctl start nginx

systemctl status nginx

Enable Firewall

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https

firewall-cmd --reload

Install Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate

Let's issue an SSL certificate for the domain. For this, we will need the EPEL repository and the mod_ssl package on AlmaLinux 8 operating system.

Update and install EPEL repository and the mod_ssl package on the system using the below command:

dnf install epel-release mod_ssl -y

Next, we will install the certbot client which is used to create Let's Encrypt certificates:

dnf install python3-certbot-nginx -y

Install SSL Certificate

Use the certbot command to issue a Let's Encrypt certificate. Replace dev.domainhere.info and dev@dev.domainhere.info with your domain name and email:

certbot --nginx --agree-tos --redirect --hsts --staple-ocsp --email <dev@dev.domainhere.info> -d dev.domainhere.info

SSL certificates are valid for 90 days. The renewal process is now automated, you do not have to renew this manually.

Restart Nginx

Restart apache to avoid getting error messages.

systemctl restart nginx

Configuring Nginx Server Blocks

Let's configure nginx.conf with the following command:

nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Replace the nginx.conf file with the below configuration.

# For more information on configuration, see

# * Official English Documentation: <http://nginx.org/en/docs/>

# * Official Russian Documentation: <http://nginx.org/ru/docs/>

 user nginx;
 worker_processes auto;
 error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;
 pid /run/nginx.pid;

# Load dynamic modules. See /usr/share/doc/nginx/README.dynamic

 include /usr/share/nginx/modules/*.conf;

 events {
     worker_connections 1024;
 }

 http {
     log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                      '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

     access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log  main;

     sendfile            on;
     tcp_nopush          on;
     tcp_nodelay         on;
     keepalive_timeout   65;
     types_hash_max_size 2048;

     include             /etc/nginx/mime.types;
     default_type        application/octet-stream;

     # Load modular configuration files from the /etc/nginx/conf.d directory.
     # See http://nginx.org/en/docs/ngx_core_module.html#include
     # for more information.
     include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
 }

Now, type Ctrl+O and type Ctrl+X to save and exit the file.

Create a new Nginx configuration file dev.conf for the domain with the following command:

vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/dev.conf

Add the following codes:

Replace dev.domainhere.info & 192.169.7.180 with Your Domain Name & IP and Change SSL Path according to your SSL Path.

upstream app {
server 192.169.7.180:3000;
}

server {
listen 80 default_server;
server_name dev.domainhere.info;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
# The host name to respond to
server_name dev.domainhere.info;

ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/dev.domainhere.info/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/dev.domainhere.info/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

location / {
proxy_pass http://app;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP  $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-

Now, press the Esc key, and type :wq! and press the Enter key to save and exit the file.

For SELinux enabled systems, enable loopback for your upstream in SELinux. Run the below command:

setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1

Now, restart & check the Nginx with the following commands:

systemctl restart nginx

systemctl status nginx

Enable ports ( 3000,8000,8080,3002 )

To enable connection through the firewall, follow the commands:

firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port 3000/tcp

firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port 8000/tcp

firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port 8080/tcp

firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-port 3002/tcp

firewall-cmd --reload

Install Rocket.Chat with Docker

The following instructions use the Docker service to install Rocket.Chat using the Rocket.Chat Docker Image. Let's install Rocket.Chat with Docker using the below commands:

mkdir -p /var/www/rocket.chat/data/runtime/db

mkdir -p /var/www/rocket.chat/data/dump

cd /var/www/rocket.chat

Let's configure docker-compose.yml with the following command:

nano docker-compose.yml

Add the following configuration:

% Edit the `ROOT_URL` value to be your `FQDN`.<br>
% Edit the `ROCKETCHAT_URL` to be your `Public IP address`. Keep the port (3000) the same.<br>
% Edit `ROCKETCHAT_USER`, `ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD`, and `BOT_NAME`.<br>

 #CrownCloud
 version: '2'

 services:
   rocketchat:
     image: registry.rocket.chat/rocketchat/rocket.chat:latest
     command: >
       bash -c
         "for i in `seq 1 30`; do
           node main.js &&
           s=$$? && break || s=$$?;
           echo \"Tried $$i times. Waiting 5 secs...\";
           sleep 5;
         done; (exit $$s)"
     restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
       - ./uploads:/app/uploads
     environment:
       - PORT=3000
       - ROOT_URL=<https://dev.domainhere.info>
       - MONGO_URL=mongodb://mongo:27017/rocketchat
       - MONGO_OPLOG_URL=mongodb://mongo:27017/local
       - REG_TOKEN=${REG_TOKEN}
       - Accounts_UseDNSDomainCheck=false

# - MAIL_URL=smtp://smtp.email

# - HTTP_PROXY=<http://proxy.domain.com>

# - HTTPS_PROXY=<http://proxy.domain.com>

 depends_on:

* mongo
 ports:
* 3000:3000
 labels:
* "traefik.backend=rocketchat"
* "traefik.frontend.rule=Host: your.domain.tld"

 mongo:
 image: mongo:4.0
 restart: unless-stopped
 volumes:

* ./data/db:/data/db
 #- ./data/dump:/dump
 command: mongod --smallfiles --oplogSize 128 --replSet rs0 --storageEngine=mmapv1
 labels:
* "traefik.enable=false"

# this container's job is just run the command to initialize the replica set

# it will run the command and remove himself (it will not stay running)

 mongo-init-replica:
 image: mongo:4.0
 command: >
 bash -c
 "for i in `seq 1 30`; do
          mongo mongo/rocketchat --eval \"
            rs.initiate({
              _id: 'rs0',
              members: [ {_id: 0, host: 'localhost:27017' } ]})\" &&
          s=$$? && break || s=$$?;
          echo \"Tried $$i times. Waiting 5 secs...\";
          sleep 5;
        done; (exit $$s)"
 depends_on:

* mongo

# hubot, the popular chatbot (add the bot user first and change the password before starting this image)

 hubot:
 image: rocketchat/hubot-rocketchat:latest
 restart: unless-stopped
 environment:

* ROCKETCHAT_URL=192.169.7.180:3000
* ROCKETCHAT_ROOM=GENERAL
* ROCKETCHAT_USER=crowncloud
* ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD=crowncloud_password
* BOT_NAME=crowncloud

# you can add more scripts as you'd like here, they need to be installable by npm

* EXTERNAL_SCRIPTS=hubot-help,hubot-seen,hubot-links,hubot-diagnostics
 depends_on:
* rocketchat
 labels:
* "traefik.enable=false"
 volumes:
* ./scripts:/home/hubot/scripts

# this is used to expose the hubot port for notifications on the host on port 3001, e.g. for hubot-jenkins-notifier

 ports:

* 3002:8080

 #CrownCloud

Now, type Ctrl+O and type Ctrl+X to save and exit the file.

Start the installation process using the below command:

docker-compose up -d

The installation process will start now. It may take 5-10 mins to complete.

If you have a registration token to automatically register the workspace you can provide it with:

REG_TOKEN={your token here} docker-compose up -d

Optionally, if you want a bot, so you don't have to talk to yourself, after you've created an admin user and also a bot user, edit the file docker-compose.yml again to change the variables ROCKETCHAT_USER and ROCKETCHAT_PASSWORD in the hubot section and then start up hubot:

docker-compose up -d hubot

To update the rocketchat docker image to the latest version, you can use the following commands. Your data should not be affected by this, since it's located in the mongo image.

docker pull registry.rocket.chat/rocketchat/rocket.chat:latest

docker-compose stop rocketchat

docker-compose rm rocketchat

docker-compose up -d rocketchat

Automatic Startup & Crash Recovery

Let's enable automatic startup & crash recovery to Rocket.Chat, for that create below config files:

Create the upstart job for MongoDB

nano /etc/init/rocketchat_mongo.conf

Add the following configuration:

description "MongoDB service manager for rocketchat"

# Start MongoDB after docker is running

 start on (started docker)
 stop on runlevel [!2345]

# Automatically Respawn with finite limits

 respawn
 respawn limit 99 5

# Path to our app

 chdir /var/www/rocket.chat

 script
     # Showtime
     exec /usr/local/bin/docker-compose up mongo
 end script

Now, type Ctrl+O and type Ctrl+X to save and exit the file.

Create the upstart job for Rocket.Chat

nano /etc/init/rocketchat_app.conf

Add the following configuration:

description "Rocketchat service manager"

# Start Rocketchat only after mongo job is running

 start on (started rocketchat_mongo)
 stop on runlevel [!2345]

# Automatically Respawn with finite limits

 respawn
 respawn limit 99 5

# Path to our app

 chdir /var/www/rocket.chat

 script
     # Bring up rocketchat app and hubot
     exec /usr/local/bin/docker-compose up rocketchat hubot
 end script

Now, type Ctrl+O and type Ctrl+X to save and exit the file.