Introduction
This is the second part of the tutorial on how to deploy Rocket.Chat on AWS (Amazon Web Services). In part one we saw how to configure an instance, get a SSL certificate and configure Route 53. Now, it’s time to set up NGINX, Docker and finally Rocket.Chat.
Install and configure NGINX
On the EC2 instance, install NGINX, which is available in the Ubuntu repositories:
# apt install nginx
Then configure it. To do this, first make a backup of the default configuration files:
# cd /etc/nginx/sites-available # mv default default.backup
Next, create a new one:
# $EDITOR /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
In that, paste the following content:
server {
listen 443 ssl;
<strong>server_name mydomain.com;</strong>
<strong> ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/mydomain.com/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/mydomain.com/privkey.pem;
</strong> ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers 'EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH';
root /usr/share/nginx/html;
index index.html index.htm;
# Make site accessible from http://localhost/
server_name localhost;
location / {
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forward-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forward-Proto http;
proxy_set_header X-Nginx-Proxy true;
proxy_redirect off;
}
}
server {
listen 80;
<strong>server_name mydomain.com;
</strong> return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}
This removes the listening on port 80, and the traffic is redirected on port 443, with SSL offering a secure connection. Lines 4 and 5 are the paths to the certificate and certificate key generated in the previous part of this tutorial.
In theÂ
 section,  NGINX is configured as reverse proxy to forward to port 3000, which is the one used by Rocket.Chat.
Save, exit and stop NGINX:
# service nginx stop
Test NGINX with:
# nginx -t
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
Now it’s time to start the web server:
# service nginx start
Go with a web browser to mydomain.com. A page displaying a 502 Bad Gateway will appear, this is ok! The important part is to check in the address bar if there is a lock, which means that the connection is correctly secured by Let’s Encrypt Authority X1. The certificate will expire in 90 days, so remember to renew it.
Install Docker
On the instance, install Docker and its dependencies by executing the following command:
# sudo wget -qO- https://get.docker.com/ | sh
Next, to use Docker as the non-root user, add the ubuntu user to the docker group:
# usermod -aG docker ubuntu
Next, install Docker Compose:
# curl -L https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.4.2/docker-compose-Linux-x86_64 > /usr/local/bin/docker-compose # chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
Set up containers
First of all, create the following directories:
# mkdir -p /var/www/rocket.chat/data/runtime/db # mkdir -p /var/www/rocket.chat/data/dump
Next, create a new compose configuration file:
# $EDITOR /var/www/rocket.chat/docker-compose.yml
In that file, paste the following content:
db:
image: mongo:3.0
volumes:
- ./data/runtime/db:/data/db
- ./data/dump:/dump
command: mongod --smallfiles
rocketchat:
image: rocketchat/rocket.chat:latest
environment:
- MONGO_URL=mongodb://db:27017/rocketchat
- <strong>ROOT_URL=https://mydomain.com</strong>
links:
- db:db
ports:
- 3000:3000
Configure Upstart
Let’s use Upstart to manage MongoDB and Rocket.Chat start and restart services. Create a new file for MongoDB:
# $EDITOR /etc/init/rocket_chat_mongo.conf
In it, paste:
description "MongoDB service for Rocket.Chat"
# 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 db
end script
Save, exit, and make the same for Rocket.Chat:
# $EDITOR /etc/init/rocket_chat.conf
Pasting there:
description "Rocket.Chat service manager"
# Start Rocket.Chat 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
<strong>chdir /var/www/rocket.chat</strong>
script
# Bring up Rocket.Chat app
exec /usr/local/bin/docker-compose up rocketchat
end script
Save and exit.
Conclusion
Restart the server; after the new logging in. Docker should download and set up images. After a few minutes, these can be seen with the following command:
# docker ps -a
Or, looking at the Upstart jobs log files:
# cat /var/log/upstart/rocket_chat_mongo.log # cat /var/log/upstart/rocket_chat.log
From here you can use any web browser to go to mydomain.com, create a new admin user and start using Rocket.Chat.
. Now, it's time to set up NGINX, Docker and finally Rocket.Chat.){kind=link}