How to Install Rocket.Chat on Arch Linux

Rocket.Chat is an open-source team communication platform that can be self-hosted on your own server. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Rocket.Chat on your Arch Linux server.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• A Linux server running Arch Linux
• A user account with sudo privileges
• A web server like Nginx or Apache installed and running
• MongoDB installed and running

Step 1: Install Node.js

Rocket.Chat is built on top of Node.js, so the first thing you’ll need to do is install it on your server. Execute this command:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

Step 2: Download Rocket.Chat

Download the latest version of Rocket.Chat from the official website. You can download it with wget:

wget https://releases.rocket.chat/latest/download -O rocket.chat.tgz

Step 3: Extract the Rocket.Chat archive

Extract the downloaded archive in your preferred directory:

tar -xzf rocket.chat.tgz

Step 4: Start Rocket.Chat

Navigate to the extracted directory and start the Rocket.Chat server:

cd bundle/
node main.js

This will start the server on port 3000. If you want to use a different port, use the --port option followed by the port number.

For example:

node main.js --port 8080

Step 5: Configure Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

A reverse proxy provides an additional layer of security and can also help with load balancing. To use Nginx as a reverse proxy, first, install it:

sudo pacman -S nginx

Create a new configuration file for your Rocket.Chat server in Nginx’s sites-available folder:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/rocketchat

Paste the following configuration in the file:

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name chat.example.com;  # Change this to your domain name
  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 $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
  }
}

Save and exit the file.

Then, create a symbolic link between the sites-available and sites-enabled folders:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/rocketchat /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Finally, restart Nginx:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Rocket.Chat on your Arch Linux server, and configured Nginx to act as a reverse proxy. You can now proceed to create users and manage your team communication using Rocket.Chat.

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