How do I install Delta Chat on a VPS? 📡 [chatmail relay with a single click]

Chatmail Relays
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1

Hello everyone :waving_hand:

Could you please tell me how to install Delta Chat on a VPS? I have a few questions and would be grateful for your help.:raising_hands::folded_hands:

  1. Is there a one-click installation script available on GitHub or in the VPS installation documentation? For example, the terminal asks me to enter a domain, and so on

  2. What specifications should I look for when buying a VPS to ensure messages arrive quickly, and that I can send large videos (e.g. 50–100 MB)
    as well as photos? I also want high call quality.

For example, would the following be sufficient:

1 Core - AMD Epyc Rome 3.35 GHz+

2GB - ECC DDR4

35GB - Intel Enterprise NVMe Storage (ZFS)

1x - IPv4 Address

100 Mbit/s Port
  1. On which operating system does Delta Chat work best (most stably)? For example, Debian 12, Arch Linux, Artix Linux (OpenRC) or Trisquel?
2

Hi!

I am a bit confused: you want to install a Delta Chat server?

3

I don’t think that single-click installation scripts are available for chatmail yet. You can use either a script or Docker.

The specification mentioned above should be more than enough.

You should prefer a provider that is close to the bulk of your users, because the throughput to clients and other servers can be much lower if it goes through foreign exchanges compared to traversing domestic routes (the advertised bandwidth capability).

You should preferably opt for a provider that gives you at least a day of trial period or one that you can cancel cheaply, so you can test whether they allow SMTP/IMAP ports (some only do on demand), setting up FCrDNS correctly and benchmark call jitter.

How many users would you like to host? If you are a budget, you can trade-off a slower CPU and less RAM in exchange for more bandwidth, IPv6 and more storage (even if slower). I don’t have experience with this, but you might see more stable call jitter with two slow CPU cores than if you are only allocated one. A possibly greater difference could be seen between providers (i.e., getting assigned two cores on an overcrowded machine might perform worse than if you were assigned a single core on a less loaded machine).

Debian 12 is recommended:

4

Hi.

I understand why you’re surprised, but this phrasing is more common among users looking for an answer to this question.
Aren’t you surprised when you see a question like: “How do I set up my own XMPP or Matrix server?”
If this really bothers you, I can change it to:
“How do I set up my own Delta Chat server?”

5

Thank you very much for the detailed response.

As for the operating system and VPS requirements, I understand that I need to test them.
I’d like to set up a “chatmail relay” for communication among 10 people who will be sending messages to each other, possibly including large photos and videos ranging from 50 to 100 MB.
I never use IPv6; I don’t need it.

As I understand it, the link you provided is the instruction manual.
Okay, I’ll give it a try. Thanks.

6

While not all clients support IPv6, a high proportion of servers do. Configuring your server to support IPv6 improves federation with servers of other participants. It also allows installing chatmail on more affordable providers, because at the low end, the monthly cost of an IPv4 address is comparable to the cost of the device itself.

7

The difference in the solution provided here (well, one of them) is that the developers have provided an installation method that’s also LifeCycle Management. This script (cmdeploy) handles:

  • Initial relay setup (including SSL certs for all endpoints)
  • Continual website dev/deployment workflow (look & feel)
  • Server readiness tests (available ports, deprecated settings, etc.)
  • Server holistic tests (operational tasks)
  • Upgrades of the server (routine chatmail releases)
  • Deploying small tools to the server for admins (disk space checks, user removal, etc.)
  • Networking checks (including DNS compliance)
  • (Optional) End-to-end tests with another relay for 100% operational checks
  • …things I’m forgetting

A “one click” install is typically a very small subset of what the chatmail relay devs have assembled above using pyinfra tooling; it’s not just deploying a docker image, it’s a solution designed to maintain your relay long term which integrates with the underlying OS.

8

Thank you very much for your answer.
But security is more important to me; I always disable IPV6 on the server.

9

Thank you so much for your reply.
I understand that everything you wrote is important, but automating the process—especially now that AL is active—is crucial!

I’m sure a one-click script for installing and configuring relays is a very useful solution.
I bought a VPS, downloaded the script, installed and configured the relay—there are hundreds of examples like this on GitHub!
To draw an analogy, some people prefer installing a pre-built operating system: they burn an image, plug in a USB drive, and everything works out of the box.
Others prefer to install the base version and then install whatever they like on top of it. And 98% of users worldwide choose the out-of-the-box installation, if not 99%.
That’s my opinion; I understand that others may have a different view