Yesterday, I installed a Chatmail Relay server. I used the information which I found at:
The process of installing a Chatmail Relay server turned out to be more complicated than the current documentation suggests. I’m happy to say that the relay is now running correctly, but it took quite some time to figure everything out. Is there perhaps more detailed installation documentation available elsewhere, or would it make sense to expand the existing setup instructions?
Hi,
Well, I don’t know if you have read the setup documentation?
I think a lot more needs to be done than the 5 steps that where written down, right? (or am I wrong (I am not a linux expert).
For example:
At the Relay host I had to disable Ubuntu’s default DNS service (systemd-resolved). I experienced some problems with port 53 and the standard DNS service on Ubuntu.
Is it correct that Chatmail runs its own DNS resolver and cannot coexist with Ubuntu’s default DNS service?
An other problem I experienced was the setup of the DNS records:
The setup documentation says: “This script will also check that you have all necessary DNS records. If DNS records are missing, it will recommend which you should configure at your DNS provider”
But - to my understanding - it is mandatory to change DNS settings on order to get the relay host working propperly.
what do you mean by installing chatmail core? what are you trying to do? normally you would install a client that uses the core library, not the core library itself.
The clients install effortlessly and run smoothly.
Delta Chat is in my opinion an very interesting project…
And I am curious to find out how Delta Chat is working (thats why i also installed a relay host).
One first problem is that the documentation states as a minimal requirement a Debian 12 system and you seem to be running Ubuntu - that could be a default choice with your provider but usually there is an option to change what Linux distribution to install.
Me too, as i said in my initial post… But that was not the point.
Ubuntu is Debian based, so I thought I would be okay. But on Debian, systemd-resolved is disabled? (port 53 caused a problem on my Ubuntu machine (a fresh install of Ubuntu).
And all the DNS records shown by $ scripts/cmdeploy dns…
Did you have to set them up, or where they only reccomanded?
In my opinion, everything is installed quite simply, the only thing I remember is setting up ssh for correct installation This video, in Russian with English subtitles, explains in detail how to do this, as well as how to set up the configuration file.
In order to help with information regarding setting up a chatmail relay server, I decided to take a stab at writing an easy step-by-step guide based on the official documentation and made a video in English to go along with it.
