![\"How](\"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/mattermost-on-qnap-container-station.png\" "\\"How")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhy Use Mattermost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mattermost is a pretty amazing opensource option for an enterprise grade chat \/ instant messaging platform. Mattermost is a solid alternative to Rocket Chat and Slack in so many ways, but yet so much more! Mattermost provides Boards<\/strong> for project management that replaces the need for Trello in a management suite. In addition Mattermost has built in Playbooks<\/strong> as a cool tool for ensuring repeatable processes are executed with precision over and over!<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Mattermost offers a free version, there is a paid tier that adds additional features and unlocks some premium features. More information can be can be found on the Mattermost pricing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the QNAP App Center<\/strong> there is an app for Mattermost. Installing through the App Center<\/strong> will quickly get Mattermost up and running. However, it is highly outdated (version 5.5, current version at the time of writing is 7.9) to the point that the mobile and desktop applications no longer work with this version. It can be accessed through a web browser. The app in App Center<\/strong> is NOT provided by QNAP and thus they will not maintain this app with updated versions. The maintainer of this app obviously has chosen to not update it. There are others out there publishing more up to date apps that can be manually installed, however in my experience those were not stable\/reliable options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully QNAP provides Container Station<\/strong> and Mattermost is available as a Docker container. Thus, a simple path to a successful installation is available. There is one (solvable) caveat here – Mattermost requires Postgres as the database to store the chat data in. And thankfully, there’s a container for that<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All that said, the solution to run Mattermost on a QNAP NAS is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Postgres<\/a> is a database using SQL (standard query language). This is where all the data for Mattermost will be stored – the conversations, users, boards, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These instructions will install Postgres with Container Station 2 in Container Station. Additionally this will install phppgadmin as well – a web interface that can be used to access and manage the Postgres database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Postgres is now installed and running. Clicking on the Container<\/strong> left hand menu option in Container Station<\/strong> should show Memory and CPU usage for this container to confirm it’s online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A database needs to be created in Postgres for the Mattermost application. This should be done before setting up the Mattermost container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that a database has been setup all the pre-requisites are complete. The next step is to install Mattermost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mattermost is the actual chat software that needs to be installed. It’ll utilize the Postges database that was created above to store the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two ways to install Mattermost in Container Station. It is strongly suggested that you utilize an Application<\/strong> within Container Station (Option 1<\/a>) using Mattermost yml configuration as it provides a bit more flexibility in the setup that results in controlling where the data for the container is stored. This is important for when the version is updated [tutorial<\/a>] that it always references the same volume. If not, images, log data, etc. will not be connected and will result in an issue. The alternative method is to install a Container<\/strong> using the Container Station GUI (Option 2<\/a>). This method doesn’t provide the necessary ability to set the Linux user and container directories correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the strong recommendation to install Mattermost via an Application (Option 1<\/a>), both options are provided here as a reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When creating the application, a location to store images and files will be defined. This can be reused when installing future updated versions of the Mattermost docker image. This makes for easy upgrades in the future with no degradation to the user experience as the locations referenced in the database will always point to the location specified in the yml configuration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re not familiar with yml (or yaml) configuration, don’t worry. The supplied sample below is complete and provides what is needed to get up and running. YAML (which stands for yet another markup language<\/em>) is a clean simple way to define configuration that Docker (the technology that is really running behind Container Station) uses to setup your system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Mattermost will be writing data (images, files, logs, etc.) to the filesystem a Linux\/QNAP username and group need to be specified in the yaml configuration. Technically speaking the After that is done, we get the Docker image and use it in an Application and Mattermost will be up and running!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A directory needs to be made to store the Mattermost content (images, log data, etc.) in the filesystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users and groups in a Linux operating system (Linux is the kernel that QNAP runs on) are assigned a numeric ID. These will be needed to configure the Mattermost Application yaml. Sadly QNAP doesn’t expose these IDs in the web admin, so SSH access will be needed to find these IDs. If you don’t have SSH access setup to the server yet, follow the QNAP SSH tutorial<\/a> to get that access setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Linux stores the user and group information in files Mattermost publishes an image of their software on Docker Hub<\/a> that will be used by the Container Station application in QNAP to run Mattermost. That image needs to be fetched from Docker Hub to the QNAP server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’ll take a little while for the image to pull down. A progress bar is shown in the top right corner of the Container Station<\/strong> window in the Background Tasks<\/strong> dropdown menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the steps above finally lead to the point we’ve really wanted to get to – being able to actually install Mattermost! This step is where the Mattermost software will be installed onto the QNAP server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This method utilizes the pre-built container configuration provided by the Mattermost docker container. The container is created using the Container Station graphical interface. This will result in a system-defined location of the volume that will not persist when the container is updated [tutorial<\/a>] in Container Station to a newer version of Mattermost, thus breaking all of the images and files shared in Mattermost. This is a very fast and easy method to setup, though the speed gain is negligible over Option 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Needed to Run Mattermost on a QNAP NAS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Wrong Way to Install Mattermost on QNAP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The RIGHT Way to Install Mattermost on QNAP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Install Postgres via Container Station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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POSTGRES_USER<\/code> and POSTGRES_PASSWORD<\/code> variables in the postgres<\/code> environment<\/code> section. The default for both are qnap_postgres<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n\n
\/share\/Container\/postgresdb:\/var\/lib\/postgresql\/data<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\npoastgres<\/code> volumes<\/code> section of the YAML configuration here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n
Create a Database for Mattermost in Postgres<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Open](\"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-2.png\")
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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\nInstall Mattermost via Container Station<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Option 1: Create an Application in Container Station (preferred<\/strong> method)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
admin:administrators<\/code> user and group pair could be used (0:0<\/code>). This is bad practice however as that user has the highest level of access to the system. If you don’t know much about cyber-security consider this your first lesson: don’t give software any more access\/privileges than it needs. Software can’t be malicious if it doesn’t have access to things it shouldn’t. (case and point: lastpass hacked through a developers installation of Plex on their device<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\nCreate a Directory to Store Mattermost Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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+<\/code> folder icon and choose Folder<\/strong> to create a new folder<\/li>\n\n\n\nmattermost<\/code> and click Ok<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nCreate a QNAP User and Group<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Integrations<\/code> into the User group name:<\/strong> field<\/li>\n\n\n\n\n
Mattermost<\/code> in the Username<\/strong> field<\/li>\n\n\n\nIntegrations<\/code> group<\/li>\n\n\n\nContainer<\/code> directory and Deny<\/strong> for all of the other directories.<\/li>\n\n\n\n![\"Create](\"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-1024x603.png\" "\\"Create")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nGet the New User and Group IDs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\/etc\/passwd<\/code> and \/etc\/groups<\/code> respectively. A command line based program called grep<\/code> can search a file and return the lines that match. Another program awk<\/code> can be used to parse the line returned to get just specific data that is desired. These values will be needed in the step below for the Mattermost yaml code.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGet User ID (UID) via Command Line for Specific User Name<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
grep Container \/etc\/passwd | awk -F ':' '{ print $3; }'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nGet Group ID (GID) via Command Line for Specific Group Name<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
grep Integrations \/etc\/group | awk -F ':' '{ print $3; }'<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nGet the Mattermost Image from Docker Hub<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Docker Hub<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\nmattermost\/mattermost-enterprise-edition<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\nlatest<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\nCreate the Mattermost Application in Container Station<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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mattermostenterprise77<\/code> (alphanumeric only allowed)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<sample><\/code> with your specific values.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nversion: \"3\"\n\nservices:\n mattermost:\n image: mattermost\/mattermost-enterprise-edition:latest\n restart: unless-stopped\n user: <qnap_user_id>:<qnap_group_id>\n environment:\n MM_FEATUREFLAGS_BoardsProduct: true\n MM_NO_DOCKER: true\n MM_SERVICESETTINGS_SITEURL: http:\/\/<ip-address-of-the-qnap-server>:8065<\/span> MM_SQLSETTINGS_DATASOURCE: postgres:\/\/<postres-username-from-postres-app-setup>:<\/span><postres-password-from-postres-app-setup>@127.0.0.1:5432\/mattermost?sslmode=disable&connect_timeout=10<\/span><\/code><\/code> PATH: \/mattermost\/bin:\/usr\/local\/sbin:\/usr\/local\/bin:\/usr\/sbin:\/usr\/bin:\/sbin:\/bin\n volumes:\n - \/share\/Container\/mattermost\/client\/plugins:\/mattermost\/client\/plugins\n - \/share\/Container\/mattermost\/config:\/mattermost\/config\n - \/share\/Container\/mattermost\/data:\/mattermost\/data\n - \/share\/Container\/mattermost\/logs:\/mattermost\/logs\n - \/share\/Container\/mattermost\/plugins:\/mattermost\/plugins\n network_mode: host<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n\n
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Option 2: Install a Container in Container Station (non-preferred method)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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mattermost<\/code> in the search box<\/li>\n\n\n\nmattermost\/mattermost-enterprise-edition<\/code> option.\n\n
mattermost\/mattermost-team-edition<\/code> is a usable option as well however not recommended. The enterprise<\/code> option is the full suite which includes the team<\/code> version in it. If a paid plan will be used, enterprise<\/code> is the required option here. The Mattermost explanation of the difference of these options can be found here: Mattermost Editions Explained<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n![\"Install](\"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/install-mattermost-enterprise-container-from-docker-hub.png\")
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