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- <h1 id="msc1711-certificates-faq"><a class="header" href="#msc1711-certificates-faq">MSC1711 Certificates FAQ</a></h1>
- <h2 id="historical-note"><a class="header" href="#historical-note">Historical Note</a></h2>
- <p>This document was originally written to guide server admins through the upgrade
- path towards Synapse 1.0. Specifically,
- <a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/main/proposals/1711-x509-for-federation.md">MSC1711</a>
- required that all servers present valid TLS certificates on their federation
- API. Admins were encouraged to achieve compliance from version 0.99.0 (released
- in February 2019) ahead of version 1.0 (released June 2019) enforcing the
- certificate checks.</p>
- <p>Much of what follows is now outdated since most admins will have already
- upgraded, however it may be of use to those with old installs returning to the
- project.</p>
- <p>If you are setting up a server from scratch you almost certainly should look at
- the <a href="setup/installation.html">installation guide</a> instead.</p>
- <h2 id="introduction"><a class="header" href="#introduction">Introduction</a></h2>
- <p>The goal of Synapse 0.99.0 is to act as a stepping stone to Synapse 1.0.0. It
- supports the r0.1 release of the server to server specification, but is
- compatible with both the legacy Matrix federation behaviour (pre-r0.1) as well
- as post-r0.1 behaviour, in order to allow for a smooth upgrade across the
- federation.</p>
- <p>The most important thing to know is that Synapse 1.0.0 will require a valid TLS
- certificate on federation endpoints. Self signed certificates will not be
- sufficient.</p>
- <p>Synapse 0.99.0 makes it easy to configure TLS certificates and will
- interoperate with both >= 1.0.0 servers as well as existing servers yet to
- upgrade.</p>
- <p><strong>It is critical that all admins upgrade to 0.99.0 and configure a valid TLS
- certificate.</strong> Admins will have 1 month to do so, after which 1.0.0 will be
- released and those servers without a valid certificate will not longer be able
- to federate with >= 1.0.0 servers.</p>
- <p>Full details on how to carry out this configuration change is given
- <a href="#configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100">below</a>. A
- timeline and some frequently asked questions are also given below.</p>
- <p>For more details and context on the release of the r0.1 Server/Server API and
- imminent Matrix 1.0 release, you can also see our
- <a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2019/02/04/matrix-at-fosdem-2019/">main talk from FOSDEM 2019</a>.</p>
- <h2 id="contents"><a class="header" href="#contents">Contents</a></h2>
- <ul>
- <li>Timeline</li>
- <li>Configuring certificates for compatibility with Synapse 1.0</li>
- <li>FAQ
- <ul>
- <li>Synapse 0.99.0 has just been released, what do I need to do right now?</li>
- <li>How do I upgrade?</li>
- <li>What will happen if I do not set up a valid federation certificate
- immediately?</li>
- <li>What will happen if I do nothing at all?</li>
- <li>When do I need a SRV record or .well-known URI?</li>
- <li>Can I still use an SRV record?</li>
- <li>I have created a .well-known URI. Do I still need an SRV record?</li>
- <li>It used to work just fine, why are you breaking everything?</li>
- <li>Can I manage my own certificates rather than having Synapse renew
- certificates itself?</li>
- <li>Do you still recommend against using a reverse proxy on the federation port?</li>
- <li>Do I still need to give my TLS certificates to Synapse if I am using a
- reverse proxy?</li>
- <li>Do I need the same certificate for the client and federation port?</li>
- <li>How do I tell Synapse to reload my keys/certificates after I replace them?</li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- </ul>
- <h2 id="timeline"><a class="header" href="#timeline">Timeline</a></h2>
- <p><strong>5th Feb 2019 - Synapse 0.99.0 is released.</strong></p>
- <p>All server admins are encouraged to upgrade.</p>
- <p>0.99.0:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>
- <p>provides support for ACME to make setting up Let's Encrypt certs easy, as
- well as .well-known support.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>does not enforce that a valid CA cert is present on the federation API, but
- rather makes it easy to set one up.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>provides support for .well-known</p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- <p>Admins should upgrade and configure a valid CA cert. Homeservers that require a
- .well-known entry (see below), should retain their SRV record and use it
- alongside their .well-known record.</p>
- <p><strong>10th June 2019 - Synapse 1.0.0 is released</strong></p>
- <p>1.0.0 is scheduled for release on 10th June. In
- accordance with the the <a href="https://matrix.org/docs/spec/server_server/r0.1.0.html">S2S spec</a>
- 1.0.0 will enforce certificate validity. This means that any homeserver without a
- valid certificate after this point will no longer be able to federate with
- 1.0.0 servers.</p>
- <h2 id="configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100"><a class="header" href="#configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100">Configuring certificates for compatibility with Synapse 1.0.0</a></h2>
- <h3 id="if-you-do-not-currently-have-an-srv-record"><a class="header" href="#if-you-do-not-currently-have-an-srv-record">If you do not currently have an SRV record</a></h3>
- <p>In this case, your <code>server_name</code> points to the host where your Synapse is
- running. There is no need to create a <code>.well-known</code> URI or an SRV record, but
- you will need to give Synapse a valid, signed, certificate.</p>
- <h3 id="if-you-do-have-an-srv-record-currently"><a class="header" href="#if-you-do-have-an-srv-record-currently">If you do have an SRV record currently</a></h3>
- <p>If you are using an SRV record, your matrix domain (<code>server_name</code>) may not
- point to the same host that your Synapse is running on (the 'target
- domain'). (If it does, you can follow the recommendation above; otherwise, read
- on.)</p>
- <p>Let's assume that your <code>server_name</code> is <code>example.com</code>, and your Synapse is
- hosted at a target domain of <code>customer.example.net</code>. Currently you should have
- an SRV record which looks like:</p>
- <pre><code>_matrix._tcp.example.com. IN SRV 10 5 8000 customer.example.net.
- </code></pre>
- <p>In this situation, you have three choices for how to proceed:</p>
- <h4 id="option-1-give-synapse-a-certificate-for-your-matrix-domain"><a class="header" href="#option-1-give-synapse-a-certificate-for-your-matrix-domain">Option 1: give Synapse a certificate for your matrix domain</a></h4>
- <p>Synapse 1.0 will expect your server to present a TLS certificate for your
- <code>server_name</code> (<code>example.com</code> in the above example). You can achieve this by acquiring a
- certificate for the <code>server_name</code> yourself (for example, using <code>certbot</code>), and giving it
- and the key to Synapse via <code>tls_certificate_path</code> and <code>tls_private_key_path</code>.</p>
- <h4 id="option-2-run-synapse-behind-a-reverse-proxy"><a class="header" href="#option-2-run-synapse-behind-a-reverse-proxy">Option 2: run Synapse behind a reverse proxy</a></h4>
- <p>If you have an existing reverse proxy set up with correct TLS certificates for
- your domain, you can simply route all traffic through the reverse proxy by
- updating the SRV record appropriately (or removing it, if the proxy listens on
- 8448).</p>
- <p>See <a href="reverse_proxy.html">the reverse proxy documentation</a> for information on setting up a
- reverse proxy.</p>
- <h4 id="option-3-add-a-well-known-file-to-delegate-your-matrix-traffic"><a class="header" href="#option-3-add-a-well-known-file-to-delegate-your-matrix-traffic">Option 3: add a .well-known file to delegate your matrix traffic</a></h4>
- <p>This will allow you to keep Synapse on a separate domain, without having to
- give it a certificate for the matrix domain.</p>
- <p>You can do this with a <code>.well-known</code> file as follows:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>
- <p>Keep the SRV record in place - it is needed for backwards compatibility
- with Synapse 0.34 and earlier.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Give Synapse a certificate corresponding to the target domain
- (<code>customer.example.net</code> in the above example). You can do this by acquire a
- certificate for the target domain and giving it to Synapse via <code>tls_certificate_path</code>
- and <code>tls_private_key_path</code>.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Restart Synapse to ensure the new certificate is loaded.</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>Arrange for a <code>.well-known</code> file at
- <code>https://<server_name>/.well-known/matrix/server</code> with contents:</p>
- <pre><code class="language-json">{"m.server": "<target server name>"}
- </code></pre>
- <p>where the target server name is resolved as usual (i.e. SRV lookup, falling
- back to talking to port 8448).</p>
- <p>In the above example, where synapse is listening on port 8000,
- <code>https://example.com/.well-known/matrix/server</code> should have <code>m.server</code> set to one of:</p>
- <ol>
- <li>
- <p><code>customer.example.net</code> ─ with a SRV record on
- <code>_matrix._tcp.customer.example.com</code> pointing to port 8000, or:</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p><code>customer.example.net</code> ─ updating synapse to listen on the default port
- 8448, or:</p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p><code>customer.example.net:8000</code> ─ ensuring that if there is a reverse proxy
- on <code>customer.example.net:8000</code> it correctly handles HTTP requests with
- Host header set to <code>customer.example.net:8000</code>.</p>
- </li>
- </ol>
- </li>
- </ol>
- <h2 id="faq"><a class="header" href="#faq">FAQ</a></h2>
- <h3 id="synapse-0990-has-just-been-released-what-do-i-need-to-do-right-now"><a class="header" href="#synapse-0990-has-just-been-released-what-do-i-need-to-do-right-now">Synapse 0.99.0 has just been released, what do I need to do right now?</a></h3>
- <p>Upgrade as soon as you can in preparation for Synapse 1.0.0, and update your
- TLS certificates as <a href="#configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100">above</a>.</p>
- <h3 id="what-will-happen-if-i-do-not-set-up-a-valid-federation-certificate-immediately"><a class="header" href="#what-will-happen-if-i-do-not-set-up-a-valid-federation-certificate-immediately">What will happen if I do not set up a valid federation certificate immediately?</a></h3>
- <p>Nothing initially, but once 1.0.0 is in the wild it will not be possible to
- federate with 1.0.0 servers.</p>
- <h3 id="what-will-happen-if-i-do-nothing-at-all"><a class="header" href="#what-will-happen-if-i-do-nothing-at-all">What will happen if I do nothing at all?</a></h3>
- <p>If the admin takes no action at all, and remains on a Synapse < 0.99.0 then the
- homeserver will be unable to federate with those who have implemented
- .well-known. Then, as above, once the month upgrade window has expired the
- homeserver will not be able to federate with any Synapse >= 1.0.0</p>
- <h3 id="when-do-i-need-a-srv-record-or-well-known-uri"><a class="header" href="#when-do-i-need-a-srv-record-or-well-known-uri">When do I need a SRV record or .well-known URI?</a></h3>
- <p>If your homeserver listens on the default federation port (8448), and your
- <code>server_name</code> points to the host that your homeserver runs on, you do not need an
- SRV record or <code>.well-known/matrix/server</code> URI.</p>
- <p>For instance, if you registered <code>example.com</code> and pointed its DNS A record at a
- fresh Upcloud VPS or similar, you could install Synapse 0.99 on that host,
- giving it a server_name of <code>example.com</code>, and it would automatically generate a
- valid TLS certificate for you via Let's Encrypt and no SRV record or
- <code>.well-known</code> URI would be needed.</p>
- <p>This is the common case, although you can add an SRV record or
- <code>.well-known/matrix/server</code> URI for completeness if you wish.</p>
- <p><strong>However</strong>, if your server does not listen on port 8448, or if your <code>server_name</code>
- does not point to the host that your homeserver runs on, you will need to let
- other servers know how to find it.</p>
- <p>In this case, you should see <a href="#if-you-do-have-an-srv-record-currently">"If you do have an SRV record
- currently"</a> above.</p>
- <h3 id="can-i-still-use-an-srv-record"><a class="header" href="#can-i-still-use-an-srv-record">Can I still use an SRV record?</a></h3>
- <p>Firstly, if you didn't need an SRV record before (because your server is
- listening on port 8448 of your server_name), you certainly don't need one now:
- the defaults are still the same.</p>
- <p>If you previously had an SRV record, you can keep using it provided you are
- able to give Synapse a TLS certificate corresponding to your server name. For
- example, suppose you had the following SRV record, which directs matrix traffic
- for example.com to matrix.example.com:443:</p>
- <pre><code>_matrix._tcp.example.com. IN SRV 10 5 443 matrix.example.com
- </code></pre>
- <p>In this case, Synapse must be given a certificate for example.com - or be
- configured to acquire one from Let's Encrypt.</p>
- <p>If you are unable to give Synapse a certificate for your server_name, you will
- also need to use a .well-known URI instead. However, see also "I have created a
- .well-known URI. Do I still need an SRV record?".</p>
- <h3 id="i-have-created-a-well-known-uri-do-i-still-need-an-srv-record"><a class="header" href="#i-have-created-a-well-known-uri-do-i-still-need-an-srv-record">I have created a .well-known URI. Do I still need an SRV record?</a></h3>
- <p>As of Synapse 0.99, Synapse will first check for the existence of a <code>.well-known</code>
- URI and follow any delegation it suggests. It will only then check for the
- existence of an SRV record.</p>
- <p>That means that the SRV record will often be redundant. However, you should
- remember that there may still be older versions of Synapse in the federation
- which do not understand <code>.well-known</code> URIs, so if you removed your SRV record you
- would no longer be able to federate with them.</p>
- <p>It is therefore best to leave the SRV record in place for now. Synapse 0.34 and
- earlier will follow the SRV record (and not care about the invalid
- certificate). Synapse 0.99 and later will follow the .well-known URI, with the
- correct certificate chain.</p>
- <h3 id="it-used-to-work-just-fine-why-are-you-breaking-everything"><a class="header" href="#it-used-to-work-just-fine-why-are-you-breaking-everything">It used to work just fine, why are you breaking everything?</a></h3>
- <p>We have always wanted Matrix servers to be as easy to set up as possible, and
- so back when we started federation in 2014 we didn't want admins to have to go
- through the cumbersome process of buying a valid TLS certificate to run a
- server. This was before Let's Encrypt came along and made getting a free and
- valid TLS certificate straightforward. So instead, we adopted a system based on
- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(SSL)">Perspectives</a>: an approach
- where you check a set of "notary servers" (in practice, homeservers) to vouch
- for the validity of a certificate rather than having it signed by a CA. As long
- as enough different notaries agree on the certificate's validity, then it is
- trusted.</p>
- <p>However, in practice this has never worked properly. Most people only use the
- default notary server (matrix.org), leading to inadvertent centralisation which
- we want to eliminate. Meanwhile, we never implemented the full consensus
- algorithm to query the servers participating in a room to determine consensus
- on whether a given certificate is valid. This is fiddly to get right
- (especially in face of sybil attacks), and we found ourselves questioning
- whether it was worth the effort to finish the work and commit to maintaining a
- secure certificate validation system as opposed to focusing on core Matrix
- development.</p>
- <p>Meanwhile, Let's Encrypt came along in 2016, and put the final nail in the
- coffin of the Perspectives project (which was already pretty dead). So, the
- Spec Core Team decided that a better approach would be to mandate valid TLS
- certificates for federation alongside the rest of the Web. More details can be
- found in
- <a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/main/proposals/1711-x509-for-federation.md#background-the-failure-of-the-perspectives-approach">MSC1711</a>.</p>
- <p>This results in a breaking change, which is disruptive, but absolutely critical
- for the security model. However, the existence of Let's Encrypt as a trivial
- way to replace the old self-signed certificates with valid CA-signed ones helps
- smooth things over massively, especially as Synapse can now automate Let's
- Encrypt certificate generation if needed.</p>
- <h3 id="can-i-manage-my-own-certificates-rather-than-having-synapse-renew-certificates-itself"><a class="header" href="#can-i-manage-my-own-certificates-rather-than-having-synapse-renew-certificates-itself">Can I manage my own certificates rather than having Synapse renew certificates itself?</a></h3>
- <p>Yes, you are welcome to manage your certificates yourself. Synapse will only
- attempt to obtain certificates from Let's Encrypt if you configure it to do
- so.The only requirement is that there is a valid TLS cert present for
- federation end points.</p>
- <h3 id="do-you-still-recommend-against-using-a-reverse-proxy-on-the-federation-port"><a class="header" href="#do-you-still-recommend-against-using-a-reverse-proxy-on-the-federation-port">Do you still recommend against using a reverse proxy on the federation port?</a></h3>
- <p>We no longer actively recommend against using a reverse proxy. Many admins will
- find it easier to direct federation traffic to a reverse proxy and manage their
- own TLS certificates, and this is a supported configuration.</p>
- <p>See <a href="reverse_proxy.html">the reverse proxy documentation</a> for information on setting up a
- reverse proxy.</p>
- <h3 id="do-i-still-need-to-give-my-tls-certificates-to-synapse-if-i-am-using-a-reverse-proxy"><a class="header" href="#do-i-still-need-to-give-my-tls-certificates-to-synapse-if-i-am-using-a-reverse-proxy">Do I still need to give my TLS certificates to Synapse if I am using a reverse proxy?</a></h3>
- <p>Practically speaking, this is no longer necessary.</p>
- <p>If you are using a reverse proxy for all of your TLS traffic, then you can set
- <code>no_tls: True</code>. In that case, the only reason Synapse needs the certificate is
- to populate a legacy 'tls_fingerprints' field in the federation API. This is
- ignored by Synapse 0.99.0 and later, and the only time pre-0.99 Synapses will
- check it is when attempting to fetch the server keys - and generally this is
- delegated via <code>matrix.org</code>, which is on 0.99.0.</p>
- <p>However, there is a bug in Synapse 0.99.0
- <a href="https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/4554">4554</a> which prevents
- Synapse from starting if you do not give it a TLS certificate. To work around
- this, you can give it any TLS certificate at all. This will be fixed soon.</p>
- <h3 id="do-i-need-the-same-certificate-for-the-client-and-federation-port"><a class="header" href="#do-i-need-the-same-certificate-for-the-client-and-federation-port">Do I need the same certificate for the client and federation port?</a></h3>
- <p>No. There is nothing stopping you from using different certificates,
- particularly if you are using a reverse proxy. However, Synapse will use the
- same certificate on any ports where TLS is configured.</p>
- <h3 id="how-do-i-tell-synapse-to-reload-my-keyscertificates-after-i-replace-them"><a class="header" href="#how-do-i-tell-synapse-to-reload-my-keyscertificates-after-i-replace-them">How do I tell Synapse to reload my keys/certificates after I replace them?</a></h3>
- <p>Synapse will reload the keys and certificates when it receives a SIGHUP - for
- example <code>kill -HUP $(cat homeserver.pid)</code>. Alternatively, simply restart
- Synapse, though this will result in downtime while it restarts.</p>
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