Introduction

Mattermost is an open-source messaging platform designed for team collaboration. In this guide, we will walk you through the installation of Mattermost on a Debian 12 server.

Prerequisites

• A server running Debian 12.
• Root access or a user with sudo privileges.
• Basic knowledge of the command line.

Step 1: Update the System

Ensure that your system is up to date. Run the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Install the necessary packages:

sudo apt install -y wget curl vim

Step 3: Install PostgreSQL Database

Mattermost requires a database to function. We will use PostgreSQL for this purpose:

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib

After installation, start the PostgreSQL service:

sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Log in to the PostgreSQL prompt:

sudo -u postgres psql

Create a new database and user for Mattermost:

CREATE DATABASE mattermost_db;
CREATE USER mattermost_user WITH PASSWORD 'your_password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE mattermost_db TO mattermost_user;
\q

Make sure to replace your_password with a strong and secure password.

Step 4: Install Mattermost

Download the latest version of Mattermost:

wget https://releases.mattermost.com/x.x.x/mattermost-x.x.x-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Replace x.x.x with the latest version number from the Mattermost download page.

Extract the downloaded file:

tar -xvzf mattermost-x.x.x-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Move the extracted files to the appropriate directory:

sudo mv mattermost /opt/mattermost

Create a data directory for Mattermost:

sudo mkdir /opt/mattermost/data

Step 5: Configure Mattermost

Edit the Mattermost configuration file:

sudo vim /opt/mattermost/config/config.json

Locate the following section and update it:

"DriverName": "postgres",
"DataSource": "mattermost_user:your_password@tcp(localhost:5432)/mattermost_db?sslmode=disable",

Make sure to replace your_password with the password you set for the PostgreSQL user earlier.

Step 6: Set Permissions

Set the correct permissions for the Mattermost directory:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/mattermost/*

Step 7: Start Mattermost

Start the Mattermost server:

sudo /opt/mattermost/bin/mattermost

Step 8: Access Mattermost Web Interface

Open a web browser and navigate to http://your_server_ip:8065. You should see the Mattermost setup page. Follow the prompts to configure your Mattermost instance.

Step 9: Enable Mattermost to Start on Boot (Optional)

If you want Mattermost to start automatically on system boot, create a systemd service file:

sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/mattermost.service

Paste the following content into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Mattermost
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
Group=www-data
ExecStart=/opt/mattermost/bin/mattermost
WorkingDirectory=/opt/mattermost
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and exit the editor, then enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable mattermost
sudo systemctl start mattermost

Conclusion

You have successfully installed Mattermost on Debian 12. You can now use the Mattermost messaging platform for team collaboration.

Resources

• Mattermost Download Page
• Official Mattermost Documentation