Rocket.Chat on Debian

This installation guide was tested in the following environment:
Rocket.Chat 4.6.0
OS: Debian 11, 10, 9
Mongodb 5.0
NodeJS 14.18.3
Requirements
MongoDB
Please refer to the official MongoDB documentation on how to install MongoDB on Debian. For the list of supported versions, see our documentation here.
NodeJS
Follow the official guide to install NodeJS on a Debian system. Check out our page on supported node version for your specific version. You can also use third-party tools like nvm or n.
Install Rocket.Chat
Install required packages/dependencies
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sudo apt install -y curl build-essential graphicsmagick
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To download the latest Rocket.Chat version run the following command:
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curl -L https://releases.rocket.chat/latest/download -o /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz
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You can also use wget.
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wget https://releases.rocket.chat/latest/download -O /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz
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You can also download a specific version by replacing latest by the version number. E.g.
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wget https://releases.rocket.chat/4.1.2/download -O /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz
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Extract the archive with tar:
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tar xzf /tmp/rocket.chat.tgz -C /tmp
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You should now see a new directory under /tmp named bundle.
Next, install all the node dependencies:
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(cd /tmp/bundle/programs/server; npm i)
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If you're doing all this under the root user, which is not recommended, you'll need to pass the --unsafe-perm flag to npm along with sudo.
/tmp has been a temporary non-root user-writable location to prepare the bundle. For this guide, we're going to use /opt to be the final location but you can choose any other. Whatever may it be, if not/opt, make sure you change the location in all the other places it is specified.
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sudo mv /tmp/bundle /opt/Rocket.Chat
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Configure the Rocket.Chat service
Add the rocketchat user, set the right permissions on the Rocket.Chat folder and create the Rocket.Chat service file:
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sudo useradd -M rocketchat && sudo usermod -L rocketchat
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sudo chown -R rocketchat:rocketchat /opt/Rocket.Chat
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Depending on how you install NodeJs, the path to the binary can be different. Save the current path in a variable
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NODE_PATH=$(which node)
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Now create the systemd service file
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cat << EOF |sudo tee -a /lib/systemd/system/rocketchat.service
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[Unit]
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Description=The Rocket.Chat server
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After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target nginx.service mongod.service
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[Service]
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ExecStart=$NODE_PATH /opt/Rocket.Chat/main.js
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StandardOutput=syslog
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StandardError=syslog
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SyslogIdentifier=rocketchat
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User=rocketchat
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[Install]
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WantedBy=multi-user.target
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EOF
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The command above will create a barebone service file, this service file is what systemd will use to start your Rocket.Chat daemon/process.
Passing environment variables
Next you need to pass some environment variables to the running process. For more information of configuring via environment variables read this article.
Run:
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sudo systemctl edit rocketchat
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It should open up a text editor. Now write down the following,
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[Service]
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Environment=ROOT_URL=http://localhost:3000
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Environment=PORT=3000
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Environment=MONGO_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/rocketchat?replicaSet=rs01
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Environment=MONGO_OPLOG_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/local?replicaSet=rs01
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Change the values as you need. Save and exit.
MongoDB Configuration
Open the MongoDB config file (/etc/mongod.conf) in your favourite text editor. It is a simple YAML file.
Set the storage engine to wiredTiger.
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storage:
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  engine: wiredTiger
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Enable replication, and name the replicaset rs01.
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replication:
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  replSetName: rs01
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MongoDB replicaset is mandatory for Rocket.Chat > 1.0.0.
Your MongoDB config file should look something like the following:
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storage:
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  dbPath: /var/lib/mongodb
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  journal:
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    enabled: true
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  engine: wiredTiger
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​
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systemLog:
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  destination: file
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  logAppend: true
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  path: /var/log/mongodb/mongod.log
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​
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net:
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  port: 27017
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  bindIp: 127.0.0.1
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​
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processManagement:
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  fork: true
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  timeZoneInfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo
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​
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replication:
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  replSetName: rs01
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For a full list of available MongoDB config options read their official documentation.
Start MongoDB with the following command:
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sudo systemctl enable --now mongod
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Create the replicaset:
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mongo --eval "printjson(rs.initiate())"
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You can start Rocket.Chat now.
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sudo systemctl enable --now rocketchat
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Optional configurations
​Configure firewall rule​
​Configure a HTTP reverse proxy to access Rocket.Chat server​
[Configure mongo access control]
[Configure production values for mongodb]
Configure your Rocket.Chat server
Open a web browser and access the configured ROOT_URL (http://your-host-name.com-as-accessed-from-internet:3000), follow the configuration steps to set up an admin account and your organization and server info.

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