Deploy Matrix Synapse on RamNode VPS | Self-Hosted Encrypted Chat

Prerequisites

RamNode VPS plans are a solid fit for a personal or small-team Synapse deployment. The $4/month plan handles a low-traffic homeserver, while the $8/month plan is recommended if you plan to bridge external platforms or serve more than a handful of users.

Minimum Recommended Specs

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
vCPU	1	2
RAM	512 MB	1 GB
Disk	10 GB SSD	20 GB SSD
Bandwidth	500 GB/mo	1 TB/mo

Additional Requirements

A RamNode VPS running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (recommended)
A domain name pointed at your VPS IP (e.g., matrix.yourdomain.com)
Root or sudo access
Basic familiarity with the Linux command line

Provision Your RamNode VPS

Log into the RamNode client area, deploy a new VPS, and select Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your OS. Once your VPS is active, connect via SSH:

Connect and update

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Configure DNS

Set up DNS records so your domain resolves to your VPS. Log into your DNS provider and create the following:

Type	Name	Value	TTL
A	`matrix`	YOUR_VPS_IP	300
A	`element`	YOUR_VPS_IP	300

For Matrix federation to work correctly, you also need an SRV record or a .well-known delegation. The .well-known method is easier and is covered in Step 8. Wait a few minutes for DNS propagation before proceeding.

Install Dependencies

Install Nginx, Certbot, and PostgreSQL. Synapse works with SQLite out of the box, but PostgreSQL is strongly recommended for anything beyond local testing.

Install Nginx, Certbot, and PostgreSQL

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx postgresql postgresql-contrib

Install Matrix Synapse

Matrix.org maintains an official Debian/Ubuntu repository. Add it and install Synapse:

Add Matrix repository and install

apt install -y lsb-release wget apt-transport-https

wget -O /usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg \
  https://packages.matrix.org/debian/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/matrix-org-archive-keyring.gpg] \
  https://packages.matrix.org/debian/ $(lsb_release -cs) main" \
  | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/matrix-org.list

apt update
apt install -y matrix-synapse-py3

Important: During installation, you will be prompted for your server name. Enter your root domain (not the subdomain), for example: yourdomain.com. This becomes your Matrix user ID domain — users will have IDs like @username:yourdomain.com. This cannot be changed later.

Configure PostgreSQL

Synapse defaults to SQLite, which is not suitable for production. Switch to PostgreSQL now before generating any data.

Open PostgreSQL shell

sudo -u postgres psql

Create database and user (inside psql)

CREATE USER synapse WITH PASSWORD 'your_strong_password';
CREATE DATABASE synapse
  ENCODING 'UTF8'
  LC_COLLATE='C'
  LC_CTYPE='C'
  TEMPLATE=template0
  OWNER synapse;
\q

Now update the Synapse config to use PostgreSQL:

Database block in /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml

database:
  name: psycopg2
  args:
    user: synapse
    password: your_strong_password
    database: synapse
    host: localhost
    cp_min: 5
    cp_max: 10

Important: Replace your_strong_password with a strong, unique password. Store this securely.

Configure Synapse

Edit /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml to configure key settings.

Bind Address and Port

Listener configuration

listeners:
  - port: 8008
    tls: false
    type: http
    x_forwarded: true
    bind_addresses: ['127.0.0.1']
    resources:
      - names: [client, federation]
        compress: false

Registration

Disable open registration unless you want anyone to sign up on your server:

Disable open registration

enable_registration: false

To create accounts manually, use the register_new_matrix_user command (covered in Step 12).

Media Storage

Make sure your VPS has enough disk headroom for media uploads if you plan to share files or images.

Media settings

media_store_path: /var/lib/matrix-synapse/media
max_upload_size: 50M

Logging

Log config

log_config: /etc/matrix-synapse/log.yaml

Set Up .well-known Federation Delegation

This lets you use yourdomain.com as your server name while actually running Synapse at matrix.yourdomain.com.

Create delegation directories

mkdir -p /var/www/yourdomain.com/.well-known/matrix

Client delegation file

/var/www/yourdomain.com/.well-known/matrix/client

{
  "m.homeserver": {
    "base_url": "https://matrix.yourdomain.com"
  }
}

Server delegation file

/var/www/yourdomain.com/.well-known/matrix/server

{
  "m.server": "matrix.yourdomain.com:443"
}

Configure Nginx

Create an Nginx server block to reverse proxy to Synapse and serve your .well-known files.

/etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name matrix.yourdomain.com yourdomain.com;

    # .well-known delegation for root domain
    location /.well-known/matrix {
        root /var/www/yourdomain.com;
        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin *;
        add_header Content-Type application/json;
    }

    # Proxy to Synapse
    location ~* ^(\_matrix|\_synapse\/client) {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8008;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        client_max_body_size 50M;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
    }
}

Enable the site

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/matrix /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/matrix
nginx -t
systemctl reload nginx

Obtain TLS Certificates

Use Certbot to provision Let's Encrypt certificates. Certbot will automatically update your Nginx config with SSL directives and set up auto-renewal.

Obtain certificates

certbot --nginx -d matrix.yourdomain.com -d yourdomain.com

Test renewal

certbot renew --dry-run

Start Synapse

Enable and start Matrix Synapse

systemctl enable matrix-synapse
systemctl start matrix-synapse
systemctl status matrix-synapse

Check logs if needed

journalctl -u matrix-synapse -f

Create Your First User

Since open registration is disabled, create your admin account from the command line:

register_new_matrix_user -c /etc/matrix-synapse/homeserver.yaml http://localhost:8008

You will be prompted for a username, password, and whether to make the account an admin. Choose yes for admin.

Verify Federation

Use the Matrix Federation Tester to confirm your server is federating correctly:

Federation tester

https://federationtester.matrix.org/#yourdomain.com

A successful result shows all green checks for DNS, well-known, TLS, and federation.

(Optional) Install Element Web Client

Element is the most popular Matrix web client. You can host it on the same VPS:

Download and extract Element Web

apt install -y unzip

cd /var/www
wget https://github.com/element-hq/element-web/releases/latest/download/element-latest.tar.gz
tar -xzf element-latest.tar.gz
mv element-* element
cp element/config.sample.json element/config.json

Configure Element

Edit element/config.json and point it at your homeserver:

/var/www/element/config.json

{
  "default_server_config": {
    "m.homeserver": {
      "base_url": "https://matrix.yourdomain.com",
      "server_name": "yourdomain.com"
    }
  }
}

Element Nginx Config

/etc/nginx/sites-available/element

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name element.yourdomain.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/matrix.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/matrix.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

    root /var/www/element;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Enable and get certificate for Element

certbot --nginx -d element.yourdomain.com

Maintenance

Check Disk Usage

Synapse caches a lot of media. Monitor usage regularly:

Monitor disk usage

df -h
du -sh /var/lib/matrix-synapse/media

Purge Old Remote Media

Purge cached remote media older than 30 days

curl -X POST "https://matrix.yourdomain.com/_synapse/admin/v1/purge_media_cache?before_ts=$(date -d '30 days ago' +%s%3N)" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ADMIN_TOKEN"

Update Synapse

Update Matrix Synapse

apt update && apt upgrade matrix-synapse-py3
systemctl restart matrix-synapse

Backup Database

Backup with pg_dump

pg_dump -U synapse synapse | gzip > /root/synapse-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Synapse fails to start	Check `journalctl -u matrix-synapse -f` for errors
Federation not working	Verify `.well-known` files return correct JSON at your domain
Disk full	Purge old media cache, check PostgreSQL WAL files
High memory usage	Tune `caches.global_factor` in homeserver.yaml (default 0.5, lower to reduce RAM)
TLS errors	Re-run `certbot renew` and ensure Nginx config references correct cert paths

Matrix Synapse Deployed Successfully!

You now have a self-hosted Matrix Synapse homeserver running on a RamNode VPS, with PostgreSQL for storage, Nginx as a reverse proxy, and Let's Encrypt TLS. Your users will have Matrix IDs in the format @username:yourdomain.com and can connect from any Matrix-compatible client including Element, FluffyChat, or Cinny.

For further configuration including setting up bridges to Slack, Discord, or Telegram, refer to the Matrix Bridges documentation.