I’m looking into a few different chat servers, probably just for family on my tailnet.

I like the idea that simplex allows video chat. My server is a repurposed optiplex 3060so I think it should be able to handle it. Is anyone doing this? Do you think it’s worth it?

Should I be considering other options like XMPP?

  • Drunk & Root@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    6 hours ago

    matrix using smth like tuwunel or xmpp using prosody could intrest you if you want smth more video zoom only esc you can look into jitsi

  • Lemmchen@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    13 hours ago

    If you like SimpleX, you can host a server and configure your clients to use that. You don’t use only your server though, so I don’t know if this will satisfy your requirements.

  • StarkZarn@infosec.pubEnglish
    38·
    3 hours ago

    XMPP most definitely! Especially if you want to have connectivity to other servers at all (like simplex). It’s much simpler, more well-known, battle hardened, and still supports E2EE and video calling very well.

    I recommend prosody. I recently went through the process of setting up a server and have a draft blog on it half way finished if you want an account of the experience.

    EDIT: Blog post is live at https://roguesecurity.dev/blog/xmpp

  • Yaky@slrpnk.netEnglish
    27·
    19 hours ago

    IMO Snikket (XMPP) is the easiest all-in-one solution with audio/video chat at the moment. Pretty good on resources too.

    I currently host a Matrix Synapse server, but:

    • Matrix seems to be expanding in the corporate / institutional direction, more services are expected for regular functionality
    • Element X (upcoming client) breaks calls compatibility with old Element, now requiring Element Call. It’s kind of a mess, I presume this is to support group calls, but makes it a PITA to use currently.
    • Even with small number of users, Synapse DB grows in size due to state_groups_state table, non-deletable users, and copying ALL data from other servers’ rooms (this one is by design but still…)
    • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
      11·
      18 hours ago

      I have gone down the matrix rabbit hole but i choose Continuwity, which is the successor to Conduwuit after the community drama.

      It’s a rust server alternative to synapse, it’s lightweight and works very well.

      Fuck synapse, it’s a colossal pain for small servers, not worth it. I also actively avoid anything related to the company behind it since I think they poison what matrix could be.

      I wish I started with XMPP, but now I am selfhosted on matrix, so.

    • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5·
      16 hours ago

      Snikket locked my docker service up, their documentation sucks for when you want to use your own reverse proxy or bind it behind a docker network and not the host.

        • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          12 hours ago

          Doesn’t cover Traefik, plus the docker-compose.yml contains 4 separate images and researching into them didn’t provide much info. snicket_proxy, snikket_certs, snikket_portal and snikket_server. All four of these images bind to the host and if I am supplying my own reverse proxy then both snikket_proxy and snikket_certs are redundant right? Or do they serve another purpose? And if I wanted to take them off the host network, follow their firewall guide and expose the necessary ports manually behind a docker bridge network what images to I bind those ports to? When I tried binding them all to snikket_server that’s when my docker service crashed and I gave up.

          • Botzo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            11 hours ago

            I see. Yeah, that compose file is gross unless you’re running this on a dedicated vps, and even then…

  • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
    3·
    13 hours ago

    I mean, XMPP is great, but if you are only interested in private chats with your family in a virtual LAN then it (and Matrix) is probably overkill and a bit of a hassle to configure without a public domain (as that is expected for federation).

    Maybe a Nextcloud Talk or a Jitsi Meet instance would be simpler?

    • Dremor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      12 hours ago

      Nextcloud Talk ils a great option for families. But if you expect to use the Video Call feature, prepare for a lot of headache. I tried multiple time configuring it, never managed to make it work for longer than one call.

      • Willdrick@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        12 hours ago

        I finally made it work last week. I was overcomplicating, as usual: nextcloud AIO includes all the requirements to run Talk, I just had to modify the config file to point at my domain and add a new entry at :8081 on my reverse proxy. Hosted a 2 hour video call with 3 friends without issues!

        • Dremor@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          10 hours ago

          Well you are lucky, or they fixed their mess a way or another. I spent at least a full week to try to make it work, to no avail.

  • BrightCandle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    13 hours ago

    Every one always says XMPP and there were a lot of recommendations for ejabberd. I tried this recently and it was a total disaster, I do not have a working chat server. If I followed the docker instructions the server would just crash with no details of what went wrong. Where it should have been creating a default server config file it was instead creating a directory with the wrong permissions then promptly crashing. I tried following their documentation but after about 6 hours of messing about and adding more and more I still couldn’t get a client to login to it. I have no idea how to make this work.

    So whatever the solution ultimately is I can’t recommend Ejabberd.

    • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
      4·
      13 hours ago

      Ejabberd is definitly for more advanced users, but you can usually get help over at joinjabber.org (which has a webclient that you can use without an xmpp account).

      But yes, Snikket and Prosody is easier to set up.

  • Nick@darmstadt.social
    1·
    15 hours ago

    @gedaliyah maybe @delta could be interesting. I found the quite intuitive and well documented. Only thing missing is out-of-the-box calls and video chat. You need a webrtc capable instance for that, I believe.

  • Snoopy@tarte.nuage-libre.frFrançais
    1·
    18 hours ago

    If you are into text based chat with lot channels & topics and the ability to move discussion into a topic, i would recommend zulip. I find it better than Matrix.

    you can try the zulip chat of piefed : https://chat.piefed.social

    Mind it doesn’t support visio chat.