Matrix Troubleshooting

Federation Issues

Check Federation Matrix Federation Documentation

Common Tasks

Reconfigure and send Ansible Restart.

Sends the ansible command with absolute paths. This requires the middle server to have ssh keys to the matrix server.

Primary

# assumes command is executed from within the matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/ dir
ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start

Alternative

# manually via ssh, this assumes tailscale is being used and the absolute paths are as follows on the proxmox server. This should be the Alternative method
ssh root@irregularchat-matrix "ansible-playbook -i /root/Git/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/inventory/hosts  /root/Git/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start&"

Updating Ansible Server

#from in the repository
sudo make roles
ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --tags=setup-all,start

Checking Logs

systemctl status matrix-synapse.service

journalctl -fu matrix-synapse.service

Check Matrix Federation

sudo netstat -tuln | grep -E "8449|81"

Restarting Services

systemctl restart matrix-synapse.service

or using Ansible, you may want to send a restart

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Issues and Answers

Issue: SSO Issue can’t set up recover key because no password

Solution: Disabling Password Configuration

Matrix Synapse’s password configuration can be disabled to allow SSO accounts to configure and store security keys and phrases without a password. This adjustment removes the reliance on a password for security settings, enabling SSO users to manage their encryption keys and security phrases independently.

The specific configuration change in Matrix Synapse is:

matrix_synapse_password_config_enabled: false

Create BOT Access Tokens with SSO

By impersonating bot account on SSO

Login through the web. Settings > About > Access Token

Exit browser page WITHOUT logging out

Issue: Can’t create BOT access tokens when passwords are disabled.

When passwords are disabled, bots can’t create access tokens or log in with access tokens.

matrix_synapse_password_config_enabled: true

Set the config to true obtain the access token AND log in to the bot as needed. Then, change the config to false.