jithinraj / temporary.chat-playbook

Ansible playbook to deploy chat server

Screenshots

deploy_chat.yaml

Overview :

an ansible playbook to deploy a chat server on an ubuntu server (see CONTRIBUTING for the vision of the project & the road map).

• works with or without a domain name
• can create a single room or multiples (random) rooms
• you can create password protected rooms
• anyone within the room can destroy it with a single click

requirements :

• having ansible installed
• having an empty ubuntu server 20.04 LTS with ssh access as a target for the deployment (not responsible of damages if you run this on a server with stuff on it already)
  • having a user named ubuntu on the server
  • the user ubuntu must be allowed to run sudo for all commands without a password)
  • having an ssh config the the target server :
    • e.g on ip: host 3.87.87.87 hostname 3.87.87.87 user ubuntu IdentityFile /home/user/.ssh/privatekey_rsa
    • e.g on fqdn or subdomain host subdomain.domain.com hostname subdomain.domain.com user ubuntu IdentityFile /home/luciano/.ssh/temporarychat_rsa
• having port 22,80 and 443 open on the server firewall

rooms options :

• multirooms:true : will create a webpage where you can create random chatrooms (like temporary.chat)
• multirooms:false : will create a webpage where you can create a single chatroom

tls options :

I wanted to abstract this totally from the user but it is not possible due to let's encrypt rate limit

• wildcard : run this mode if you want to run a multi room setup able to create more than 50 chatrooms per week (will use let's encrypt)
  • requires a fully qualified domain name e.g : example.com
  • requires an interaction during the deployment
    • you will need to add a TXT entry in your dns records ( the playbook will give you this information while running )
• normal : run this mode if you intend to create a single chatroom or less than 50 chatrooms per week (will use let's encrypt)
  • when used with multirooms:true
    • requires a fully qualified domain name e.g : example.com
    • requires no interaction during deployment
  • when used with multirooms: false
    • you may be able to use a dynamic dns if it is in the Mozilla Public Suffix List and let's encrypt support it
• pki : run this mode if you don't have a fully qualified domain
  • does not require anything
  • will automatically create a self sign certificate
  • will create a helper webpage to help you download/install the certificate
    • the fingerprint of the certificate will be displayed on the helper webpage

deployment examples :

deploy with a fully qualified domain name that you own in multirooms mode

usage example :

FQDN=example.com;ansible-playbook -i ${FQDN}, -e '{"have_fqdn":true}' -e '{"multirooms":true}' -e "my_fqdn=$FQDN" -e "tls_mode=wildcard" -e "[email protected]" deploy_chat.yaml

or

FQDN=example.com;ansible-playbook -i ${FQDN}, -e '{"have_fqdn":true}' -e '{"multirooms":true}' -e "my_fqdn=$FQDN" -e "tls_mode=normal" -e "[email protected]" deploy_chat.yaml

deploy with a fully qualified domain or subdomain name that you own (single room)

usage example :

FQDN=chat.example.com;ansible-playbook -i ${FQDN}, -e '{"have_fqdn":true}' -e '{"multirooms":false}' -e "my_fqdn=$FQDN" -e "tls_mode=normal" -e "[email protected]" deploy_chat.yaml (go to https://chat.example.com/launcher) to create your room once the deployment is done

deploy without a fully qualified domain name (single room accessible via ip)

usage example :

IP=34.228.75.55;ansible-playbook -u ubuntu -i ${IP}, -e '{"have_fqdn":false}' -e '{"multirooms":false}' -e "my_fqdn=$IP" -e "tls_mode=pki" deploy_chat.yaml

the roadmap (oh god!)

see CONTRIBUTING.md

deploy_aws.yaml

Overview :

an ansible playbook to deploy an ec2 instance in aws and update route 53

• I do not plan on maintaining this playbook for everyone to use it, this is not the goal of the project. If know your way around AWS, I tried to make as easy as possible to use it. My goal is not to focus on the aws deployment but rather, keep my time for the chat server, the features and to make it usable for as many people as possible... that being said, feel free to use this playbook if you want.

requirements :

• having ansible installed
• having an aws account
• owning a fully qualified domain
• having awscli installed locally on your machine for the user that will run the playbook
• having pre-existing resources in aws
  • a iam user with an ssh public key and appropriate permission to deploy ec2 instances and update route 53 records
  • a security group with port 22,80,443 to you, your friends or the whole world
  • a hosted zone in route53

notes :

• this playbook will automatically add the new deployed host to the inventory file staging/hosts so you can run the playbook temporary.chat.yaml without editing your inventory
• the aws_tag will also the fqdn of the server in route53

usage example :

ansible-playbook -e "aws_region=us-east-1 aws_vpc=vpc-23ebcf46 aws_subnet=subnet-1d6b1a6a aws_ami=ami-0dba2cb6798deb6d8 aws_instance_type=t2.nano aws_sg=sg-008a34845ce896322 aws_ssh_key=luciano aws_tag=temporary.chat local_ssh_key_path=/home/luciano/.ssh/id_rsa aws_route53_zoneid=Z04750303W271V39JV6OR env=staging" deploy_aws.yaml

#destroy_aws.yaml

description :

an ansible playbook to destroy an ec2 instance based on name tag.

• I do not plan on maintaining this playbook for everyone to use it, this is not the goal of the project. If know your way around AWS, I tried to make as easy as possible to use it. My goal is not to focus on the aws deployment but rather, keep my time for the chat server, the features and to make it usable for as many people as possible... that being said, feel free to use this playbook if you want.

usage example :

ansible-playbook -e "aws_region=us-east-1 aws_tag=temporary.chat" destroy_aws.yaml

the (ambitious) goals

• decentralize communications (less facebook chats!)
• offer a free service that will remain free and ad free ( temporary.chat )
• offer a paying service with more options/storage/features ( permanent.chat )
• offer the possibility to anyone to roll out their own instance of "temporary.chat" for free (with a different domain or simply an ip?)
• create an api expert mode with end to end encryption managed by the user

the roadmap (oh god!)

UI:

• FEATURE/refreshing div constantly is resource expensive, try to think of a better way
  • https://www.shanelynn.ie/asynchronous-updates-to-a-webpage-with-flask-and-socket-io/ (need to read this after I get some sleep)
• Icons to buttons (especially menu button)
• Each row in the conversation should be wrapped in an element (not using br) and styled
• Preview file before uploading

APP:

• FEATURE/create a self signed certificate when the server is only accessible via ip (+ put the the CA cert in the html page port 80)
• create a real let's encrypt module if domain have a fqdn || a self signed certificate when the server is only accessible via ip (+ put the fingerprint the CA in the html page port 80?)
• create api for expert users that want to manage their encryption
• make the random chatrooms optional? (only one room (for people who may want it))
• add database backend for text (not sure if this fits the model)
• support other OS (centos, openbsd to start with)
• make a hackish solution to use dynamic dns + let's encrypt?
• preview urls shared in the room
• fix javascript upload on firefox mobile
• notifications on android/iphone? is it even possible for website?