32 KiB
Scaling synapse via workers
For small instances it is recommended to run Synapse in the default monolith mode. For larger instances where performance is a concern it can be helpful to split out functionality into multiple separate python processes. These processes are called 'workers', and are (eventually) intended to scale horizontally independently.
Synapse's worker support is under active development and subject to change as
we attempt to rapidly scale ever larger Synapse instances. However we are
documenting it here to help admins needing a highly scalable Synapse instance
similar to the one running matrix.org
.
All processes continue to share the same database instance, and as such, workers only work with PostgreSQL-based Synapse deployments. SQLite should only be used for demo purposes and any admin considering workers should already be running PostgreSQL.
See also Matrix.org blog post for a higher level overview.
Main process/worker communication
The processes communicate with each other via a Synapse-specific protocol called 'replication' (analogous to MySQL- or Postgres-style database replication) which feeds streams of newly written data between processes so they can be kept in sync with the database state.
When configured to do so, Synapse uses a Redis pub/sub channel to send the replication stream between all configured Synapse processes. Additionally, processes may make HTTP requests to each other, primarily for operations which need to wait for a reply ─ such as sending an event.
All the workers and the main process connect to Redis, which relays replication commands between processes.
If Redis support is enabled Synapse will use it as a shared cache, as well as a pub/sub mechanism.
See the Architectural diagram section at the end for a visualisation of what this looks like.
Setting up workers
A Redis server is required to manage the communication between the processes.
The Redis server should be installed following the normal procedure for your
distribution (e.g. apt install redis-server
on Debian). It is safe to use an
existing Redis deployment if you have one.
Once installed, check that Redis is running and accessible from the host running
Synapse, for example by executing echo PING | nc -q1 localhost 6379
and seeing
a response of +PONG
.
The appropriate dependencies must also be installed for Synapse. If using a virtualenv, these can be installed with:
pip install "matrix-synapse[redis]"
Note that these dependencies are included when synapse is installed with pip install matrix-synapse[all]
. They are also included in the debian packages from
packages.matrix.org
and in the docker images at
https://hub.docker.com/r/ectorim/synapse/.
To make effective use of the workers, you will need to configure an HTTP reverse-proxy such as nginx or haproxy, which will direct incoming requests to the correct worker, or to the main synapse instance. See the reverse proxy documentation for information on setting up a reverse proxy.
When using workers, each worker process has its own configuration file which contains settings specific to that worker, such as the HTTP listener that it provides (if any), logging configuration, etc.
Normally, the worker processes are configured to read from a shared configuration file as well as the worker-specific configuration files. This makes it easier to keep common configuration settings synchronised across all the processes.
The main process is somewhat special in this respect: it does not normally need its own configuration file and can take all of its configuration from the shared configuration file.
Shared configuration
Normally, only a few changes are needed to make an existing configuration file suitable for use with workers:
- First, you need to enable an "HTTP replication listener" for the main process
- Secondly, you need to enable redis-based replication
- You will need to add an
instance_map
with themain
process defined, as well as the relevant connection information from it's HTTPreplication
listener (defined in step 1 above).- Note that the
host
defined is the address the worker needs to look for themain
process at, not necessarily the same address that is bound to. - If you are using Unix sockets for the
replication
resource, make sure to use apath
to the socket file instead of aport
.
- Note that the
- Optionally, a shared secret can be used to authenticate HTTP traffic between workers. For example:
# extend the existing `listeners` section. This defines the ports that the
# main process will listen on.
listeners:
# The HTTP replication port
- port: 9093
bind_address: '127.0.0.1'
type: http
resources:
- names: [replication]
# Add a random shared secret to authenticate traffic.
worker_replication_secret: ""
redis:
enabled: true
instance_map:
main:
host: 'localhost'
port: 9093
See the configuration manual for the full documentation of each option.
Under no circumstances should the replication listener be exposed to the public internet; replication traffic is:
- always unencrypted
- unauthenticated, unless
worker_replication_secret
is configured
Worker configuration
In the config file for each worker, you must specify:
- The type of worker (
worker_app
). The currently available worker applications are listed below. - A unique name for the worker (
worker_name
). - If handling HTTP requests, a
worker_listeners
option with anhttp
listener. - Synapse 1.72 and older: if handling the
^/_matrix/client/v3/keys/upload
endpoint, the HTTP URI for the main process (worker_main_http_uri
). This config option is no longer required and is ignored when running Synapse 1.73 and newer.
For example:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/generic_worker.yaml}}
...is a full configuration for a generic worker instance, which will expose a
plain HTTP endpoint on port 8083 separately serving various endpoints, e.g.
/sync
, which are listed below.
Obviously you should configure your reverse-proxy to route the relevant
endpoints to the worker (localhost:8083
in the above example).
Running Synapse with workers
Finally, you need to start your worker processes. This can be done with either
synctl
or your distribution's preferred service manager such as systemd
. We
recommend the use of systemd
where available: for information on setting up
systemd
to start synapse workers, see
Systemd with Workers. To use synctl
, see
Using synctl with Workers.
Start Synapse with Poetry
The following applies to Synapse installations that have been installed from source using poetry
.
You can start the main Synapse process with Poetry by running the following command:
poetry run synapse_homeserver --config-file [your homeserver.yaml]
For worker setups, you can run the following command
poetry run synapse_worker --config-file [your homeserver.yaml] --config-file [your worker.yaml]
Available worker applications
synapse.app.generic_worker
This worker can handle API requests matching the following regular expressions. These endpoints can be routed to any worker. If a worker is set up to handle a stream then, for maximum efficiency, additional endpoints should be routed to that worker: refer to the stream writers section below for further information.
# Sync requests
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3)/sync$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/events$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/initialSync$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/rooms/[^/]+/initialSync$
# Federation requests
^/_matrix/federation/v1/event/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/state/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/state_ids/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/backfill/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/get_missing_events/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/publicRooms
^/_matrix/federation/v1/query/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/make_join/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/make_leave/
^/_matrix/federation/(v1|v2)/send_join/
^/_matrix/federation/(v1|v2)/send_leave/
^/_matrix/federation/(v1|v2)/invite/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/event_auth/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/timestamp_to_event/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/exchange_third_party_invite/
^/_matrix/federation/v1/user/devices/
^/_matrix/key/v2/query
^/_matrix/federation/v1/hierarchy/
# Inbound federation transaction request
^/_matrix/federation/v1/send/
# Client API requests
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/createRoom$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/publicRooms$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/joined_members$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/context/.*$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/members$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/state$
^/_matrix/client/v1/rooms/.*/hierarchy$
^/_matrix/client/(v1|unstable)/rooms/.*/relations/
^/_matrix/client/v1/rooms/.*/threads$
^/_matrix/client/unstable/im.nheko.summary/rooms/.*/summary$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/account/3pid$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/account/whoami$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/devices$
^/_matrix/client/versions$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/voip/turnServer$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/event/
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/joined_rooms$
^/_matrix/client/v1/rooms/.*/timestamp_to_event$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable/.*)/rooms/.*/aliases
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/search$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/user/.*/filter(/|$)
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/directory/room/.*$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/capabilities$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/notifications$
# Encryption requests
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/keys/query$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/keys/changes$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/keys/claim$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/room_keys/
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/keys/upload/
# Registration/login requests
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/login$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/register$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/register/available$
^/_matrix/client/v1/register/m.login.registration_token/validity$
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/password_policy$
# Event sending requests
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/redact
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/send
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/state/
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/(join|invite|leave|ban|unban|kick)$
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/join/
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/knock/
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/profile/
# Account data requests
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/.*/tags
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/.*/account_data
# Receipts requests
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/receipt
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/read_markers
# Presence requests
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/presence/
# User directory search requests
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/user_directory/search$
Additionally, the following REST endpoints can be handled for GET requests:
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/pushrules/
Pagination requests can also be handled, but all requests for a given room must be routed to the same instance. Additionally, care must be taken to ensure that the purge history admin API is not used while pagination requests for the room are in flight:
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/messages$
Additionally, the following endpoints should be included if Synapse is configured to use SSO (you only need to include the ones for whichever SSO provider you're using):
# for all SSO providers
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/login/sso/redirect
^/_synapse/client/pick_idp$
^/_synapse/client/pick_username
^/_synapse/client/new_user_consent$
^/_synapse/client/sso_register$
# OpenID Connect requests.
^/_synapse/client/oidc/callback$
# SAML requests.
^/_synapse/client/saml2/authn_response$
# CAS requests.
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/login/cas/ticket$
Ensure that all SSO logins go to a single process. For multiple workers not handling the SSO endpoints properly, see #7530 and #9427.
Note that a HTTP listener
with client
and federation
resources
must be configured in the
worker_listeners
option in the worker config.
Load balancing
It is possible to run multiple instances of this worker app, with incoming requests being load-balanced between them by the reverse-proxy. However, different endpoints have different characteristics and so admins may wish to run multiple groups of workers handling different endpoints so that load balancing can be done in different ways.
For /sync
and /initialSync
requests it will be more efficient if all
requests from a particular user are routed to a single instance. This can
be done in reverse proxy by extracting username part from the users access token.
Admins may additionally wish to separate out /sync
requests that have a since
query parameter from those that don't (and
/initialSync
), as requests that don't are known as "initial sync" that happens
when a user logs in on a new device and can be very resource intensive, so
isolating these requests will stop them from interfering with other users ongoing
syncs.
Example nginx
configuration snippet that handles the cases above. This is just an
example and probably requires some changes according to your particular setup:
# Choose sync worker based on the existence of "since" query parameter
map $arg_since $sync {
default synapse_sync;
'' synapse_initial_sync;
}
# Extract username from access token passed as URL parameter
map $arg_access_token $accesstoken_from_urlparam {
# Defaults to just passing back the whole accesstoken
default $arg_access_token;
# Try to extract username part from accesstoken URL parameter
"~syt_(?<username>.*?)_.*" $username;
}
# Extract username from access token passed as authorization header
map $http_authorization $mxid_localpart {
# Defaults to just passing back the whole accesstoken
default $http_authorization;
# Try to extract username part from accesstoken header
"~Bearer syt_(?<username>.*?)_.*" $username;
# if no authorization-header exist, try mapper for URL parameter "access_token"
"" $accesstoken_from_urlparam;
}
upstream synapse_initial_sync {
# Use the username mapper result for hash key
hash $mxid_localpart consistent;
server 127.0.0.1:8016;
server 127.0.0.1:8036;
}
upstream synapse_sync {
# Use the username mapper result for hash key
hash $mxid_localpart consistent;
server 127.0.0.1:8013;
server 127.0.0.1:8037;
server 127.0.0.1:8038;
server 127.0.0.1:8039;
}
# Sync initial/normal
location ~ ^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3)/sync$ {
proxy_pass http://$sync;
}
# Normal sync
location ~ ^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/events$ {
proxy_pass http://synapse_sync;
}
# Initial_sync
location ~ ^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/initialSync$ {
proxy_pass http://synapse_initial_sync;
}
location ~ ^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3)/rooms/[^/]+/initialSync$ {
proxy_pass http://synapse_initial_sync;
}
Federation and client requests can be balanced via simple round robin.
The inbound federation transaction request ^/_matrix/federation/v1/send/
should be balanced by source IP so that transactions from the same remote server
go to the same process.
Registration/login requests can be handled separately purely to help ensure that unexpected load doesn't affect new logins and sign ups.
Finally, event sending requests can be balanced by the room ID in the URI (or
the full URI, or even just round robin), the room ID is the path component after
/rooms/
. If there is a large bridge connected that is sending or may send lots
of events, then a dedicated set of workers can be provisioned to limit the
effects of bursts of events from that bridge on events sent by normal users.
Stream writers
Additionally, the writing of specific streams (such as events) can be moved off of the main process to a particular worker.
To enable this, the worker must have:
- An HTTP
replication
listener configured, - Have a
worker_name
and be listed in theinstance_map
config. - Have the main process declared on the
instance_map
as well.
Note: The same worker can handle multiple streams, but unless otherwise documented, each stream can only have a single writer.
For example, to move event persistence off to a dedicated worker, the shared configuration would include:
instance_map:
main:
host: localhost
port: 8030
event_persister1:
host: localhost
port: 8034
stream_writers:
events: event_persister1
An example for a stream writer instance:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/event_persister.yaml}}
Some of the streams have associated endpoints which, for maximum efficiency, should be routed to the workers handling that stream. See below for the currently supported streams and the endpoints associated with them:
The events
stream
The events
stream experimentally supports having multiple writer workers, where load
is sharded between them by room ID. Each writer is called an event persister. They are
responsible for
- receiving new events,
- linking them to those already in the room DAG,
- persisting them to the DB, and finally
- updating the events stream.
Because load is sharded in this way, you must restart all worker instances when adding or removing event persisters.
An event_persister
should not be mistaken for an event_creator
.
An event_creator
listens for requests from clients to create new events and does
so. It will then pass those events over HTTP replication to any configured event
persisters (or the main process if none are configured).
Note that event_creator
s and event_persister
s are implemented using the same
synapse.app.generic_worker
.
An example stream_writers
configuration with multiple writers:
stream_writers:
events:
- event_persister1
- event_persister2
The typing
stream
The following endpoints should be routed directly to the worker configured as
the stream writer for the typing
stream:
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/typing
The to_device
stream
The following endpoints should be routed directly to the worker configured as
the stream writer for the to_device
stream:
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/sendToDevice/
The account_data
stream
The following endpoints should be routed directly to the worker configured as
the stream writer for the account_data
stream:
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/.*/tags
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/.*/account_data
The receipts
stream
The following endpoints should be routed directly to the worker configured as
the stream writer for the receipts
stream:
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/receipt
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/rooms/.*/read_markers
The presence
stream
The following endpoints should be routed directly to the worker configured as
the stream writer for the presence
stream:
^/_matrix/client/(api/v1|r0|v3|unstable)/presence/
Restrict outbound federation traffic to a specific set of workers
The
outbound_federation_restricted_to
configuration is useful to make sure outbound federation traffic only goes through a
specified subset of workers. This allows you to set more strict access controls (like a
firewall) for all workers and only allow the federation_sender
's to contact the
outside world.
instance_map:
main:
host: localhost
port: 8030
federation_sender1:
host: localhost
port: 8034
outbound_federation_restricted_to:
- federation_sender1
worker_replication_secret: "secret_secret"
Background tasks
There is also support for moving background tasks to a separate worker. Background tasks are run periodically or started via replication. Exactly which tasks are configured to run depends on your Synapse configuration (e.g. if stats is enabled). This worker doesn't handle any REST endpoints itself.
To enable this, the worker must have a unique
worker_name
and can be configured to run background tasks. For example, to move background tasks
to a dedicated worker, the shared configuration would include:
run_background_tasks_on: background_worker
You might also wish to investigate the
update_user_directory_from_worker
and
media_instance_running_background_jobs
settings.
An example for a dedicated background worker instance:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/background_worker.yaml}}
Updating the User Directory
You can designate one generic worker to update the user directory.
Specify its name in the shared configuration as follows:
update_user_directory_from_worker: worker_name
This work cannot be load-balanced; please ensure the main process is restarted after setting this option in the shared configuration!
User directory updates allow REST endpoints matching the following regular expressions to work:
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/user_directory/search$
The above endpoints can be routed to any worker, though you may choose to route it to the chosen user directory worker.
This style of configuration supersedes the legacy synapse.app.user_dir
worker application type.
Notifying Application Services
You can designate one generic worker to send output traffic to Application Services. Doesn't handle any REST endpoints itself, but you should specify its name in the shared configuration as follows:
notify_appservices_from_worker: worker_name
This work cannot be load-balanced; please ensure the main process is restarted after setting this option in the shared configuration!
This style of configuration supersedes the legacy synapse.app.appservice
worker application type.
Push Notifications
You can designate generic worker to sending push notifications to a push gateway such as sygnal and email.
This will stop the main process sending push notifications.
The workers responsible for sending push notifications can be defined using the
pusher_instances
option. For example:
pusher_instances:
- pusher_worker1
- pusher_worker2
Multiple workers can be added to this map, in which case the work is balanced across them. Ensure the main process and all pusher workers are restarted after changing this option.
These workers don't need to accept incoming HTTP requests to send push notifications, so no additional reverse proxy configuration is required for pusher workers.
This style of configuration supersedes the legacy synapse.app.pusher
worker application type.
synapse.app.pusher
It is likely this option will be deprecated in the future and is not recommended for new
installations. Instead, use synapse.app.generic_worker
with the pusher_instances
.
Handles sending push notifications to sygnal and email. Doesn't handle any
REST endpoints itself, but you should set
start_pushers: false
in the
shared configuration file to stop the main synapse sending push notifications.
To run multiple instances at once the
pusher_instances
option should list all pusher instances by their
worker_name
, e.g.:
start_pushers: false
pusher_instances:
- pusher_worker1
- pusher_worker2
An example for a pusher instance:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/pusher_worker.yaml}}
synapse.app.appservice
Deprecated as of Synapse v1.59. Use synapse.app.generic_worker
with the
notify_appservices_from_worker
option instead.
Handles sending output traffic to Application Services. Doesn't handle any
REST endpoints itself, but you should set notify_appservices: False
in the
shared configuration file to stop the main synapse sending appservice notifications.
Note this worker cannot be load-balanced: only one instance should be active.
synapse.app.federation_sender
It is likely this option will be deprecated in the future and not recommended for
new installations. Instead, use synapse.app.generic_worker
with the federation_sender_instances
.
Handles sending federation traffic to other servers. Doesn't handle any
REST endpoints itself, but you should set
send_federation: false
in the shared configuration file to stop the main synapse sending this traffic.
If running multiple federation senders then you must list each
instance in the
federation_sender_instances
option by their
worker_name
.
All instances must be stopped and started when adding or removing instances.
For example:
send_federation: false
federation_sender_instances:
- federation_sender1
- federation_sender2
An example for a federation sender instance:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/federation_sender.yaml}}
synapse.app.media_repository
Handles the media repository. It can handle all endpoints starting with:
/_matrix/media/
... and the following regular expressions matching media-specific administration APIs:
^/_synapse/admin/v1/purge_media_cache$
^/_synapse/admin/v1/room/.*/media.*$
^/_synapse/admin/v1/user/.*/media.*$
^/_synapse/admin/v1/media/.*$
^/_synapse/admin/v1/quarantine_media/.*$
^/_synapse/admin/v1/users/.*/media$
You should also set
enable_media_repo: False
in the shared configuration
file to stop the main synapse running background jobs related to managing the
media repository. Note that doing so will prevent the main process from being
able to handle the above endpoints.
In the media_repository
worker configuration file, configure the
HTTP listener to
expose the media
resource. For example:
{{#include systemd-with-workers/workers/media_worker.yaml}}
Note that if running multiple media repositories they must be on the same server and you must specify a single instance to run the background tasks in the shared configuration, e.g.:
media_instance_running_background_jobs: "media-repository-1"
Note that if a reverse proxy is used , then /_matrix/media/
must be routed for both inbound client and federation requests (if they are handled separately).
synapse.app.user_dir
Deprecated as of Synapse v1.59. Use synapse.app.generic_worker
with the
update_user_directory_from_worker
option instead.
Handles searches in the user directory. It can handle REST endpoints matching the following regular expressions:
^/_matrix/client/(r0|v3|unstable)/user_directory/search$
When using this worker you must also set update_user_directory: false
in the
shared configuration file to stop the main synapse running background
jobs related to updating the user directory.
Above endpoint is not required to be routed to this worker. By default,
update_user_directory
is set to true
, which means the main process
will handle updates. All workers configured with client
can handle the above
endpoint as long as either this worker or the main process are configured to
handle it, and are online.
If update_user_directory
is set to false
, and this worker is not running,
the above endpoint may give outdated results.
Historical apps
The following used to be separate worker application types, but are now
equivalent to synapse.app.generic_worker
:
synapse.app.client_reader
synapse.app.event_creator
synapse.app.federation_reader
synapse.app.federation_sender
synapse.app.frontend_proxy
synapse.app.pusher
synapse.app.synchrotron
Migration from old config
A main change that has occurred is the merging of worker apps into
synapse.app.generic_worker
. This change is backwards compatible and so no
changes to the config are required.
To migrate apps to use synapse.app.generic_worker
simply update the
worker_app
option in the worker configs, and where worker are started (e.g.
in systemd service files, but not required for synctl).
Architectural diagram
The following shows an example setup using Redis and a reverse proxy:
Clients & Federation
|
v
+-----------+
| |
| Reverse |
| Proxy |
| |
+-----------+
| | |
| | | HTTP requests
+-------------------+ | +-----------+
| +---+ |
| | |
v v v
+--------------+ +--------------+ +--------------+ +--------------+
| Main | | Generic | | Generic | | Event |
| Process | | Worker 1 | | Worker 2 | | Persister |
+--------------+ +--------------+ +--------------+ +--------------+
^ ^ | ^ | | ^ | | ^ ^
| | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | HTTP | | | | | |
| +----------+<--|---|---------+<--|---|---------+ | |
| | +-------------|-->+-------------+ |
| | | |
| | | |
v v v v
======================================================================
Redis pub/sub channel