Can i run rocket.chat server on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.?

Hi Team…

I am planning to implement Rocket.Chat server on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B board for Small Size Business Production & Our users strength is around 50 Employees.
Is This possible & it provides uninterruptible services during production.
Bcz now we’re using skype so we planned to reduce cost on Tech field so can i use…?

All Team members are requested to give best advice for this task…
Thanks in Advance.

Hi @karthik,

you most certainly can. Just

  • install yourself a Raspbian (or some other Distro)
  • install nodejs
  • get the latest Rocket.Chat stable from the Download page
  • setup nginx or apache to reverse-proxy Rocket.Chat
  • get yourself a let’s encrypt TLS certificate and use it in your webserver (see last point)

The Raspberry should be well equipped to handle the load of 50 users. I would recommend using the ethernet jack instead of wifi though.

EDIT: one caveat though, that I haven’t tested. NodeJS itself is available for ARM architecture (the CPU in the Raspberries), but I don’t know if all dependencies for Rocket.Chat will run natively on ARM. But just give it a shot :slight_smile:

Cheers
Thomas

You definitely can run on raspberry pi. We offer a snap for arm and have many people that run small servers on raspberry pi’s.

You can go raspbian route, or ubuntu core with snap.

If you plan to send many files at all. Or files very frequently… I would recommend not using gridfs or filesystem for file storage. I’d recommend using s3 or an s3 compatible like minio off of the pi. This way you decrease ware and tare on the microsd, as well as get increase speed for file downloads.

2 Likes

Hi @TwizzyDizzy and @aaron.ogle

Thanks for your best suggestions.Now i going to implement this on coming week but one thing is we’re using text chat only & we won’t share any files and pics. So class 10 Sd card is better or Usb 3.0 drive is better…?

Well for the OS itself you have to use an SD card anyway (or to say it another way: I don’t know whether it’s possible to boot from an external USB drive). As for USB 3.0: the raspberry 3 only has 2.0 :wink: But anyway… just go with a class 10 SDHC / SDXC card (or even SDHC-I / SDXC-I UHS class 3 card (with up to 30MB/s) - if the raspberry supports it).

Cheers
Thomas

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Yeah text only, it shouldn’t matter much. :slight_smile: Only mention speed to help keep that in mind.

Hello,
I run into the problem that
https://cdn-download.rocket.chat/build/rocket.chat-pi-develop.tgz
as a Download source is not available anymore.

Can someone help out? :wink:

Trying to install Rocketchat on Pi 3B, because it failed on 3B+.

@aaron.ogle Can you help me out here?

On raspberry pi the only install i’m familiar with is the snap install. Its currently not working. There is another thread here regarding that. If the build is missing maybe open a PR to remove from the guide. It shouldn’t be there if the download doesn’t exist

Hi @aaron.ogle ,

About the snap install, may be you could help me. I am currently trying to install a server on PI 3 with Ubuntu Core. Everything seems to running fine as ‘status’ command tells me but impossible to connect on it via http://ip_address:3000 …

I am trying to check the Caddyfile with pinano but impossible to see it or even create a new one: “permission denied” (i am trying in sudo and as root).

Any help could be great, thank you !

Ok ok, so after investigation on the rocketchat-server log and thanks to google: https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/10653. Any informations about how to resolve this issue now or in the future ?

See here for topic discussing: Armhf snap builds for raspberry pi

Definitive answer is YES YOU CAN

See the updated README here for how to do it on Raspbian Stretch Lite:

Thanks to Austrian community member @farmous

Also if you visit our special interest channel, the latest report is the Ubuntu Mate also works:

https://open.rocket.chat/channel/raspberrypi

From community member @smallake

if you just want to run a basic chat server it works fairly well. Anything outside of that doesn’t work, There won’t be any sending pictures or video chat. No sending of files either. It works on computers via a web browser sometimes. It DOES NOT work on android apps. This is open source software, Most of that doesn’t work! But hey it’s shade tree mechanic guys writing it. Think about it? How does Microsuk survive? It’s because Linux can not, nor will it ever catch up. My hat is off to those guys giving away something for free! But you do get what you pay for.

@Ghost68 EVERYTHING should WORK exactly as spec’d :wink:

For Video Chat - web clients have been working for years, Android and iOS now has support as well - yes, it did take over a year of development and refinement by our community and our team of dedicated professional mobile devs.

For sending of files, it works well. As with ANY complex server product, you’ll need to spend some time reading our extensive manual to be able to configure it. There are over 1,000 points of configuration possibilities at the moment.

https://rocket.chat/docs/administrator-guides/#administrator-guides

In a nutshell - there has to be a target “storage subsystem” where the files go to. By default, it is GridFS over MongoDB and you will have to deal with GridFS over slow MongoDB on unreliable SD card problem when running on the Pi. But if you use any supported file storage subsystems - S3 or compatible, NextCloud, and so on… file upload will work smooth as silk.

You will find, with Rocket.Chat, as with most world class open source projects supported by millions of current users and organizations that care about who has access to their private data - you get A WHOLE UNIVERSE MORE than what you pay for : you get as much back as you care to spend time and effort on learning, understanding, and contributing to it.

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

I will look over your “1000 points of configuration” Sing.li. I’m not trying to bash the product, (And now I ASSUME you live in the US and you understand my US slang). it just doesn’t work for the average user. Because they are about as likely to read “1000 points of configuration” As they are going to read a 1000 word End User License Agreement" . It’s not going to happen!

It actually is happening @Ghost68 :wink:

Granted, not necessarily for folks trying to run the sophisticated server on resource constrained (and not widely OS supported) Raspberry Pi 3 Model B as per topic of this thread.

OT: On most amd64/Intel systems / VM/ cloud VPSs, even the less “System Admin” type of users [most!] can get Rocket.Chat running in a couple of minutes using our snap based installation. It just works, is self sustaining, and the default settings have been designed to be just good enough for a small office / family / special interest group :+1:

https://rocket.chat/docs/installation/manual-installation/ubuntu/#recommended-fastest-server-install-via-snaps