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-# MSC1711 Certificates FAQ
-
-## Historical Note
-This document was originally written to guide server admins through the upgrade
-path towards Synapse 1.0. Specifically,
-[MSC1711](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/main/proposals/1711-x509-for-federation.md)
-required that all servers present valid TLS certificates on their federation
-API. Admins were encouraged to achieve compliance from version 0.99.0 (released
-in February 2019) ahead of version 1.0 (released June 2019) enforcing the
-certificate checks.
-
-Much of what follows is now outdated since most admins will have already
-upgraded, however it may be of use to those with old installs returning to the
-project.
-
-If you are setting up a server from scratch you almost certainly should look at
-the [installation guide](setup/installation.md) instead.
-
-## Introduction
-The goal of Synapse 0.99.0 is to act as a stepping stone to Synapse 1.0.0. It
-supports the r0.1 release of the server to server specification, but is
-compatible with both the legacy Matrix federation behaviour (pre-r0.1) as well
-as post-r0.1 behaviour, in order to allow for a smooth upgrade across the
-federation.
-
-The most important thing to know is that Synapse 1.0.0 will require a valid TLS
-certificate on federation endpoints. Self signed certificates will not be
-sufficient.
-
-Synapse 0.99.0 makes it easy to configure TLS certificates and will
-interoperate with both >= 1.0.0 servers as well as existing servers yet to
-upgrade.
-
-**It is critical that all admins upgrade to 0.99.0 and configure a valid TLS
-certificate.** Admins will have 1 month to do so, after which 1.0.0 will be
-released and those servers without a valid certificate will not longer be able
-to federate with >= 1.0.0 servers.
-
-Full details on how to carry out this configuration change is given
-[below](#configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100). A
-timeline and some frequently asked questions are also given below.
-
-For more details and context on the release of the r0.1 Server/Server API and
-imminent Matrix 1.0 release, you can also see our
-[main talk from FOSDEM 2019](https://matrix.org/blog/2019/02/04/matrix-at-fosdem-2019/).
-
-## Timeline
-
-**5th Feb 2019  - Synapse 0.99.0 is released.**
-
-All server admins are encouraged to upgrade.
-
-0.99.0:
-
--   provides support for ACME to make setting up Let's Encrypt certs easy, as
-    well as .well-known support.
-
--   does not enforce that a valid CA cert is present on the federation API, but
-    rather makes it easy to set one up.
-
--   provides support for .well-known
-
-Admins should upgrade and configure a valid CA cert. Homeservers that require a
-.well-known entry (see below), should retain their SRV record and use it
-alongside their .well-known record.
-
-**10th June 2019  - Synapse 1.0.0 is released**
-
-1.0.0 is scheduled for release on 10th June. In
-accordance with the the [S2S spec](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/server_server/r0.1.0.html)
-1.0.0 will enforce certificate validity. This means that any homeserver without a
-valid certificate after this point will no longer be able to federate with
-1.0.0 servers.
-
-## Configuring certificates for compatibility with Synapse 1.0.0
-
-### If you do not currently have an SRV record
-
-In this case, your `server_name` points to the host where your Synapse is
-running. There is no need to create a `.well-known` URI or an SRV record, but
-you will need to give Synapse a valid, signed, certificate.
-
-### If you do have an SRV record currently
-
-If you are using an SRV record, your matrix domain (`server_name`) may not
-point to the same host that your Synapse is running on (the 'target
-domain'). (If it does, you can follow the recommendation above; otherwise, read
-on.)
-
-Let's assume that your `server_name` is `example.com`, and your Synapse is
-hosted at a target domain of `customer.example.net`. Currently you should have
-an SRV record which looks like:
-
-```
-_matrix._tcp.example.com. IN SRV 10 5 8000 customer.example.net.
-```
-
-In this situation, you have three choices for how to proceed:
-
-#### Option 1: give Synapse a certificate for your matrix domain
-
-Synapse 1.0 will expect your server to present a TLS certificate for your
-`server_name` (`example.com` in the above example). You can achieve this by acquiring a
-certificate for the `server_name` yourself (for example, using `certbot`), and giving it
-and the key to Synapse via `tls_certificate_path` and `tls_private_key_path`.
-
-#### Option 2: run Synapse behind a reverse proxy
-
-If you have an existing reverse proxy set up with correct TLS certificates for
-your domain, you can simply route all traffic through the reverse proxy by
-updating the SRV record appropriately (or removing it, if the proxy listens on
-8448).
-
-See [the reverse proxy documentation](reverse_proxy.md) for information on setting up a
-reverse proxy.
-
-#### Option 3: add a .well-known file to delegate your matrix traffic
-
-This will allow you to keep Synapse on a separate domain, without having to
-give it a certificate for the matrix domain.
-
-You can do this with a `.well-known` file as follows:
-
- 1. Keep the SRV record in place - it is needed for backwards compatibility
-    with Synapse 0.34 and earlier.
-
-  2. Give Synapse a certificate corresponding to the target domain
-    (`customer.example.net` in the above example). You can do this by acquire a 
-    certificate for the target domain and giving it to Synapse via `tls_certificate_path`
-    and `tls_private_key_path`.
-
- 3. Restart Synapse to ensure the new certificate is loaded.
-
- 4. Arrange for a `.well-known` file at
-    `https://<server_name>/.well-known/matrix/server` with contents:
-
-    ```json
-    {"m.server": "<target server name>"}
-    ```
-
-    where the target server name is resolved as usual (i.e. SRV lookup, falling
-    back to talking to port 8448).
-
-    In the above example, where synapse is listening on port 8000,
-    `https://example.com/.well-known/matrix/server` should have `m.server` set to one of:
-
-    1. `customer.example.net` ─ with a SRV record on
-       `_matrix._tcp.customer.example.com` pointing to port 8000, or:
-
-    2. `customer.example.net` ─ updating synapse to listen on the default port
-       8448, or:
-
-    3. `customer.example.net:8000` ─ ensuring that if there is a reverse proxy
-       on `customer.example.net:8000` it correctly handles HTTP requests with
-       Host header set to `customer.example.net:8000`.
-
-## FAQ
-
-### Synapse 0.99.0 has just been released, what do I need to do right now?
-
-Upgrade as soon as you can in preparation for Synapse 1.0.0, and update your
-TLS certificates as [above](#configuring-certificates-for-compatibility-with-synapse-100).
-
-### What will happen if I do not set up a valid federation certificate immediately?
-
-Nothing initially, but once 1.0.0 is in the wild it will not be possible to
-federate with 1.0.0 servers.
-
-### What will happen if I do nothing at all?
-
-If the admin takes no action at all, and remains on a Synapse < 0.99.0 then the
-homeserver will be unable to federate with those who have implemented
-.well-known. Then, as above, once the month upgrade window has expired the
-homeserver will not be able to federate with any Synapse >= 1.0.0
-
-### When do I need a SRV record or .well-known URI?
-
-If your homeserver listens on the default federation port (8448), and your
-`server_name` points to the host that your homeserver runs on, you do not need an
-SRV record or `.well-known/matrix/server` URI.
-
-For instance, if you registered `example.com` and pointed its DNS A record at a
-fresh Upcloud VPS or similar, you could install Synapse 0.99 on that host,
-giving it a server_name of `example.com`, and it would automatically generate a
-valid TLS certificate for you via Let's Encrypt and no SRV record or
-`.well-known` URI would be needed.
-
-This is the common case, although you can add an SRV record or
-`.well-known/matrix/server` URI for completeness if you wish.
-
-**However**, if your server does not listen on port 8448, or if your `server_name`
-does not point to the host that your homeserver runs on, you will need to let
-other servers know how to find it.
-
-In this case, you should see ["If you do have an SRV record
-currently"](#if-you-do-have-an-srv-record-currently) above.
-
-### Can I still use an SRV record?
-
-Firstly, if you didn't need an SRV record before (because your server is
-listening on port 8448 of your server_name), you certainly don't need one now:
-the defaults are still the same.
-
-If you previously had an SRV record, you can keep using it provided you are
-able to give Synapse a TLS certificate corresponding to your server name. For
-example, suppose you had the following SRV record, which directs matrix traffic
-for example.com to matrix.example.com:443:
-
-```
-_matrix._tcp.example.com. IN SRV 10 5 443 matrix.example.com
-```
-
-In this case, Synapse must be given a certificate for example.com - or be
-configured to acquire one from Let's Encrypt.
-
-If you are unable to give Synapse a certificate for your server_name, you will
-also need to use a .well-known URI instead. However, see also "I have created a
-.well-known URI. Do I still need an SRV record?".
-
-### I have created a .well-known URI. Do I still need an SRV record?
-
-As of Synapse 0.99, Synapse will first check for the existence of a `.well-known`
-URI and follow any delegation it suggests. It will only then check for the
-existence of an SRV record.
-
-That means that the SRV record will often be redundant. However, you should
-remember that there may still be older versions of Synapse in the federation
-which do not understand `.well-known` URIs, so if you removed your SRV record you
-would no longer be able to federate with them.
-
-It is therefore best to leave the SRV record in place for now. Synapse 0.34 and
-earlier will follow the SRV record (and not care about the invalid
-certificate). Synapse 0.99 and later will follow the .well-known URI, with the
-correct certificate chain.
-
-### It used to work just fine, why are you breaking everything?
-
-We have always wanted Matrix servers to be as easy to set up as possible, and
-so back when we started federation in 2014 we didn't want admins to have to go
-through the cumbersome process of buying a valid TLS certificate to run a
-server. This was before Let's Encrypt came along and made getting a free and
-valid TLS certificate straightforward. So instead, we adopted a system based on
-[Perspectives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(SSL)): an approach
-where you check a set of "notary servers" (in practice, homeservers) to vouch
-for the validity of a certificate rather than having it signed by a CA. As long
-as enough different notaries agree on the certificate's validity, then it is
-trusted.
-
-However, in practice this has never worked properly. Most people only use the
-default notary server (matrix.org), leading to inadvertent centralisation which
-we want to eliminate. Meanwhile, we never implemented the full consensus
-algorithm to query the servers participating in a room to determine consensus
-on whether a given certificate is valid. This is fiddly to get right
-(especially in face of sybil attacks), and we found ourselves questioning
-whether it was worth the effort to finish the work and commit to maintaining a
-secure certificate validation system as opposed to focusing on core Matrix
-development.
-
-Meanwhile, Let's Encrypt came along in 2016, and put the final nail in the
-coffin of the Perspectives project (which was already pretty dead). So, the
-Spec Core Team decided that a better approach would be to mandate valid TLS
-certificates for federation alongside the rest of the Web. More details can be
-found in
-[MSC1711](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/blob/main/proposals/1711-x509-for-federation.md#background-the-failure-of-the-perspectives-approach).
-
-This results in a breaking change, which is disruptive, but absolutely critical
-for the security model. However, the existence of Let's Encrypt as a trivial
-way to replace the old self-signed certificates with valid CA-signed ones helps
-smooth things over massively, especially as Synapse can now automate Let's
-Encrypt certificate generation if needed.
-
-### Can I manage my own certificates rather than having Synapse renew certificates itself?
-
-Yes, you are welcome to manage your certificates yourself. Synapse will only
-attempt to obtain certificates from Let's Encrypt if you configure it to do
-so.The only requirement is that there is a valid TLS cert present for
-federation end points.
-
-### Do you still recommend against using a reverse proxy on the federation port?
-
-We no longer actively recommend against using a reverse proxy. Many admins will
-find it easier to direct federation traffic to a reverse proxy and manage their
-own TLS certificates, and this is a supported configuration.
-
-See [the reverse proxy documentation](reverse_proxy.md) for information on setting up a
-reverse proxy.
-
-### Do I still need to give my TLS certificates to Synapse if I am using a reverse proxy?
-
-Practically speaking, this is no longer necessary.
-
-If you are using a reverse proxy for all of your TLS traffic, then you can set
-`no_tls: True`. In that case, the only reason Synapse needs the certificate is
-to populate a legacy 'tls_fingerprints' field in the federation API. This is
-ignored by Synapse 0.99.0 and later, and the only time pre-0.99 Synapses will
-check it is when attempting to fetch the server keys - and generally this is
-delegated via `matrix.org`, which is on 0.99.0.
-
-However, there is a bug in Synapse 0.99.0
-[4554](<https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/4554>) which prevents
-Synapse from starting if you do not give it a TLS certificate. To work around
-this, you can give it any TLS certificate at all. This will be fixed soon.
-
-### Do I need the same certificate for the client and federation port?
-
-No. There is nothing stopping you from using different certificates,
-particularly if you are using a reverse proxy. However, Synapse will use the
-same certificate on any ports where TLS is configured.
-
-### How do I tell Synapse to reload my keys/certificates after I replace them?
-
-Synapse will reload the keys and certificates when it receives a SIGHUP - for
-example `kill -HUP $(cat homeserver.pid)`. Alternatively, simply restart
-Synapse, though this will result in downtime while it restarts.