Services

Welcome to our Services page, where you can discover the array of offerings from etke.cc.

Managed Servers¶

We provide a range of managed Matrix homeserver services, tailored to your needs. Whether you’re looking for an on-premises solution or prefer to use get a cloud hosting, we’ve got you covered.

Hosting Types¶

There are two hosting types available: Cloud Hosting and On-Premises.

Cloud Hosting¶

Get a server without having to deal with infrastructure

The Hosting plan is for those who would rather avoid dealing with a server infrastructure by yourself. For this type of offering, we will rent a server from Hetzner Cloud for you and manage it on your behalf.

You can learn more about this service here.

On-Premises¶

Managed Matrix homeserver on your own infrastructure

Don’t you like our Cloud Hosting offering? No problem! We can install and manage your Matrix homeserver on-premises (on your own infrastructure or on a cloud provider of your choice).

Here are prerequisites which need to be set up on your side:

• An x86/amd64 Linux server with a Debian-based distribution (the latest Ubuntu LTS is recommended).
• An unrestricted internet access for the server (running behind NAT, proxied or air-gapped setups are not supported).
• A domain name to use with your Matrix server. Alternatively, you can obtain a subdomain from us at no extra cost.

Subscription¶

All our services are available on a subscription basis.

The Matrix base service is the only required component we charge for on our order form. With the aim of achieving fair pricing, all other services are an addon available at extra charge — choose the ones that make sense to you!

Getting Started¶

First of all, place an order for the services you’re interested in. After that, you will receive an email with details about the next steps to get your server up and running.

During this process, you will need to make payment for the order. You can follow the instructions in the email to complete it.

After the payment is made, the team will set up your managed Matrix server and take care of the following:

• Setting up Docker
• Configuring Matrix homeserver components (e.g., Synapse, Coturn, Synapse Admin, Element app, etc.) based on your order
• Handling database backups (gzip SQL dump for on-premises installations or server snapshots for hosted options)
• Configuring swap based on your server’s RAM capacity
• Configuring fail2ban for intrusion prevention
• Setting up the firewall (ufw)
• Conducting SSH security hardening

As a part of this process, we also ensure:

• System package updates
• Cleanup of unused system and Docker resources
• Logs retention for 7 days

Maintenance¶

After the initial configuration, maintenance services will become available. They are offered exclusively for the homeservers installed by us, owing to variations in configuration and deployment methods.

Automatic Weekly Maintenance

Our automated maintenance runs once a week, in accordance with your chosen recurring schedule. You can use either Synapse Admin or the Scheduler bot to configure maintenance. If you haven’t set a schedule, a default one will be assigned for your server’s upkeep.

etke.cc adopts the rolling release model, and each change by the team is automatically tested and released as soon as it passes testing. On every Friday a weekly recap with announcements and updates are posted to ensure nobody misses them. Please see here for details.

You can also trigger maintenance via Synapse Admin manually at any time, although it is usually unnecessary.

As part of our maintenance, we perform the following tasks every week:

• System package updates
• Matrix component updates
• Cleanup of unused system, Docker, and Matrix resources (e.g., cache, logs, thumbnails)
• Logs retention for 7 days
• Automatic tuning and vacuuming of your database, tailored to your server’s configuration

Sit back, relax, and let us handle the weekly maintenance for you.

Please note that maintenance does not cover distribution upgrades (e.g., from Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04), as they are considered to be major ones and require manual intervention. You can either execute the upgrade task by yourself with our guidance (no extra cost) or request our assistance for a fee. Please see here for details.

Additional benefits

With the subscription, you can enjoy the following included benefits:

• Access to the Scheduler (self-service) bot
• Access to the exclusive Synapse Admin features
• Basic support
• Monitoring with email and Matrix alerts
• Private Docker registry containing all Matrix components, ensuring stability by avoiding issues with public registries

Self-Service Bot¶

Manage Your Server with Ease

Our Scheduler bot is a self-service tool that allows you to manage your server with ease. You can schedule maintenance, monitor your server’s health, and more, all from your Matrix client.

However, due to several downsides of the bot interface, it is recommended to use Synapse Admin for maintenance tasks. Here are some merits of using Synapse Admin over calling the bot directly:

• Synapse Admin works for unfederated servers as well, while the Scheduler bot is available only for federated servers
• Synapse Admin is available for any homeserver administrators, while the bot is available only for explicitly defined users
• On Synapse Admin there are nice UI forms with dropdown menus, while the bot is a chat interface, and you have to manually type commands

You can learn more about the Scheduler bot here.

Monitoring¶

Stay Informed

Our monitoring service keeps you informed about your server’s health and performance. We offer monitoring reports via email and Matrix alerts, ensuring you’re always up-to-date on your server’s status.

The detail about our monitoring service is available here.

Private Docker Registry¶

Avoid Public Registries Issues

Our private Docker registry acts as a mirror for public registries, eliminating common issues such as rate limits, unavailability, and restricted access.

You can learn more about our private Docker registry here.

Customer Support¶

Choose the Level of Support

We offer various levels of customer support. The “Basic” level is included with subscription by default. For more extensive support, our “Dedicated” level is available upon request.

For additional details, please visit our support page.

Cloud Services¶

Besides the services listed above, we also offer a range of cloud services, integrated with the servers we manage by default. These services are designed to enhance your Matrix experience and provide you with a comprehensive solution for your communication needs.

app.etke.cc¶

We provide CDN-backed hosting of the Element Web app with additional features enabled by default, and MatrixRooms.info integration.

It is available at app.etke.cc and included by default for all services we manage.

admin.etke.cc¶

We provide CDN-backed hosting for the our own fork of Synapse Admin web interface with additional features and improvements (details).

It is available at admin.etke.cc and included by default for all services we manage.

demo.etke.host¶

We provide a demo Matrix server with additional components for you to try out.

It is available at demo.etke.host. You can check details and instructions here.

MatrixRooms.info¶

We develop and maintain Matrix Rooms Search project, a search engine for Matrix rooms.

To make it possible for you to use it easily, we offer an instance the project at MatrixRooms.info, where you can search for and join Matrix rooms (details).

The service is available at MatrixRooms.info and included by default for all servers we manage in the Element Web app, where you can directly search rooms across federation.

If you would like to use it by default in other client apps (e.g., FluffyChat), you can follow the instructions here.

Custom Development¶

Tailored Solutions

If you require custom features within our open-source projects, we’re here to help at a fair price. Get more details about our custom development services here.