Cloud server with Jitsi Meet

Jitsi Meet is a fully encrypted, open-source video conferencing solution.

You can create a cloud server with a pre-installed Jitsi Meet application. In Russia, the application runs on a cloud server with a configured SelectOS 1 64-bit operating system. In other countries — Ubuntu 22.04.

Before creating a cloud server with an application, read the software license agreements included in the image.

Minimum resource requirements

	Test environment	Production environment
vCPU count	4	4
RAM	2—4 GB	8 GB
Boot volume	10 GB	10 GB

Create a cloud server with Jitsi Meet

To configure Jitsi Meet, you must specify user data when creating the server — these are custom operating system configuration parameters. You can define two sets of variables:

• for accessing Jitsi Meet from the internet;
• for accessing Jitsi Meet only within a private subnet.

For a server with access from the internet, you will need to configure mandatory authorization and create users with the ability to create conferences. For a server in a private subnet, authorization can be disabled — access to Jitsi Meet can be obtained via a domain name.

1. Create a public floating IP address.

2. Create a cloud server with Jitsi Meet.

1. Create a public floating IP address

Create a public floating IP address so that the cloud server with Jitsi Meet is accessible from the internet.

Use the Create a public floating IP address section of the Public floating IP addresses guide.

2. Create a cloud server with Jitsi Meet

1. In the Control panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.

2. Click Create server.

3. Fill in the blocks:

   • Name and placement;
   • Source;
   • Configuration;
   • Volumes;
   • Internet;
   • Private network;
   • Security;
   • Access;
   • Additional settings.

4. Check the cloud server price.

5. Click Create.

Name and placement

1. Enter the server name. It will be set as the hostname in the operating system.

2. Select a location where the server will be created. The available server configurations and resource costs depend on the location. You cannot change the location after the server is created.

Source

1. Open the Applications tab.

2. Select Cloud Jitsi Meet.

3. Optional: if you need a different current or archived application version, in the Version field, select the required version.

Configuration

Select a configuration from 4 vCPU, RAM starting from 8 GB and a boot disk size starting from 10 GB. For all configuration lines except Shared and Dedicated, two types of server configurations are available:

• fixed configurations — ranges with different technical specifications where the resource ratio is fixed;
• custom configurations — configurations where you can specify any resource ratio.

Configurations use different processors depending on the configuration line and pool segment. You can customize the selected configuration. After the server is created, you will be able to change the configuration.

Fixed configuration

1. Open the tab with the range.

2. Click Fixed.

3. Optional: you can adjust the configuration, if you are creating a server in a multi-AZ pool ru-6 segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select the processor manufacturer. Choosing the manufacturer is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you want to avoid pinning physical processor cores to cloud server vCPUs, uncheck the Dedicated Cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores tutorial.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a server with dedicated cores, uncheck the Hyper-Threading (SMT) box.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a server with dedicated cores and want to host a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. You can place a server with 4 vCPUs or more on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on one node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores tutorial.

4. Select a configuration.

5. If both local and network volumes are available in the selected configuration, select the volume to be used as the boot disk:

   • local disk — check the Local SSD NVMe disk box. A server with a local disk can only be created from images and applications;
   • network volume — do not check the Local SSD NVMe disk box.

   The amount of RAM allocated to a server may be less than the amount specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves a portion of RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated volume on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Custom configuration

1. Open the tab with the range.

2. Click Custom.

3. Optional: you can adjust the configuration, if you are creating a server in a multi-AZ pool ru-6 segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:

   3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.

   3.2. Optional: select the processor manufacturer. Choosing the manufacturer is not available in all pools.

   3.3. Optional: if you want to avoid pinning physical processor cores to cloud server vCPUs, uncheck the Dedicated Cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores tutorial.

   3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a cloud server with dedicated cores, uncheck the Hyper-Threading (SMT) box.

   3.5. Optional: if you are creating a cloud server with dedicated cores and want to host a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. You can place a cloud server with 4 vCPUs or more on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on one node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores tutorial.

4. Specify the number of vCPUs.

5. Specify the RAM size.

6. If you need to add GPUs to the server, click Add GPU, select the GPU type, and specify the number of GPUs. The selected configuration line will change to the GPU line. If you selected an image without GPU optimization in the Source section and the Auto-select GPU image toggle is enabled, the selected image will automatically change to a GPU-optimized image.

7. If both local and network volumes are available in the selected configuration, select the volume to be used as the boot disk:

   • local disk — check the Local SSD NVMe disk box. A server with a local disk can only be created from images and applications;
   • network volume — do not check the Local SSD NVMe disk box.

   The amount of RAM allocated to a server may be less than the amount specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves a portion of RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated volume on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.

Volumes

1. If you did not check the Local SSD NVMe disk checkbox when setting up the configuration, the first specified network volume will be used as the server boot disk. To configure it:

   1.1. Select the type of network boot disk.

   1.2. Specify the size of the network boot disk in GB or TB. Observe the maximum size limits for network volumes.

   1.3. If you selected the Unified v2 or Fast SSD v2 disk type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After the disk is created, you can change the IOPS value — reduce or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is unlimited.

2. Optional: add an additional network volume server :

   2.1. Click Add.

   2.2. Select the type of network volume.

   2.3. Specify the size of the network disk in GB or TB. Observe the maximum size limits for network volumes.

   2.4. If you chose the Universal v2 or SSD Fast v2 volume type, specify the total IOPS (read and write operations). After the volume is created you can change the IOPS — decrease or increase them. There is no limit to the number of IOPS changes.

   After creating the server, you will be able to attach new additional volumes.

Internet

Set up public access to the server.

The cloud server will be added to a private subnet connected to a cloud router with 1:1 NAT and internet access. Access to and from the internet will be provided through the cloud router. The server will be accessible from the internet via a public floating IP address.

1. In the Connection from the internet field, select the Public floating IP address access type.

2. Select the public floating IP address that you created in step 1.

Private network

A cloud server can be added to an existing or new private subnet.

Existing private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select a private subnet.

2. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

3. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after the server is created.

New private subnet

1. In the Subnet field, select New private subnet.

2. In the Network field, select an existing network or create a new one.

3. Optional: change the subnet CIDR.

4. Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.

5. In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.

   If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after the server is created.

Security

Select security groups to filter traffic on the server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be blocked. If the block is missing, traffic filtering (port security) is disabled in the server network. With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.

Access

1. Place an SSH key for the project on the server for secure connection:

   1.1. If an SSH key for the project is not added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH key, enter the key name, paste the public key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.

   1.2. If an SSH key for the project has been added to the cloud platform, select an existing key in the SSH key field. An SSH key is available only in the pool where it is placed.

2. Optional: in the Password for root field:

   2.1. Copy the password for the root user — the user with unrestricted privileges for all system actions.

   2.2. Save the password in a secure place and do not share it in plain text.

Additional settings

1. Optional: if you plan to create multiple servers and want to increase infrastructure fault tolerance, add the server to a placement group:

   1.1. To create a new group, in the Placement group field, click Create.

   1.2. Select New group and enter the group name.

   1.3. Select a placement policy on different hosts:

   • preferred — soft-anti-affinity. The system will try to host the servers on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, it will be created on the same host;
   • mandatory — anti-affinity. Servers in the group must be located on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, the server will not be created.

   1.4. Once the group is created, in the Placement group field, select the placement group.

2. Optional: to add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. OS and configuration tags are added automatically. To add a new tag, in the Tags field, enter the tag.

3. To add a script that will be executed using the cloud-init agent at the first operating system startup, in the Automation block in the User data field:

   • open the Text tab and paste the script as text;
   • or open the File tab and upload the file with the script.

With access from the internet

#cloud-config

write_files:
- path: "/opt/gomplate/values/user-values.yml"
  permissions: "0644"
  content: |
    jitsi_HTTP_PORT: "80"
    jitsi_HTTPS_PORT: "443"
    jitsi_TZ: "<time_zone>"
    jitsi_PUBLIC_URL: "<jitsi_meet_public_url>"
    jitsi_IP: "<public_ip_address>"
    letsencrypt:
      enable: true
      letsencryptDomain: "<example.com>"
      letsencryptEmail: "<root@example.com>"
    auth:
      enable: true

Specify:

• <time_zone> — time zone, for example UTC;
• <jitsi_meet_public_url> — public Jitsi Meet URL in jitsi.example.com format;
• <public_ip_address> — the public floating IP address you created in step 1. You can view it in the Control Panel: in the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → Network → Public IP addresses **** tab;
• letsencrypt: enable: true — parameter for automatic Let’s Encrypt® TLS certificate issuance;
• <example.com> — the domain to access Jitsi Meet, which you added earlier;
• <root@example.com> — administrator email address;
• auth: enable: true — parameter to enable mandatory authorization for creating conferences.

Without access from the internet

#cloud-config

write_files:
- path: "/opt/gomplate/values/user-values.yml"
  permissions: "0644"
  content: |
    jitsi_HTTP_PORT: "80"
    jitsi_HTTPS_PORT: "443"
    jitsi_TZ: "<time_zone>"
    jitsi_PUBLIC_URL: "<jitsi_meet_private_url>"
    jitsi_IP: "<private_ip_address>"
    letsencrypt:
      enable: false

Specify:

• <time_zone> — the time zone, for example UTC;
• <jitsi_meet_private_url> — private Jitsi Meet URL in the format meet.local;
• <private_ip_address> — private server IP address. You can view it in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Cloud Servers → Network → Private networks tab;
• letsencrypt: enable: false — parameter indicating that a Let’s Encrypt® TLS certificate will not be issued. You can add a custom certificate.

Create a user with conference creation privileges

If the cloud server with Jitsi Meet has internet access, create users who will be able to create video conferences.

1. Connect to the cloud server.

2. Log in as the root user.

3. Create a user with conference creation privileges:

   docker exec jitsi-prosody-1 prosodyctl --config /config/prosody.cfg.lua register <username> meet.jitsi <password>

   Specify:

   • <username> — new user login;
   • <password> — new user password.

Access Jitsi Meet

If the cloud server with Jitsi Meet has no internet access, you can access Jitsi Meet via a domain name. To do this:

• create an A-record on the local DNS server for the private Jitsi Meet URL in the format https://meet.local;
• or add an A-record to the hosts file on the clients.

Add a custom certificate

You can add a custom certificate to the cloud server with Jitsi Meet.

1. If you are using a full certificate chain and a private key in .pem format, rename them to cert.crt and cert.key.

2. Connect to the cloud server.

3. Log in as the root user.

4. Copy the cert.crt and cert.key files to the /opt/jitsi/data/.jitsi-meet-cfg/web/keys directory

5. Perform a soft reboot of the cloud server.