How to Set Up Jitsi for Secure Video Conferencing

In today’s digital world, secure communication is essential. At MilesGuard, we value privacy, which is why we prefer Jitsi over mainstream platforms like Microsoft Teams. This guide will walk you through setting up Jitsi on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) using Docker and systemd services.

Why Choose Jitsi?

Jitsi is an open-source video conferencing solution that offers end-to-end encryption 🔒, ensuring your conversations remain private. Unlike proprietary platforms, Jitsi gives you full control over your data.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

A server with Docker and Docker Compose installed 🐳
A domain name pointing to your server’s IP address (e.g., meet.milesguard.com)
Git installed to clone repositories
A new Git repository created for your Jitsi setup
Root or sudo access to the server

Step 1: Clone the Jitsi Docker Repository as a Submodule

Add the official Jitsi Docker repository as a submodule:

git submodule add https://github.com/jitsi/docker-jitsi-meet.git

Step 2: Update Submodules

Initialize and update the Git submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Step 3: Configure Environment Variables

Copy the template .env file to create your environment configuration:

cp .env docker-jitsi-meet/.env

Customize the .env File

Edit the .env file and configure the following settings:

# Basic Configuration
XMPP_DOMAIN=meet.milesguard.com
XMPP_AUTH_DOMAIN=auth.meet.milesguard.com
XMPP_MUC_DOMAIN=muc.meet.milesguard.com
XMPP_INTERNAL_MUC_DOMAIN=internal.auth.meet.milesguard.com

# Enable Let's Encrypt
ENABLE_LETSENCRYPT=1
LETSENCRYPT_DOMAIN=meet.milesguard.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=[email protected]

# Timezone
TZ=Your/Timezone  # e.g., Europe/Berlin

💡 Note: Replace [email protected] with your actual email address and set your correct timezone.

Step 4: Generate Passwords 🔐

Run the following script to generate necessary passwords:

./docker-jitsi-meet/gen-passwords.sh

This will populate your .env file with secure passwords.

Step 5: Systemd Service Setup 🛠️

Create a systemd service to manage your Jitsi Docker containers.

Create the jitsi.service File

Create a file named jitsi.service in ~/.config/systemd/user with the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Jitsi Docker Service
After=network.target docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/your/docker-jitsi-meet
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker compose up -d
ExecStop=/usr/bin/docker compose down

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

💡 Note: Replace /path/to/your/docker-jitsi-meet with the actual path to your docker-jitsi-meet directory and (create the folder if it does not exists)

Enable and Start the Service

Enable the service to start on boot and start it immediately:

sudo systemctl enable jitsi.service
sudo systemctl start jitsi.service

Step 6: Create a User in Prosody 👤

If you’re using internal authentication, create a user in Prosody:

docker exec -it docker-jitsi-meet-prosody-1 prosodyctl --config /config/prosody.cfg.lua register username meet.milesguard.com password

Replace username and password with your desired credentials.

Step 7: Verify the Setup ✅

Open your web browser and navigate to https://meet.milesguard.com. You should see the Jitsi Meet interface.

Troubleshooting 🛠️

Restart the Service

If you encounter issues, restart the Jitsi service:

sudo systemctl restart jitsi.service

Check the Service Status

To check the status of the Jitsi service:

sudo systemctl status jitsi.service

Stop the Service

To stop the Jitsi service:

sudo systemctl stop jitsi.service

Conclusion 🎉

You’ve successfully set up Jitsi on your VPS using Docker and systemd services. This setup ensures secure video conferencing with full control over your data.

For any questions or assistance, feel free to contact us at MilesGuard.