Mozilla Firefox Sync Server
From Wikipedia:
- Firefox Sync, originally branded Mozilla Weave, is a browser synchronization feature that allows users to partially synchronize bookmarks, browsing history, preferences, passwords, filled forms, add-ons and the last 25 opened tabs across multiple computers.
- It keeps user data on Mozilla servers, but the data is encrypted in such a way that no third party, not even Mozilla, can access user information. It is also possible for the user to host their own Firefox Sync servers, or indeed, for any entity to do so.
This page details how you should proceed to host your own (Mozilla) Firefox Sync Server (shortened to FFSync), version 1.1 or version 1.5, and how to host your own Firefox Account server.
Contents
Version 1.5
This is for Firefox version 29 and onward.
Installation
mozilla-firefox-sync-server-gitAUR is available in the AUR.
The setup creates an isolated Python environment in which all necessary dependencies are downloaded and installed. Afterwards, running the server only relies on the isolated Python environment, independently of the system-wide Python.
Server configuration
One file is available to configure a FFsync server: /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/syncserver.ini
. Most options are explained clearly in the official documentation. Here is a full example with comments:
# Use a Unix socket and the Gunicorn server [server:main] use = egg:gunicorn#main bind = unix:/run/ffsync/syncserver.sock workers = 2 timeout = 60 syslog = true syslog_prefix = ffsync syslog_facility = daemon [app:main] use = egg:syncserver [syncserver] # This must be edited to point to the public URL of your server, # i.e. the URL as seen by Firefox. public_url = http://example.com/ffsync/ # This defines the database in which to store all server data. sqluri = sqlite:////var/lib/ffsync/sync_storage.db # This is a secret key used for signing authentication tokens. # It should be long and randomly-generated. # The following command will give a suitable value on *nix systems: # # head -c 20 /dev/urandom
Running behind nginx
A sample from the nginx config:
# Firefox sync config location /ffsync/ { rewrite ^/ffsync(.+)$ $1 break; proxy_pass http://unix:/run/ffsync/syncserver.sock; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_redirect off; proxy_read_timeout 120; proxy_connect_timeout 10; gzip off; }
Client configuration
To configure desktop Firefox to talk to your new Sync server, go to about:config
, search for services.sync.tokenServerURI
and change its value to the URL of your server with a path of token/1.0/sync/1.5
:
services.sync.tokenServerURI: http://example.com/ffsync/token/1.0/sync/1.5
Firefox Account Server
Until this section is completed, you will have to use the official Firefox Accounts service provided by Mozilla. You can try running your own by following the instructions from the official documentation.
Version 1.1
This is for Firefox version up to but not including version 32.
Installation
mozilla-firefox-sync-server-hgAUR is available in the AUR.
The setup creates an isolated Python environment in which all necessary dependencies are downloaded and installed. Afterwards, running the server only relies on the isolated Python environment, independently of the system-wide Python.
Server configuration
Two files are used to configure a FFsync server: /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/development.ini
and /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/etc/sync.conf
.
Basic configuration
The fallback node URL must reflect the server's visible URL (here https://example.com/ffsync/
). In /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/etc/sync.conf
, change:
[nodes] fallback_node = http://localhost:5000/
to:
[nodes] fallback_node = https://example.com/ffsync/
Disable debug mode
In /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/development.ini
, set:
[DEFAULT] debug = False
Set email
In /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/etc/sync.conf
, set:
[smtp] sender = ffsync@example.com
Storage backend
The default storage backend is sqlite which should be fine if you do not have a lot of users. To split the various databases into several files, edit the sqluri
fields in /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/etc/sync.conf
.
The Official FFsync server Howto details setup with MySQL or LDAP as a backend.
Disk quota
The default disk quota is quite restrictive and will quickly be filled if a lot of bookmarks are stored. Bump the disk quota from 5 to 25 MB in /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/etc/sync.conf
:
[storage] ... quota_size = 25600 ...
Running behind a Web Server
The default configuration runs a built-in server which should not be used in production.
Apache combined with mod_wsgi
See the Official FFsync server Howto.
nginx with Gunicorn
The PKGBUILD available in the AUR installs the Gunicorn server, in the python virtualenv
, by default. Enable it by changing the following lines in /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/development.ini
:
[server:main] use = egg:gunicorn#main host = unix:/run/ffsync/syncserver.sock use_threadpool = True threadpool_workers = 60
Create the /etc/tmpfiles.d/ffsync.conf
file to create the /run/ffsync/
folder at boot:
D /run/ffsync 0750 ffsync http
Create this folder now by running:
# systemd-tmpfiles --create ffsync.conf
Enable and start the Gunicorn serveur using the systemd service unit provided in mozilla-firefox-sync-server-hgAUR:
# systemctl enable ffsync # systemctl start ffsync
Use this config extract to configure nginx:
# Firefox sync config location /ffsync/ { rewrite ^/ffsync(.+)$ $1 break; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_redirect off; proxy_pass http://unix:/run/ffsync/syncserver.sock; }
Not recommended setup with default web server
(Outdated) systemd service unit:
/etc/systemd/system/ffsync.service
[Unit] Description=Mozilla Firefox Syn Server After=network.target [Service] Type=simple User=ffsync Group=ffsync WorkingDirectory=/opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server ExecStart=/opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/bin/python2 /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/bin/paster serve /opt/mozilla-firefox-sync-server/development.ini StandardOutput=/var/log/ffsync/sync-messages.log [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Alias=ffsync.service
Client configuration
Use the Sync Configuration Wizard in Firefox' Settings to create a new account on the server. Do not forget to choose "Custom server..." in the list, and input the server address: https://example.com/ffsync/
The "Advanced Settings" button allows fine tuning of the synchronized elements list, and the definition of the client hostname.