Jitsi Meet

What it's good for#

Jitsi Meet is for the calls you'd otherwise make on Zoom or Teams: a weekly catch-up with family abroad, a club committee meeting, a quick call to show someone your screen. Nobody needs an account. You make up a name for the meeting, share its link, and whoever opens it is in the call, with video, chat, screen sharing and a raised-hand button.

Running it yourself means the calls go through your server rather than a company's.

Before you install: it needs HTTPS#

Browsers only let a page use your camera and microphone when it's on HTTPS. On a plain http:// address Jitsi Meet loads, but nobody can be seen or heard. The VPN doesn't change this, because the browser looks at the address, not the route. LibrePortal warns you before you install it without HTTPS.

So pick one of the HTTPS choices first (see Domains and HTTPS). I don't have a domain is enough for calls at home, once each device has accepted the certificate warning. For calls with people outside your home, a domain is the better answer: they get an address like https://meet.example.com with no warning to click through.

Signing in#

There's no one to sign in as. Meetings are open by design: anyone who can reach the page can start one or join one. Jitsi does have its own accounts, but switching them on locks every meeting until accounts are made by hand on the server, so LibrePortal leaves them off.

That shapes how you keep it to yourselves. Jitsi Meet is one of the apps that has to stay reachable by outsiders, since the whole point is inviting people who aren't on your network, so its Network tab says Open to anyone rather than offering Private. Anyone who finds the address could use your server for a call. Give meetings names nobody would guess, and use the lock in a meeting's security options to set a password when it matters. To check: check whether putting Jitsi Meet behind Authelia is workable, or whether it stops guests joining

Making a call#

The meeting exists only while someone's in it. When the last person leaves, it's gone; the same name simply starts a fresh one next time.

On a phone, the Jitsi Meet app (Android and iPhone) can join meetings on your server instead of Jitsi's own: add your address in its settings, or open a meeting link on the phone. To check: confirm the Jitsi Meet phone apps accept LibrePortal's self-signed certificate, or need a domain

Calls from outside your home#

A call between two people usually goes straight between them. With three or more, Jitsi's video bridge carries everyone's audio and video, on one fixed port: UDP 10000. Browsers are told which address to send their audio and video to, and LibrePortal gives them your server's address on your network, which suits a household. The bridge also finds your public address by itself, for people joining from the internet.

On a VPS that just works. At home, forward UDP 10000 on your router to the server, or people outside will be able to open the meeting page but not see or hear anyone. If the address browsers are told is wrong for your setup, you can set it yourself with Media Address. It lives in the app's config file for now, and changes by reinstalling with the value (see Settings in the config file):

sudo -u libreportal libreportal app install jitsimeet 'CFG_JITSIMEET_MEDIA_ADDRESS=192.168.1.50'

To check: check calls of three or more over the LibrePortal VPN: the bridge advertises the LAN address, which VPN devices may not reach

Good to know#

• Nothing to back up. Meetings aren't recorded or stored, and each part of Jitsi writes its settings afresh when it starts, so LibrePortal leaves it out of backups.
• Updates are automatic. LibrePortal follows Jitsi's stable release for all four of its parts together.
• Bandwidth is the limit. Every call of three or more flows through your server's connection, so a home upload speed decides how many people can comfortably be on video at once.
• One per server. The video bridge needs UDP port 10000 to itself, so a second copy would have nowhere to listen.