computer-playbook/roles/web-svc-coturn

Coturn

This folder contains the role to deploy and manage a Coturn service.

Description

Coturn is a free and open-source TURN (Traversal Using Relays around NAT) and STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) server.
It enables real-time communication (RTC) applications such as WebRTC to work reliably across NATs and firewalls.

Without TURN/STUN, video calls, conferencing, and peer-to-peer connections often fail due to NAT traversal issues.
Coturn solves this by acting as a relay server and/or discovery service for public IP addresses.

More background:

• Wikipedia: Traversal Using Relays around NAT
• Wikipedia: Session Traversal Utilities for NAT
• Official Coturn Docs: https://github.com/coturn/coturn/wiki

Overview

This role deploys Coturn via Docker Compose using the sys-stk-semi-stateless stack.
It automatically configures:

• TURN and STUN listening ports
• Relay port ranges
• TLS certificates (via Let’s Encrypt integration)
• Long-term credentials and/or REST API secrets

Typical use cases:

• Nextcloud Talk
• Jitsi
• BigBlueButton
• Any WebRTC-based application

Cosmos

The diagram places Coturn in the Infinito.Nexus cosmos: the components it deploys (capabilities), the central services it consumes (dependencies), and its outward reach (federation and bridged external networks).

flowchart LR
    subgraph deps [Dependencies]
        dep_svc_bkp_volume_2_local["svc-bkp-volume-2-local 💻"]
        dep_svc_db_redis["svc-db-redis 🐳🐝"]
        dep_web_app_prometheus["web-app-prometheus 🐳🐝"]
    end
    subgraph role [web-svc-coturn 🐳🐝]
        svc_coturn["coturn"]
        svc_gateway["gateway"]
        svc_redis["redis"]
        svc_prometheus["prometheus"]
        svc_tor["tor ❌"]
        svc_container_backup["container_backup"]
    end
    subgraph dependents [Dependents]
        dpt_web_app_bigbluebutton["web-app-bigbluebutton 🐳🐝"]
        dpt_web_app_matrix["web-app-matrix 🐳🐝"]
        dpt_web_app_nextcloud["web-app-nextcloud 🐳🐝"]
        dpt_web_app_opentalk["web-app-opentalk 🐳🐝"]
        dpt_web_app_socialhome["web-app-socialhome 🐳🐝"]
    end
    dep_svc_bkp_volume_2_local -. "0..1" .-> svc_container_backup
    dep_svc_db_redis -. "0..1" .-> svc_redis
    dep_web_app_prometheus -. "0..1" .-> svc_prometheus
    svc_coturn -. "0..1" .-> dpt_web_app_bigbluebutton
    svc_coturn -. "0..1" .-> dpt_web_app_matrix
    svc_coturn -. "0..1" .-> dpt_web_app_nextcloud
    svc_coturn -. "0..1" .-> dpt_web_app_opentalk
    svc_coturn -. "0..1" .-> dpt_web_app_socialhome

Solid 1:1 edges are fixed relationships; dashed 0..1 edges are conditional (enabled only in matching deployments); red 0..0 edges are turned off in this role. Node markers show the role's deploy modes (💻 host, 🐳 compose, 🐝 swarm); ❌ marks a service that is explicitly turned off, and ⚙️ an Ansible role dependency declared in meta/main.yml.

Features

• Stateless container deployment (no database or persistent volume required)
• Automatic TLS handling via sys-stk-front-base
• TURN and STUN support over TCP and UDP
• Configurable relay port ranges for scaling
• Integration into Infinito.Nexus inventory/variable system

Quick Setup

Development

Clone, set up the workstation, and deploy Coturn onto the local stack:

git clone https://github.com/infinito-nexus/core.git
cd core
make onboard
make compose-deploy mode=reinstall apps=web-svc-coturn full_cycle=false

Production

Run the published image to provision the inventory and deploy Coturn to a managed server (the mounted volume persists the inventory):

APP=web-svc-coturn
HOST=<your-server>
DOMAIN=<your-domain>
TLS_MODE=self_signed
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="<your-ssh-public-key>"

docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$PWD/inventories:/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories" \
  -e APP="$APP" -e HOST="$HOST" -e DOMAIN="$DOMAIN" -e TLS_MODE="$TLS_MODE" -e SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
  ghcr.io/infinito-nexus/core/debian bash -c '
    INVENTORY=/etc/infinito.nexus/inventories/production
    infinito administration inventory provision "$INVENTORY" \
      --inventory-file "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --host "$HOST" \
      --include "$APP" \
      --vars "{\"TLS_MODE\": \"$TLS_MODE\", \"DOMAIN_PRIMARY\": \"$DOMAIN\", \"users\": {\"administrator\": {\"authorized_keys\": [\"$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY\"]}}}" &&
    infinito administration deploy dedicated "$INVENTORY/devices.yml" \
      --password-file "$INVENTORY/.password" \
      --diff -vv'

Further Resources

• Coturn Project: github.com/coturn/coturn
• Coturn Wiki: github.com/coturn/coturn/wiki
• TURN on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traversal_Using_Relays_around_NAT
• STUN on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STUN

Credits

Implemented by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Part of the Infinito.Nexus Project and maintained by Kevin Veen-Birkenbach. Licensed under the Infinito.Nexus Community License (Non-Commercial).