Install Zimbra OSE 8.8.15 and Zextras Suite Pro on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
With the latest patch in Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition 8.8.15 LTS, full support for the "long-playing" release of the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system has been added. Thanks to this, system administrators can create server infrastructures with Zimbra OSE, which will be supported and receive security updates until the end of 2022. The ability to implement a collaboration system at your enterprise that will remain relevant for more than three years, and at the same time does not require significant labor costs for maintenance, is a great opportunity for the enterprise to reduce the cost of ownership of IT infrastructure, and for SaaS providers this option is Zimbra OSE allows you to offer customers more profitable for them, but at the same time more marginal tariffs for the provider. Let’s figure out how to install Zimbra OSE 8.8.15 on Ubuntu 18.04.
Server system requirements for installing Zimbra OSE include a 4-core processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, 50 gigabytes of hard disk space, as well as FQDN, a redirect DNS server and MX record. We note right away that the “bottleneck” that limits the performance of Zimbra OSE is usually not the processor or RAM, but the hard drive. That is why it would be wise to purchase a high-speed SSD for the server, which will not greatly affect the total cost of the server, but will significantly increase the performance and responsiveness of Zimbra OSE. Let's create a server with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Zimbra Collaboration Suite 8.8.15 LTS on board and the domain name mail.company.ru.
The greatest difficulty in installing Zimbra for beginners is the creation of the FQDN and the redirecting DNS server. In order for everything to work, create a DNS server based on the dnsmasq utility. To do this, first disable the systemd-resolved service. This is done using the sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved and sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved commands . We also delete the resolv.conf file using the sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf command and then create a new one using the echo command “nameserver 8.8.8.8"> /etc/resolv.conf .
After this service is disabled, you will need to install dnsmasq. This is done using the sudo apt-get install dnsmasq command. After the installation is completed, you need to configure dnsmasq by editing the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf . The result should be something like this:
Thanks to this, we set the server address with Zimbra, set up a redirect DNS server and MX record, and now we can move on to other settings.
Using the sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mail.company.ru command, set the domain name for the server with Zimbra OSE, and then add the corresponding information to / etc / hosts using the echo "***. 16.128.192 mail.company.ru" command | sudo tee -a / etc / hosts .
After that, we just need to restart the dnsmasq service using the sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq command and add A and MX records using the dig A mail.company.ru and dig MX company.ru commands. After all this is done, you can begin to install the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition itself.
Installing Zimbra OSE begins with downloading the distribution. You can do this with the wget files.zimbra.com/downloads/8.8.15_GA/zcs-8.8.15_GA_3869.UBUNTU18_64.20190917004220.tgz command . After the distribution is downloaded, you will need to unzip it using the tar xvf zcs-8.8.15_GA_3869.UBUNTU18_64.20190917004220.tgz command . After the unpacking is completed, you will need to go to the unpacked folder using the cd zcs * / command , and then run the installation script using the ./install.sh command .
After starting the installer, you will need to accept the terms of use, as well as agree to use the official Zimbra repositories to install updates. After that, you will be asked to select the packages to install. When packages are selected, a warning appears that the system will be changed during installation. After the user agrees to the changes, the download of the missing modules and updates will begin, as well as their installation. Upon completion of the installation, the installer will offer to perform the initial setup of Zimbra OSE. At this point, you will need to set an administrator password. To do this, you must first go to menu item 7, and then select item 4. After that, the Zimbra Open-Source Edition installation is completed.
After the installation of Zimbra OSE is completed, it remains only to open the necessary web ports for its operation. This can be done using the standard Ubuntu firewall called ufw. In order for everything to work, you must first allow unlimited access from the administrative subnet using the ufw allow from 192.168.0.1/24 command, and then create a Zimbra profile in the /etc/ufw/applications.d/zimbra configuration file:
Then, using the sudo ufw allow Zimbra command, you need to activate the created Zimbra profile, and then restart ufw with the sudo ufw enable command . We also open access to the server via SSH using the sudo ufw allow ssh command. Once the required ports are open, you can access the Zimbra administration console. To do this, type mail.company.ru:7071 in the address bar of the browser, or, if using a proxy, mail.company.ru:9071 , and then enter admin as the username, and the password that you set as the password when installing Zimbra.
After the installation of Zimbra OSE is completed, a complete email and collaboration solution will appear in your enterprise infrastructure. However, the capabilities of your mail server can be significantly expanded through the use of extensions Zextras Suite Pro. They allow you to add support for mobile devices, collaboration with documents, spreadsheets and presentations to the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition, and if desired, you can add support for text and video chats, as well as video conferencing, in Zimbra OSE.
Installing Zextras Suite Pro is quite simple for this, just download the distribution package from the official Zextras website using the wget command www.zextras.com/download/zextras_suite-latest.tgz , then unpack this tar xfz archive zextras_suite-latest.tgz , go to the unpacked folder files cd zextras_suite / and run the installation script using the command ./install.sh all . After that, you just need to clear the Zimbra OSE cache with the zmprov fc zimlet command and you can start using Zextras Suite.
Note that for the Zextras Docs extension to work, which enables employees to work together on text documents, tables and presentations, it is necessary to install a separate server application. On the Zextras website you can download its distribution for the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system. In addition, the functionality of the solution for online communication between Zextras Team employees is available on mobile devices using the application, which can also be downloaded absolutely free from Google Play and the Apple AppStore . In addition, there is a mobile application for accessing the Zextras Drive cloud storage, which is also available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices .
Thus, by installing Zimbra OSE 8.8.15 LTS and Zextras Suite Pro on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, you can get a fully functional collaboration solution that, due to the long term of support and low licensing cost, will significantly reduce the cost of ownership of the enterprise IT infrastructure.
For all questions related to the Zextras Suite, you can contact the representative of the company "Zextras" Ekaterina Triandafilidi by e-mail katerina@zextras.com
Server system requirements for installing Zimbra OSE include a 4-core processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, 50 gigabytes of hard disk space, as well as FQDN, a redirect DNS server and MX record. We note right away that the “bottleneck” that limits the performance of Zimbra OSE is usually not the processor or RAM, but the hard drive. That is why it would be wise to purchase a high-speed SSD for the server, which will not greatly affect the total cost of the server, but will significantly increase the performance and responsiveness of Zimbra OSE. Let's create a server with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Zimbra Collaboration Suite 8.8.15 LTS on board and the domain name mail.company.ru.
The greatest difficulty in installing Zimbra for beginners is the creation of the FQDN and the redirecting DNS server. In order for everything to work, create a DNS server based on the dnsmasq utility. To do this, first disable the systemd-resolved service. This is done using the sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved and sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved commands . We also delete the resolv.conf file using the sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf command and then create a new one using the echo command “nameserver 8.8.8.8"> /etc/resolv.conf .
After this service is disabled, you will need to install dnsmasq. This is done using the sudo apt-get install dnsmasq command. After the installation is completed, you need to configure dnsmasq by editing the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf . The result should be something like this:
server=8.8.8.8 listen-address=127.0.0.1 domain=company.ru # Define domain mx-host=company.ru,mail.company.ru,0 address=/mail.company.ru/***.16.128.192
Thanks to this, we set the server address with Zimbra, set up a redirect DNS server and MX record, and now we can move on to other settings.
Using the sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mail.company.ru command, set the domain name for the server with Zimbra OSE, and then add the corresponding information to / etc / hosts using the echo "***. 16.128.192 mail.company.ru" command | sudo tee -a / etc / hosts .
After that, we just need to restart the dnsmasq service using the sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq command and add A and MX records using the dig A mail.company.ru and dig MX company.ru commands. After all this is done, you can begin to install the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition itself.
Installing Zimbra OSE begins with downloading the distribution. You can do this with the wget files.zimbra.com/downloads/8.8.15_GA/zcs-8.8.15_GA_3869.UBUNTU18_64.20190917004220.tgz command . After the distribution is downloaded, you will need to unzip it using the tar xvf zcs-8.8.15_GA_3869.UBUNTU18_64.20190917004220.tgz command . After the unpacking is completed, you will need to go to the unpacked folder using the cd zcs * / command , and then run the installation script using the ./install.sh command .
After starting the installer, you will need to accept the terms of use, as well as agree to use the official Zimbra repositories to install updates. After that, you will be asked to select the packages to install. When packages are selected, a warning appears that the system will be changed during installation. After the user agrees to the changes, the download of the missing modules and updates will begin, as well as their installation. Upon completion of the installation, the installer will offer to perform the initial setup of Zimbra OSE. At this point, you will need to set an administrator password. To do this, you must first go to menu item 7, and then select item 4. After that, the Zimbra Open-Source Edition installation is completed.
After the installation of Zimbra OSE is completed, it remains only to open the necessary web ports for its operation. This can be done using the standard Ubuntu firewall called ufw. In order for everything to work, you must first allow unlimited access from the administrative subnet using the ufw allow from 192.168.0.1/24 command, and then create a Zimbra profile in the /etc/ufw/applications.d/zimbra configuration file:
[Zimbra] title=Zimbra Collaboration Server description=Open source server for email, contacts, calendar, and more. ports=25,80,110,143,443,465,587,993,995,3443,5222,5223,7071,9071/tcp
Then, using the sudo ufw allow Zimbra command, you need to activate the created Zimbra profile, and then restart ufw with the sudo ufw enable command . We also open access to the server via SSH using the sudo ufw allow ssh command. Once the required ports are open, you can access the Zimbra administration console. To do this, type mail.company.ru:7071 in the address bar of the browser, or, if using a proxy, mail.company.ru:9071 , and then enter admin as the username, and the password that you set as the password when installing Zimbra.
After the installation of Zimbra OSE is completed, a complete email and collaboration solution will appear in your enterprise infrastructure. However, the capabilities of your mail server can be significantly expanded through the use of extensions Zextras Suite Pro. They allow you to add support for mobile devices, collaboration with documents, spreadsheets and presentations to the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Open-Source Edition, and if desired, you can add support for text and video chats, as well as video conferencing, in Zimbra OSE.
Installing Zextras Suite Pro is quite simple for this, just download the distribution package from the official Zextras website using the wget command www.zextras.com/download/zextras_suite-latest.tgz , then unpack this tar xfz archive zextras_suite-latest.tgz , go to the unpacked folder files cd zextras_suite / and run the installation script using the command ./install.sh all . After that, you just need to clear the Zimbra OSE cache with the zmprov fc zimlet command and you can start using Zextras Suite.
Note that for the Zextras Docs extension to work, which enables employees to work together on text documents, tables and presentations, it is necessary to install a separate server application. On the Zextras website you can download its distribution for the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS operating system. In addition, the functionality of the solution for online communication between Zextras Team employees is available on mobile devices using the application, which can also be downloaded absolutely free from Google Play and the Apple AppStore . In addition, there is a mobile application for accessing the Zextras Drive cloud storage, which is also available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices .
Thus, by installing Zimbra OSE 8.8.15 LTS and Zextras Suite Pro on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, you can get a fully functional collaboration solution that, due to the long term of support and low licensing cost, will significantly reduce the cost of ownership of the enterprise IT infrastructure.
For all questions related to the Zextras Suite, you can contact the representative of the company "Zextras" Ekaterina Triandafilidi by e-mail katerina@zextras.com
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