some multiple domain advise/guidance

[mowglie]

i just added a 2nd domain to my zcs install (lets say domain1.com & now domain2.com exist), & i wanted some some advise since i'm new to the multiple domains on zcs concept:

1. is there a way for users who have accounts on > 1 domain to view their accounts on 1 screen via 1 login? i suspect i could setup external accounts (although the additional accounts are not external to the zcs server), but wouldnt that double the disk space consumption since account@domain1.com would store emails for all domain1.com & domain2.com while account@domain2.com would still store the domain2 emails too?
2. can i use a 2nd IP for domain2.com? if so, how? i didnt see option anywhere in setup.
3. if not so, so should i add a 2nd PTR for the 1 IP i'm using for both domains? i've read both yes & no so far on this, so i wanted your opinion.
4. all the accounts for all the domains are mixed into 1 list of accounts; is there no way to segregate or separate this in the admin UI?
5. does the newest version of zcs have domain level admins?
6. where do i change the default domain (so that users can login w/ just their account name for domain2.com vs domain1.com)?
7. how do you share GALs amongst the domains?
8. should i instead run the 2 domains as separate zcs installs on 2 virtualized instances, so that i can use different IPs for ea domain? looking for pros/cons of this.
9. the last & most important bullet: thank you!

[lytledd]

is there a way for users who have accounts on > 1 domain to view their accounts on 1 screen via 1 login?

Not that I'm aware of. What I'd do, is give the end users an alias for the 2nd domain and setup a filter that moves email to a sub folder off of their INBOX.

can i use a 2nd IP for domain2.com? if so, how?

Probably, but I've never done it. Search the forums.

if not so, so should i add a 2nd PTR for the 1 IP i'm using for both domains?

That's what I do for my 3 domains.

all the accounts for all the domains are mixed into 1 list of accounts; is there no way to segregate or separate this in the admin UI?

No.

does the newest version of zcs have domain level admins?

Not in the OSE version, but it does in NE.

where do i change the default domain (so that users can login w/ just their account

This is set under the domain in:

Virtual Domain => Virtual Host

I've got DNS entries that point to:

web.domain1.com
web.domain2.com
web.domain3.com

Each pointing to the same Zimbra server. When Zimbra sees 1 of the above, it matches the Virtual Host entry.

how do you share GALs amongst the domains?

You change the search settings to search the ROOT

zmprov mcf zimbraGalInternalSearchBase ROOT

should i instead run the 2 domains as separate zcs installs on 2 virtualized instances, so that i can use different IPs for ea domain?

If it's a requirement to have each domain on a separate IP, that'd probably be the easiest.

Doug

[mowglie]

@doug

• only a few users will need accounts in both domains, so i have to run separate domains w/in current zcs (or separate zcs) no matter what. + i want to keep the entities (1 for ea domain) entirely separated. perhaps 1 actually grows & is sold one day, perhaps 1 is audited, etc.
• i did search google for the 2nd IP on domain2. pulled up some zimbra forum results but nothing which solved it.
• wow really? you have multiple PTRs for 1 IP? have you had ANY problems of any sort as a result? some online posts say it "screws things up" but none elaborated how.
• thats disappointing we cant organize the accounts by domain for easier admin mgmt. you cant even sort by domain.
• sadly i cant afford the NE ver. guess i get to play master admin for posterity.
• all my DNS A & MX records are setup, all domains point to this 1 zcs server, like your setup. so does that mean w/ vhosts users who go to mail.domainX.com can login w/ just their user name for each domain = X w/o adding the domain part of the login? that would rock!
• upon reconsideration, i'm not sure if i want all users on all domains sharing 1 GAL. but i'm still glad i asked/learned.
• do you have any FOSS virtualization recommendations that work best w/ zcs installs? i run ubuntu latest LTS or whatever latest ubuntu ver zcs supports.

thanx so much doug. all very very helpful replies.

[lytledd]

wow really? you have multiple PTRs for 1 IP? have you had ANY problems of any sort as a result?

And they would be correct, I was thinking A record, not PTR.

so does that mean w/ vhosts users who go to mail.domainX.com can login w/ just their user name for each domain = X w/o adding the domain part of the login? that would rock!

Yes, this is how I do it.

do you have any FOSS virtualization recommendations that work best w/ zcs installs? i run ubuntu latest LTS or whatever latest ubuntu ver zcs supports.

At this moment, I'm running my home server on VirtualBox, and I just set up Zimbra at work on VMWare's ESXi 5.0

When I get the equipment that I ordered, I'm going to give ESXi 5 a shot at home as well, I like the statistics that it gives.

Doug

[mowglie]

@doug,

ok yeah i have multiple A records pointing to my zcs server IP. so what feedback do you have on multiple PTRs for 1 IP?

& yup, vhosts working beautifully! as is all else for now. i'm worring about not having PTR for the 2nd domain though.

thanx for virt tips; i'll give both options a try if they're FOSS.

[mowglie]

1 new & related question:

domains all setup, all seems to be fine though only 1 PTR record.

but zimbra reports all but 1 domain's MX record check fails b/c the SMTP hostname doesnt match the MX record (which makes sense since ea domain has its own mail.domainX.com MX record but they're all using same SMTP hostname mail.domain1.com).

so my questions are:

is that ok, does that error matter, will it cause problems w/ other mail servers, dns/spam checks, etc?
can i even select an SMTP server per domain or must all domains share 1 global SMTP server?
where do i select/how do i set the SMTP server? i couldnt find that anywhere. perhaps its a CLI only setting?

[lytledd]

so what feedback do you have on multiple PTRs for 1 IP?

None really, my provider handles all of that. I only run DNS internally for split-dns since the mail server runs on my DMZ.

Doug

[lytledd]

but zimbra reports all but 1 domain's MX record check fails b/c the SMTP hostname doesnt match the MX record

What log are you seeing this in? I don't recall seeing such an error on the Zimbra side.

is that ok, does that error matter, will it cause problems w/ other mail servers, dns/spam checks, etc?

I've been running this way since November of 2009 without issue.

can i even select an SMTP server per domain or must all domains share 1 global SMTP server?

I'm currently using my main domain when setting up for outbound, but considered creating 2 other smtp.domain.com for those on the different domains.

I haven't done this yet and I'm not experiencing any issues.

where do i select/how do i set the SMTP server? i couldnt find that anywhere. perhaps its a CLI only setting?

For outbound, you just need to point the end user at the correct domain, this is why you need to specify the whole email address as the username in clients like Seamonkey/Thunderbird/Outlook.

This is how Zimbra validates the account.

Doug

[mowglie]

when i go to the domain settings in admin module, there is a check MX record button at the top. thats what produces the error for all but 1 domain (the 1 that matches the server's hostname).

when you say you've been running that way, do you mean you've been running w/ > 1 PTR for 1 IP, or that you've been running w/ 1 PTR w/ multiple domains?

thanx doug!

[lytledd]

I've never noticed that button and yes, it gives me an error as well. And, I've been running with 1 PTR and multiple domains.

Doug