Zimbra 5.0 RC2 Debian Etch - Disappointed

[bobthebuilder]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say I am disappointed with Zimbra 5.0 RC2.

Doing the install all day with many problems encountered.

5.0 RC2 installed wnt through well, after install these were some of the issues.

1) missing lib files, but yet the install went through
2) Created new domain then attemped to send emails, emails would send if i replyed to from a received email but couldn't send when a new email was created
3) When spam service is turned on i cannot send emails due to a error
4) If anti-virus is turned on cannot send emails as it will not allow SMTP relay.

Been working on this install all day and not very happy with the buggy software waisted time, I have it working with out Spam and Antivirus ok.

I think in the morning I will be removing Zimbra and looking for another mail server or attempting to go back to the old version.

The reason i went away from the old Zimbra was due to buggy software as well, mail servers shouldn't take a day for install and configuration for small use.

Zimbra has a much better install method compared to Scalix and I prefer Zimbra compared to Scalix but the buggy software needs work.

Probably most linux guys would be able to get most working, my knowledge in Linux is not the greatest but ok.

[bobthebuilder]

Also like to add another issue:

1) When sending a off line message to an MSN user, it "flashes" everyone on the msn list say they are off line (takes a while )

But MSN in Zimbra is a nice feature.

[dijichi2]

1) RC2 is not released code - expect bugs.

2) 5.0 is the first release for Etch - personally I feel it should be marked beta for this platform as they have done in the past for other platforms. There were several known issues with the RC releases for Etch - search through the forums and bugzilla for further details. The GA code is much better but still has a few issues - suggest you try this first. I have run 4.5.x, 5.0betas and 5.0RC on Etch with no issues related to antispam/antivirus.

3) Honestly this is not meant to offend, but setting up an entire messaging system on unix is meant to be done by a unix sysadmin. The likes of zimbra and scalix are a giant leap over the past where even competent unix admins found it a stretch to install cohesive messaging system, but there is still a minimum barrier to entry. In particular if things go wrong after you get it up and running, you still need some depth of expertise to dig in and fix things. A large portion of forum posts are due to this, I guess Zimbra is single-handedly bringing a new audience to *nix!

ps - I think MSN has been disabled in GA code.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by dijichi2

ps - I think MSN has been disabled in GA code.

That's correct: Page 3 of the Release Notes - "the interoperability to connect to AOL & MSN has been removed"

[bobthebuilder]

Originally Posted by dijichi2

1) RC2 is not released code - expect bugs.

2) 5.0 is the first release for Etch - personally I feel it should be marked beta for this platform as they have done in the past for other platforms. There were several known issues with the RC releases for Etch - search through the forums and bugzilla for further details. The GA code is much better but still has a few issues - suggest you try this first. I have run 4.5.x, 5.0betas and 5.0RC on Etch with no issues related to antispam/antivirus.

3) Honestly this is not meant to offend, but setting up an entire messaging system on unix is meant to be done by a unix sysadmin. The likes of zimbra and scalix are a giant leap over the past where even competent unix admins found it a stretch to install cohesive messaging system, but there is still a minimum barrier to entry. In particular if things go wrong after you get it up and running, you still need some depth of expertise to dig in and fix things. A large portion of forum posts are due to this, I guess Zimbra is single-handedly bringing a new audience to *nix!

ps - I think MSN has been disabled in GA code.

2)It is not close to a RC, if it was marked Beta wouldn't of posted this as bugs are expected.

3)No offence taken, been working with Linux for about 8 years now, but only minor admin stuff, setting up Linux as virtual hosts, mail servers, samba etc.... I specialize in Microsoft products.

But thats not really the point, software was installed successfully now most of the configuration in the admin console should get you going. Its really not that hard but yet the bug's make it very hard.

Note saying its not a great product, I highly rate software, but it would be even better if there was better QA.

[jholder]

Thanks for the notes. We strongly encourage community feedback to make Zimbra better. It's what drives us. We try very hard to make sure our product meets certain requirements with QA.

I'm not really going to spend time defending our QA process because our team works very hard to find every bug possible. They do a great job.

If one is going to criticize a Beta or Release candidate, we respectfully ask that you provide substantive information on what went wrong, and how we can make it better.

The forums are for support, and we hope that we can support your test install.

Our community (you) has (have) the chance to steer Zimbra. Those who provide feedback often expect change, and we try to do that. We have a long history of listening, the Bugzilla is a great example.

Zimbra 5.0 is a culmination of customer feedback (good and bad). We believe it's the product our users want. We don't make those promises with a release candidate. It's a very "non-complete" preview provided for testing to find bugs. That's the whole reason we release it.

Please search the bugzila for any issues you have. If you don't see them, please file them, and you will help to drive Zimbra.

Thanks for your feedback, and none of it is taken as offense. I just hope we can make this thread constructive, as opposed to just a negative topic.

All the Best,
John

[mmorse]

So was this a 4.5.x series Debian4 box upgraded to 5RC2? (trying to guess from Debian ETCH Install Well Done Zimbra!)
Or was this a band-new/clean install of 5.0RC2? If it's going to be fresh you might just start with the GA instead, checkout: ZCS 5.0 FOSS is Released!!! (which was kinda a forum only thing that's easy to overlook)
Quick Note: Even if your 4.5.x is already on Debian4, seems it's not wise to upgrade it to 5.0GA, but the ability to is coming - discussed in the announcement & also: http://www.zimbra.com/forums/install...ebian-4-a.html

[bobthebuilder]

Hi,

Its a fresh build Etch 4.0 x86 (virtual guest).

Install Procedure:

editor /etc/hosts

apt-get install sudo curl fetchmail libgmp3c2 libssl0.9.7 libdb3 ssh

Install Zimbra successfully.

reboot server

MTA service not working due to missing (/opt/zimbra/postfix-2.4.3.3/sbin/postmap: error while loading shared libraries: libpcre.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

apt-get libpcre3, fixes above issue

Spam filter and antivirus when turned on will not allow emails to be sent

apt-get file, fixes the above issue

I cannot say why i could send email using the reply function but could not send emails when new email was created. I blew this image away and started again.

Could i ask why MSN was added to the RC? It seems its not the nicest feature. Issues i had was the "flashing" of whom is offline, logged out of the Zimbra account MSN stays logged on.

I think if there were a better checking feature on the install most of these issues could of been missed, i just find software funny when it installs but fails to function correctly with out the correct files.

As I said before I think Zimbra is a great product!

Microsoft Exchange 2007 has really gone down the toilet I really don't see Microsoft point or future in crappy software that needs massive mount of RAM or servers to work correctly and releasing 2007 with out all the files to work correctly, download download download. I understand the target is enterprise but thats not the point, hence the failure of Vista. SP3 10% increase XP, thought this would of served better on Vista

Scalix I really couldn't be bothered with the waist of time install.

The most greatest attribute Zimbra has its light and runs on pretty much any server with Antivirus, Spam, Web with out taking much ram and heck it looks great! like the new skins by the way.

[bobthebuilder]

Sorry mmorse,

To your question I went away from Zimbra while back as the software crashed when adding a domain and could not fix the mail server (domain adding was done via the admin console)

It was running for while great I must add, Spam filtering didnt work that well but the move was the crash got annoyed.

Cant complain as Debian 4.0 was not supported.

Thought I would jump back on the wagon with the new 5.0 release.

[mmorse]

Ok good, wanted to make sure you didn't have data in limbo somewhere...
Didn't see anything in your 12 posts to explain why you had nothing since 05-01-2007 & those posts we're actually helping someone else out
I'm with ya, but I would hate it if we end up spending your time re-working through issues in the betas/RC's that the engineers have already solved, could you try a GA install?

Originally Posted by bobthebuilder

Could i ask why MSN was added to the RC? It seems its not the nicest feature. Issues i had was the "flashing" of whom is offline, logged out of the Zimbra account MSN stays logged on.

No claims to accuracy as I'm just a mod, but I had some thoughts the other day in this post: http://www.zimbra.com/forums/install...html#post70440