Ubuntu 8.04 LTS walk through?

[carboncow]

OK, I won't say I mastered Ubuntu in a few days but after a book and installing it I could not be happier. It's very easy and well thought out...

...not sure yet I can say the same about Zimbra. I'm finding installing Zimbra very confusing and undocumented. I've googled and googled and keep coming up with installs for 6.x and being a Linux newbie, find most of the write-ups don't event remotely attempt to be written for someone new.

I feel like ranting after spending two days trying to figure this out, but I'm go take some medication and calm down.

Who can point me in the right direction w/o refering to the install document that is COMPLETELY red hat based.

Seems to me this should be far easier to do, but then again I'm beginning to suspect the linux crowd enjoys torturing non-linux people just for fun

There has to be a step by step write up someone in cyber space or this forum that a trained monkey could do! (let's assume I have a solid understanding of dns, dhcp, mail configuration, mx, port forwarding, etc)

I'd really like to give this a shot but cannot take the summer off trying to find out it's not what I need...

No I don't want hosted, no I don't want to pay for support (yet)...I just need to test!

Thanks.
Shawn

[RyecoAaron]

Other than some package name differences (which the installation will tell you which you are missing), there is very little difference between the ubuntu and redhat installs. Where are you having a problem? I am installing a test copy on Ubuntu 8.04.2 Server AMD64 right now.

[carboncow]

Thanks for the quick comment. I guess I'm hoping there is a "better" step by step out there and a simplier way to install for non-unix peeps. Seems the Ubuntu install was very straight forward requiring little knowledge of the terminal for install, and hoping for the same with Zimbra.

I have seen at least 4 different procedures with all different write-up specific to DNS setup and use of a terminal editor. Learning "vi" alone in enough to make me drink, as none of the standard movements for other text editing solutions that I have every used apply. So someone suggested another editor...and then we are off again learning yet another procedure for something I was hoping they were missing because it's in a straight forward installer.

I just got home from work after an hour drive and have cooled off. I'm hoping tonight I will try one more time in a virtual environment with a fresh look and let you know specific were I'm thrown a curve.

Shawn

[RyecoAaron]

nano will help you. I can't stand vi myself. nano uses just about everything you are used to arrow and backspace wise. Ctrl-O to save, Ctrl-X to exit, Ctrl-K to cut line(s), Ctrl-U to paste what you cut are your friends.

I am guessing you are talking about the split-dns setup when you mention the dns setup. You only need that if you are being a router using nat.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by carboncow

Who can point me in the right direction w/o refering to the install document that is COMPLETELY red hat based.

Did you try searching the forums or wiki? If you had you'd have found plenty of information including this: http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?tit..._Install_Guide

There's little difference in installing Zimbra between the versions except the package management of the distribution.

[carboncow]

Yes, and link you provide is the more confusing for me. Rather then a straight forward single server install to start simple he talks about splitting the network to another subnet for his DMZ needs, so confusing there for sure. But let's assume I ignore that.

I run into problems on the firs step which are most likely Linux 101 stuff, but none the less the facts stand, I cannot progress.

I type:

sudo vi /etc/bind/.named.conf.options and get

"E325. Attention...
Found a swap fle by the name....

EDIT: Let me update this...that error is due to me crashing out the editor (my guess). The real issue is that the file doesn't exist. After a reboot I triple check my syntax and didn't crash out the editor this time. So the file that I am to edit doesn't exist. If this is a new file I am to create that is no obvious.

While opening file "/etc/bind/named.conf.options"

1. another program may be editing...

2. and edit session for this file crashed...

Press end or type command to continue

I have reread the steps 101 times and don't think it's the newbie syntax problems that occur always with Linux...so what is the deal?

That is why such a robust software program should have some type of dummy installer walk through. If this wasn't the future even with Linux distros then why does have have a GUI these days!! I'm not hating on Linux, just not understanding why it seems there is intent to make it old school and difficult to newbies. Why do we need to be experts just to get started! Installing 8.04 took 7 minutes, installing the GUI (no problem) geting Wemin up was another 5 minutes...getting Zimbra going has been 3 days of frustration...

OK, done ranting again.

Where or where should I go now!!?!?

[RyecoAaron]

If you installed the gui, why don't you use gedit to edit the named.conf file? sudo gedit /etc/bind/named.conf.options

Also, if you don't have the server behind a router, you can skip the dns stuff which seems to be causing you the most problems. The zimbra install really is easy. Zimbra can't do anything to fix the dns stuff because there are too many possibilities. Even windows can't do that.

BTW, What did you install webmin for? If it was to administer Zimbra, you won't need it. There is a nice web page gui for that.

[carboncow]

Thank you for your time and quick response. I am really open minded about this between by rants!

1. I installed webmin just to do it. I know it's need for admin'ing other server items. Same with the GUI, I did it just to learn.
2. I actually have a fresh install of 8.04 LTS with no GUI or Webmin, so I'm currently trying that approach.

My test environment is sitting behind my firewall and nothing else. I am good with DNS/Config/Forwarding but some how missing the boat when it comes to these write ups.

Additionally, I am confused (as it appears with most users) on what to set in the /etc/hosts for the FQDN. My domain.com points to another box on the "internets" but my mail.domain.com will be Zimbra. For some reason from reading 3 different write-ups (first mistake?) it's unclear what my internal IP (10.0.0.1) needs to resolve. The true FQDN (domain.com) or the MX/A record of mail.domain.com. I figured I would find out the hard way once this gets going.

I'm currently now reading the PDF from the download section that discusses red hat/fedora up front and now on page that tells me to download the latest Zimbra package...but the write-up assumes to much. I have no idea how to download via terminal w/o specific examples let alone how to unzip/install! get-put-blah-blah-blah!

Maybe in another week or two this will all sink in!!!!

GEDIT appears to be another 101 ways to edit in a Linux environment that I am not familar with. Sounds like the greatest selling point of Linux (customizable and flexible) is the downfall for newbies...no definitive solution!

I'll keep plowing ahead like a bull in a china show with this until something clicks. More questions will come...

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by carboncow

Additionally, I am confused (as it appears with most users) on what to set in the /etc/hosts for the FQDN. My domain.com points to another box on the "internets" but my mail.domain.com will be Zimbra. For some reason from reading 3 different write-ups (first mistake?) it's unclear what my internal IP (10.0.0.1) needs to resolve. The true FQDN (domain.com) or the MX/A record of mail.domain.com. I figured I would find out the hard way once this gets going.

Here's a typical (no insult intended here) mistake, the FQDN of your server is not domain.com (that is your domain name) but rather it is mail.domain.com and the MX record points to the FQDN of your server and the A record points to the IP your server sits on. The details of what goes in the hosts file is in the Quick Start Installation Guide and has been covered by me and others at great length - it is the same for all of the install platforms of Zimbra.

The hosts file contains the following:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain.com
10.0.0.10 mail.domain.com mail

and should contain nothing else.

I've also covered details of how to check your DNS settings and the other necessary configurations for Zimbra many times in these forums.

Instead of telling us what's wrong with Linux (most of which I'd agree with) do tell us what stage you're at and what problems you're actually having and really what it is you don't understand.

I'd prefer it if you'd installed on an RHEL version (CentOS is free compared to RHEL) but that's just a personal preference, I'm assuming that you're installing the OS version of Zimbra and not NE

[shmiv]

Carboncow,

We installed on Ubuntu 6... LTS and I have the internal document we developed during the process. Will gladly send to you if you want to step back to an older version of Ubuntu.

Also, while I actually prefer VI, WinSCP has a built in editor that is similar to Notepad.