Linux experience

[jburn]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to get some feedback on the level of Linux knowledge required to install and Maintain SuSE linux for Zimbra. I do not have any experience and have been told that I should look at the appliance. Unfortunately that does not have Outlook integration that we need. I did start an install (downloaded from Vmware) to look at for a trial but got stuck at the partitioning disk. I called VMware support and they said they do not support it and Zimbra will only answer paid support calls.

thanks,

Jamie.

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by jburn

I would like to get some feedback on the level of Linux knowledge required to install and Maintain SuSE linux for Zimbra. I do not have any experience and have been told that I should look at the appliance. Unfortunately that does not have Outlook integration that we need. I did start an install (downloaded from Vmware) to look at for a trial but got stuck at the partitioning disk. I called VMware support and they said they do not support it and Zimbra will only answer paid support calls.

Are you asking about the Open Source version of Zimbra? If you are then openSUSE (or are you talking about SLES?) is not a supported platform and you're likely to have problems. You would also be advised at this stage to install Zimbra on a 64bit platform as 32bit systems are deprecated in the next major version (due out shortly). That will save you upgrading effort in the future.

As regards Linux experience, my opinion would be that it's not too difficult to install Zimbra but you will need some knowledge of package management and how to configure your hosts file and DNS records for Zimbra. Having said that, help is always available in the forums and most questions you're likely to have are probably answered already. I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences.

[LMStone]

Originally Posted by jburn

Hello Everyone,

I would like to get some feedback on the level of Linux knowledge required to install and Maintain SuSE linux for Zimbra. I do not have any experience and have been told that I should look at the appliance. Unfortunately that does not have Outlook integration that we need. I did start an install (downloaded from Vmware) to look at for a trial but got stuck at the partitioning disk. I called VMware support and they said they do not support it and Zimbra will only answer paid support calls.

thanks,

Jamie.

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to the forums!

If you run a supported 64-bit distro like Ubuntu Server (free) or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (min. $270/year for subscription licensing to get updates), I think you will find the installers will make acceptable choices for you as regards partitioning.

If you have experience on Windows or Mac with text editors and some system administration experience, the tasks Bill mentioned (like editing the /etc/hosts file to Zimbra's required specifications) will have a steep but short learning curve for you to use the Linux-equivalent tools, but you'll get by and these forums are very newbie-friendly.

If you have no systems administration experience you may have some very difficult challenges ahead to be able to install and maintain your own Linux system, but again, if we can help get you jump started here, we will.

I'm 100% in agreement with Bill that the most unique thing about Linux vs. Windows is the concept of package management, whereby Linux keeps a database of packages installed and their requirements, thereby avoiding the dll duplicate and version conflicts seen on some Windows systems. Ubuntu, which is Debian-based, and SLES however use different package management systems and although they work great, intuitive they are not (at least to me!)

If I may, I'd suggest installing VirtualBox on your desktop and try to install a Linux guest OS for yourself. If it is too much of a reach, so be it. There are plenty of folks here on the forums who can help privately with installs etc. should you wish to contract with them.

Hope that helps get you started,
Mark