Ease of Install

[minime]

Hi guys,

I would really appreciate if you could lower the installation barrier even further. I know most of you may think it is already low and if I can't cope with that I shouldn't even bother with an own server installation. However, I do think that you could make it even easier, like installing and configuring Apache ("apt-get" anyone?).

The biggest hurdle for me is the whole DNS/BIND stuff and the feeling I never will be able to administer the monster ;-)

Cheers,
John

PS: Is there a way to install zimbra as a (local) test installation in virtualbox without messing around with the DNS stuff?

[phoenix]

Zimbra is installed as a complete package so there is complete control of what gets installed and all the required pieces of the package are there (plus the required modifications), it's not likely to use individual (operating system) packages any time soon.

Installing and administering DNS on a LAN is a doddle, if I can do it anyone can. Ther are instructions available on the forums and in the wiki on how to set it for ZImbra.

[minime]

Thanks for your reply!

it's not likely to use individual (operating system) packages any time soon.

But aren't you doing that already with the different packages one can download for the zimbra-supported platforms? Or do you mean by that the package step to get it available in the repositories?

Installing and administering DNS on a LAN is a doddle, if I can do it anyone can. Ther are instructions available on the forums and in the wiki on how to set it for ZImbra.

I guess I would get that working, but I wanted first to test it on a local computer without static IP, so I wasn't able to do so...maybe too stupid

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by minime

But aren't you doing that already with the different packages one can download for the zimbra-supported platforms? Or do you mean by that the package step to get it available in the repositories?

The packages provided in the Zimbra download are all integrated and tuned for working with ZImbra, packages supplied by the o/s repositories are not and therefore difficult to implement Zimbra using them.

Originally Posted by minime

I guess I would get that working, but I wanted first to test it on a local computer without static IP, so I wasn't able to do so...maybe too stupid

Perhaps if you said what operating system and problems you're having with BIND (and which instructions you followed) we'd be able to help.

[minime]

I'd liked to install it on Debian 5, but I realized that only Debian 4 is supported at the moment.

I followed the instruction on howtoforge: Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) Open Source Edition v5.0 On Debian Etch | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

I was able to install Zimbra, but afterwards it did not work as the "ldap" reported an error about outdated cache or something. I guess the underlying issue is, that I followed EXACTLY the instructions, which means that the hostname is wrong resp. I would need Bind, as far as I understood, to link the local address to a fictive domain/local address, am I right?

Is there a tutorial like the one on howtoforge, which would show the process for a local installation from A-Z? I guess I could learn to understand the steps better that way.

[phoenix]

There are a couple of tutorials on the wiki for installing on Ubuntu and they have a DNS tutorial in them, they are describing an installation of BIND on the Zimbra server itself. There's also some details in the forums (second post in that thread) of what's required for a DNS install on another server in your LAN. If you want some more detail on DNS (but stil fairly readable) then this site has a good documentation.

The important thing to remember is that your server requires a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) that consists of a server name + a domain name so that: mail.domain.com would be the FQDN & domain.com would be the domain name in your DNS records. Your hosts file should look like this:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
192.168.1.10 mail.domain.com mail

and should not contain anything else. Your resolv.conf should only contain the IP address of your DNS server and the DNS records should be set acording to one of the tutorials and to reflect your domain name and Zimbra server IP.

When you set-up your DNS you can test it with the following commands:

cat /etc/hosts
cat /etc/resolv.conf
dig yourdomain.com any
dig yourdomain.com mx
host `hostname`  <-- use that exact command with backticks not single quotes

Obviously the first two commands just list your configuration files, the last three commands display information about the DNS resolution for your server. WHen you've done that and you're happy it's OK (post those details here first, if you want confirmation) then I'd suggest you uninstall Zimbra with the following command:

./install.sh -u

That will remove everything in the /opt/zimbra directory structure. You can then install zimbra again and when you get to the question about DNS records and 'do you want to change the domain name' you should answer yes - it will show the FQDN of the server and you should enter just the domain name: domain.com Apply the changes and let the install finish.

That should be about it, let us know how you get on.

[minime]

Hi,

Thank you for your willingness to help me, but unfortunately I didn't get it to run. I failed already at the BIND-step as I wanted to install zimbra on a virtualbox installation. I guess there are 1-3 hurdles more in such a setting (IP address related, I guess).

Maybe I'm trying it again on a "real" installation, but for now I've no time left for fooling around

Thanks anyway!

PS: Maybe some guy with deep knowledge and some spare time (lol) will write a fool proof step-by-step-howto for a local or even virtualbox/vmware installation...

[y@w]

minime, I wrote up a quick how-to on installing ZCS utilizing Webmin for DNS configuration on my personal blog. I'm not going to tell you that it's "fool-proof" by any means, but it's there if you'd like to use it. I'd also love to hear some feedback as well. I chose Webmin for DNS configuration because a lot of people react the same way as you have regarding the configuration of DNS and it seemed easier to provide a "GUI-way" rather than fighting it.

P.S. Yes, the install really did only take an hour on my virtual machine like the title says

[minime]

Thank you so much, I got Zimbra installed in LESS than a hour!!!

Thanks again, very helpful indeed!!!

[y@w]

Glad I could help