How to Setup a Zimbra Server

30 Jul 2015 | ~6 minute read

Gmail is an awesome service, right? It’s free, it works, and it’s great! However, have you ever wondered why it’s free? Well, it’s free because you’re the product. Google uses your data in a number of ways in order to make money. Don’t believe me? Watch this documentary, then come back and tell me your thoughts.

Ok, so you believe me now? Great. Let’s get on with my guide on how to setup a Zimbra server, so you can say goodbye to Gmail!

First things first, a few prerequisites. Setting up and running your own mail server isn’t the easiest thing to do. So if you’re not particularly technical, I would recommend you purchase a more privacy aware email service instead. Companies like FastMail are relatively cheap, and will look after your privacy.

If you’re happy to move forward and run your own Zimbra mail server, then keep following this guide. Note: I am assuming you guys are at a particular technical level, so I will be making some assumptions as we go. If you get stuck at any point, fire a comment below and I’ll do what I can to help.

Step One: Get A Server

You’re going to need a server in order to host your Zimbra mail server on. You can either buy a server yourself, and run it from home (like I do), or you can get a hosted VPS. You will need one with around 4GB of RAM, as Zimbra is a big piece of software. I would recommend using OpenVZ, I’ve used them in the past (and still do for some things), they are awesome.

Now, you might be thinking “what’s the point in moving from Gmail if someone else is hosting my server anyway?” The point is, OpenVZ won’t have access to your data, so they won’t be mining you like Google do. ultimately, you’re not going to be the product any more.

Once you have your sever, make sure you install Ubuntu 12.04 x64 MINIMAL (14.04 should work, but I haven’t tested it yet). The minimal install is very important. If you don’t see the minimal install initially, re-install your VPS from the control panel, and you should see all the minimal OS images.

Step Two: Set Up Zimbra

Now you have your server running Ubuntu 12.04 x64 Minimal, it’s time to start installing Zimbra. So connect to your server via SSH (I would recommend changing the default root password, and setting up SSH keys also, just for extra security).

Make sure you have pointed your MX records at the server IP address BEFORE starting the installation. The installer will check the MX records, and it will cause problems with the installation if it can’t resolve them.

First of all, install the pre-requisites required for the install:

sudo apt-get install netcat libidn11 libpcre3 libgmp3c2 libexpat1 libstdc++6 libperl5.14 sysstat sqlite3

Once you’ve done that, go to the Zimbra download page and get the link for the latest version (right click, copy link location). Then, back to the CLI and use wget to download the latest tar.gz file:

wget https://files.zimbra.com/downloads/8.6.0_GA/zcs-8.6.0_GA_1153.UBUNTU12_64.20141215195814.tgz

Next, extract the installer files and CD into the new folder:

tar -zxvf zcs-8.6.0_GA_1153.UBUNTU12_64.20141215195814.tgz<br></br>cd zcs-8.6.0_GA_1153.UBUNTU12_64.20141215195814

Now edit your /etc/hosts file so it looks something like this (substitute the domain name and “hostname” for your domain name and server hostname):

nano /etc/hosts<br></br>11.22.33.44 my.emailserver.com hostname<br></br>127.0.0.1 localhost

Note: the “domain name” is the actual URL you will use to browse to the email server. So if you own mydomain.com, and the email server will be mail.mydomain.com, you would enter mail.mydomain.com in the hostfile.

You can now run the installer:

./install.sh

The installer will then run an check for all the pre-requisites. Some may be missing. If there are any missing, cancel the installation and install them. For example, if perl & unzip are missing, cancel the installer and run:

apt-get install libmodule-install-perl<br></br>apt-get install unzip

Once all the missing pre-requisites are installed, re-run the installer (same command as before). Once you’ve agreed with the license agreements, and confirmed all the requirements are in place, and you actually want to run the installer, it will ask you to confirm what’s to be installed. Here’s what you need:

• zimbra-ldap – Yes
• zimbra-logger – Yes
• zimbra-mta – Yes
• zimbra-snmp – Yes
• zimbra-store – Yes
• zimbra-apache – Yes
• zimbra-spell – Yes
• zimbra-memcached – No
• zimbra-proxy – No

Once the install has finished, you will need to configure the admin password. You will need to select Zimbra Store > Admin user/password then change the default password. Once that’s done, hit r to return to the main menu, the a to apply the config.

That’s it. Zimbra is now installed. Here are the addresses you need:

• https://your.server.com:7071 – this is the admin console.
• https://your.server.com – this is the user console (ie the webmail interface).

Note: Once set up, I would recommend changing the username of the “admin” user to something more secure – the last thing you need is someone getting in with a simple brute force attack.

Step Three: Mobile Sync

Out of the box, Zimbra supports POP/IMAP, CalDAV & CardDAV. But I personally prefer to use ActiveSync. If you want to add this functionality, you can use a paid for Zimlet (a Zimlet is a plugin for Zimbra) call Zextras. The ActiveSync Zimlet (Zextras Mobile) is only 2EURO per license per year.

You have to buy a minimum of 10 licenses, but 20EURO per year isn’t a lot to pay for having ActiveSync functionalilty for up to 10 devices. Here’s how to install Zextras (you can initially use it for 30 days as a trial):

Log in to the CLI as root, and fetch the latest installer via wget:
wget http://www.zextras.com/download/zextras_suite-latest.tgz

Once you have the file, extract it and CD into the newly created folder:

tar -zxvf zextras_suite-latest.tgz<br></br>cd zextras_suite-[version-number]

Now run the installer:

./install.sh all

The installer will now run. Once it’s run, you can go into the admin console for Zimbra, and you will see the Zextras menu. By default, all the Zextras Zimlets are enabled. But you can easily turn off the ones you don’t want from the admin interface.

Once you have Zextras Mobile running on Zimbra, just add a new corporate (Exchange) account to your mobile device(s) using the following details:

• Server: the address of your server – eg: mail.myserver.com
• Username: your email address.
• Password: your password.
• SSL enabled.
• If there’s an option to accept all certificates, then select it (this isn’t necessary if you’re using a proper signed certificate).

Update: I’ve since discovered Zcal & Zcard which are mobile apps that allow you sync your calendar & contacts with your device and they require absolutely zero server side config. There is a charge for these apps, collectively they cost £5.98 (around $8.00) but it is a one off payment, rather than the yearly licensing of Zextras.

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