By
Press Enter to change the domain name and enter just lud.com as the hostname. The installer should report with the following message:
[sourcecode language=”bash”]MX: mail.lud.com (192.168.1.32)
Interface: 192.168.1.32
Interface: 127.0.0.1
192.168.1.32
.[/sourcecode]
The installer will now present you with the detailed installation menu. You can use this menu to customise the installation of Zimbra Server. For this tutorial we will keep most of the things as default here. To continue you will need to create an admin password. To create this, select 3 then select 4. Enter a password for the admin user. You also have an option to select a default password. After entering the password, enter ‘r’ to go back. As the final step, press ‘a’ to apply config, then select YES. Accept the default config file. Now as the final step (this time for real), type Yes to continue with the system modification.
The installer will now perform a series of steps to finish up the server installation.
After configuration you will be asked to notify Zimbra of your installation. It is highly recommended that you do notify it of your installation as this helps Zimbra to prioritise the platform support for the product.
Now the installer will try to start the servers and do some post-installation tasks. Upon completion, press Enter to exit the installation program.
As an optional step you can configure the web interface to HTTPS, which provides an extra layer of security. To do so, perform the following steps:
[sourcecode language=”bash”]$ sudo su – zimbra
$ zmtlsctl https[/sourcecode]
Reboot the system. Wait for some time as the servers take little bit of time in startup. Congratulations, you have installed Zimbra Server successfully!
Administrating and using Zimbra Collaboration Server
Due to the scope of this article we cannot go into detail here. Most of the administration is done via an easy-to-use web interface. In this part of the tutorial we will look at the following:
1. Accessing the Zimbra administration console
2. Creating a new user
3. Accessing Zimbra Server as a user
Accessing the Zimbra administration console
The Zimbra administration console provides the central interface for managing the Zimbra server. You can access the Zimbra administration console by pointing your browser to the following location:
[sourcecode language=”bash”]https://<server ip address>:7071[/sourcecode]
In this case it is https://192.168.1.32:7071.
Enter the username as admin@lud.com and the password that you have created during the installation.
Creating a new user
Perform the following steps in order to create a new user…
1. Log into Zimbra administration console.
2. Go to Accounts using left navigation bar.
3. Select New>Account.
4. The New Account wizard will open (Fig 1 – page 35). Enter the necessary details and continue with the wizard. After filling in all the necessary information, click Finish. You will be greeted with a confirmation screen. The new user is now created.
Accessing Zimbra web/user interface (webmail, calendar etc)
You can access the Zimbra web interface by pointing your browser to the server address. In this case it would be https://192.168.1.32. After logging in, you will be presented with a familiar-looking interface for email, calendar, contacts and many other services. (Fig 2)
Zimbra is a powerful enterprise-grade replacement for the Microsoft Exchange Server. You can develop your own extensions for Zimbra called Zimlets. If that is not enough, complete Zimbra source code, including all of its components, is at your disposal to tweak and optimise. It goes without saying that this is something you would never get from Microsoft.
Zimbra Desktop
Access your Zimbra server both online and offline
Zimbra Desktop is a Mozilla Prism-based cross-platform desktop product that provides a Microsoft Outlook-like interface (but way better than Microsoft Outlook) for managing email, calendar, contacts, files and documents in the cloud, yet having them locally accessible when on the go. Zimbra Desktop not only works with Zimbra servers but it can also work with Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, IMAP and POP services. Zimbra Desktop also supports social networking: it supports Facebook and Twitter services. You can obtain Zimbra Desktop here.
Zimbra Desktop in Action
Zibra extensions system: Zimlets
One of the powerful features of Zimbra Server that sets it apart from the competition is its extensibility. Zimbra extensions are called Zimlets. They provide an easy-to-use way to customise and extend Zimbra. Zimlets are based on a set of Web 2.0 technologies with messaging and collaboration support. Zimlets enable the mash-up of various web technologies that can directly interact with the content or work with the Zimbra system. Based on the user interaction type, Zimlets are divided into following types…
Content Zimlets: As the name suggests, Content Zimlets allow you to integrate a functionality directly into the content, such as text with Zimbra Collaboration objects. For example, based on a regular-expression-based search we can identify a particular type of text (such as URL or email address) and provide custom right-click events (such as saving it to the address book).
Extension Zimlets: Extension Zimlets extend the Zimbra client functionality. These Zimlets work by adding or modifying the various user interface aspects of Zimbra Client. Depending upon where the Zimlet is hooking itself in the client, its extensions are divided into the following types…
Panel Zimlets: These Zimlets appear on the lower left of the Zimbra Client interface. Panel Zimlets respond to different UI events, such as mouse clicks (single, double or right clicks) and object drops.
Tab Zimlets: Tab Zimlets create new application tabs in the Zimbra interface. These tabs represent fully functional modules inside the Zimbra Client interface.
Integrated Zimlets: Integrated Zimlets extend the common user interface elements of the Zimbra Client interface. They can add or modify existing functionalities into the UI elements.
You can use Zimbra Gallery to search and download Zimlets and Themes created by the Zimbra developer community. If you decide to build a Zimbra extension, you can publish it here and get it downloaded and reviewed by thousands of other Zimbra developers and users.
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