# iRedMail Easy: Getting start [TOC] !!! warning __iRedMail Easy__ does __NOT__ (yet) support upgrading existing server which was deployed with any downloadable iRedMail installer (e.g. iRedMail-0.9.9, iRedMail-0.9.8 and earlier releases). ## Summary __iRedMail Easy__ is a web-based deployment and support platform. With this platform, it's easy to deploy and keep the iRedMail server up to date, easy to get the fast and professional technical support from iRedMail team. We encourage all users to deploy new iRedMail servers with this platform and keep the servers up to date. * Please also read [Best Practice](./iredmail-easy.best.practice.html) to understand how to achieve fearless one-click upgrade with iRedMail Easy. * Read [Release Notes](./iredmail-easy.release.notes.html) to track changes in each release. If you prefer classic downloadable iRedMail installer, you can find the installation guides here: [Install iRedMail](./index.html#install). ## System Requirements !!! warning * iRedMail is designed to be deployed on a dedicated server, which means you can not have other network services running on the server __BEFORE__ iRedMail installation. * iRedMail will install and configure all required softwares automatically. ### Supported Linux and BSD distribution releases Linux/BSD distribution releases supported by __iRedMail Easy__: Distribution | Release Versions --- |--- CentOS | 7 Debian | 9 Ubuntu | 18.04 OpenBSD | 6.4, 6.5 If you need to install iRedMail on FreeBSD, please use the [downloadable installer](https://www.iredmail.org/download.html) instead. ### Hardware Requirements * iRedMail requires at least `2 GB` memory for a low traffic production server. * If you plan to run SOGo Groupware (which offers webmail, calendar (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV) and ActiveSync), you need a lot more memory. Consider 16 GB memory to support 500 ActiveSync clients. ## Sign up and login To deploy a mail server, you need to sign up with a valid email address first: * [Sign Up or Login: https://easy.iredmail.org/](https://easy.iredmail.org) It will send you an email to confirm you're the owner of the email address, please click the link in the email to confirm, then login. After signed up, you get one-month trial for free to evaluate the iRedMail Easy platform, if you don't like it, or don't need it, feel free to remove your own account in `Profile` page on the left sidebar after logged in. Screenshots of Sign Up and Login pages: ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/signup.png){: width="350px" } ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/login.png){: width="350px" } ## Add a new mail server After login, you will be redirected to the `Dashboard` page, please click the `Add a mail server` button to add a new mail server. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/add_mailserver.png){: width="600px" } Explanation of the form fields: * `Hostname (FQDN)`: This is the server hostname you want to set for the mail server. * It must be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), for example, `mail.example.com`, `mx.example.com`. * This hostname can __NOT__ be used as a virtual mail domain (used in email address like `user@example.com`) because it's used to accept email sent to Linux/BSD system account like `root` user. * `IP Address`: Public or private IP address of your mail server. If this mail server is in internal network and can not be accessed directly from external network, you need a Jump Server (or, Bastion Server) so that our deployment server can connect to your mail server. For more details about Jump Server, please read this short tutorial: [What is SSH jump server](./iredmail-easy.what.is.ssh.jump.server.html). * `SSH Port`: SSH service port number. Defaults to 22. * `SSH User`: The login username for ssh secure connection. Defaults to `root`. If you use a non-root user, `sudo` on Linux or `doas` on OpenBSD is required to gain root privilege. * `SSH Key`: The SSH key used to login to your mail server. If you choose option `Generate one for me`, after submitted this form, our system will generate a strong (4096 bits) SSH key for you. * `OS`: Choose the Linux/BSD distribution and release version of your mail server. * `Deployment Server`: Please choose one deployment server from the list. A deployment server connects to your mail server to deploy or upgrade, please choose the nearest one for faster network connection. If your mail server sits behind a firewall, please whitelist the IP address of selected deployment server. * `Comment`: Add some text to help you identify this mail server. Click the button to create mail server, after created, page will be redirected to mail server profile page. You're free to update profile here. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/added_mailserver.png){: width="600px" } ## Choose preferred backend Click tab `Backend` on the mail server profile page. A backend is a SQL or LDAP database used to store mail domains and accounts. We suggest you choose the one you're familiar with for easier maintenance. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/backends.png){: width="700px" } ## Choose the components you want to deploy Click tab `Components` on the mail server profile page. A component is a software (or software group) which implements some network service(s). On this page you can choose the components you want to deploy on your mail server. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/components.png){: width="700px" } ## Component settings Click tab `Settings` on the mail server profile page. Depends on the components you selected, the settings on this page may be different. Please fill all required form fields on this page. Fields with red asterisk are required, others are optional. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/settings.png){: width="700px" } ## Deploy Click tab `Deployment` on the mail server profile page. Please run the commands displayed on this page on your mail server, it will download a shell script to simplify ssh public key setup. If ssh login user is not `root`, it will help setup `sudo` (on Linux) or `doas` (on OpenBSD) also. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/deployment.png){: width="900px" } After you ran the commands, it's ready to deployment. Click the button `Perform Full Deployment` to start the deployment. Depends on the components you selected, and network connection speed between your server and our deployment server, it may take few minutes or even longer to finish. Please be patient. It will refresh the page every 5 seconds and show you the latest output of deployment task, you can watch and (hopefully) have some fun. :) ## Get techinical support through the ticket system If you have any question or issue, feel free to open a new support ticket, clearly explain the question or issue, support team will try to reply as soon as possible. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/support.png){: width="600px" } ## Update account profile You can update the account profile on the `Profile` page: - name - time zone - password - subscribe to notification when new version is available If you do not like this platform, you can find a button on this page to remove your account. ![](./images/iredmail-easy/installation/account_profile.png){: width="800px" } ## See Also * [Best Practice](./iredmail-easy.best.practice.html) * [Setup DNS records for your iRedMail server](./setup.dns.html) * [Request a free cert from Let's Encrypt](./letsencrypt.html) * [Configure mail client applications](./index.html#mua)