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Install iRedMail on Debian or Ubuntu Linux

[TOC]

!!! attention

It's recommended to use the new __iRedMail Easy__ deployment and support
platform to deploy and keep your mail server up to date, technical support
is available through the ticket system.

Read more: [iRedMail Easy - Meet our new deployment and support platform](./iredmail-easy.getting.start.html)

System Requirements

!!! warning

* iRedMail is designed to be deployed on a __FRESH__ server system, which
  means your server does __NOT__ have mail related components installed,
  e.g. MySQL, OpenLDAP, Postfix, Dovecot, Amavisd, etc. iRedMail will install
  and configure them for you automatically. Otherwise it may override your
  existing files/configurations although it will backup files before
  modifying, and it may not be working as expected.
* Many ISPs block port 25 by default, it's used for communication between
  mail servers, it must be open, otherwise your server may be not able to
  receive or / and send emails. Please contact your ISP to make sure it's
  not blocked, or ask them to unblock.

      - Amazon AWS EC2. Request to [remove the throttle on port 25](https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/ec2-port-25-throttle/).
      - Google Cloud Platform.
      - Microsoft Azure.
      - Linode. Explained in the [blog post](https://www.linode.com/blog/linode/a-new-policy-to-help-fight-spam/),
        you can open a support ticket to request the Linode team to open it. If you [sign up to Linode with our reference](https://www.linode.com/?r=b4d04083428fb99ce452d84b57253d11692a0850), iRedMail Team's Linode account will receive a credit of $15-20.00. Thanks.
      - DigitalOcean. According to [a post in their community](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/port-25-465-is-blocked-how-can-i-enable-it), __SEEMS__ impossible to unblock port 25, that means you can __NOT__ run mail server on DigitalOcean VPS.

To install iRedMail on Debian or Ubuntu Linux, you need:

  • A FRESH, working Debian/Ubuntu Linux. Supported releases are listed on Download page.
  • At least 4 GB memory is required for a low traffic production mail server with spam/virus scanning enabled..
  • Make sure 3 UID/GID are not used by other user/group: 2000, 2001, 2002.

Notes:

  • All binary packages will be installed from Debian/Ubuntu official apt repositories.
  • If you choose Ubuntu Linux, it's recommended to use the latest Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) release for production use.

Preparations

Set a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) hostname on your server

No matter your server is a testing machine or production server, it's strongly recommended to set a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) hostname.

Enter command hostname -f to view the current hostname:

$ hostname -f
mx.example.com

On Debian/Ubuntu Linux, hostname is set in two files: /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts.

  • /etc/hostname: short hostname, not FQDN.
mx
  • /etc/hosts: static table lookup for hostnames. Warning: Please list the FQDN hostname as first item.
# Part of file: /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1   mx.example.com mx localhost localhost.localdomain

Verify the FQDN hostname. If it wasn't changed after updating above two files, please reboot server to make it work.

$ hostname -f
mx.example.com

Enable default official Debian/Ubuntu apt repositories

  • iRedMail needs official Debian/Ubuntu apt repositories, please enable them in /etc/apt/sources.list.
  • Install package gzip so that you can uncompress downloaded iRedMail package.
sudo apt-get install gzip

Download the latest release of iRedMail

  • Visit Download page to get the latest stable release of iRedMail.

  • Upload iRedMail to your mail server via ftp or scp or whatever method you can use, login to the server to install iRedMail. We assume you uploaded it to /root/iRedMail-x.y.z.tar.gz (replace x.y.z by the real version number).

  • Uncompress iRedMail tarball:

cd /root/
tar zxf iRedMail-x.y.z.tar.gz

Start iRedMail installer

It's now ready to start iRedMail installer, it will ask you several simple questions, that's all required to setup a full-featured mail server.

cd /root/iRedMail-x.y.z/
bash iRedMail.sh

Screenshots of installation:

  • Welcome and thanks for your use

{: width="700px" }

  • Specify location to store all mailboxes. Default is /var/vmail/.

{: width="700px" }

  • Choose backend used to store mail accounts. You can manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin, our web-based iRedMail admin panel.

!!! note

There's no big difference between available backends, so
it's strongly recommended to choose the one you're familiar with for easier
management and maintenance after installation.

{: width="700px" }

  • If you choose to store mail accounts in OpenLDAP, iRedMail installer will ask to set the LDAP suffix.

{: width="700px" }

!!! note "To MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL users"

If you choose to store mail accounts in MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL, iRedMail
installer will generate a random, strong password for you. You can find it
in file `iRedMail.tips`.
  • Add your first mail domain name

{: width="700px" }

  • Set password of admin account of your first mail domain.

Note: This account is an admin account and a mail user. That means you can login to webmail and admin panel (iRedAdmin) with this account, login username is full email address.

{: width="700px" }

  • Choose optional components

    !!! attention

      __Which webmail should you choose?__ Roundcube or SOGo?

  - Roundcube is a fast and lightweight webmail, and webmail only.
    If all you need is a webmail to access mailbox and manage mail
    filters, then Roundcube is the best option.
  - SOGo offers webmail, calendar (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV) and
    ActiveSync. If you need calendar and contacts support, also syncing
    them to mobile or PC mail client applications, then SOGo is the one
    to go. Note: If you have many ActiveSync clients, it requires a lot RAM.
  - It's ok to install both, but you can only manage mail filters with
    Roundcube in this case, because the filter rules generated by
    Roundcube and SOGo are not compatible. You can [force to enable it in
    SOGo](./why.no.sieve.support.in.sogo.html), but please inform end
    users and ask them to stick to one of them for managing mail filters.

{: width="700px" }

After answered above questions, iRedMail installer will ask you to review and confirm to start installation. It will install and configure required packages automatically. Type y or Y and press Enter to start.

{: width="700px" }

Important things you MUST know after installation

!!! warning

The weakest part of a mail server is user's weak password. Spammers don't
want to hack your server, they just want to send spam from your server.
Please __ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS__ force users to use a strong password.

Access webmail and other web applications

After installation successfully completed, you can access web-based programs if you choose to install them. Replace your_server below by your real server hostname or IP address.

Get technical support