Topic: Zarafa (opensource) community edition

[jester]

Has anyone ever tried to install Zarafa on SME?! They now have a community edition.

For info on differences in version, see HERE

[curtiscartmell]

Hi,

I'd love to have this in our build.  I'm going to check into it.  This would give SME a new breath of life for sure.

[Stefano]

interesting but..

in install.sh file I read (rpm for rhel4 i386):

postfix_missing() {
   echo "Zarafa for RHEL requires the postfix MTA package."
   echo "Please install postfix from the Servers - Mail Server Package Group"
   echo "and restart the installer."
   echo
   exit 1
}

openldap_already_configured() {
   echo "Your OpenLDAP installation appears to already be configured"
   echo "If you wish to reinstall the LDAP base installation you will need to"
   echo "stop OpenLDAP, delete the files in /var/lib/ldap/ and restart the installer."
   echo "The installer will exit now."
   echo
   exit 1
}

HTH

Ciao
Stefano

[daniel]

There is a VMWare appliance of zarafa.   If you're using VMware on SME then you could install it for testing.

[jester]

According to the Zarafa FAQ to use sendmail for this (this is what SME uses, isn't it?!).

Don't know anything about OpenLDAP so, that could be a problem.

[jester]

Don't really know what i'm doing but tried installing it on a SME 7.3 vmware test installation and it went OK at first, OpenLDAP integration seems optional, so i skipped this for now.

After a reboot webaccess is not accessible, I guess this is because the Zarafa installer is not using the SME templating system. Don't know how to solve this though...

[CharlieBrady]

According to the Zarafa FAQ to use sendmail for this (this is what SME uses, isn't it?!).

Members of the documentation team should know that SME server does not use sendmail, and should know how to find out what it does use.

[CharlieBrady]

According to the Zarafa FAQ to use sendmail for this

That FAQ entry tells how to configure sendmail to do local deliveries via /usr/local/bin/zarafa-dagent. That can probably be done with qmail in SME server by using a .qmail user template (as is done for procmail filtering).

[jester]

Hey... i did not make myself member of the DocsTeam, please take it away if you feel like it.
I would not want to pull the status of that title down with my lack of knowledge.

[CharlieBrady]

Hey... i did not make myself member of the DocsTeam, please take it away if you feel like it.

No offense intended, and I don't have any privileges on the forum, so I can't make any changes anyway. I just don't think it is a very difficult research task to determine whether or not SME server includes sendmail, and everyone, but especially Documentation team members, should check before posting anything they are uncertain about. The forum has way too much mis-information.

[jester]

You are right, in that light i should have searched a bit further. I intend to improve my Linux skills on the not-to-long term btw (just started the RHCE course today). Hopefully a bit better informed remarks in the future from me.

[dmay]

I've taken a very quick look at Zarafa. Very nice web interface almost identical to Outlook Web Access. Outlook features such as shared calendar and public folder support. The Zarafa Linux installation manual discusses how to perform a manual installation and work with qmail. I got Zarafa installed and running on SME 7.3 without issue (other then normal SME templating and rights to take care of). Tested the web interface and outbound mail ok. Looks promising. Qmail inbound integration still needs testing. SME user/group integration needs testing. And unfortunately my time is seriously limited.

However, I think Zarafa is worthy of a more in depth look. If you have the time, take a look.

Darrell

[stephen noble]

To avoid reinventing the wheel, if you have time, please add your findings to the wiki talk page
http://wiki.contribs.org/Talk:Zarafa

or here if your not a wiki editor, I prefer the wiki as only the latest method is shown

EDIT
Thanks Darrell !

[dmay]

To avoid reinventing the wheel, if you have time, please add your findings to the wiki talk page
http://wiki.contribs.org/Talk:Zarafa

Done.

[Stefano]

searching with google for "/usr/bin/zarafa-admin" I found this: http://dord.nl/zarafa-6.03-fedora5-en/doc/install_linux-en.pdf

full of usefull info.. for example, you can install the webaccess rpm changin the default dir (from /var/www/html to /opt/).

zarafa can use unix passwd..

unfortunately I have no time to test it.. but it seems very interesting

HTH
Ciao
Stefano

[soprom]

The wiki says:

Code: [Select]

nano -w /etc/e-smith/templates-user/.qmail/15Zarafa

{
   my $zarafa = $user->prop('zarafa') || ;

   return "| /usr/bin/zarafa-dagent -q $USERNAME"
           if ($zarafa eq 'enabled');
}
But I get errors when expanding.
So I changed it to this:

Code: [Select]

{
   my $zarafa = $user->prop('zarafa') || 'disabled';

   return "| /usr/bin/zarafa-dagent -q $USERNAME"
           if ($zarafa eq 'enabled');
}

[stephen noble]

Thanks, the wiki didn't display the empty quotes ''
anything but enabled will do

note the fragment is now 80Zarafa to allow for forwarding

[dmay]

The wiki is fairly complete now with details for installing and testing Zarafa. The latest addition includes details for migrating data from the SME IMAP store into Zarafa using imapsync. Very cool.

http://wiki.contribs.org/Talk:Zarafa

Please consider this 'ALPHA' stage suitable for test servers only.

Darrell

[soprom]

Wow! It works... and it is very attractive for Outlook users!!!

Now with the fine prints:
no Advanced multi user calendar

[dmay]

Wow! It works... and it is very attractive for Outlook users!!!

Now with the fine prints:
no Advanced multi user calendar

You doubted it would work

What do you mean by Advanced multi user calendar? By default it supports Public Folders, which can contain public shared group calendars. As well each user can assign rights for others to access their personal calendar.

Darrell

[soprom]

I just noted this line reading the documentation. But I agree that it does not seem to limit usage (based on quicks tests I did).

You doubted it would work

Well, I would never dare to doubt about anything on contribs...

[soprom]

It compares well to Zimbra and it runs on my dear SME7.
It is easier to manage than EGroupware (although with less modules ie infolog).
It is spectacular with the UI looking like Outlook.
It is easy to learn with less options than MS-Outlook.
It runs well on a small server (probably because of AJAX).

With Outlook:
It is more expensive than cyrus-imap with Toltec: Zarafa is 28..45EUR vs Toltec at 13USD. But! There is no need for Outlook with this WebAccess software.
It is a lot less "intrusive" in the normal SME7 than installing cyrus-imap. But cyrus-imap adds a lot to the server.
It is more likely to survive yum updates (this remains to be seen... well in fact I have a doubt here  )

BTW: Zarafa is the Arabic word for giraffe. This software is open source since september (Affero GPLv3). They say:

In an effort to sponsor and support the creation of an enterprise open source exchange replacement, the company will contribute the full core of the server-side source code of the Zarafa platform – known for its 100% MAPI compatibility and flexibility – to the community. This will allow more options for compatibility, localization, enhancements and further integration options with other systems.

see http://zarafa.com/?q=en/18-sept-open-source

Also:

For a general rule-of-thumb, you should use to following RAM distribution:
• sortkey_cache: 1MB per concurrent user
• cell_cache: around 25% of total RAM size
• innodb_buffer_size: around 25% of total RAM size
• mysql_query_cache: a few MB
This will cause around 50%-60% of your RAM to be tied up in caches for MySQL and Zarafa. The
actual memory usage of the MySQL and Zarafa will then be slightly more than this, giving a total of
around 80% of your RAM size.

Thanks to Jester and Darrell!

[soprom]

What do you mean by Advanced multi user calendar?

It shows many user's calendars on a single page... Nice to have for a supervisor (with a couple of wide screens).

Like Balmer says: I love this... software!

[jonash]

Hi,
Just to make sure:
In the WIKI it says:
After implementing the .qmail fragment mail is sent to zarafa, and NOT the users ~\Maildir

Does this mean, that Horde, Groupoffice and other groupwares cant be used anymore, i.e. new mails will not be seen there?

Jonas

[soprom]

see http://forums.zarafa.com/viewforum.php?f=15
In my test setup, horde and thunderbird can see inbox correctly.
But a folder created in Thunderbird did go into Maildir and is not seen by zarafa,
and an inbox's subfolder in zarafa is not seen by Thunderbird/Horde.

From zarafa's forum:

Which clients are supported? And how good?

The Zarafa gateway supports both pop3(s) and imap(s).

For basic calendar usage you can use at the moment the ical gateway. This is not tested with all ical clients.
We are currently working on caldav support which is planned for the end of this year.

Most customers that are using Mac OS or Linux use the webaccess for the calendar, because much more advanced calendar features, like resources scheduling and freebusy is supported in here.

All Activesync devices can be synchronized remote via the opensoure Z-Push project, see http://z-push.sourceforge.net.

Please let me know if you have more questions.

Milo

[soprom]

When an organization goes for Outlook, it seems to me that an other groupware is not a real problem since they have made a choice of having Outlook as their groupware.

Maintaining Outlook as a groupware and an other groupware at the same time seems contradictory in my view. The same as maintaining Egroupware and Groupoffice both at the same time. It seems that other objects than inboxes are handled differently from a groupware to the other.

Just my thoughts about multi-groupware setup...

[dmay]

Does this mean, that Horde, Groupoffice and other groupwares cant be used anymore, i.e. new mails will not be seen there?
Jonas

Zarafa is toggled on/off per individual user. Meaning it coexists with everything. Those who want to use Horde may do so. Those who want to use Zarafa may do so. However if you want a user to use both Zarafa and Horde (or other apps) you would need to configure your other apps to use Zarafa's mail store for mail via either the Zarafa IMAP or POP gateway services. I dont see why you would want to do this, but it should be possible. Maybe you have a reason???

Darrell

[jonash]

No, I dont have a reson..
Just curiousity, or maybe to make sure it is possible to switch back..

Thanks for all information!

Jonas

[soprom]

Following Darrell's post, I checked my config and the port was not set to 144. So after this correction, Thunderbird was able to see all folders under inbox.

[dmay]

Following Darrell's post, I checked my config and the port was not set to 144. So after this correction, Thunderbird was able to see all folders under inbox.

[TIP] New folders added via Zarafa do not appear in Thunderbird until you manually subscribe to them.

Darrell

[soprom]

Please consider this 'ALPHA' stage suitable for test servers only.

Darrell

Hi Darell,

How far from production stage do you think this project would be in order to install it in a fresh installation?

[dmay]

Hi Darell,

How far from production stage do you think this project would be in order to install it in a fresh installation?

Definitely not production ready as issues and changes are occurring daily in the wiki. Will require initial release and testing of smeserver-zarafa rpm through all build stages.

Darrell

[Mjohnson]

Anyone having success installing to an Outlook Client??

[dmay]

Anyone having success installing to an Outlook Client??

As per Pg 6 of the install manual; Important: To have Outlook support in the community version, you need to run the zarafa-licensed daemon. However... appears to be an issue when the user_plugin=unix finds matching user/group names (SME design):

http://forums.zarafa.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1083

Darrell

[dmay]

http://wiki.contribs.org/Talk:Zarafa#Bugs

Please raise bugs under the SME-Contribs section in bugzilla and select the smeserver-zarafa component.

[Mjohnson]

Thanks for the tip.  I did not see that in the manual...

I attempted the implementation without success.  I will detail to the bugtracker when time permits.

MJ

[kevinb]

It does not appear that this was implemented in the Wiki instructions and maybe there is a good reason not too but there is a an instruction http://download.zarafa.com/zarafa/release/docs/prepare_sso_for_zarafa.en.pdf for implementing authentication against a Samba PDC.

Configure Zarafa server
The next step is to configure the zarafa server to accept SSO. The configuration file is:
   /etc/zarafa/server.cfg
The following option needs to be set to 'yes'.
   enable_sso_ntlmauth = yes