How to Install Zimbra 9 Open Source Edition (Unofficial) on CentOS 7

Zimbra 9 has just been released. But the binary only available for Zimbra NE. When I see the release note, Zimbra announces “There are no Open Source repositories specific to Zimbra 9.”.

When I access the Zimbra forum, I found Jorgedlcruz posting about Zimbra 9 FOSS made by beezim.fr. You can find the post here: https://forums.zimbra.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=68097. I interest and want to try to install it. When this article was written, Zimbra 9 FOSS available for RHEL7/CentOS7 and Ubuntu 18.04

Here is how I install Zimbra 9 FOSS (unofficial) on CentOS 7

# Install screen and wget

yum install wget screen -y

# Download script automatic configuration

This script will automatically configure /etc/hosts, hostname, create local DNS using BIND and install dependencies that required by Zimbra

screen -S install-zimbra
wget -c https://raw.githubusercontent.com/imanudin11/script/master/persiapan-zimbra-centos7.sh
chmod +x persiapan-zimbra-centos7.sh
./persiapan-zimbra-centos7.sh

Screen commands are used for background processes. When the SSH connection is lost, I can reconnect to the server and check the progress by running the screen -x.

When the script is run, you will be asked about the hostname, domain, and IP address. Below is the information I used

[INFO] : Configuring /etc/hosts

Hostname. Example mail : mail
Domain name. Example imanudin.net : imanudin.net
IP Address : 192.168.11.12

# Download Zimbra binary

cd /opt/
wget -c https://s3.beezim.fr/beebot/upload/09830127-c2f1-43cb-b3fa-c35fc514e539/zcs-9.0.0_GA_1.RHEL7_64.20200411070311.tgz

# Extract and Install Zimbra

tar -zxvf zcs-9.0.0_GA_1.RHEL7_64.20200411070311.tgz
cd zcs-9.0.0_GA_1.RHEL7_64.20200411070311
./install.sh

type Y if asked license agreement and repository package

Do you agree with the terms of the software license agreement? [N] Y
Use Zimbra's package repository [Y] Y

Select the packages to install. I do not install zimbra-imapd and zimbra-dnscache

Install zimbra-ldap [Y] Y
Install zimbra-logger [Y] Y
Install zimbra-mta [Y] Y
Install zimbra-dnscache [Y] N
Install zimbra-snmp [Y] Y
Install zimbra-store [Y] Y
Install zimbra-apache [Y] Y
Install zimbra-spell [Y] Y
Install zimbra-memcached [Y] Y
Install zimbra-proxy [Y] Y
Install zimbra-drive [Y] Y
Install zimbra-imapd (BETA - for evaluation only) [N] N
Install zimbra-chat [Y] Y

Type Y if asked The system will be modified. Continue?

if get a message like follows, enter or type Yes and change the domain name

DNS ERROR resolving MX for mail.imanudin.net
It is suggested that the domain name have an MX record configured in DNS
Change domain name? [Yes] Yes
Create domain: [mail.imanudin.net] imanudin.net

if you do not change the domain name on the above section, your domain name will become mail.imanudin.net, and the email account will become user@mail.imanudin.net.

Type 6 then press the enter key to change the password of the admin account. Type 4 then press the enter key. Insert the password you want

Main menu

   1) Common Configuration:                                                  
   2) zimbra-ldap:                             Enabled                       
   3) zimbra-logger:                           Enabled                       
   4) zimbra-mta:                              Enabled                       
   5) zimbra-snmp:                             Enabled                       
   6) zimbra-store:                            Enabled                       
        +Create Admin User:                    yes                           
        +Admin user to create:                 admin@imanudin.net            
******* +Admin Password                        UNSET                         
        +Anti-virus quarantine user:           virus-quarantine.a5rtucqhim@imanudin.net
     
.....
.....

Address unconfigured (**) items  (? - help) 6


Store configuration

   1) Status:                                  Enabled                       
   2) Create Admin User:                       yes                           
   3) Admin user to create:                    admin@imanudin.net            
** 4) Admin Password                           UNSET                         
   5) Anti-virus quarantine user:              virus-quarantine.a5rtucqhim@imanudin.net
....
....                          

Select, or 'r' for previous menu [r] 4

Password for admin@imanudin.net (min 6 characters): [_47SUjFEQ] VeryS3cret

After inserting the password, Select, or ‘r’ for previous menu. If all has been configured, apply configuration and wait until Zimbra is finished installing.

*** CONFIGURATION COMPLETE - press 'a' to apply
Select from menu, or press 'a' to apply config (? - help) a
Save configuration data to a file? [Yes] Yes
Save config in file: [/opt/zimbra/config.5731]
Saving config in /opt/zimbra/config.5731...done.
The system will be modified - continue? [No] Yes
Operations logged to /tmp/zmsetup.20200501-161152.log

Type Yes if asked Notify Zimbra of your installation? then press the enter key when seeing Configuration complete – press return to exit,

Check Zimbra status and version with these commands

su - zimbra -c "zmcontrol status"
su - zimbra -c "zmcontrol -v"

[root@mail zcs-9.0.0_GA_1.RHEL7_64.20200411070311]# su - zimbra -c "zmcontrol -v"
Release 9.0.0_GA_1.RHEL7_64_20200411070311 RHEL7_64 FOSS edition, Patch 9.0.0_P1.

Below are some screenshots of webmail

Why not using a modern web app after login? as mention on Zimbra Wiki “A Zimbra Network Edition license is required to use the Modern Web App.”. So, you should buy Zimbra NE to get more Benefits 🙂

Congratulations, you had been finished install Zimbra 9 on CentOS 7. After install, you can improve anti-spam with some method below. This method is still relevant for Zimbra 9 🙂

• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/08/how-to-install-policyd-on-zimbra-8-5/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/09/zimbra-tips-how-to-configure-rate-limit-sending-message-on-policyd/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/11/improving-anti-spam-reject-unlisted-domain-on-zimbra-8-5/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/12/zimbra-tips-how-to-protect-policyd-webui/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/29/how-to-restrict-users-sending-to-certain-usersdomains-with-policyd/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/30/script-automatic-configure-cbpolicyd-on-zimbra-8-5/
• https://imanudin.net/2014/09/07/how-to-improvement-sender-must-loginenforcing-a-match-between-from-address-and-sasl-username-on-zimbra-8-5/

Good luck 🙂