Exchange ActiveSync for Zimbra Open Source Edition (Nginx Custom)

This article was inspired by Stefan Seidel’s writing here: https://www.stefanseidel.info/Z-Push_on_Zimbra_8 . On previous article about Exchange ActiveSync for Zimbra Open Source Edition, I used Jetty with some modification. The Jetty custom need more effort if I do a patch or upgrade. I must adjust the Jetty file again to support Exchange ActiveSync. If you want to use Jetty custom, please follow this guidance: https://imanudin.net/2019/08/30/exchange-activesync-for-zimbra-open-source-edition/

When I use Nginx custom and do update patch/upgrade, I only need to customize Zimbra Nginx.

This guide has been tested on Ubuntu 20.04 with Zimbra 8.8.15 and Rocky Linux 8 with Zimbra 10. I am using Z-Push version 2.7.0 and Z-Push Zimbra Backend version 71.

# Ubuntu

Install dependencies

sudo apt -y install php php-cli php-soap php-mbstring php-curl php-fpm php-intl git

Modify php-fpm

vi /etc/php/7.4/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Adjust line below as follows

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Enable and restart php-fpm

systemctl enable --now php7.4-fpm.service
systemctl restart php7.4-fpm.service

Create Z-Push directory

sudo mkdir /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push
sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push
chown www-data.www-data /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push

Clone Z-Push + Z-Push Zimbra Backend

cd /opt/
git clone https://github.com/imanudin11/zimbra-zpush.git z-push

Note: I use Asia/Jakarta as my Timezone. Please open /opt/z-push/config.php and adjust/change Asia/Jakarta to your Timezone

Modify Template

vi /opt/zimbra/conf/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.web.https.default.template

Find line “location ^~ /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync” and add below line before line “For audit”

# Z-Push start
include /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf;
# Z-Push end

So, the final line looks like this

        # Proxy to Zimbra Upstream
        proxy_pass          ${web.upstream.target};
        proxy_read_timeout  ${web.upstream.polling.timeout};
        proxy_buffering     off;    

        # Z-Push start
        include /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf;
        # Z-Push end

        # For audit
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

Save and restart Zimbra Proxy

su - zimbra -c 'zmproxyctl restart'

# CentOS/Rocky Linux

Install dependencies

sudo yum install php-cli php-soap php-process php-mbstring php-fpm php-curl php-json php-intl git -y

Modify php-fpm

vi /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf

Adjust line below as follows

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Enable and restart php-fpm

systemctl enable --now php-fpm.service 
systemctl restart php-fpm.service

Create Z-Push directory

sudo mkdir /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push
sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push
chown apache.apache /var/lib/z-push /var/log/z-push

Clone Z-Push + Z-Push Zimbra Backend

cd /opt/
git clone https://github.com/imanudin11/zimbra-zpush.git z-push

Note: I use Asia/Jakarta as my Timezone. Please open /opt/z-push/config.php and adjust/change Asia/Jakarta to your Timezone

Modify Template

vi /opt/zimbra/conf/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.web.https.default.template

Find line “location ^~ /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync” and add below line before line “For audit”

# Z-Push start
include /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf;
# Z-Push end

So, the final line looks like this

        # Proxy to Zimbra Upstream
        proxy_pass          ${web.upstream.target};
        proxy_read_timeout  ${web.upstream.polling.timeout};
        proxy_buffering     off;    

        # Z-Push start
        include /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf;
        # Z-Push end

        # For audit
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

Save and restart Zimbra Proxy

su - zimbra -c 'zmproxyctl restart'

# Testing

Please access https://ip-of-zimbra/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync from your browser. Log in with your Zimbra account. If it works, you can see the output as below. Or you can configure your mail apps on mobile devices and ensure choose Exchange/ActiveSync

Good Luck 🙂

36 comments

nifo says:

October 18, 2023 at 12:06 pm

HI. I tried your guide with ubuntu 20.04.06 and Zimbra 9 FOSS and everything works. IT DOES NOT WORK with ubuntu 20.04.06 and zimbra 10 FOSS. The proxy fails reporting that the port is already in use. Is there a way to apply zpush on ubuntu 20 + zimbra 10?

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  October 19, 2023 at 12:57 pm
  Hello,
  Please run the following command and give me the results
```
ss -atpn | grep -iE '80|443'
netstat -atpn | grep -iE '80|443'
```
  Reply
  1. nifo says:
    
    October 19, 2023 at 7:54 pm
    
    root@mail:~# ss -atpn | grep -iE ’80|443′
    LISTEN 0 10 127.0.0.1:53 0.0.0.0:* users:((“named”,pid=1066,fd=82),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=81),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=80),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=79),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=78),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=77),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=76),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=75),(“named”,pid=1066,fd=74))
    LISTEN 0 50 0.0.0.0:8443 0.0.0.0:* users:((“java”,pid=3863,fd=146))
    LISTEN 0 4096 127.0.0.1:10663 0.0.0.0:* users:((“zmlogger: zmrrd”,pid=3680,fd=3))
    LISTEN 0 50 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:* users:((“java”,pid=3863,fd=145))
    ESTAB 0 0 192.168.0.20:39380 192.168.0.20:389 users:((“java”,pid=1500,fd=156))
    ESTAB 0 0 192.168.0.20:389 192.168.0.20:39380 users:((“slapd”,pid=1429,fd=13))
    LISTEN 0 511 *:7780 *:* users:((“httpd”,pid=4891,fd=4),(“httpd”,pid=4882,fd=4),(“httpd”,pid=4881,fd=4),(“httpd”,pid=4870,fd=4))
    LISTEN 0 511 *:80 *:* users:((“apache2”,pid=1291,fd=4),(“apache2”,pid=1290,fd=4),(“apache2”,pid=1289,fd=4),(“apache2”,pid=1288,fd=4),(“apache2”,pid=1287,fd=4),(“apache2”,pid=1284,fd=4))
    root@mail:~# netstat -atpn | grep -iE ’80|443′
    tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:8443 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 3863/java
    tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:10663 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 3680/zmlogger: zmrr
    tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 3863/java
    tcp 0 0 192.168.0.20:39380 192.168.0.20:389 ESTABLISHED 1500/java
    tcp 0 0 192.168.0.20:389 192.168.0.20:39380 ESTABLISHED 1429/slapd
    tcp6 0 0 :::7780 :::* LISTEN 4870/httpd
    tcp6 0 0 :::80 :::* LISTEN 1284/apache2
    
    Reply
    1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
      
      October 20, 2023 at 1:44 am
      
      Hi,
      There is apache2 service that running. Please disable and stop that service. From the result, port 443 is not listen. Please run the following command
      
      zmprov ms $(zmhostname) zimbraReverseProxyMailMode https zmproxyctl restart
      
      Reply
      1. nifo says:
        
        October 20, 2023 at 5:11 am
        
        Yes. Fixed by disabling apache2. But why is it activated if it wasn’t installed?
      2. Imanudin Ahmad says:
        
        October 23, 2023 at 1:43 am
        
        Hello,
        When you install php-fpm, you probably install apache/nginx as dependencies
nifo says:

October 18, 2023 at 12:11 pm

correction. even with 9 it no longer works after a reboot. “Failed to start LSB: Zimbra mail service” Proxy in not running

Reply
Kordian Bartoszuk says:

October 31, 2023 at 8:49 am

Does not work with Ubuntu 10 and Zimbra 10.
31/10/2023 09:48:31 [340230] [ERROR] [] Zimbra->SoapRequest(): ERROR: curl_exec – (60) SSL: no alternative certificate subject name matches target host name ‘127.0.0.1’
31/10/2023 09:48:31 [340230] [ERROR] [] Zimbra->Logon(): END Logon – Proxy Error { connected = false }
31/10/2023 09:48:31 [340230] [FATAL] [] Exception: (ServiceUnavailableException) – Access denied. Proxy unable to reach user mailbox server

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  November 1, 2023 at 7:55 am
  
  Hello,
  You can try to adjust the server name from 127.0.0.1 into your public hostname. You can find the configuration in /opt/z-push/backend/zimbra/config.php
  
  Reply
  1. Kordian Bartoszuk says:
    
    November 30, 2023 at 5:34 pm
    
    Does not work either.
    extensions – unable to find handler for extension: system failure: Extension HTTP handler not found at /zimbrasync
    
    Reply
    1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
      
      December 2, 2023 at 3:13 am
      
      Hello,
      If appear information like this, it means custom nginx not working. Please try again
      
      Reply
      1. Kordian Bartoszuk says:
        
        December 4, 2023 at 8:22 am
        
        What should I try again??? I administer 2 Zimbra servers and this method does not wotk on either of those. One server is freshly installed Ubuntu 20, another one is an old machine with Ubuntu 16 upgraded to 18 and then to 20. Please help!
Kordian Bartoszuk says:

December 10, 2023 at 8:04 pm

Can you please help? Do I need any extra package, or should it work with standard Ubuntu 20 and Zimbra 9/10 installation?
Thabk you in advance.

Reply
Kordian Bartoszuk says:

January 4, 2024 at 12:49 pm

Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync] [] extensions – unable to find handler for extension: system failure: Extension HTTP handler not found at /zimbrasync
From today´s tests…
Please help

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  January 9, 2024 at 3:39 am
  
  Hello,
  It seems your Z-Push has not applied yet
  
  Reply
2. Nifo says:
  
  January 19, 2024 at 2:28 pm
  
  ciao
  io ho risolto con questa guida, z-push in docker
  
  https://www.anahuac.eu/z-push-no-zimbra-o-jeito-mais-facil/
  
  Reply
Dominik says:

January 22, 2024 at 8:09 pm

Hello!
Can you help to work with autodiscover?

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  January 27, 2024 at 7:32 am
  
  Hello,
  I will try it
  
  Reply
rene chirivi says:

March 3, 2024 at 5:28 pm

Hello, it´s works perfect for me.
I have a insuee with atachments how can increase the size of the files to send in outlook?
bye the zimbra webmail works fine to send files until 28mb, but in outlook no.

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  March 4, 2024 at 2:05 am
  
  Hi Rene,
  You can increase the limit on Outlook [1] side
  
  [1] https://www.saleshandy.com/blog/outlook-attachment-size-limit/
  
  Reply
  1. rene chirivi says:
    
    March 6, 2024 at 3:59 pm
    
    Hi Dear, thanks for your help,
    I increase the limit on Outlook Attachments, but when send the mail satys in outbox folder..
    the log of /var/log/z-push/z-push-error.log show this message
    
    [[email protected]] Fatal error: /opt/z-push/include/mimeDecode.php:773 – Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 19709104 bytes) (1)
    
    I don´t know where increase the size memory.
    
    Thanks
    
    Reply
    1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
      
      March 21, 2024 at 7:21 am
      
      Hello Rene,
      You can try to increase memory limit on php.ini
      
      Reply
      1. rene chirivi says:
        
        March 30, 2024 at 12:32 am
        
        Hi Dear.
        
        I increase the memory limit on php.ini but don´t work 🙁
Dominik Erdei says:

March 17, 2024 at 9:13 am

Hello!
It works, but sometimes it freezes, the webmail works perfectly, but the /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync url not loads for 5-10 seconds, and then it works then after some time it repeats. I think this is a memory or cache problem with php? Can you help? Thank you!

Reply
Kordian says:

May 1, 2024 at 8:28 am

Hello, finally got it to work. However, especially with Outlook, it freezes after a few minutes connection, the log is full of:
/2024 10:21:43 [418060] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->GetMessageList(): END GetNextMessageBlock TASKS { count = 0; }
01/05/2024 10:21:43 [418060] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->GetMessageList(): END GetMessageList TASKS { count = 0 }
01/05/2024 10:21:43 [418060] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->GetMessageList(): END GetMessageList TASKS { count = 14 }
01/05/2024 10:21:43 [418060] [ INFO] [[email protected]] ExportChangesDiff->InitializeExporter(): Found ‘0’ changes for ‘f15’
01/05/2024 10:21:43 [418060] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1992] *Waiting* [WaitSet-927efb7f-ea83-43fa-8b33-144c2bf1dd47] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [11215]
01/05/2024 10:21:55 [487013] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [11019] *Waiting* [WaitSet-e1353600-97f2-48a1-9bc7-a3250d113a3a] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [11215]
01/05/2024 10:22:05 [468786] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1925] *Waiting* [WaitSet-ad58cb00-64dc-4c3d-940e-d0a3d633eff2] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
01/05/2024 10:22:07 [456461] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1986] *Waiting* [WaitSet-209a3263-5366-413d-a1c5-f7b2aa10b2a5] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
01/05/2024 10:22:08 [418091] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1990] *Waiting* [WaitSet-4ee832b3-b7c4-4121-b81c-c6597d881a77] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
01/05/2024 10:22:16 [418060] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1992] *Waiting* [WaitSet-c3a53466-b432-41a1-a17f-11e101b1a758] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [11215]
01/05/2024 10:22:28 [487013] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [11019] *Waiting* [WaitSet-f6946636-a33b-4646-8f85-fa7669975c08] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [11215]
01/05/2024 10:22:38 [468786] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1925] *Waiting* [WaitSet-a7bfdcf4-2505-4359-b3ee-a7cc3614bf3f] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
01/05/2024 10:22:40 [456461] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1986] *Waiting* [WaitSet-1bedf61e-d68b-423f-a1d4-09a24b85100c] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
01/05/2024 10:22:41 [418091] [DEBUG] [[email protected]] Zimbra->ChangesSink(): Session ID [1990] *Waiting* [WaitSet-a63c977f-e7f6-483c-b2b8-21307b08aa90] for [26] Seconds, with Highest SEQ [0] and Token [12940]
Any solution for that?

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  May 13, 2024 at 2:55 am
  
  Hello Kordian,
  I haven’t tested in Outlook. So, I cannot provide a solution 🙁
  
  Reply
RDA says:

June 30, 2024 at 8:11 pm

Hello Ahmad,
I am using Ubuntu 20.04 and Zimbra OSE 8.8.15. I followed the instructions and it’s not working. no user can connect to Active Sync. I also disable apache2.
I have also increased the php memory.
Error:
2024-07-01 02:02:32,141 WARN [qtp252651381-235:https://mail.example.com/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync%5D [] extensions – unable to find handler for extension: system failure: Extension HTTP handler not found at /zimbrasync

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  July 1, 2024 at 2:00 am
  
  Hello,
  Your configuration still use native ActiveSync from Zimbra. Please ensure custom nginx has been applied
  
  Reply
  1. Md Rubel Hossain says:
    
    July 1, 2024 at 3:28 am
    
    I can see below the conf file is correctly loaded at /opt/zimbra/conf/nginx/templates/nginx.conf.web.https
    
    # Z-Push start
    include /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf;
    # Z-Push end
    
    What next? Please share your valuable opinion to solve this .
    
    Reply
  2. RDA says:
    
    July 2, 2024 at 3:53 am
    
    WOuld you please assist your blog reader to do this?
    
    Reply
Diego says:

July 31, 2024 at 3:38 pm

How to configure z-push on a separate server?

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  August 3, 2024 at 3:30 pm
  
  Hi,
  You can try this guidance: https://imanudin.net/2014/11/11/how-to-enable-mode-activesync-on-zimbra-ose/. You can adjust with your requirement
  
  Reply
mickalochard says:

November 3, 2024 at 8:37 am

Hi Big master if Zimbra 😉
Your site is a full of good advice and a big help for me ! Thanks a lot for your work.
I follow your tutorial and z-push 2.7 works well…emails, contact and appointements are Sync on mobiles and outlook (pc), but when I try to put or update an appointements on mobiles (or outlook is the same), it does not Sync with Zimbra. I work on Zimbra 9 OSE and Zimbra backend 72.
Do you have an Idea , ô great master ?

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  November 12, 2024 at 12:15 pm
  
  Hi Mickalochard,
  I have not tested on Zimbra 9 OSE. Maybe you can try using Z10 FOSS in your lab
  
  Reply
Joerg Hansen says:

March 27, 2025 at 10:41 pm

Hello,
First of all, thank you very much for the instructions and the Git.

I’ve now installed Z-Push on Ubuntu 22.04 with Carbonio CE 25.3.1, and it’s working great. Since I’m running a single-server version, I didn’t want to run Z-Push on another server. Everything runs on the same server, which makes administration a lot easier.

Only a few adjustments were necessary.
PHP is now version 8.1, so the file here needs to be:
nano /etc/php/8.1/fpm/pool.d/www.conf (I use nano, not vi)
The port on Carbonio is 9443, so:
listen = 127.0.0.1:9443
The port then also needs to be adjusted in nginx-zpush.conf:
nano /opt/z-push/nginx-zpush.conf
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9443;

Otherwise, everything is as described in your description.

Outlook, Android mobile phone, works with mail, calendar, and contacts; so far, I haven’t found any errors. I still have to test it with Apple, but since I don’t use an iPhone myself, I’ll have to find someone else.

Thank you again.

Greetings, jhansen

Reply
1. Imanudin Ahmad says:
  
  March 27, 2025 at 11:50 pm
  
  Hi Jhansen,
  Thanks for your sharing. Your information is very helpful and useful
  
  Reply

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