Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions
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I'm a big fan of Zimbra, but I would also look at Zextras for some nice bolt-on functionality to Zimbra without having to go past the open source edition at lower cost than Zimbra licensing (I think).
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@mcostan said in Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions:
I have been using Zarafa/Kopano successfully for years and I think it's great.
You can get the community packages yourself here:
https://download.kopano.io/community/
And to my experience they are easy to manage.
You can also have videoconferencing, cloud etc. etc. all installed in the community edition.
Highly recommended, at least it works for me.
Have previously tried out Zarafa (for my previous employer, in 2012-2013). Though I had it working successfully, the setup was not that friendly. Also, administration was done through CLI (have not used the one in UTM version--Zentyal/ClearOS)--even simple useradd.
In Zimbra, we do have UI for Administration and would, from time to time, use the CLI. In Zimbra, we can designate an admin user which can do user management right from UI GUI console.
Try it, I believe you'll find it better alternative.
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Kopano only needs one single command and that's to create a user, it does not require any other command line at all.
I am sure it is easy to type the following:
kopano-admin -c newusername -p newpassword -f "Full Name" -e "[email protected]"
that's all it needs.
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There is also an important difference.
The community edition of Kopano gives you access to ALL functionality with no restriction:
https://download.kopano.io/community/webapp:/
Most importantly:
- files sharing, i.e. cloud access from Kopano which is fantastically good as it is 100% integrated
- web meetings, which is video conferencing, again fully integrated.
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Apologies, also mobile integration and Outlook integration.
I did look at Zimbra but their webmail interface is a few years behind in terms of functionality and features compared to Kopano webapp. Note that Zarafa was forked to Kopano and the functionality available in the apps is also vastly improved.
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Just realised in my previous posting:
The correct link is below:
https://download.kopano.io/community/
you have core, which is basically the actual sytem, then webapp which is the user interface and then you can install the extra plugins like files and webmeetings if you want to.
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In Summary: kopano (renamed zarafa) you get ALL the functionality in the community builds. That includes activesync and everything else (you just install z-push which is one line install and works on its own).
In summary as far as I am concerned: I need cloud integration, activesync (mobile) integration, outlook integration, and web conferencing.
Zimbra I did look at it, but the community edition was missing several bits which I needed and for my personal uses, I wouldn't want to buy the commercial edition.
Also note that there is now a kopano forum:
Where in case you are stuck you should get replies fairly quickly.
My own experience is that when I did bump into issues the kopano develpers were able to help me and point me into the right direction even via email and even if I wasn't a paid customers.
So I have no complaints whatsoever.
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the community site is www.kopano.io (www.kopano.com is the commercial one).
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@mcostan said in Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions:
the community site is www.kopano.io (www.kopano.com is the commercial one).
Never heard about it. You could write a dedicated post about Kopano. Maybe with a few screenshots?
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Hi, Kopano is simply the new name for Zarafa, which has been around for a long time.
It's zarafa++ and essentially only Kopano will be developed going forward.
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@thwr said in Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions:
@mcostan said in Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions:
the community site is www.kopano.io (www.kopano.com is the commercial one).
Never heard about it. You could write a dedicated post about Kopano. Maybe with a few screenshots?
Yup, never heard of it until this thread. It's the Zarafa which I know.
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Anyone know a good Kopano install guide?
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Hi, It's all online:
This is the core components:
https://documentation.kopano.io/kopanocore_administrator_manual/
And then you can look at the other admin manuals, starting of course with webapp which you would need to install:
https://documentation.kopano.io/
Regardless of the manuals, installation is pretty easy... you just have to go to:
https://download.kopano.io/community/
Download the packages: core, webapp (and if you want to, the plugins like mdm, smime, files and webmeetings)
and depending on which architecture you have use rpm, dpkg etc.
Clearly download the correct packages you need for your operating system.
you then configure some users, and when you restart apache it should just come up with webapp
You will clearly need to have a working mail delivery solution, being sendmail (I am old fashion, I use this one) or postfix or whatever to send or receive e-mails from the outside world.
I hope this helps. If you get stuck let me know.
P.S. I am not affiliated in any shape or form directly nor indirectly with zarafa/kopano. I just bumped into it a few years back and I use the community edition and I find it useful for me.
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In general you should be able to just install the packages with rpm or dpkg and run it assuming you have mysql running and apache.
Unless you want very specific configurations, the only thing you need to do is to make sure your MTA (sendmail, postfix etc.) works and create at least one kopano user with
kopano-admin -c mynewuserlogin -f "Name Surname" -p mypasswd -e [email protected]
from then onwards
if you type:
myURL/webapp
you should be able to login
If you want z-push (i.e. activesync) again that's a very easy install from automatic packages and it will work by itself
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Best to look at their primary website for screenshots and demo.
you will see the online demo as well as a video showing you all the feature like files, web meetings etc.
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@mcostan I looked at their docs and they seem to just drop you with no installation info. I've been all through the official stuff and no installation guide there. There are things called that but they don't show a working install and they don't even match the real world packages. Their "make sure to install this first" package doesn't even exist.
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Hi,
My view would be to use the admin manuals for actual configuration if you have to.
For installation, really all you need is to pick up this:
https://download.kopano.io/community/core:/
https://download.kopano.io/community/webapp:/For your architecture and just unpack them and install the packages.
Once you get passed this I am pretty sure the admin manuals will be correct.
If you have any issues happy to assist. The only thing you will need to watch out for is the sendmail / postfix or whichever MTA you are planning to use.
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In summary pick the packages at the core and webapp locations above and then carry on with the admin manual as below.
Note that the community edition is obviously evolving that is why you should pick the latest tarball, extract it, and from there you get the packges rpm or deb to install.
3.2.1.1. RPM based distributions
Use the following command to install the KC packages on RPM based distributions:
rpm -Uvh <package files you want to install>
Replace <package file> with the packages found in the tarball. Start with libvmime, libical and kopano-server-packages (in this order) then install the other packages. The package manager might find unresolved dependencies, try to install packages for these dependencies as normal would be done for that distribution (yum -i on Red Hat, zypper -i on SLES).
Note
Using distribution specific packaging tools it may be easier to resolve package dependencies for rpm based distributions. For SLES you should use “zypper in <package>” and for RHEL based system “yum localinstall <package>”.
3.2.1.2. DEB based distributionsOn DEB based distributions (most commonly Debian and Ubuntu) use:
dpkg -i <package files you want to install>
To install the correct dependencies for KC apt-get or an equivalent tool can be used.
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@mcostan said in Finding the Best Open Source Email Solutions:
Replace <package file> with the packages found in the tarball. Start with libvmime, libical and kopano-server-packages (in this order) then install the other packages.
libical doesn't exist, that was the first issue. It's not in the tarball or in the OS.
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As I said ignore the manual for the packages. Take the packages out of the community edition and just install them.
Remember that the community edition is evolving weekly or so, so it is obvious packages will change.
That however doesn't matter.
Personally every two weeks or so, I go to the community site, download the tarball, uncompress the packages, and simply install them.
it has been working for months and if a package changes, I do not even notice it, I just install the latest one.
The primary configuration files, that is server.cfg, dagent.cfg etc. do not change as far as I have seen, perhaps never. Or if they do, they are optional settings which I have never changed.
