AppSuite:Open-Xchange Installation Guide for Debian 7.0

From Open-Xchange

OX App Suite on Debian GNU/Linux 7.0

This article will guide you through the installation of OX App Suite, it describes the basic configuration and software requirements. As it is intended as a quick walk-through it assumes an existing installation of the operating system and requires average system administration skills. More, this guide will show you how to setup a basic installation with none of the typically used distributed environment settings. The objective of this guide is:

  • To setup a single server installation
  • To setup a database for a single database service, no replication
  • To setup a single Open-Xchange instance, no cluster
  • To provide a basic configuration setup, no mailserver configuration

Requirements

  • OX App Suite v7.4 or newer
  • Plain installed Debian GNU/Linux 7.0, no graphical tools required
  • A supported Java Virtual Machine (learn more)
  • A working internet connection
  • vim is not installed by default on Debian Wheezy. If you want to copy & paste the commands from this article into a shell window, you need to apt-get install vim first.

Add Open-Xchange Repository

Open-Xchange maintains public available software repositories for different platforms, such as Debian. This repository should be added to the Debian installation to enable simple installation and updates.

Start a console and modify the Debian repository information file. Also add the Open-Xchange software repository: 

$ cat << EOF >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/open-xchange.list

deb https://software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/appsuiteui/DebianWheezy/ /
deb https://software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/backend/DebianWheezy/ /

# if you have a valid maintenance subscription, please uncomment the 
# following and add the ldb account data to the url so that the most recent
# packages get installed
# deb https://[CUSTOMERID:PASSWORD]@software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/appsuiteui/updates/DebianWheezy /
# deb https://[CUSTOMERID:PASSWORD]@software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/backend/updates/DebianWheezy /
EOF

Updating repositories and install packages

It is highly recommended to import the Open-Xchange build key to your package systems trusted keyring in order to make sure only Open-Xchange packages with valid signing are installed on the system. Otherwise you'll encounter warnings about untrusted package sources. To import the Open-Xchange buildkey, please refer to this quick guide: Importing OX Buildkey.

Reload the package index. This will download the package descriptions available at the software repositories and will enable the Open-Xchange repository as a valid source for signed packages: 

$ apt-get update

The following command starts the download and installation process of all required package for Open-Xchange deployment:

If you want to install everything on a single server, just run 

$ apt-get install open-xchange open-xchange-authentication-database open-xchange-grizzly \
  open-xchange-admin open-xchange-appsuite \
  open-xchange-appsuite-backend open-xchange-appsuite-manifest

Note 1: You have to choose between one of the available authentication packages depending on your requirements.

You will be asked multiple times to enter a MySQL password, please do not enter a password at this point. You should enter a strong MySQL admin password for the user "mysql" after the installation has been finished. See: MySQL Reference Manual

Important: Some of the scripts assume you have mysql root access from the command line, therefore the advice of "not" to enter a password. If you do, you may find problems following the instructions provided in this howto.

Open-Xchange configuration

To avoid confusion right at the start notice that Open-Xchange uses multiple administration levels and requires different credentials at some stages at the installation and server management. Note that the passwords chosen at this guide are weak and should be replaced by stronger passwords.

  • The MySQL database user
    • Username: openexchange
    • Password used at this guide: db_password
    • Responsibility: Execute all kinds of database operations
  • The Open-Xchange Admin Master
    • Username: oxadminmaster
    • Password used at this guide: admin_master_password
    • Responsibility: Manage contexts, manage all kinds of low level server configuration
  • The Context Admin
    • Username: oxadmin
    • Password used at this guide: admin_password
    • Responsibility: Manage users/groups/resources inside a context

As stated above we assume the MySQL service has been installed previously, and it is running and available.

A good idea is to add the Open-Xchange binaries to PATH: 

$  echo PATH=$PATH:/opt/open-xchange/sbin/ >> ~/.bashrc && . ~/.bashrc

Now we have to initialize the Open-Xchange configdb database. This can all be done by executing the initconfigdb script. 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/initconfigdb --configdb-pass=db_password -a --mysql-root-passwd=root_password

Use the --mysql-root-passwd option to supply the MySQL root password as configured during database installation.

Add the -i option if you want to remove an already existing open-xchange configdb.

Note: The -a parameter adds an openexchange account to MySQL. This account will be used for database connections from the OX App Suite middleware and requires some privileges. You can also create that account manually during database installation / configuration, in which case you can (should) skip the -a parameter here.

Before starting any service, all basic configuration files need to be set up correctly. The --configdb-pass option indicates the password of the openexchange database user previously created, the --master-pass options specifies the password of the Open-Xchange adminmaster user that will be created when executing the oxinstaller script.

Important: You should have your Open-Xchange license code at hand. If you do not plan to license Open-Xchange, you can use the option --no-license instead. Please also check OXReportClient documentation for more information about configuring a supported and maintained Open-Xchange server.

Important: For MAX_MEMORY_FOR_JAVAVM a rule of thumb for simple installations is half available system memory. The value must be in MB. For example "1024" for 1GB . 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/oxinstaller --add-license=YOUR-OX-LICENSE-CODE \
--servername=oxserver --configdb-pass=db_password \
--master-pass=admin_master_password --network-listener-host=localhost --servermemory MAX_MEMORY_FOR_JAVAVM

Note: In a clustered setup, --network-listener-host must be set to *

Now is a good time to configure the way OX will authenticate to your mail server. Edit the file /opt/open-xchange/etc/mail.properties and change the com.openexchange.mail.loginSource to use. This is very important for servers that require your full email address to log in with. 

# adjust com.openexchange.mail.loginSource
$ vim /opt/open-xchange/etc/mail.properties

After initializing the configuration, start the Open-Xchange Administration service by executing: 

$ /etc/init.d/open-xchange start

Next we have to register the local server at the Open-Xchange configdb database: 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/registerserver -n oxserver -A oxadminmaster -P admin_master_password

Now we have to create a local directory that should be used as Open-Xchange filestore. This directory will contain all Infostore content and files attached to groupware objects. To maintain access by the Open-Xchange Groupware service, it is required to grant permissions to the open-xchange system user. 

$ mkdir /var/opt/filestore
$ chown open-xchange:open-xchange /var/opt/filestore

Now register the directory as a filestore at the Open-Xchange server: 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/registerfilestore -A oxadminmaster -P admin_master_password \
-t file:/var/opt/filestore -s 1000000

Note: You might want to adapt the value provided with -s, the "The maximum size of the filestore in MB", see registerfilestore --help.

Note 2: If you are setting up OX App Suite, you need a shared filestore accross your OX servers even though you do not plan to have the OX Files feature enabled for your customers.

Finally register the groupware database, this is a separated database where all groupware specific data is stored: 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/registerdatabase -A oxadminmaster -P admin_master_password \
-n oxdatabase -p db_password -m true


Configure services

Now as the Open-Xchange Server has been set up and the database is running, we have to configure the Apache webserver and the mod_proxy_http module to access the groupware frontend. 

$ a2enmod proxy proxy_http proxy_balancer expires deflate headers rewrite mime setenvif

Configure the mod_proxy_http module by creating a new Apache configuration file. 

$ vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/proxy_http.conf




<IfModule mod_proxy_http.c>
   ProxyRequests Off
   ProxyStatus On
   # When enabled, this option will pass the Host: line from the incoming request to the proxied host.
   ProxyPreserveHost On
   # Please note that the servlet path to the soap API has changed:
   <Location /webservices>
       # restrict access to the soap provisioning API
       Order Deny,Allow
       Deny from all
       Allow from 127.0.0.1
       # you might add more ip addresses / networks here
       # Allow from 192.168 10 172.16
   </Location>
 
   # The old path is kept for compatibility reasons
   <Location /servlet/axis2/services>
       Order Deny,Allow
       Deny from all
       Allow from 127.0.0.1
   </Location>
   
   # Enable the balancer manager mentioned in
   # https://oxpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=AppSuite:Running_a_cluster#Updating_a_Cluster
   <IfModule mod_status.c>
     <Location /balancer-manager>
       SetHandler balancer-manager
       Order Deny,Allow
       Deny from all
       Allow from 127.0.0.1
     </Location>
   </IfModule>
   
   <Proxy balancer://oxcluster>
       Order deny,allow
       Allow from all
       # multiple server setups need to have the hostname inserted instead localhost
       BalancerMember http://localhost:8009 timeout=100 smax=0 ttl=60 retry=60 loadfactor=50 route=APP1
       # Enable and maybe add additional hosts running OX here
       # BalancerMember http://oxhost2:8009 timeout=100 smax=0 ttl=60 retry=60 loadfactor=50 route=APP2
      ProxySet stickysession=JSESSIONID|jsessionid scolonpathdelim=On
      SetEnv proxy-initial-not-pooled
      SetEnv proxy-sendchunked
   </Proxy>
   
   # The standalone documentconverter(s) within your setup (if installed)
   # Make sure to restrict access to backends only
   # See: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/$YOUR_VERSION/mod/mod_authz_host.html#allow for more infos
   #<Proxy balancer://oxcluster_docs>
   #    Order Deny,Allow
   #    Deny from all
   #    Allow from backend1IP
   #    BalancerMember http://converter_host:8009 timeout=100 smax=0 ttl=60 retry=60 loadfactor=50 keepalive=On route=APP3
   #    ProxySet stickysession=JSESSIONID|jsessionid scolonpathdelim=On
   #	   SetEnv proxy-initial-not-pooled
   #    SetEnv proxy-sendchunked
   #</Proxy>
   # Define another Proxy Container with different timeout for the sync clients. Microsoft recommends a minimum value of 15 minutes.
   # Setting the value lower than the one defined as com.openexchange.usm.eas.ping.max_heartbeat in eas.properties will lead to connection
   # timeouts for clients.  See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=905013 for additional information.
   #
   # NOTE for Apache versions < 2.4:
   # When using a single node system or using BalancerMembers that are assigned to other balancers please add a second hostname for that
   # BalancerMember's IP so Apache can treat it as additional BalancerMember with a different timeout.
   #
   # Example from /etc/hosts: 127.0.0.1	localhost localhost_sync
   #
   # Alternatively select one or more hosts of your cluster to be restricted to handle only eas/usm requests
   <Proxy balancer://eas_oxcluster>
      Order deny,allow
      Allow from all
      # multiple server setups need to have the hostname inserted instead localhost
      BalancerMember http://localhost_sync:8009 timeout=1900 smax=0 ttl=60 retry=60 loadfactor=50 route=APP1
      # Enable and maybe add additional hosts running OX here
      # BalancerMember http://oxhost2:8009 timeout=1900  smax=0 ttl=60 retry=60 loadfactor=50 route=APP2
      ProxySet stickysession=JSESSIONID|jsessionid scolonpathdelim=On
      SetEnv proxy-initial-not-pooled
      SetEnv proxy-sendchunked
   </Proxy>
   
   # When specifying additional mappings via the ProxyPass directive be aware that the first matching rule wins. Overlapping urls of
   # mappings have to be ordered from longest URL to shortest URL.
   # 
   # Example:
   #   ProxyPass /ajax      balancer://oxcluster_with_100s_timeout/ajax
   #   ProxyPass /ajax/test balancer://oxcluster_with_200s_timeout/ajax/test
   #
   # Requests to /ajax/test would have a timeout of 100s instead of 200s 
   #   
   # See:
   # - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_proxy.html#proxypass Ordering ProxyPass Directives
   # - http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_proxy.html#workers Worker Sharing
   ProxyPass /ajax balancer://oxcluster/ajax
   ProxyPass /appsuite/api balancer://oxcluster/ajax
   ProxyPass /drive balancer://oxcluster/drive
   ProxyPass /infostore balancer://oxcluster/infostore
   ProxyPass /realtime balancer://oxcluster/realtime
   ProxyPass /servlet balancer://oxcluster/servlet
   ProxyPass /webservices balancer://oxcluster/webservices

   #ProxyPass /documentconverterws balancer://oxcluster_docs/documentconverterws
 
   ProxyPass /usm-json balancer://eas_oxcluster/usm-json
   ProxyPass /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync balancer://eas_oxcluster/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync

</IfModule>


Modify the default website settings to display the Open-Xchange GUI 

$ vim /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default

<VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

       DocumentRoot /var/www
       <Directory /var/www>
               Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
               AllowOverride None
               Order allow,deny
               allow from all
               RedirectMatch ^/$ /appsuite/
       </Directory>

       <Directory /var/www/appsuite>
               Options None +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
               AllowOverride Indexes FileInfo
       </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

If you want to secure your Apache setup via HTTPS (which is highly recommended) or if you have proxies in front of your Apache please follow the instructions at:


to properly instruct the backend about the security status of the connection and the remote IP used to contact the backend.

After the configuration is done, restart the Apache webserver 

$ /etc/init.d/apache2 restart


Creating contexts and users

Now as the whole setup is complete and you already should get a login screen when accessing the server with a webbrowser, we have to setup a context and a default user as the last step of this tutorial.

The mapping defaultcontext will allow you to set this context as the default one of the entire system so that users which will be created within this context can login into Open-Xchange Server without specifying their domain at the login screen. Only one context can be specified as defaultcontext. The oxadmin user that will be created by this command is the default admin of the created context. This account will gather additional functions that are also described in the administration manual. The context id parameter must to be unique and numeric, otherwise the server will complain when you try to create a context. New contexts must be created by the oxadminmaster user, user accounts inside a context are created with the credentials of the contexts oxadmin account. The access-combination-name property defines the set of available modules and functions for users of the context. 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/createcontext -A oxadminmaster -P admin_master_password -c 1 \
-u oxadmin -d "Context Admin" -g Admin -s User -p admin_password -L defaultcontext \
-e oxadmin@example.com -q 1024 --access-combination-name=groupware_standard

To create a user for testing purposes (Make sure the password you use here for the user is the same password as your email account or you will not be able to use the email module until it is set right): 

$ /opt/open-xchange/sbin/createuser -c 1 -A oxadmin -P admin_password -u testuser \
-d "Test User" -g Test -s User -p secret -e testuser@example.com \
--imaplogin testuser --imapserver 127.0.0.1 --smtpserver 127.0.0.1

Now connect to the server with a webbrowser and login using the credentials testuser / secret.

A complete overview about the different parameter is provided at the permission matrix

If you need to migrate a batch of users and contexts at once, check the CSV Batch Import documentation page.

Log files and issue tracking

Default logging mechanism

Whenever unexpected or erroneous behavior takes place, it will be logged depending on the configured loglevel. All logfiles are stored at the operating systems default location. Events triggered by the Open-Xchange Groupware services are logged to a rotating file open-xchange.log.0. Those files are the very first place to monitor. 

$ tail -f -n200 /var/log/open-xchange/open-xchange.log.0

Alternative logging mechanisms

Apart from the default file logging mechanism, Open-Xchange supports logging via logback framework and therefore via syslog and/or logstash. This makes it possible to directly log to a local or remote syslog daemon or other services. Logback is highly customizable, please see the documentation below.

Known issues

If you can't login with the created user: 

vim /opt/open-xchange/etc/sessiond.properties

and set com.openexchange.sessiond.autologin to true.

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