AppSuite:Open-Xchange Installation Guide for RHEL8
Open-Xchange App Suite on RedHat Enterprise Linux 8
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
- Plain installed RedHat Enterprise Linux 8 with latest updates
- Valid access to the RedHat Network
- A configured internet connection
- A supported Java Virtual Machine (learn more)
vimis not installed by default on RHEL8. If you want to copy & paste the commands from this article into a shell window, you need todnf install vimfirst.
Database installation
Please consult our database installation instructions for information on how to install a database on the local system.
Before proceeding, make sure the local machine has got a working MySQL service in one of the supported versions / flavors with the configuration / tunings applied as mentioned on our corresponding page.
Enabling required RedHat Repositories
Ensure that your Redhat system is subscribed by e.g. following this article https://access.redhat.com/solutions/253273
Add Open-Xchange Repository
Open-Xchange maintains public available software repositories for different platforms, such as RHEL. This repository should be added to the RHEL installation to enable simple installation and updates.
Start a console and create a software repository file for Open-Xchange:
$ vim /etc/yum.repos.d/ox.repo [ox-appsuiteui] name=Open-Xchange-appsuiteui baseurl=https://software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/appsuiteui/RHEL8/ gpgkey=https://software.open-xchange.com/oxbuildkey.pub enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 metadata_expire=0m [ox-backend] name=Open-Xchange-backend baseurl=https://software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/backend/RHEL8/ gpgkey=https://software.open-xchange.com/oxbuildkey.pub enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 metadata_expire=0m # 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 [ox-updates-appsuiteui] name=Open-Xchange Updates-appsuiteui baseurl=https://LDBACCOUNT:LDBPASSWORD@software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/appsuiteui/updates/RHEL8/ gpgkey=https://software.open-xchange.com/oxbuildkey.pub enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 metadata_expire=0m [ox-updates-backend] name=Open-Xchange Updates-backend baseurl=https://LDBACCOUNT:LDBPASSWORD@software.open-xchange.com/products/appsuite/stable/backend/updates/RHEL8/ gpgkey=https://software.open-xchange.com/oxbuildkey.pub enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 metadata_expire=0m
In case there are issues with an username and password containing URL unsafe characters, e.g. an @, they have to be entered URL encoded. Details can be found at https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp
Updating repositories and installing packages
Reload the package index. This will download the package descriptions available at the software repositories:
$ dnf 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
$ dnf 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.
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 service by executing:
$ systemctl start open-xchange
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
Note 3: Take into account that a global database is needed in order to store data across context boundaries. Please see this documentation on how to register it.
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.
The default installation of the Apache webserver on RHEL provides a welcome screen which is not necessary for server operation, it can be removed by deleting the corresponding configuration file:
$ rm /etc/httpd/conf.d/welcome.conf
Configure the mod_proxy_http module by creating a new Apache configuration file.
$ vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/proxy_http.conf
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
<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/httpd/conf.d/ox.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/
<Directory /var/www/html/>
Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks +MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
RedirectMatch ^/$ /appsuite/
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/html//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:
- Grizzly configuration in general, and specifically:
- X-FORWARDED-PROTO Header
- X-FORWARDED-FOR Header
to properly instruct the backend about the security status of the connection and the remote IP used to contact the backend.
Apache and SELinux
When using SELinux make sure to allow Apache to connect to the middleware process on port 8009. One way to achieve this could be:
$ setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1
The following links contain more infos:
After the configuration is done, restart the Apache webserver
$ systemctl start httpd
Apache Setting for more concurrent Connections
By default apache2 is configured to support 150 concurrent connections. This forces all parallel requests beyond that limit to wait. Especially if, for example, active sync clients maintain a permanent connection for push events to arrive. The following article explains how that can be done
Apache Setting for more concurrent Connections
Adding services to runlevels
The new services are now installed and configured, but to make them start up on a server boot, they need to be added to some runlevels:
$ systemctl enable mariadb $ systemctl enable httpd $ systemctl enable open-xchange
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.
Installing Open-Xchange Update packages
Please read UpdatingOXPackages on how to get access to the latest Open-Xchange packages.