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Install iRedMail on FreeBSD

If you want to install iRedMail inside FreeBSD Jail, please use this installation guide instead: Install iRedMail inside FreeBSD Jail (with ezjail)

System Requirements

To install iRedMail on FreeBSD, you need:

• A FRESH, minimal, working FreeBSD system, no additional ports or binary packages were installed. Supported releases are listed on Download page.
• At least 4 GB memory is required for a low traffic production mail server with spam/virus scanning enabled.
• Make sure 3 UID/GID are not used by other user/group: 2000, 2001, 2002.

Note: All packages will be installed from ports tree.

Preparations

Set a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) hostname on your server

No matter your server is a testing machine or production server, it's strongly recommended to set a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) hostname.

Enter command hostname -f to view the current hostname:

# hostname -f
mx.example.com

On FreeBSD, hostname is set in two files: /etc/rc.conf, /etc/hosts.

• /etc/rc.conf: set hostname.

# Part of File: /etc/rc.conf
hostname="mx.example.com"

• /etc/hosts: hostname <=> IP address mapping.

# Part of file: /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1   mx.example.com mx localhost localhost.localdomain

Verify the FQDN hostname. If it wasn't changed, please reboot server to make it work.

# hostname -f
mx.example.com

Update ports tree via portsnap

# portsnap fetch extract update

Install package bash-static, it's required by iRedMail

# pkg install bash-static

Download the latest release of iRedMail

• Visit Download page to get the latest stable release of iRedMail.

• Upload iRedMail to your mail server via ftp or scp or whatever method you can use, login to the server to install iRedMail. We assume you uploaded it to /root/iRedMail-x.y.z.tar.gz (replace x.y.z by the real version number).

• Uncompress iRedMail tarball:

# cd /root/
# tar zxf iRedMail-x.y.z.tar.gz

Start iRedMail installer

It's now ready to start iRedMail installer, it will ask you several simple questions, that's all required to setup a full-featured mail server.

# cd /root/iRedMail-x.y.z/
# bash iRedMail.sh

Screenshots of installation:

• Welcome and thanks for your use

• Specify location to store all mailboxes. Default is /var/vmail/.

• Choose backend used to store mail accounts. You can manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin, our web-based iRedMail admin panel.

• If you choose to store mail accounts in OpenLDAP, iRedMail installer will ask to set the LDAP suffix.

• Add your first mail domain name

• Set password of admin account of your first mail domain.

Note: This account is an admin account and a mail user. That means you can login to webmail and admin panel (iRedAdmin) with this account, login username is full email address.

• Choose optional components

  Attention

  Which webmail should you choose? Roundcube or SOGo?

  • Roundcube is a fast and lightweight webmail, and webmail only. If all you need is a webmail to access mailbox and manage mail filters, then Roundcube is the best option.
  • SOGo offers webmail, calendar (CalDAV), contacts (CardDAV) and ActiveSync. If you need calendar and contacts support, also syncing them to mobile or PC mail client applications, then SOGo is the one to go. Note: If you have many ActiveSync clients, it requires a lot RAM.
  • It's ok to install both, but you can only manage mail filters with Roundcube in this case, because the filter rules generated by Roundcube and SOGo are not compatible. You can force to enable it in SOGo, but please inform end users and ask them to stick to one of them for managing mail filters.

After answered above questions, iRedMail installer will ask you to review and confirm to start installation. It will install and configure required packages automatically. Type y or Y and press Enter to start.

Important things you MUST know after installation

• Read file /root/iRedMail-x.y.z/iRedMail.tips first, it contains:

  • URLs, usernames and passwords of web-based applications
  • Location of mail service related software configuration files. You can also check this tutorial instead: Locations of configuration and log files of major components.
  • Some other important and sensitive information

• Setup DNS records for your mail server

• How to configure your mail clients
• Locations of configuration and log files of major components
• It's highly recommended to get a SSL cert to avoid annonying warning message in web browser or mail clients when accessing mailbox via HTTPS/IMAPS/POP3/SMTPS. Let's Encrypt offers FREE SSL certificate. We have a document for you to use a SSL certificate.
• If you need to bulk create mail users, check our document for OpenLDAP and MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL.
• If you're running a busy mail server, we have some suggestions for better performance.

Access webmail and other web applications

After installation successfully completed, you can access web-based programs if you choose to install them. Replace your_server below by your real server hostname or IP address.

• Roundcube webmail: https://your_server/mail/
• SOGo Groupware: https://your_server/SOGo
• Web admin panel (iRedAdmin): https://your_server/iredadmin/

Get technical support

• You are welcome to post issues, feedbacks, feature requests, suggestions in our online support forum, it's more responsive than you expected.
• We offer paid professional support service too, check our web site for more details: Get Professional Support from iRedMail Team.