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Install iRedMail on FreeBSD inside Jail (with ezjail)

Summary

• This tutorial describes how to create a FreeBSD Jail with ezjail, then install the latest iRedMail in Jail.
• We use hostname mx.example.com and IP address 172.16.244.254 for our Jail server.

Notes:

• This tutorial was tested with FreeBSD 10 and the latest ports tree, but it should work on FreeBSD 9 and other releases.
• All backends available in iRedMail (OpenLDAP, MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL) were tested, work like a charm. :)
• For more details about ezjail, please check FreeBSD Handbook: Managing Jails with ezjail.

System Requirements

• The latest stable release of iRedMail. You can download it here: https://www.iredmail.org/download.html
• Port sysutils/ezjail for FreeBSD.
• Make sure 3 UID/GID are not used by other user/group: 2000, 2001, 2002.

Preparations

Install sysutils/ezjail and add required settings

• Install ezjail with ports tree:

# cd /usr/ports/sysutils/ezjail/
# make install clean

• Enable ezjail service and sysvipc by appending lines below to /etc/rc.conf:

# Start ezjail while system start up
ezjail_enable="YES"

# Enable sysvipc. Required by PostgreSQL.
jail_sysvipc_allow="YES"

• Add parameter in /etc/sysctl.conf, this is required if you're going to install iRedMail with PostgreSQL backend.

security.jail.sysvipc_allowed=1

• Rebooting system is required after changing /etc/rc.conf.

# reboot

Create Jail

• After server reboot, populate the Jail with FreeBSD-RELEASE

# ezjail-admin install -p

• Create a new jail

  • hostname mx.example.com
  • bound IP address 172.16.244.254 to network interface em0
  • Jail is placed under /jails/mx.example.com

# ezjail-admin create -r /jails/mx.example.com mx.example.com 'em0|172.16.244.254'

• Start Jail.

# service ezjail restart

• List all Jails:

# ezjail-admin list
STA JID  IP               Hostname                          Root Directory
--- ---- ---------------- --------------------------------- ------------------------
DS  1    172.16.244.254   mx.example.com                    /jails/mx.example.com

Install iRedMail

We can now enter this Jail with below command:

# ezjail-admin console mx.example.com

• In Jail, update /etc/resolv.conf with valid DNS server address(es). For example:

# File: /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 172.16.244.2

• In Jail, install binary package bash-static, it's required by iRedMail.

# pkg install bash-static

Start iRedMail installer

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

# bash          # <- start bash shell, REQUIRED
# cd /root/iRedMail/
# LOCAL_ADDRESS='172.16.244.254' 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

Please post all issues, feedbacks, feature requests, suggestions in our online support forum, it's more responsible than you expected.

Some Tips for FreeBSD Jail

Allow ping in Jail

• Append below line in /etc/sysctl.conf to allow to use ping command inside Jail:

security.jail.allow_raw_sockets=1

• Update /usr/local/etc/ezjail/mx_example_com to allow ping inside Jail:

export jail_mx_example_com_parameters="allow.raw_sockets=1"

Share /usr/ports/distfiles with Jail

To share /usr/ports/distfiles/ with Jail, please append below line in /etc/fstab.mx_example_com:

Jail will set ports tree directory to /var/ports instead of /usr/ports in /jails/mx.example.com/etc/make.conf by default, you can either use this default setting or change it to /usr/ports.

# Part of file: /etc/fstab.mx_example.com
/usr/ports/distfiles /jails/mx.example.com/basejail/var/ports/distfiles nullfs rw 0 0

Create directory /usr/jails/basejail/var/ports/distfiles:

# mkdir /usr/jails/basejail/var/ports/distfiles