Zimbra Collaboration repository

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Zimbra Collaboration Repository

How it works

Starting in Zimbra Collaboration 8.7, Zimbra uses repositories for 3rd party packages, in the first step to have a Software fully based on repositories.

How to create a local repository

We understand that many Customers might don't allow the Internet access from the servers to Internet, so the Zimbra's 8.7 installation will not be able to reach the Zimbra repository and be able to finish the Installation. For that reason, this Wiki will cover all the steps to create a local Zimbra mirror where a Company can clone our repo, and the rest of the internal servers will take the needed packages locally from the mirror server, you can see an example on the above image, in the section B.

Creating a local repository using an Ubuntu OS

Follow these steps to create a local repository or mirror using Ubuntu OS for the dedicated server.

First step will be sure we have the latest packages:

apt-get update

Installing Python

Then we need to install the python packages:

apt-get install python-pip

Installing Amazon Web Services CLI

Once we have installed python, it's time to install the Amazon Web Services CLI, by running the next command

pip install awscli

Cloning the packages from our Official Repository

It's time to download all the packages from our official Repository to the local folder, first step it's create the local folder

root@repo:~#mkdir /var/repositories
root@repo:~#cd /var/repositories

Cloning the packages for Ubuntu

If you are planning to install Zimbra on your Ubuntu VM/Servers, then run the next command to download the Ubuntu packages:

root@repo:~# /usr/local/bin/aws s3 sync s3://repo.zimbra.com/apt/87 ./apt/87 --no-sign-request --delete

Cloning the packages for RHEL/CentOS

If you are planning to install Zimbra on your RHEL/CentOS VM/Servers, then run the next command to download the RHEL/CentOS packages:

/usr/local/bin/aws s3 sync s3://repo.zimbra.com/rpm/87 ./rpm/87 --no-sign-request --delete

Installing & configuring Nginx

Then we need to serve the packages using nginx, let's start for the basic steps to install nginx:

root@repo:~# apt-get install nginx

Zimbra strongly recommends to use a valid SSL certificate for the repository server, put the zimbra-wilcard.crt (must contain the CRT and the CA) and the zimbra-wilcard.key inside the next folder:

root@repo:~# mkdir /etc/nginx/certs

Let's go now to configure our Nginx server, first backup the default config and create a new one:

root@repo:~# mv /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-available/default.bak
root@repo:~# touch /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

You can use the next example to fill your Repository configuration

root@repo:~# vi /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
server {
    listen      443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/certs/zimbra-wilcard.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/certs/zimbra-wilcard.key;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ## Let your repository be the root directory
    root        /var/repositories;

    ## Always good to log
    access_log  /var/log/nginx/repo.access.log;
    error_log   /var/log/nginx/repo.error.log;

    ## Prevent access to Reprepro's files
    location ~ /(db|conf) {
        deny        all;
        return      404;
    }
}

And, restart your nginx service

root@repo:~# service nginx restart
 * Restarting nginx nginx
   ...done.

Creating a local repository using an Ubuntu OS

Pending

Installing Python

Pending

Installing Amazon Web Services CLI

Pending

Cloning the packages from our Official Repository

Pending

Cloning the packages for Ubuntu

Pending

Cloning the packages for RHEL/CentOS

Pending

Installing & configuring Nginx

Pending

How to configure the Zimbra Server

In this demo scenario, will install a new Zimbra Collaboration server

Configure the sources list

You must add your local repository to your Ubuntu Configuration, please note you must change trusty (Ubuntu 14.04) for precise if you are running Ubuntu 12.04:

root@zimbra86:~/# vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zimbra-mirror.list
deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.zimbra.io/apt/87 trusty zimbra
deb-src [arch=amd64] https://repo.zimbra.io/apt/87 trusty zimbra

Adding the Zimbra Repository key

You must add the next Zimbra key to the apt keychain

root@zimbra86:~# apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 9BE6ED79
Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --homedir /tmp/tmp.FfpLxMcUiQ --no-auto-check-trustdb --trust-model always --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --primary-keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 9BE6ED79
gpg: requesting key 9BE6ED79 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 9BE6ED79: public key "Zimbra Packaging Services <packaging-devel@zimbra.com>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)

Check if the Zimbra Server is ready

You can check if everything is alright by running the next commands, where you can search by one Zimbra package:

apt-get update
<pre>root@zimbra86:~# aptitude search zimbra-nginx
p   zimbra-nginx                  - nginx Binaries                                                                                                         
p   zimbra-nginx-dbg         - nginx binary debug information

Installing Zimbra Collaboration 8.7

Last but not least, download the Zimbra Collaboration 8.7 package and run the ./install.sh as usual.

• Note: You will not need to install the OS dependencies like in the past, the new Zimbra Collaboration 8.7 installation script take care of it

During the question about use Zimbra's package repository, type N, so the system will use your local repository

Use Zimbra's package repository [Y] n

The installation will continue as usual, and will finish properly.

Keep the local Repository up to date

The challenge while using local repository is keep it up to date, you must run the next commands always before run any upgrade or update on the Zimbra Servers

/usr/local/bin/aws s3 sync s3://repo.zimbra.com/apt/87 ./apt/87 --no-sign-request --delete
/usr/local/bin/aws s3 sync s3://repo.zimbra.com/rpm/87 ./rpm/87 --no-sign-request --delete

*Note: You can create a simple bash script and cron it every day, for example.

Known issues

SSL issues

This error it's not related to Zimbra, but sometimes if you don't have a valid CA, or the CA is missing in the .crt file that you use for Nginx, when run apt-get update on the Zimbra server you can see the next error:

W: Failed to fetch https://repo.zimbra.io/87/dists/precise/zimbra/source/Sources  server certificate verification failed. CAfile: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt CRLfile: none

You can fix it by adding your CA inside the /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt on the Zimbra server