Qmail NMX (version 0.1.1)
Installation Guide
Table of Contents
1. About this document
2. Requirements
3. Installation
4. System Configuration
5. Reporting Problems
1. About this Document
This document provides the instructions necessary for installing Qmail NMX.
Familiarity with UNIX and network administration are required (previous
knownledge about DNS configuration is useful too).
2. Requirements
Below is a list of the projects requirements:
- POSIX compliant environment (Linux, FreeBSD, *BSD,
Solaris, AIX, ...).
- ANSI C compiler (gcc required if you would like to install
it with the installation script - default installation type).
- GNU tools (gzip, tar, etc).
- Qmail NMX 0.1.1 (download it
here).
- Java 2 platform, SDK version 1.4.2 (needed only if you
intend to use the load balancer feature).
3. Installation
All you need to do to perform a complete installation is to execute
the "installation program". The installation program is shell script
that unpacks the original source files from the distro tarball and executes
the steps below:
- unpack all files under nmx directory.
- apply patches into original source files.
- create qmail system account into server.
- compiles nmx sources.
- install the binaries files (copies all files to
respective default locations).
- create the basic configuration files.
- initialize all system.
As described above you will need to execute installation program. The
installation program is the distro file previous downloaded by you.
To execute it, please type the following commands:
shell> chmod 755 qmail-nmx-0.1.1.bin
shell> ./qmail-nmx-0.1.1.bin
Note: "shell>" is only used by reference in this document! Don't type it!
3.1. Choosing an installation type
At this moment you will be prompted for which installation type you
want to perform. Currently there are two different installation types:
- default - this installation type means that the shell script will install
everything (see details above).
- source - this installation type means that you need to perform all
installation procedudes by hand, without any help (if you choose this type,
we recommend you to take a brief look at the shell scripts available
under qmail-nmx directory). Note that sometimes this type may be useful,
specially if the default installation doesn't work.
3.2. Program installation
In this step you will be prompted for which module you want to
install. Note that if you say "no" for a specific module, the
program will proceed without installing it. Below is a list of which programs
that will be installed:
- Daemontools - provides log archive functionalities like many
others (required).
- Ucspi-tcp - provides the network interface to qmail's modules
(network protocols like SMTP, POP3, QMQP and QMTP).
- Qmail - provides the mail transfer agent (SMTP) and many others features
(POP3, QMQP and QMTP).
- Dispatcher - provides the load balacing feature (recommended for
a non-single server installation). This module will require Java
plataform (JAVA_HOME environment variable will be necessary too).
4. System Configuration
4.1 Managing System Administrators Account
Introduced within this project, all system administrators needs
to be under qmail group to perform the administration tasks.
At this moment, edit your /etc/group file like shown in the example
below:
qmail:x:25000:root,danielfroz,pflynn
Note: This procedure could be wrong for your system.
Check your system documentation for the appropriate procedures.
4.1. Hostname
As older Qmail configuration, the mail node name is configured under
/var/qmail/control/me file. By default, this file is fulfilled with
your server name in FQDN (Full Qualified Domain Name) format. Confirm if its
content was fullfilled correctly.
4.2. Creating an domain
By default, the system will not create any domain until you peform this task
by your hand. To do so, type the command below:
shell> nmx-domain -c sampledomain.com
Note: The nmx-domain program is under /var/qmail/bin.
At this moment, we recommend you to put it in your PATH environment.
5. Reporting Problems
If you have any problem related with the procedures described here or bugs to
report, post it in qmailnmx-users@lists.sourceforge.net
mailing list. Don't forget to put all information about your system.