Installing and configuring Horde Groupware

Horde Groupware or Horde Webmail Groupware is an open-source web-based group management application. It features common tools for group/team management: calendar (kronolith), address book (turba), webmail (imp, mimp, dimp), task lists (nag), notes (mnemo), wiki (wicked), group management, permissions, categories. It's also highly customizable, allowing you to choose themes, define your entry/portal web-page, set locales, set display preferences, etc.

We've started using Horde Groupware for ROSEdu group management and for the USO and RL courses. It is light and intuitive and, at this point, suitable for our needs.

The installation and configuration process is complex but quite straightforward. Horde's readme} and install} files and wiki and searchable mailing lists should provide all necessary answers. I've completed four installation processes, all on a Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Lenny; the last one was accomplished while writing this tutorial to make sure I don't miss out on something. Having more than one installation experience helped me discover new features and configuration options in Horde.

I will detail my installation/configuration process in the rest of this tutorial. Hopefully it will help reduce the time someone would normally invest when installing Horde Groupware.

I didn't use Debian's internal package, as I wanted more freedom when installing and configuring Horde. For my third and fourth installation instances, I used a non-privileged account, so it was mandatory that I installed Horde from its source package.

The following list shows the system configuration and setting and desired features. I want an Apache2 and MySQL based instance, with IMAPS login (based on an e-mail account) and the built-in wiki.

• Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Lenny
• Horde Webmail Groupware
• non-privileged account
• Apache2 web-server
• MySQL
• IMAPS e-mail access
• IMAPS login
• Horde builtin wiki (wicked)

The required Debian packages are listed below. A MySQL server also has to be configured (it need not be on the same system). cvs needs only be installed for CVS-based modules (such as wicked).

• apache2
• libapache2-mod-php5
• mysql-client-5.0
• php5
• php5-cli
• php-pear
• php5-imap
• cvs for CVS-based modules

You should download Horde in a web-accessible location. I recommend using a symbolic link (horde}) for easy naming. As mentioned above, I have used Horde Webmail Groupware 1.2.3.

public_html_ln_-sf_horde-webmail-1.2.3_horde}

Most installation steps are described in the install} file.

First of all a database has to be created. Afterwards, the setup script (setup.php}) needs to be run (php5-cli} package must be installed). It will ask for the webroot path and then will enable further configuration, using a screen similar to the one below:

horde_groupware_webmail_edition_configuration_menu_0_exit_1_configure_database_settings_2_create_database_or_tables_3_configure_administrator_settings_4_update_from_an_older_horde_groupware_webmail_edition_version_type_your_choice}

The database configuration step 1} should run smoothly. However, the create_database_or_tables} step 2} failed for me everytime as I had already created the database. As such I used the groupware.mysql.sql} script:

access_denied_for_user_swarm_horde_swarm.cs.pub.ro_to_database_horde_..._query_ok_0_rows_affected_0.05_sec}

Do not worry about the above errors. The script is ment to be run by the MySQL root user, enabling the creation of the database and user. As I had already created the database and required user, those steps were not needed.

Because there may be problems detecting the webroot URL (happened to me every time), update the registry.php} file (look for the webroot} variable). In my case, this must be horde}:

horde}

To test the configuration, one has to access the required web page (test.php}). Anything marked with red is bad news and should be corrected. Most of the time the problem is missing packages. Use the specific web pages to run tests for IMP, Ingo, Kronolith and Turba.

I want IMAPS authentication for IMP (also for login). For that I use the server.php} file.

novalidate-cert_port_993}

By default, Horde Groupware uses IMP's IMAP authentication. The configuration option can be changed by altering the driver} configuration option in conf.php}:

conf_auth_driver_application}

You can configure HTTPS only access to Horde through the use of mod_ssl} and mod_rewrite} Apache modules. Replace horde} with your webroot.

ifmodule}

Congratulations! You now have a working instance of Horde Webmail Groupware. Accessing your base URL (webroot}) should get you to the secured login page.

As mentioned above, wicked (Horde's integrated wiki) should be installed. In order to do that we have to download the CVS version, as mentioned on the site (don't forget to install cvs})

cvspass_does_not_exist_-_creating_a_new_file}

As mentioned on the site, the tag for wicked's stable branch is framework_3}, and this is what I will checkout:

horde_cvs_co_-r_framework_3_wicked}

The sql scripts have to be run in a similar fashion to the first set of scripts:

sql_mysql_-u_mysql_username_-h_mysql_hostname_-p_mysql_password_mysql_database_mysql_source_wicked.sql}

Run the wicked test script (test.php}). It should complain you do not have the text_wiki} PEAR package installed. If you have privileges, you could use pear_install}. Otherwise, use manual downloading:

pear_cp_-r_text_wiki_creole-1.0.1}

To enable Creole markup, use the configuration menu in the administrative_-_setup_-_wicked} user interface. See below.

Certain features of Horde can be tuned either at global level, through the use of configuration files or web user interface, or at user level, through the web user interface.

When using IMP, I like automatic configuration of the default_identity} (sender address). For that I use a postauthentication script, as mentioned here (search david_komanek}).

Update hooks.php} with the script. Also update the postauthenticate configuration in conf.php}:

conf_hooks_postauthenticate_true}

File to update: prefs.php}; Preference to alter: theme} (I like silver});

ui_theme_prefs_theme_array_value_silver}

As the sidebar is quite small, I like updating it from 150} to 200}

File to update: prefs.php}; Preference to alter: sidebar_width};

prefs_sidebar_width_array_value_200}

File to update: prefs.php}; Preference to alter: sending_charset};

select_widget_for_the_possible_charsets_prefs_sending_charset_array_value_utf-8}

File to update: prefs.php}; Preference to alter: delhide};

hide_deleted_prefs_delhide_array_value_1}

File to update: prefs.php}; Preferences to alter: first_week_day}, twentyfour}, date_format}, timezone};

what_day_should_be_displayed_as_the_first_day_of_the_week}

A non-admin user can alter his/hers configuration through the options_-_global_options} menu. The user can configure personal information, theme, sidebar width, time format, etc.

The administrative UI configuration is enabled through the administration_-_setup} menus. As the configuration files (conf.php} and conf.bak.php}) are altered through the web interface, they must be writable by the web server user (www-data} for Apache2) (the backup file must be created if it does not exist):

config_chmod_777_conf.php_conf.bak.php}

The administration_-_setup_-_wicked} menu enables configuration of the built-in wiki. The usual configuration I'm doing is changing the default markup to Creole (the conf_wicked_format} variable).

By default, Horde logs information in horde}. Configuration can be altered through the use of the web interface (administration_-_setup_-_horde_-_logging}) or by using the conf.php} file:

conf_log_enabled_true}