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tutorials:horde_groupware

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= 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.

Install and basic configuration

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.

System settings and requirements

The following list shows the system configuration and setting and desired features. We 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)

Required packages

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

Download

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}

Initial configuration

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}

Create database and tables

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.

Webroot update

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.

Configure authentication

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}

Enable HTTPS

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}

That's it!

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

Extra configuration and customization

Installing wicked

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 [http://www.horde.org/source/using.php|on the site] (don't forget to install cvs)

}

As mentioned [http://www.horde.org/source/modules.php|on the site], the tag for wicked's stable branch is FRAMEWORK_3, and this is what we 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.php script (http://SERVER_ROOT/WEBROOT/wicked/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}

Enable creole markup

To enable Creole markup, use the configuration menu in the Administrative user interface.

Customization

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

Setup automatic configuration of default identity

When using IMP, you would like automatic configuration of the default_identity} (sender address). For that we 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}

Change default theme

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

ui_theme_prefs_theme_array_value_silver}

Change default sidebar width

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}

IMP - configure default sending charset

IMP - disable view of deleted messages

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

hide_deleted_prefs_delhide_array_value_1}

Configure date and timezone options

UI configuration

User UI configuration

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.

Administrative UI configuration

The administrative UI configuration is enabled through the Administration → Setup menus. As the admin user is altering the configuration files, these 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}

Enable creole markup

The Administration → Setup → Wicked menu enable configuration of the built-in wiki. The usual configuration I'm doing is changing the default markup to creole (the $conf[wicked][format] variable).

tutorials/horde_groupware.1249666044.txt.gz · Last modified: 2009/08/07 20:27 by razvan