Installing Zimbra Server on proxmox

[Yonathan Hartoko]

Hi, i have some problem here while i install zimbra server on proxmox

I Have CentOS 6.5 virtual on Proxmox. As you know, when we install any operating system on proxmox we should set the hostname and the DNS Server for the operating system. So, i set the hostname and DNS Server.

Then, i managed to install zimbra on the CentOS 6.5. I followed few tutorial on the internet to install zimbra. But, while i installed the zimbra, i got stuck at the proccess at launcing install.sh in the zimbra directory. At first i thought it's because the virtual server is slow to load. But then i thought there was somthing wrong.

After that i tried to install zimbra on a real server (not virtual). It did works. Then i tried to search what is wrong with my virtual server. After that, i found that the problem is right after the zimbra install the package called zimbra-proxy, then i do a cross-check with the tutorial. I found that the process was stuck at the MX configuration.

Is that problem because of the hostname that i set through the proxmox?
If it's true, can anyone help me how to solve it?

Thanks

[dominix]

I have a dozen of zimbra installed on proxmox, and it works perfectly.
it make differences if you're using a KVM or a container. You should use only KVM unless you are sure of what you do.
set your machine setting (RAM,CPU...) before installing zimbra, then install zimbra like any other machine that is : take care of any details like DNS, machine name and do not install proxy if you are not using it (multi server vs single server ).
if not sure, read the docs.

good luck.

[jorgedlcruz]

I have a dozen of zimbra installed on proxmox, and it works perfectly.
it make differences if you're using a KVM or a container. You should use only KVM unless you are sure of what you do.
set your machine setting (RAM,CPU...) before installing zimbra, then install zimbra like any other machine that is : take care of any details like DNS, machine name and do not install proxy if you are not using it (multi server vs single server ).
if not sure, read the docs.

good luck.

Great advice !!!

Just a note, proxy will be mandatory in ZCS 8.7, in ZCS 8.6 or previous withing memcache, it really makes a difference against Jetty, at End-user speed, login, etc.

[mrdebian]

I'm using the latest Zimbra (Release 8.7.11_GA_1854.RHEL7_64_20170531151956 RHEL7_64 FOSS edition) on Proxmox 5 under a LXE container with no problem at all and is been a very busy email server with about 10k of emails in a daily basis.
The container however is configured with 32GB of RAM and 8 cores.

[syntaxys]

Since around 1 year I have running a 8.8.6 in a KVM on Proxmox 5 without any problems. The only disadvantages are more often reboots because of i. e. kernel updates and the need of more and fixed bound memory resources. But the ZCS feels like it's running on a physical host

Recently I setup two ZCS 8.8.15 hosts in LXCs, one with a ubuntu 16.04, the other with ubuntu 18.04 and run into some little problems during the installation process too. Here are some advices which prevents you from such problems. Keep an eye on the DNS settings in Proxmox:

* Choose a hostname which is resolvable against the name server entries. Proxmox set this name in the LXCs /etc/hosts file and the ZCS installation process relays to that information first. Do not edit that hosts file, it isn't a good idea, ZCS will get confused.
* Have a list of nameservers which allow you recursive resolutions, these are set with every reboot in the LXCs /etc/resolv.conf (like the hosts file).
* In general for ZCS: Have a zone already propagated with a valid A record, an AAAA record for IPv6 if required and a MX record which points to the hostname of your ZCS installation. At least one of the name servers listed in the Proxmox' DNS setup should respond these informations.

If you're in a need to run many virtual servers on one physical host, then a LXC setup will be a better solution for the memory management. If you have a lot of RAM and you need only a couple of virtualized hosts, then a KVM is more flexible.

[florianh]

Hi,

If you're in a need to run many virtual servers on one physical host, then a LXC setup will be a better solution for the memory management.

That read, I'd just like to share our experiences from quite a while ago. At that time we had been using OpenVZ via Proxmox, which is basically the same type of virtualization as LXC.

The tricky thing was: It seemed to work well. However, as soon as some load was put on the server, things became horribly unstable.

That had mainly to do with memory management. You can find a nice description of that problem on the web, e.g. at http://matthewkwilliams.com/index.php/2 ... nary-tale/

That said, looking at Zimbra's release notes, KVM is listed, but neither LXC nor OpenVZ are.

Kind regards
Florian