Wondering how to run Zimbra on Docker Container? We can help you.

At Bobcares, we often deal with several docker requests as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let us see how to run Zimbra on Docker container on CentOS 7 base image.

Advantages of Zimbra on Docker Container

Docker is an open platform for developers and sysadmins to build, ship, and run distributed applications. It consists of a Docker Engine, a portable, lightweight runtime and packaging tool, and Docker Hub.

Cloud service for sharing applications and automating workflows, Docker enables apps to assemble quickly from components. In addition, it eliminates the friction between development, QA, and production environments.

Advantages of using Docker and the ZimbraEasyInstall Script includes:

• Time-saving
• Fully automated
• Easy to use
• Great for a quick Zimbra Preview

Moving ahead, let us see how our Support Engineers automate Zimbra installation on Docker.

Dockerizing Zimbra

First, we need to install Docker on the server we use as a host for the docker containers.

One advantage of docker is that the host OS does not matter, the containers will work on any platform.

Before Dockerizing Zimbra, we create a user-defined docker network for Zimbra. This enables us to define an IP address for the container.

On this setup, the bridge we create is, zimbra_bridge and the network subnet is ipaddress/24 using the command:

# docker network create -d bridge –subnet ipaddress/24 zibra_bridge

Then we confirm the network creation was successful using:

# docker network ls

NETWORK ID NAME DRIVER
f16cc34759a8 none null
cd4f9b056c74 host host
6fdeb55834bf bridge bridge
8c67bf16fc36 zimbra_bridge bridge

After Dockerizing Zimbra, we get a complete set of email and collaboration tools.

Zimbra on Docker container

1. 1. Download the latest Zimbra Collaboration software. We can download the Open Source edition via:

      wget -O opt/zimbra-install/zcs-rhel7.tgz https://files.zimbra.com/downloads/8.7.1_GA/zcs-8.7.1_GA_1670.RHEL7_64.20161025045328.tgz

   2. Then we edit Makefile if we want to change the name of the base image to build next. The default name is zimbra-rhel-base

      sed -i ‘s/^IMAGE=.*/IMAGE=new-image-name/g’ Makefile

   3. Then we build a Zimbra base image – Which will be the basis for spinning a new container.
      Before running ‘sudo make’, we change the hostname on the file setup.sh to match the final hostname.
      If we plan on using CentOS 7 Docker image, change directive FROM into Dockerfile match centos:latest

      sed -i ‘s/^FROM .*$/FROM centos:latest/’ Dockerfile

      The default is from rhel7.3 registry.access.redhat.com
      Similarly, If we use Local repo: On file opt/zimbra-install/zimbra_install_keystrokes, we replace the second line y with n. To look like below:

      $ cat opt/zimbra-install/zimbra_install_keystrokes
      y
      n
      y
      y
      y
      n
      y
      y
      y
      y
      y
      y
      y

      Then edit zimbra.repo to point to correct base repo URL.
      Finally, It is time to create a Zimbra base image:

      sudo make

   4. Later, after a successful build, spin a container from the new Zimbra base image. Use the below run.sh file:

      $ cat run.sh
      #!/bin/bash
      CONT_NAME=”zimbra”
      CONT_DOMAIN=”example.com”
      CONT_S_HOSTNAME=”mail”
      CONT_L_HOSTNAME=”mail.example.com”
      CONT_BRIDGE=”zimbra_bridge”
      CONT_IP=”192.168.2.2″
      ZIMBRA_PASS=”Password321″
      docker run -d –privileged \
      –name “${CONT_NAME}” \
      –hostname zimbra.example.com \
      –net “${CONT_BRIDGE}” \
      –ip “${CONT_IP}” \
      -e TERM=”xterm” \
      -e “container=docker” \
      -e PASSWORD=”${ZIMBRA_PASS}” \
      -e HOSTNAME=”${CONT_S_HOSTNAME}” \
      -e DOMAIN=”${CONT_DOMAIN}” \
      -e CONTAINERIP=”${CONT_IP}” \
      -e NAME=”${CONT_NAME}” \
      -v /var/”${CONT_L_HOSTNAME}”/opt:/opt/zimbra \
      -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro \
      -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup:ro \
      -v $(pwd)/zimbra.repo:/etc/yum.repos.d/zimbra.repo \
      -p 25:25 -p 80:80 -p 465:465 -p 587:587 \
      -p 110:110 -p 143:143 -p 993:993 -p 995:995 \
      -p 443:443 -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 \
      -p 7071:7071 -p 9071:9071 \
      zimbra-rhel-base \
      /usr/sbin/init

      Also, we change local variables set on top to suit our environment.

   5. Before starting Zimbra installation, attach to the container Zimbra interactive terminal and execute /bin/bash:

      docker exec -it zimbra /bin/bash

      In the meantime, we can just do:

      sh ./shell.sh

      Once we have active shell access, start automated Zimbra installation:

      cd /opt
      sh ./start.sh

• Access Admin Console

After Dockerizing Zimbra, we can run start.sh

Eventually, the script will take care of everything. After a few minutes we can access the Admin console using:

Admin Console – https://YOUR_HOST_IP:7071

[Finding it hard? Contact us now!]

Conclusion

To conclude, Docker enables apps to quickly assemble from components. Today, we saw an effective method our Support Engineers employ to run Zimbra on Docker Container.