How to install ViMbAdmin on Linux Mint

ViMbAdmin is a free and open-source web-based application for managing mailboxes, virtual domains and aliases created for the Postfix mail server. In this tutorial, you will learn how to install ViMbAdmin on Linux Mint.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, you need to have the following prerequisites installed on your system:

• Linux Mint (latest version) installed on your machine.
• A non-root user with Sudo privileges.

Step 1: Update the system

Let's begin by updating the system packages and repositories to the latest version. Run the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install required dependencies

The next step is to install the required packages that are necessary to install and run the ViMbAdmin on your system.

sudo apt install apache2 mariadb-server mariadb-client php php-mysql php-mcrypt php-curl php-cli php-mbstring php-xml php-bcmath git

Step 3: Install Composer

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP. You need to install it on your system as ViMbAdmin is built with Laravel, a PHP web application framework that uses Composer.

sudo apt install curl php-cli php-mbstring git unzip
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | sudo php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

Step 4: Create a MySQL database for ViMbAdmin

You need to create a MySQL database and a user with all privileges to access the database.

sudo mysql -u root -p
CREATE DATABASE vimbadmin;
CREATE USER 'vimbadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON vimbadmin.* TO 'vimbadmin'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
exit;

Remember to replace the password with a secure password.

Step 5: Download ViMbAdmin

Create a new directory to store ViMbAdmin files and navigate into it.

sudo mkdir /var/www/vimbadmin
cd /var/www/vimbadmin

Clone the ViMbAdmin repository using Git.

sudo git clone https://github.com/opensolutions/ViMbAdmin.git .

Step 6: Install ViMbAdmin

Install all dependencies and generate an application key using the following commands:

sudo composer install --no-dev --no-interaction --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader
sudo php artisan key:generate --force

You will be prompted to enter the database details like database name, username, password, and host. Enter the details as per your MySQL database setup.

Next, run the database migrations.

sudo php artisan migrate --force

Step 7: Configure Apache

Create a new Virtual Host file for ViMbAdmin.

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/vimbadmin.conf

Add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName your_domain_name
ServerAlias www.your_domain_name
DocumentRoot /var/www/vimbadmin/public

<Directory /var/www/vimbadmin/public>
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/vimbadmin_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/vimbadmin_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Don't forget to replace your_domain_name with your own domain name.

Enable the new Virtual Host and restart Apache.

sudo a2ensite vimbadmin.conf
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 8: Open ViMbAdmin

You can now open ViMbAdmin in your web browser by visiting http://your_domain_name.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed ViMbAdmin on Linux Mint! You can log in to your ViMbAdmin installation using the default credentials:

• Username: admin
• Password: admin

Don't forget to change the default password to keep your installation secure.