Install Zentyal on Amazon EC2

[JonnyAnderson]

HOW TO:

    1. Setup Ubuntu 10.04 AMI on an EC2 instance (check Amazon documentation for details)
    2. Connect to the instance via command line/terminal (check Amazon documentation for details)
    3. Run the following command:

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sudo apt-get update
    4. Run the following command:

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sudo apt-get install -y python-software-properties && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zentyal/2.2 && sudo apt-get update
    5. Run the following command:

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sudo apt-get install zentyal
    6. When prompted to enter a preferred port for Zentyal administration, I change it to "4443" rather than the default "443".
    7. Wait while the installation finishes.
    8. Run the following command (replace <username> with the name you'd like to use for your administrative account):

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sudo adduser <username>
    9. Fill in each prompt with the correct information about your administrative account.
    10. Using the same <username> as before, run the following command:

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sudo adduser <username> admin
    11. ... will finish detailing this later.



ORIGINAL POST:

First off... I am completely new to this, so I apologize for anything that seems trivial.

I've never used zentyal, but I'd like to experiment with it using an Amazon EC2 instance.  However, I can't figure out how to get everything setup via the command line.  I've used...

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sudo apt-get install -y python-software-properties && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zentyal/2.3 && sudo apt-get update

Anyway, I end up with a couple "404 Not Found" errors.  Honestly, I have no idea what steps I should be going through to make this whole thing work.

So, could someone please help me with a step-by-step process here from the command line.  Everything from the initial installation to the first login.

By the way, I've started with the default Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS AMI (Amazon Machine Image).

• Setup Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS AMI on Amazon
• what next?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[robb]

First you should set up Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (not 12.04!)

Then add the Zentyal PPA to sources.list
Do a apt-get update
Do a apt-get install zentyal

done

[christian]

First you should set up Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (not 12.04!)

Correct, assuming goal is go for prod. Otherwise, 2.3 on 12.04 for testing purpose should be ok, assuming you accept to face problems because this is still beta 

This said, I hardly understand purpose of such implementation, most likely because I see Zentyal as infrastructure component and don't understand what such server may offer while begin installed "outside". What is your expectation? to get web server? mail server? For what I understand, you will have only one network interface, meaning defined as external and access everything from "outside", I suppose through VPN. Am I correct?

[fcpimenta]

We have a customer that have a similar demand, and may contribute to the case.

The company employs a policy of only having hosted servers and no data stored locally.

They would like to use Zentyal hosted in the Amazon Cloud, to authenticate users in London, Argentina, Brazil and use file sharing for these locations (files are of small size).

Is this scenario feasibly?

We recommend using the zentyal in one of the locations and a vpn connecting the other, but due to company policy, this proposition was not accepted.

This is a good application to think about pros and cons.

[christian]

  IaaS... Why not. I just wonder how much companies looking at this kind of service also keep in mind reversibility...
Anyway... what is you model here? to buy resources (here server to host Zentyal) assuming it will be cheaper or more efficient than buying storage from Amazon?

[ichat]

i agree with chris here, i would even wonder  why this policy exist 1, and   how you would prevent data from getting lost in case  amazon going down ( this has happend before in the last year i think).
also how are you going to coop with latency  using samba ...

i could emagine myself in this situation  strongly  encuoraging people to   use file sharing on local machines  and using a sync tool to have the data replicated  to the remote server. 

[fcpimenta]

Folks,

I also agree, but who sets the policy are our customers.

Our job is to serve customers looking for solutions that solve their problems. Of course this should have a good standard of reasonableness.

This can be a good exercise to create solutions (replication on local machines can be a good idea), and suddenly new services.

I'm testing this environment now, and I will share my experiences in the forum (maybe  successes or frustrations). Anyway that´s my job.

Thanks to all who contribute.

Fernando Pimenta

[robb]

Just FYI: I have 2 VPS's (however, not Amazon, but another provider) where I did an installation like I described: I installed Zentyal on top of a vanilla Ubuntu Lucid server.

[christian]

Robb, Fernando, your feedbacks are more than welcome. Aside mail service, I don't understand yet what could be the added value of such design. I'm not saying there is none but I don't really understand yet, so I hope to learn something and open my mind thanks to your feedbacks.

So, Zentyal as mail server, why not although this is slightly overkilling  It makes sense if you add Zentyal web server.

Remote file server is something very different. This can work efficiently only if you have network device on each side to implement "local ack"because CIFS has definitely not been designed for remote access.

[robb]

I use Zentyal on a VPS for mail (Zarafa) and webserver. In 1 of my implementations I also have a chamilo electronic learning environment installed on de zentyal server. This is for an primary school. There the webserver and mail are on the VPS and the chamilo installation is on the local LAN of the school (together with gateway and fileserver services)

You have a point that using Zentyal for mail and/or web services is a bit heavy, but I kind of like the easy webinterface... 
On the other hand, the VPS's I use only have 512 MB memory and all seems to run just fine.

[fcpimenta]

The process of placing the Zentyal on Amazon EC2 is quite frustrating. The EC2 images and the cloud infrastructure are limiters.

The installation works, but Zentyal finds many network interfaces that are not seen on the Ubuntu console.

The speed ​​is also bad.

I'm giving up to do so. Tomorrow I start to test the Zentyal on a machine in a virtualized datacenter with vmware.

Let's see how it behaves.

[robb]

I have them running HERE You can try a VPS for free for 1 week.

(sorry for advertising, but I have no financial intentions nor relation with the link.)

[christian]

Robb, as far as I'm concerned, you are not off topic with such post    Really useful for those willing to give a try. Thank you.