exchange4linux Server

MS Exchange Server is used to share workgroup data, such as calendar, appointments, tasks and notes, on a Windows network. It is deployed on a Windows server and users use MS Outlook to access the shared

workgroup data. 

Products such as exchange4 linux and Communicate Pro can be used to deploy MS Exchange-type services on a Linux server. These products have accompanying connectors (MAPI connectors) that

allow you to work on the workgroup data, using MS Outlook on Windows. 

exchange4linux is a free software, but the connectors come for a price. The reference kit we have provided on the CD can be used to deploy exchange4linux with minimal effort. We have also provided the evaluation versions of the connectors for Outlook 97-2000 and Outlook XP. 

We’ll first set up the kit on a machine running PCQLinux 8.0 (given with PCQuest, March 2003) and then use Outlook 2000 to connect to exchange4linux using the connector. 

Install exchange4linux



Mount this month’s PCQLinux CD.Copy the file named exchange4 linux-2.3.1-changeroot-reference-kit-rev3.tgz found in the directory system\ cdrom\unltdoss\linux\exchange to /usr/local directory of PCQLinux. Change to /usr/local directory

and extract the archive by issuing the following command.

tar -zxvf exchange4linux-2.3.1-changeroot-reference-kit-rev3.tgz

This will produce a directory named exchange4linux-2.3.1-changeroot within /usr/local directory. exchange4linux bundles a SMTP server called Exim used to send mail. This may conflict with the sendmail SMTP server running by default on PCQLinux 8.0. Hence, before running the kit, stop sendmail by issuing the following command.

/etc/rc.d/init.d/sendmail stop

Also, issue the command ‘ntsysv’ and deselect (if selected) sendmail from the list of services. 

Next, open the file named hosts found in /etc directory in a text editor. Suppose the IP address of the Linux machine is 192.168.1.2 and the hostname is linux.pcqlabs.net. Insert the following line, at the top of the file.



192.168.1.2 linux.pcqlabs.net

Substitute the above with the IP and the hostname in your case. 

Launch exchange4linux 



Change to the directory /usr/local/exchange4linux-2.3.1-changeroot and issue the following command.

/exchange4linux-run-chroot

Follow the onscreen instructions. Press ‘y’ and 



Enter for the prompts. Once exchange4linux starts, you will be shown a text-based menu. Next, create a new exchange4linux user, say
shekhar. 

Create user



Press 4 to select exchange4linux-admin. This will show up the menu for the admin. Press 1 to add a new user. For user name enter shekhar. For full name, enter the full name of the user. For password, enter any preferred password (say secret123). Finally re-enter the same password for verification. Press 0 to go to the first menu. 

Next change to another console by pressing CTRL+ALT+F1 (or F2, F3, F4). Change to the directory /usr/local/exchange4linux-2.3.1-changeroot/debianroot/etc. Open the file named aliases (lying in this directory) in a text editor and append the following line. 

shekhar: "|/usr/sbin/exchange4linux-deliver

shekhar"

Make sure you substitute the occurrences of shekhar in the above line with the username 



you had specified while adding the user. Repeat the process to add more users. 

Set up POP



Though exchange4linux does bundle an SMTP server, it does not come with a POP server to receive e-mail. We will use the POP server that comes with PCQLinux 8.0. To install the POP and IMAP servers, install the RPM named imap-2001a-15.i386.rpm found in the PCQuest/RPMS directory on

PCQLinux CD2. Change to another console and issue the following command.

ntsysv 

From the listed services, select ipop3. Next, issue the following command.

service xinetd restart

Now create a Linux account for shekhar by issuing the following command.

useradd shekhar

Here shekhar should be the same user name as created in exchange4linux. Next, set a password for shekhar by issuing the following command.

passwd shekhar

For consistency you can set the same password that you had set above for shekhar (secret123 in 



our case). Similarly, add Linux user accounts corresponding to all users that you created in the section ‘Create User’. 

Set up Outlook 2000



With the server set up and running, we move on to the users’ Windows machine and set up Outlook to connect and work with the exchange4linux server. 

First set up Outlook in the workgroup mode wherein it can be used to browse workgroup data. For this, launch Outlook. Click on Tools>Options>Mail Servers>Reconfigure Mail Support. Select Corporate/Workgroup. Click on Next and then close Outlook. Next, install the Outlook 2000 MAPI connector from this month’s PCQuest Essential CD found in the directory system\cdrom\unltdoss\ linux\exchange. Double click on the file exchange4linux-outlook 2000-setup-2.3.10.exe and follow the onscreen instructions. 

Go to Control Panel>Mai l>Services and click on Add. Select Internet E-mail and click on OK. In the Mail Account Properties window, fill in the following:

Mail Account: exchange4linux account



Name: Shekhar Govindarajan


Organization: PCQLabs


E-mail address: shekhar@pcqlabs.net 


Reply address: shekhar@pcqlabs.net

Change the above inputs to suit the user in your case. Next, click on servers and for ‘incoming mail’ and ‘outgoing mail’ fill in the IP address (192.168.1.2 in our case) of the Linux machine running exchange4linux. For account name and password, fill in shekhar and secret123 respectively. This should match the Linux username and password that you created in the section ‘Setup POP’. Click on OK. Next, click on Add under Services and select exchange4linux server. In the configuration dialog that shows up on clicking OK, fill in the following.

Server: 192.168.1.2



User name: shekhar


Password: secret123

Click on OK in the Services window. Launch Outlook. You will be shown a License error, which can be safely ignored by clicking

on OK. 

You can send a mail to another user whose account has been created in exchange4linux and the Linux machine. For this, click on New>Mail Message. Click on the ‘To:’ button. This will show you the exchange4linux address book containing all the users. Select a user(s). Compose and send the mail. Using Outlook, you can assign tasks, set appointments and make notes under the public folder, which will be stored on the exchange4server and can be viewed/shared by all the exchange4linux users. 

For more on exchange4linux refer to the URL www.billworkgroup.org/billworkgroup/

home. 

Shekhar Govindarajan