This is a complete guide on how to install iRedMail on Debian 10 (Buster) Linux. iRedMail is a powerful, opensource and easy to deploy and manage Mail solution that runs on Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD systems. iRedMail comes with an intuitive web interface where system administrators can create and manage mailboxes – users and domains.

Installation on CentOS 7: How To Install iRedMail Mail Server on CentOS 7

Features of iRedMail Mail Server

  • Fully Open Source: All iRedMail components are
    built from open source applications. It has bee certified to run on Red
    Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, OpenBSD.
  • Top Security:
    All mail services are accessed through secured connections – Use of TLS
    to access POP3, IMAP and SMTP services. Web portals are access via
    HTTPS. Emails are encrypted in transit using TLS if possible.
  • Access to Webmail:
    An intuitive web portal is available for accessing and managing mails,
    folders, sieve filters – (Roundcube webmail or/and SOGo groupware).
  • Unlimited Accounts: You have the powers to create as many mail accounts (domains, users, mailing lists, admins) as you want.
  • Web Admin Panel: As admin user, you get a web admin panel where you manage mail accounts.
  • Antispam & Antivirus:
    SpamAssassin, ClamAV, SPF, DKIM, greylisting, whitelisting,
    blacklisting. Quarantining detected spam into SQL database for further
    review.
  • Support for OpenLDAP, MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL backend store for mail accounts. Choose what you like.

Before you begin

These are the basic requirements for installing iRedMail on Debian 10 Linux.

  • Fresh Installation of Debian 10 (Buster) Linux
  • 2 GB of memory required. If you plan to use it in production environment with multiple domains and user accounts, the add more memory – 4 GB
  • Make sure 3 UID/GID are not used by other user/group: 2000, 2001, 2002.
  • Mail Server domain name
  • A sudo user account – User account added to sudo group or root user access

So relax as you start installation of iRedMail Mail Server on Debian 10(Buster) with these easy to follow steps.

Step 1: Update System

Ensure your system is running the latest version of the operating system.

sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade

After a system upgrade, we recommend doing a reboot.

sudo systemctl reboot

Step 2: Set Server hostname

Set server hostname to a subdomain name configured in your DNS server.

export HOSTNAME="mail.computingforgeeks.com"
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname $HOSTNAME --static
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname $HOSTNAME --transient

After updating your hostname, logout and login again to update your working environment.

$ logout

Now add the IP address and DNS name mapping to the /etc/hosts file.

# Example
$ sudo vim /etc/hosts
95.216.98.16 mail.computingforgeeks.com

To confirm DNS resolution, first install dns-utils package.

sudo apt -y install dnsutils

Then use host command for local resolution.

$ host mail.computingforgeeks.com
mail.computingforgeeks.com has address 95.216.98.16

For record in DNS server, use the dig command.

$ dig A mail.computingforgeeks.com

Step 3: Download the latest release of iRedMail

Visit the iRedMail Download page to get the latest stable release of iRedMail for your platform.

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The latest stable release as of this writing is version 1.0.

sudo apt -y install wget
wget https://github.com/iredmail/iRedMail/releases/download/1.0/iRedMail-1.0.tar.gz

Extract the downloaded archive file.

tar xvf iRedMail-1.0.tar.gz

Step 4: Install iRedMail on Debian 10 (Buster)

An installer script is provided for automated installation of iRedMail Mail Server on Debian 10. Change the working directory to the folder created.

cd iRedMail-*/

Start iRedMail installer.

chmod  x iRedMail.sh
sudo ./iRedMail.sh

The installer script will install dependencies required then ask you several simple questions required to setup iRedMail mail server on Debian 10 (Buster).

1 – Accept installation wizard

The first screen asks you whether to accept or decline installation of iRedMail on Debian.

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2 – Specify directory used to store mailboxes

Make sure you read the NOTES provided before changing default mailboxes store directory.

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3 – Choose web server to use

Go with the default selection of nginx.

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4 – Choose backend used to store mail account

Choose the one you’re familiar with for easier management and maintenance after installation. I’ll go with OpenLDAP.

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5 – Specify LDAP Suffix

If you chose OpenLDAP as default backend for storing mail accounts,
provide LDAP suffix. These are just components of your domain name.

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6 – Set MySQL root password

Provide the password for MySQL root user.

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7 – Add your first mail domain name

Provide your Mail domain name – This cannot be the same as server name.

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7 – Provide Password for Mail domain Administrator

Input the mail domain administrator password and tick the features to enable.

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Review provided values and start installation.

***************************** WARNING ***********************************
*************************************************************************
*                                                                       *
* Below file contains sensitive infomation (username/password), please  *
* do remember to *MOVE* it to a safe place after installation.          *
*                                                                       *
*   * /home/debian/iRedMail-1.0/config
*                                                                       *
*************************************************************************
********************** Review your settings *****************************
*************************************************************************

* Storage base directory:               /var/vmail
* Mailboxes:                            
* Daily backup of SQL/LDAP databases:   
* Store mail accounts in:               OpenLDAP
* Web server:                           Nginx
* First mail domain name:               computingforgeeks.com
* Mail domain admin:                    [email protected]
* Additional components:                Roundcubemail SOGo netdata iRedAdmin Fail2ban

 Continue? [y|N] y

Type y or Y and press Enter to start installation. The script will install and configure all the packaged required automatically.

You can choose to enable iRedMail firewall.

*************************************************************************
* iRedMail-1.0 installation and configuration complete.
*************************************************************************

 Would you like to use firewall rules provided by iRedMail?
 File: /etc/default/iptables, with SSHD ports: 22. [Y|n]y
[ INFO ] Copy firewall sample rules.
 Restart firewall now (with ssh ports: 22)? [y|N]y
[ INFO ] Restarting firewall ...
[ INFO ] Updating ClamAV database (freshclam), please wait ...
.....

Reboot your Server to enable mail services.

sudo systemctl reboot

Step 5: iRedMail Access Credentials

Your iRedMail Server details & Access credentials are store in the file “/root/iRedMail-1.0/config” if script was run as root user or “/home/$USER/iRedMail-1.0/config” if the script was executed as normal user.

The URLs of installed web applications are shown after a successful installation of iRedMail on Debian 10 (Buster).

My output looks like below.

********************************************************************
* URLs of installed web applications:
*
* - Roundcube webmail: https://mail.computingforgeeks.com/mail/
* - SOGo groupware: https://mail.computingforgeeks.com/SOGo/
* - netdata (monitor): https://mail.computingforgeeks.com/netdata/
*
* - Web admin panel (iRedAdmin): https://mail.computingforgeeks.com/iredadmin/
*
* You can login to above links with below credential:
*
* - Username: [email protected]
* - Password: password
*
*
********************************************************************
* Congratulations, mail server setup completed successfully. Please
* read below file for more information:
*
*   - /home/debian/iRedMail-1.0/iRedMail.tips
*
* And it's sent to your mail account [email protected]
*
********************* WARNING **************************************

Login to the portals using the credentials saved.

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Here is the default look of iRedMail Admin dashboard on initial login.

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Access Mail Client on /mail.

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Step 6: Secure iRedMail With Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates

iRedMail generates self-signed certificates during installation, you have an option of getting a Commercial certificate or using Let’s Encrypt free SSL Certificates. Refer to our guide below.

Secure iRedMail Server with Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate

More guides on iRedMail:

How To Add Domains and User Accounts to iRedMail Mail Server

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