25 Install ISPConfig 3

Before you start the ISPConfig installation, make sure that Apache is stopped (if it is installed - it is possible that some of your installed packages have installed Apache as a dependency without you knowing). If Apache2 is already installed on the system, stop it now...

/etc/init.d/httpd stop

... and remove Apache's system startup links:

chkconfig --del httpd

Make sure that nginx is running:

/etc/init.d/nginx restart

(If you have both Apache and nginx installed, the installer asks you which one you want to use: Apache and nginx detected. Select server to use for ISPConfig: (apache,nginx) [apache]:

Type nginx. If only Apache or nginx are installed, this is automatically detected by the installer, and no question is asked.)

Download the current ISPConfig 3 version and install it. The ISPConfig installer will configure all services like Postfix, Dovecot, etc. for you. A manual setup as required for ISPConfig 2 is not necessary anymore.

You now also have the possibility to let the installer create an SSL vhost for the ISPConfig control panel, so that ISPConfig can be accessed using https:// instead of http://. To achieve this, just press ENTER when you see this question: Do you want a secure (SSL) connection to the ISPConfig web interface (y,n) [y]:.

To install ISPConfig 3 from the latest released version, do this:

cd /tmp
wget http://www.ispconfig.org/downloads/ISPConfig-3-stable.tar.gz
tar xfz ISPConfig-3-stable.tar.gz
cd ispconfig3_install/install/

The next step is to run

php -q install.php

This will start the ISPConfig 3 installer:

[root@server1 install]# php -q install.php


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 _____ ___________   _____              __ _         ____
|_   _/  ___| ___ \ /  __ \            / _(_)       /__  \
  | | \ `--.| |_/ / | /  \/ ___  _ __ | |_ _  __ _    _/ /
  | |  `--. \  __/  | |    / _ \| '_ \|  _| |/ _` |  |_ |
 _| |_/\__/ / |     | \__/\ (_) | | | | | | | (_| | ___\ \
 \___/\____/\_|      \____/\___/|_| |_|_| |_|\__, | \____/
                                              __/ |
                                             |___/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


>> Initial configuration

Operating System: Redhat or compatible, unknown version.

    Following will be a few questions for primary configuration so be careful.
    Default values are in [brackets] and can be accepted with <ENTER>.
    Tap in "quit" (without the quotes) to stop the installer.


Select language (en,de) [en]: <-- ENTER

Installation mode (standard,expert) [standard]: <-- ENTER

Full qualified hostname (FQDN) of the server, eg server1.domain.tld  [server1.example.com]: <-- ENTER

MySQL server hostname [localhost]: <-- ENTER

MySQL root username [root]: <-- ENTER

MySQL root password []: <-- yourrootsqlpassword

MySQL database to create [dbispconfig]: <-- ENTER

MySQL charset [utf8]: <-- ENTER

Apache and nginx detected. Select server to use for ISPConfig: (apache,nginx) [apache]: <-- nginx

Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
......................................................................+++
...............................................+++
writing new private key to 'smtpd.key'
-----
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]: <-- ENTER
State or Province Name (full name) []: <-- ENTER
Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]: <-- ENTER
Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]: <-- ENTER
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: <-- ENTER
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []: <-- ENTER
Email Address []: <-- ENTER
Configuring Jailkit
Configuring Dovecot
Configuring Spamassassin
Configuring Amavisd
Configuring Getmail
Configuring Pureftpd
Configuring BIND
Configuring nginx
Configuring Vlogger
Configuring Apps vhost
Configuring Bastille Firewall
Configuring Fail2ban
Installing ISPConfig
ISPConfig Port [8080]: <-- ENTER

Do you want a secure (SSL) connection to the ISPConfig web interface (y,n) [y]: <-- ENTER

Generating RSA private key, 4096 bit long modulus
...........................................................++
...........................................................................++
e is 65537 (0x10001)
You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
into your certificate request.
What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
For some fields there will be a default value,
If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
-----
Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]: <-- ENTER
State or Province Name (full name) []: <-- ENTER
Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]: <-- ENTER
Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]: <-- ENTER
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: <-- ENTER
Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []: <-- ENTER
Email Address []: <-- ENTER

Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
to be sent with your certificate request
A challenge password []: <-- ENTER
An optional company name []: <-- ENTER
writing RSA key
Configuring DBServer
Installing ISPConfig crontab
no crontab for root
no crontab for getmail
Restarting services ...
Stopping mysqld:                                           [  OK  ]
Starting mysqld:                                           [  OK  ]
Shutting down postfix:                                     [  OK  ]
Starting postfix:                                          [  OK  ]
Stopping saslauthd:                                        [FAILED]
Starting saslauthd:                                        [  OK  ]
Shutting down amavisd: Daemon [1554] terminated by SIGTERM
                                                           [  OK  ]
amavisd stopped
Starting amavisd:                                          [  OK  ]

Stopping clamd.amavisd:                                    [  OK  ]
Starting clamd.amavisd:                                    [  OK  ]
Stopping Dovecot Imap:                                     [  OK  ]
Starting Dovecot Imap:                                     [  OK  ]
Reloading php-fpm:                                         [  OK  ]
Reloading nginx:                                           [  OK  ]
Stopping pure-ftpd:                                        [  OK  ]
Starting pure-ftpd:                                        [  OK  ]
Installation completed.
[root@server1 install]#

To fix the Mailman errors you might get during the ISPConfig installation, open /usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py...

vi /usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py

... and set DEFAULT_SERVER_LANGUAGE = 'en':

[...]
#-------------------------------------------------------------
# The default language for this server.
DEFAULT_SERVER_LANGUAGE = 'en'
[...]

Restart Mailman:

/etc/init.d/mailman restart

Finally we need to tell Dovecot to use the dovecot.conf file generated by ISPConfig - /etc/dovecot.conf - and not the default /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf:

cd /etc/dovecot
mv dovecot.conf dovecot.conf_orig
ln -s ../dovecot.conf dovecot.conf
/etc/init.d/dovecot restart

Afterwards you can access ISPConfig 3 under http(s)://server1.example.com:8080/ or http(s)://192.168.0.100:8080/ (http or https depends on what you chose during installation). Log in with the username admin and the password admin (you should change the default password after your first login):

The system is now ready to be used.

If you want to use IPv6 addresses with your nginx vhosts, please do the following before you create IPv6 vhosts in ISPConfig:

Open /etc/sysctl.conf...

vi /etc/sysctl.conf

... and add the line net.ipv6.bindv6only = 1:

[...]
net.ipv6.bindv6only = 1

Run...

sysctl -p

... afterwards for the change to take effect.

26 Links

• CentOS: http://www.centos.org/
• ISPConfig: http://www.ispconfig.org/

About The Author

Falko Timme is the owner of Timme Hosting (ultra-fast nginx web hosting). He is the lead maintainer of HowtoForge (since 2005) and one of the core developers of ISPConfig (since 2000). He has also contributed to the O'Reilly book "Linux System Administration".