WebMail-Lite Mail Server for HSMM Tutorial

I have had several Hams contact me about my posting on the Paclink Server. I have now finished the new setup tutorial for it. This is current to the latest version. I tried to make the instructions as simple as possible, but you must not be afraid to get into the workings of the software. This software as configured will work great with the HSMM-Mesh nodes. If you undertake this you can offer your served agency and many others the ability to have normal email when the internet is not available in the immediate area.The RF side will be for another posting. With this system you can let your served agency plug their computers into your system. They will not have to change anything in their computers. They will have to go to a "web site" and enter their login information that you will provide. The learning curve is very small for the users because the browser will have a very familiar email program. I have installed this on a Vista laptop and a Windows 7 Ultimate laptop. So give this a try.

 

 

What You Need to Start

1. Paclink properly installed, configured and working 

1. WampServer
   1. Go to: http://www.wampserver.com/en/
   2. Click on the downloads tab
   3. Then, click on the "Download WampServer 2.2A" link
   4. Enter your information or click "download it directly"
   5. Save the install program where you will be able to find it later

1. WebMail Lite
   1. Go to:http://www.afterlogic.org/download/webmail-lite
   2. Click the PHP radio button
   3. Press the "Start Downloading" button
   4. Save it where you will be able to find it later 
    

WampServer Installation

WampServer is a combined package of Apache Web Server 2.2.21, MySQL 5.5.16, and PHP 5.5.38 all for Windows.

Installation Steps

1. Locate and run the WampServer setup program from the computer you want to use as your Paclink server. Follow the install wizard being sure to use the default file system locations.
2. When the installation completes choose the option to run WampServer or run it from the Start menu or desktop icon if you missed this it
3. You should now see an icon in the system tray titled "WAMPSERVER". It should not be red and may indicate that the server is "Online" or "Offline" at this point. It should cycle from red to yellow to green. Refer to the help system for assistance in resolving any issues
4. Configure the PHP system to support WebMail by enabling the PHP IMAP option. Left-click the WampServer tray icon and then select PHP - PHP extensions - php_imap
5. Left-click the WampServer tray icon and choose the "Put Online" menu item. This will start the Apache and MySQL servers
6. The servers will start up and hovering over the tray icon should show that the service is "Online".
7. To test your configuration thus far, select the localhost menu item from the local menu,left-click on tray icon. You should see the WampServer start page showing configuration information.
8. If you have any problems with this installation or see errors when attempting to place the server Online, right-click the WampServer tray icon and choose the Help menu item to open the help system. There's also a WampServer forum at: http://www.wampserver.com/phorum. 

WebMail Lite

1. Create a folder called "webmail" under the default WampServer web folder "c:\wamp\www". Left click the WampServer tray icon then click "www directory"
2. Un-zip the webmail_php.zip archive:
   1. Extract the contents of the zip folder into the "webmail" folder "c:\wamp\www\webmail"
   2. Move the "data" folder _and_ its contents into the "webmail" folder "c:\wamp\www\webmail"
   3. You should now have the webmail folder containing the "data" folder as well as the complete contents of the web folder 
   4. Delete the install folder
3. In the "webmail" folder, edit using a text editor, like notepad, the "inc_settings_path.php" file so that the path to the "data" folder is ""c:/wamp/www/webmail/data/"". Be sure to save the file when you are done. 
4. In the "webmail" folder double click "data" then "settings" then open "settings" file with a text editor
5. Find "off" and change the off to an on, then save the file.
6. Start your browser on the Paclink machine and go to http://localhost/webmail/adminpanel
   1. If you get an error or see a red error box on the admin page, review the previous steps and if needed consult the WebMail on-line help on the AfterLogic site or go to http://localhost/webmail/adminpanel/docs/index.php
7.  The log in is mailadm as the user name and 12345 as the password
   1. The password can be changed later
   2. Left click the WampServer tray icon then click "phpMyAdmin"
   3. Then click the "Databases" tab
   4. Under "Create new database" type the name you want for your database. Then click the "Create" button
8. In the Webmail Administrative Console select "System" tab and make the following changes:
   1. Set the SQL Login to "root"
   2. SQL password leave blank
   3. Set Database name to what you setup for the database
   4. Set the host to 127.0.0.1
   5. Click the "Test Connection" button. If it tests good proceed, if you have problems check that you did everything up to this point correctly
   6. If you are good to this point click the "Create tables" button. If it says failed you have a problem in your database.
   7. Click "Save" button to save your settings
9. In the Administrative Console select "Domains" tab and make the following changes:
   1. Select the "Default domain settings" option
   2. Incoming mail use POP3, localhost and Port 110
   3. Outgoing mail use localhost and Port 25
   4. Check "Use incoming mail's login/password of the user"
   5. Under the "General" tab, change the site name to what you want it to be
   6. Under the "Webmail" tab make sure "Enable webmail" is checked
   7. Click "Save" to save your settings 
    

How to use WebMail

From the Paclink WebMail server

1. Go to http://localhost/webmail/
2. Click "Advanced Login" then enter the email address you setup, then the login name (the email address without @winlink.org) and password for the account you have set up in PacLink
3. Play with WebMail-Lite for Paclink!