Community Knowledge Base

Installation and Upgrade (Linux)

SmarterMail comes as a single installation file that will automatically download and install the appropriate operating system components required to run SmarterMail on your server. The features available are based on the license used during the activation process; if no license is entered, the Free Version will be installed.

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Installing SmarterMail on Linux

Run the command below to download SmarterMail from the web and install it on your server:

Run the following in bash to download and run the SmarterMail installer, which will download and install the current SmarterMail build. Replace the XXXX with the build number you wish to install (a full list of versions is available on the SmarterMail Release Notes page):

wget https://downloads.smartertools.com/smartermail/100.0.XXXX/smartermail_XXXX \
&& chmod +x smartermail_XXXX \
&& sudo ./smartermail_XXXX install

This script will download and run the SmarterMail installer. This includes setting up all folders and directories needed to run SmarterMail. Therefore, it's just like any standard program installation.

Upgrading SmarterMail

To upgrade SmarterMail, first, backup your SmarterMail installation or take a snapshot of your VM.

Run the following in bash to download and run the SmarterMail installer, which will download and upgrade the current SmarterMail build. Replacing the XXXX with the build number you wish to install. Yes, this is the same exact command that you use to install SmarterMail originally.

wget https://downloads.smartertools.com/smartermail/100.0.XXXX/smartermail_XXXX \
&& chmod +x smartermail_XXXX \
&& sudo ./smartermail_XXXX install

Uninstalling SmarterMail

To uninstall SmarterMail, run the following in bash, in the folder where you downloaded the SmarterMail installer. If you do not have the installer still, you can download it again using the wget and chmod commands in the installation section above.

sudo ./smartermail_XXXX uninstall

Things to Know

By default, files are stored in the following locations:

  • System Configuration Files - /etc/smartermail
  • SmarterMail Data Files - /var/lib/smartermail

Additionally:

  • The Release Notes for all major and minor versions of SmarterMail, as well as Release Notes for all current Builds, are available on the SmarterMail Release Notes page of our website. It's a great idea to familiarize yourself with all the changes that have been made to SmarterMail between the version you're on and the version you'll BE on once you've upgraded.
  • If you are upgrading an installation that utilizes a license key, you WILL need to re-activate that key once the upgrade completes. Please be aware that license keys pertain to the version of SmarterMail you're running as well as the maximum version of SmarterMail you CAN run -- you cannot activate a key on a more recent version of SmarterMail if your key does not support that version. However, all license keys are retroactive for previous versions.

Welcome to SmarterMail

After SmarterMail is installed, a window opens in your default browser that takes you to the web interface for your installation. The URL used will match what was configured during the setup process, and if nothing was changed (e.g., no changes to the hostname or port), your browser will open localhost:9998/interface/setup#/.

On this Welcome page, you'll set up a few pieces of information to get started using SmarterMail:

  • You'll create the primary system administrator account
  • You'll set the default base path for storing all SmarterMail data. This includes domain data, spool, log files, and POP and IMAP retrieval data, etc. By default, this path is /var/lib/smartermail

Once you have set up this information, you will be redirected to the webmail interface and automatically logged in to SmarterMail using the system administrator you created. From there, you can add in your first domain, then add users to that domain, you can modify your default domain template, adjust the security settings as needed, and more.