February 22, 2019 at 12:02GAL setup in Zimbra Collaboration Suite
The standard function of all collaboration systems today is the address book of the company or the Glabal Address List, which contains information about positions, location of workplaces, as well as work phone numbers and mailing addresses of all employees. Due to the fact that such an address book is available to every employee, communications within the company become as fast and truly seamless as possible. However, even in such a simple thing as an address book, there are a lot of nuances and pitfalls. Let’s look at how it is implemented in the Zimbra Collaboration Suite.
Creating an internal GAL in Zimbra is the easiest way possible. The administrator simply creates a resource account, in the address book of which contact information of all accounts on the server will be stored. After that, the address book of the created resource account is made available for viewing to all users, without exception, and appears in the general list of contact lists of company employees.
You can create a resource account for the internal GAL both in the administrator console when creating the domain and in the command line using the following commands:
We draw your attention to the fact that in Zimbra it is possible to create only one resource GAL account on each of the domains. This restriction is more than paid for by the ability to connect several sources to get contacts. This is what makes the GAL in Zimbra so flexible.
After the resource account for GAL is created, users will be able to search for employees by name, surname, mailing address and position. In addition, after creating the GAL, users will have autocomplete in the address bar when writing letters. In the event that you have the Zextras Chat extension installed, another advantage will be the appearance of all employees in the online chat contact list.
However, the method of creating GAL described here is not suitable for all cases. For example, what should I do if an enterprise IT manager migrates to Zimbra with MS Exchange or another collaboration system?
Especially for enterprises with already established IT infrastructure, Zimbra provides for the use of an external GAL, which is pulled from the used system. The source of contacts for the resource account can be external LDAP or AD.
In order for Zimbra to display the address book of an enterprise from AD, you need to select your domain in the Zimbra administration console and then enable the GAL configuration wizard in the domain settings. The main things that need to be specified during the setup process:
After all the necessary settings have been entered, it will be possible to test the functionality of the entered configuration without leaving the GAL setup wizard. If everything is done correctly, then contacts from AD will appear in your GAL after the first synchronization. They will also immediately appear on the autocomplete lists. You can configure the receipt of GAL from AD at the command line. To do this, enter the following commands:
Zimbra also allows you to use several sources to compile the GAL. This can be achieved using the command zmgsautil addDataSource -a gal@company.ru -n AnotherGAL --domain company.ru -t ldap -p 1d . Using this command, an additional source of information for the GAL is created and the administrator can only configure it to receive information from the necessary source. This is done by the familiar set of commands:
Thus, GAL in Zimbra is very flexible in configuration and allows not only to create a full-fledged address book, but also can help to integrate Zimbra into the existing IT infrastructure in the enterprise, help with migration from MS Exchange to Zimbra, and also combine contacts from several enterprises or branches in one address book.
For all questions related to the Zextras Suite, you can contact the representative of the company "Zextras" Katerina Triandafilidi by e-mail katerina@zextras.com
Creating an internal GAL in Zimbra is the easiest way possible. The administrator simply creates a resource account, in the address book of which contact information of all accounts on the server will be stored. After that, the address book of the created resource account is made available for viewing to all users, without exception, and appears in the general list of contact lists of company employees.
You can create a resource account for the internal GAL both in the administrator console when creating the domain and in the command line using the following commands:
zmgsautil createAccount -a gal@company.ru -n InternalGAL --domain company.ru \ -s server.name -t zimbra -f _InternalGAL
zmgsautil forceSync -a gal@company.ru -n InternalGALWe draw your attention to the fact that in Zimbra it is possible to create only one resource GAL account on each of the domains. This restriction is more than paid for by the ability to connect several sources to get contacts. This is what makes the GAL in Zimbra so flexible.
After the resource account for GAL is created, users will be able to search for employees by name, surname, mailing address and position. In addition, after creating the GAL, users will have autocomplete in the address bar when writing letters. In the event that you have the Zextras Chat extension installed, another advantage will be the appearance of all employees in the online chat contact list.
However, the method of creating GAL described here is not suitable for all cases. For example, what should I do if an enterprise IT manager migrates to Zimbra with MS Exchange or another collaboration system?
Especially for enterprises with already established IT infrastructure, Zimbra provides for the use of an external GAL, which is pulled from the used system. The source of contacts for the resource account can be external LDAP or AD.
In order for Zimbra to display the address book of an enterprise from AD, you need to select your domain in the Zimbra administration console and then enable the GAL configuration wizard in the domain settings. The main things that need to be specified during the setup process:
- Server type
- Server address
- LDAP Filter
- Autofill filter
- Search Authorization Data
- GAL sync options
After all the necessary settings have been entered, it will be possible to test the functionality of the entered configuration without leaving the GAL setup wizard. If everything is done correctly, then contacts from AD will appear in your GAL after the first synchronization. They will also immediately appear on the autocomplete lists. You can configure the receipt of GAL from AD at the command line. To do this, enter the following commands:
zmgsautil createAccount -a gal@company.ru -n ExternalContactsGAL --domain company.ru -t ldap -p 1d
zmprov mds gal@company.ru ExternalContactsGAL \
> zimbraGalSyncLdapBindDn zimbra@ad.company.ru \
> zimbraGalSyncLdapBindPassword ********* \
> zimbraGalSyncLdapFilter "(&(objectClass=contact)(mail=*))" \
> zimbraGalSyncLdapSearchBase dc=ad,dc=company,dc=ru \
> zimbraGalSyncLdapURL ldap://ds1.ad.company.ru:3268 \Zimbra also allows you to use several sources to compile the GAL. This can be achieved using the command zmgsautil addDataSource -a gal@company.ru -n AnotherGAL --domain company.ru -t ldap -p 1d . Using this command, an additional source of information for the GAL is created and the administrator can only configure it to receive information from the necessary source. This is done by the familiar set of commands:
zmprov mds gal@company.ru AnotherGAL \
zimbraGalSyncLdapBindDn uid=zimbra,cn=admins,cn=zimbra \
zimbraGalSyncLdapBindPassword ******* \
zimbraGalSyncLdapFilter '(&(mail=*)(zimbraAccountStatus=active)(!(zimbraHideInGAL=TRUE)))' \
zimbraGalSyncLdapSearchBase dc=anothercompany,dc=ru \
zimbraGalSyncLdapURL ldap://ldap.anothercompany.ru:389 \Thus, GAL in Zimbra is very flexible in configuration and allows not only to create a full-fledged address book, but also can help to integrate Zimbra into the existing IT infrastructure in the enterprise, help with migration from MS Exchange to Zimbra, and also combine contacts from several enterprises or branches in one address book.
For all questions related to the Zextras Suite, you can contact the representative of the company "Zextras" Katerina Triandafilidi by e-mail katerina@zextras.com