Configuring GAL in Zimbra Collaboration Suite
The standard function of all collaboration systems for today is the address book of the enterprise or the Glabal Address List, which contains information about positions, locations of workplaces, as well as work phone numbers and postal 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. However, even in such a simple thing as an address book, there is a mass of nuances and pitfalls. Let's look at how it is implemented in the Zimbra Collaboration Suite.
Creating an internal GAL in Zimbra is performed in the simplest of all possible ways. The administrator simply creates a resource account, in the address book of which the 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 the company's employees.
You can create a resource account for the internal GAL either in the administrator console when creating a domain, or on 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 compensated by the ability to connect multiple sources to get contacts. This is what makes GAL in Zimbra so flexible in customization.
After the resource account for the GAL is created, users will be able to search for employees by first name, last name, mailing address, and position. In addition, after creating the GAL, users will have auto-complete 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 contact list of the online chat.
However, the method of creating a GAL described here is not suitable for all cases. For example, what to 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 system used. The source of contacts for a resource account can be an external LDAP or AD.
In order for an enterprise address book from AD to appear in Zimbra, 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 you need to specify in the configuration 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, the contacts from AD will appear in your GAL after the first synchronization. They will also immediately appear in the lists of autocomplete. You can also configure GAL retrieval from AD on the command line. To do this, enter the following commands:
Zimbra also allows you to use multiple sources to compile a GAL. You can do this with 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 only needs to configure it to receive information from the required source. This is done by a familiar set of commands:
Thus, the GAL in Zimbra is very flexible in configuration and allows you not only to create a full address book, but also can help fit Zimbra into your existing IT infrastructure, help with migrating from MS Exchange to Zimbra, and merge contacts from several enterprises or branches in one address book.
Creating an internal GAL in Zimbra is performed in the simplest of all possible ways. The administrator simply creates a resource account, in the address book of which the 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 the company's employees.
You can create a resource account for the internal GAL either in the administrator console when creating a domain, or on 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 InternalGAL 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 compensated by the ability to connect multiple sources to get contacts. This is what makes GAL in Zimbra so flexible in customization.
After the resource account for the GAL is created, users will be able to search for employees by first name, last name, mailing address, and position. In addition, after creating the GAL, users will have auto-complete 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 contact list of the online chat.
However, the method of creating a GAL described here is not suitable for all cases. For example, what to 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 system used. The source of contacts for a resource account can be an external LDAP or AD.
In order for an enterprise address book from AD to appear in Zimbra, 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 you need to specify in the configuration process:
- Server type
- Server address
- LDAP filter
- AutoFill Filter
- Authorization data for search
- 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, the contacts from AD will appear in your GAL after the first synchronization. They will also immediately appear in the lists of autocomplete. You can also configure GAL retrieval from AD on 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 multiple sources to compile a GAL. You can do this with 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 only needs to configure it to receive information from the required source. This is done by a 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, the GAL in Zimbra is very flexible in configuration and allows you not only to create a full address book, but also can help fit Zimbra into your existing IT infrastructure, help with migrating from MS Exchange to Zimbra, and merge contacts from several enterprises or branches in one address book.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/441280/
All Articles