Access to the Web Interface#

The first task to carry out is to change the password of the zextras user. This is a very important task, because this user has full powers over all Carbonio functionalities, therefore its password must be robust. More details and the command to change the password can be found in section Manage Global Administrators.

After you change the password, point a supported browser to the Proxy Node’s IP or hostname and port 6071 (e.g., https://172.16.0.12:6071/) and log in to the Carbonio Admin Panel, with user zextras@example.com and password the one you just changed.

If the login is successful, go to Domains, select the domain example.com, and, under the General Settings and define:

  • The Public Server Host Name, setting it as https://mail.example.com

  • The Public Service Port, setting it as 443.

These two values combined represent the URL that users need to access to use the features of Carbonio.

Note

Since Carbonio uses SSL, it is strongly suggested to install an SSL certificate. Please refer to Section Deploy a Commercial SSL Certificate (CLI) or Virtual Hosts & Domain Certificates Carbonio Admin Panel for directions. You can even install a Let’s Encrypt certificate.

Web Client

The web client is used by regular users to access to the e-mail account and can be used also to access other functionalities (Carbonio Files, Carbonio Docs if installed), as well as other client protocols such as IMAP or POP, and is available at https://mail.example.com/. In the User Guide you can find directions that guide you in your first steps with Carbonio and introduction to the most common tasks

Carbonio Admin Panel

The Carbonio Admin Panel is used for Administration access and is available at: https://mail.example.com:6071/

Here, you can manage server, domains, accounts, and other configurations. Please refer to section Carbonio Admin Panel Overview for more information.

Regardless of the language configured on Carbonio, the locale set on the browser takes precedence: This means that dates, currency, and other locale-related values will be displayed according to the language of the browser, which is usually inherited by the locale set for the operating system.

Multiple Configured Domains#

When multiple domains are defined on Carbonio, you will see in the username field, the default domain: to log in to that domain, you can use only the username. To login to another domain, you need to write the whole e-mail address: username and domain.

Lost Password#

If the Administrator has enabled the option, you can see a link underneath the credential’s text-fields, that allows you to recover the password.

Note

Before you can start the password recovery procedure, you need to ask the Administrator to set up a recovery account for you.

When you click the forgot Password link, you will be asked to enter your current username, the e-mail account (for example, john.smith@example.com), then click the SUBMIT button. Next, you need to confirm your e-mail recovery address. A temporary validation code, that expires in a few minutes, will be sent to the recovery e-mail address. Copy it and insert it, then click the VALIDATE CODE button.

If the code is validated, you can CONTINUE WITH YOUR SESSION, access your mailbox and then add a new password in the User Settings’ Authentication module, where you can also change the recovery address.

Active 2FA#

In case 2FA is active on Carbonio, there are two cases:

  1. The request comes from a trustedIP (see Section 2-Factor-Autenthication): this case is like the “standard” password recovery described in the above section

  2. The request comes from an untrustedIP: you need to provide also an OTP token to be able to complete the recovery process

Manage Global Administrators#

In order to change the password used by the zextras@example.com user for the Web access, log in to a shell terminal as the zextras user and execute the command

# su - zextras -c "carbonio prov setpassword zextras@example.com mynewsecurepassword"

Make sure that newpassword meets good security criteria.

The zextras and zextras@example.com users

There is a clear distinction between these two users, which are intended to execute different tasks:

zextras

This the unix account of the administrator and must be used to carry out administrative tasks from the command line.

zextras@example.com

This is the default administrator user to be used to access the Admin UI and manage Carbonio from the web interface.

A new Global Admin can be created from the Carbonio Admin Panel; please refer to section How to Create an Administrator for directions.