Step 1: Update Your System

Before installing Rainloop, ensure that your system is up to date. Run the following commands to update your package lists and upgrade the installed packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Keeping your system updated is critical, especially when using VPS Windows Servers to host your applications.

Step 2: Install Apache and PHP

Rainloop requires a web server and PHP to run. First, install Apache and PHP along with the required PHP extensions:

sudo apt install apache2 php php-cli php-curl php-zip php-xml php-mbstring -y

Start and enable Apache to run automatically at boot:

sudo systemctl start apache2
sudo systemctl enable apache2

Step 3: Download and Install Rainloop

Download the latest version of Rainloop Webmail from the official website:

cd /var/www/html
sudo wget http://www.rainloop.net/repository/webmail/rainloop-latest.zip

Unzip the downloaded file:

sudo apt install unzip
sudo unzip rainloop-latest.zip -d rainloop

Set the appropriate permissions for the Rainloop directory:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/rainloop
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/rainloop

Step 4: Configure Apache for Rainloop

To configure Apache to serve Rainloop, create a new virtual host configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/rainloop.conf

Add the following configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin admin@yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/rainloop
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com

    <Directory /var/www/html/rainloop/>
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file, then enable the new site and the Apache rewrite module:

sudo a2ensite rainloop.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo systemctl reload apache2

Step 5: Access Rainloop Webmail

You can now access Rainloop by navigating to http://yourdomain.com or http://your_server_ip in your web browser. To log in to the Rainloop admin panel, navigate to http://yourdomain.com/?admin and log in with the default credentials:

Username: admin
Password: 12345

After logging in, be sure to change the default admin password and configure your email services (IMAP and SMTP settings).

Step 6: Secure Rainloop with SSL (Optional)

To secure your Rainloop installation with HTTPS, you can obtain a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt. First, install Certbot:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache -y

Run Certbot to obtain and configure the SSL certificate:

sudo certbot --apache -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Follow the prompts to complete the SSL setup. Certbot will automatically configure your Apache virtual host file for HTTPS.