ZCP back-end components

Zarafa Collaboration Platform has several back-end components that enable you to migrate and integrate Zarafa in your existing architecture.

User integration and authentication

Active Directory / LDAP integration
Zarafa can be coupled in existing Active Directory- or LDAP-based environments. Zarafa will automatically import all your users into the Zarafa database, and new users are synchronized real-time with the Zarafa database. Using an additional schema, attributes such as quota, aliases and send-as permissions can be configured from the existing directory environment. Web based administration can be facilitated by the online GUI Z-Admin.

Single sign-on
Via single sign-on authentication, your domain log on credentials will be used to log in your Outlook client or WebAccess client. Zarafa supports a single sign-on authentication via NTLM and Kerberos, enabling users to use their domain log-in credentials when logging into their Outlook client or WebAccess client.

Storage & backup

Advanced database storage
To enhance the sharing of information, all data is stored in an open-source MySQL database. To keep the database smaller and hence faster, attachments will be stored on the file system.

Brick-level backup
Zarafa brick-level backup allows you to make backups of individual mailboxes. Using the Zarafa restore tool, it is easy to restore a single item, folder or even complete mailbox. The brick-level backup can also be used for public folders.
 

	Multi-server setups and multi-tenancy

Multi-server setups and high availability
The multi-server feature of Zarafa Collaboration Platform (ZCP) makes it possible to distribute ZCP over multiple servers. The Zarafa user stores are then distributed across several servers, but still act as one central system. The users, groups and companies have to be managed in an LDAP or Active Directory server. The multi-server support can also be used to support set-ups with tens of thousands of users or to spread mailboxes across different geographical locations.

Because of its flexible architecture, ZCP can be set up in a high-availability configuration using existing Linux cluster software such as Red Hat Cluster Suite or Heartbeat/Pacemaker. HA support is available from the professionals in the Professional and Enterprise editions.

Multi-tenancy
This allows you to run multiple organisations on a single Zarafa instance. This feature is only supported in the Zarafa Hosting and Enterprise Editions. Check out the administrator manual to learn how to configure multi-tenancy for your installation.

	Migration and auto-deployment tools

Auto-update tools
The auto-update tools will make it much easier to keep your ZCP client software. The ZCP clients have an update mechanism which retrieves the latest version from the local server and updates the client software on the fly.

Zarafa migration tool
With the Zarafa migration tool, existing mail environments can be easily migrated to ZCP.
The tool has the following capabilities:

• mass-import data from an MS Exchange server
• mass-import data from other groupware
• mass-import Outlook PST files
• export the Zarafa mailboxes to PST files
   

Check out Zarafa Wiki to read how to set up a high-availability configuration.

Check out all relevant documentation