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Discover How to Install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS! This article explains how to install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS. What is Roundcube? Roundcube is a free, open-source webmail application—a browser-based email client you host on your own server. It provides a modern, Gmail-like UI on top of your existing IMAP/SMTP mail server (e.g., Dovecot/Postfix), so users can read, compose, search, and manage mail from any browser. Key points Runs on: PHP with a database (MariaDB/MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite) behind Nginx/Apache. Connects to: IMAP for mailbox access; SMTP for sending. UI/UX: Responsive “Elastic” theme, drag-and-drop, keyboard shortcuts, rich-text editor. Features: Folders, filters, identities, signatures, address book (with LDAP support), contact groups, threaded view, spellcheck, attachments, vacation/forwarding plugins. Extensible: Robust plugin/skin system (calendars, carddav/caldav, S/MIME, two-factor via plugins, etc.). Admin-friendly: Config via config.inc.php, fine-grained logging, caching, and localization. Why use it: Self-hosted control/privacy, integrates cleanly with standard Linux mail stacks, low resource footprint, easy theming/branding. These steps target Rocky Linux 9 on a fresh VPS and deploy Roundcube Webmail with Nginx + PHP-FPM + MariaDB. You’ll end up with https://webmail.example.com running Roundcube 1.6.x (current series). Commands are root unless noted. Prerequisites A Rocky Linux VPS with SSH access A domain or subdomain (e.g., webmail.example.com) pointing to your server’s IP Ports 80/443 reachable # Become root if needed sudo -i How to Install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS (Step-by-Step) To install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS, follow the steps provided below: Update OS & enable repos dnf -y update dnf -y install epel-release # Optional: tools we’ll use dnf -y install curl unzip policycoreutils-python-utils Install Nginx, PHP-FPM, and required PHP extensions Roundcube needs PHP (with mbstring, intl, xml, pdo, etc.) and either MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or SQLite. We’ll use MariaDB. dnf -y install nginx php php-fpm \ php-cli php-common php-mbstring php-intl php-xml php-json \ php-gd php-zip php-opcache php-pdo php-mysqlnd php-ldap Tune PHP-FPM (recommended defaults for webmail): # Make sure PHP-FPM listens on the default socket sed -ri 's|^;?listen\s*\s*.*|listen /run/php-fpm/www.sock|' /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf # Set Unix socket ownership for Nginx PHP-FPM sed -ri 's|^;?listen\.owner\s*.*|listen.owner nginx|' /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf sed -ri 's|^;?listen\.group\s*.*|listen.group nginx|' /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf sed -ri 's|^;?listen\.mode\s*.*|listen.mode 0660|' /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf # Set PHP memory limit & upload sizes (Roundcube attachments) cp /etc/php.ini /etc/php.ini.bak sed -ri 's/^memory_limit\s*.*/memory_limit 256M/' /etc/php.ini sed -ri 's/^post_max_size\s*.*/post_max_size 32M/' /etc/php.ini sed -ri 's/^upload_max_filesize\s*.*/upload_max_filesize 32M/' /etc/php.ini Enable and start services: systemctl enable --now php-fpm nginx Install and secure MariaDB dnf -y install mariadb-server systemctl enable --now mariadb # Secure the installation (set root password, remove test DB, etc.) mysql_secure_installation Create Roundcube database and user: mysql -u root -p <<'SQL' CREATE DATABASE roundcube CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci; CREATE USER 'roundcube'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongRandomPassword!'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON roundcube.* TO 'roundcube'@'localhost'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; SQL Get Roundcube (stable release) Two common ways: A. DNF package (EPEL): dnf -y install roundcubemail (fast, opinionated paths, Apache-centric sample configs). B. Tarball (official): most flexible and Nginx-friendly. We’ll use tarball. cd /var/www curl -LO https://github.com/roundcube/roundcubemail/releases/download/1.6.7/roundcubemail-1.6.7-complete.tar.gz tar xzf roundcubemail-1.6.7-complete.tar.gz mv roundcubemail-1.6.7 roundcube chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/roundcube Tip: Replace version 1.6.7 above with the latest “complete” tarball when you deploy. Create directories writable by the web server: mkdir -p /var/www/roundcube/{logs,temp} chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/roundcube/{logs,temp} Initialize Roundcube database schema # Import schema into the DB you created in step 3 mysql -u root -p roundcube /etc/nginx/conf.d/webmail.conf <<'NGINX' server { listen 80; server_name webmail.example.com; root /var/www/roundcube; index index.php index.html; # Security headers (basic) add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN; add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff; add_header Referrer-Policy no-referrer-when-downgrade; # Deny access to sensitive files location ~ ^/(README|INSTALL|LICENSE|CHANGELOG|composer\.(json|lock)|\.git) { deny all; } # Block direct access to config, temp, logs location ~ ^/(config|temp|logs)/ { deny all; } # Static assets (cache) location ~* \.(?:css|js|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|svg|ico|woff2?)$ { expires 30d; access_log off; try_files $uri 404; } location / { try_files $uri /index.php?$query_string; } location ~ \.php$ { include fastcgi_params; fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name; fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php-fpm/www.sock; fastcgi_read_timeout 300; fastcgi_buffers 16 16k; fastcgi_buffer_size 32k; } } NGINX Test and reload Nginx: nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx (Recommended) Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt Install Certbot and request a certificate: dnf -y install certbot python3-certbot-nginx certbot --nginx -d webmail.example.com --redirect -m admin@example.com --agree-tos -n This updates your Nginx server block for 443 and configures HTTP→HTTPS redirects. Firewalld rules # Open HTTP/HTTPS if firewalld is active systemctl is-active --quiet firewalld && \ firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttp && \ firewall-cmd --permanent --add-servicehttps && \ firewall-cmd --reload SELinux adjustments (if Enforcing) Allow Nginx/PHP-FPM to connect to DB (local TCP) and write to Roundcube’s temp and logs: # Allow web server to connect to network databases setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db 1 # Label writable paths semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t "/var/www/roundcube/(logs|temp)(/.*)?" restorecon -Rv /var/www/roundcube/{logs,temp} If you send mail through the local MTA from PHP, you may also need: setsebool -P httpd_can_sendmail 1 Run Roundcube installer Browse to: https://webmail.example.com/installer/ The installer checks PHP extensions and file permissions. Fix any red items it reports. Under Database setup, choose MySQL and enter: DSN: mysql://roundcube:StrongRandomPassword!@localhost/roundcube Create config/config.inc.php from the installer (it will offer to save the file). Test IMAP and SMTP connectivity (use your mail server hostnames/ports, TLS settings, and credentials). When everything passes, remove the installer: rm -rf /var/www/roundcube/installer Tighten permissions # Root owns code; nginx owns writable dirs chown -R root:root /var/www/roundcube chown -R nginx:nginx /var/www/roundcube/{logs,temp} find /var/www/roundcube -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \; find /var/www/roundcube -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \; Configure defaults (optional but useful) Edit /var/www/roundcube/config/config.inc.php: Product name: $config 'Webmail'; Default host (forces IMAP host, hides host field on login): $config 'ssl://imap.example.com'; $config 993; SMTP: $config 'tls://smtp.example.com'; $config 587; $config '%u'; $config '%p'; Skin / language / timezone: $config 'elastic'; $config 'en_US'; $config 'UTC'; Attachment size (match PHP limits): $config '32M'; Restart services if you change PHP settings: systemctl reload nginx systemctl restart php-fpm Log rotation & maintenance Roundcube logs: /var/www/roundcube/logs/ Nginx logs: /var/log/nginx/ PHP-FPM logs: /var/log/php-fpm/ Set a cron to run Roundcube’s maintenance (caches, etc.): # As root, open crontab crontab -e # Add (runs hourly): 17 * * * * php -d detect_unicode0 /var/www/roundcube/bin/cleandb.sh >/dev/null 2>&1 If using SQLite, Roundcube also provides bin/gc.sh to garbage-collect caches. Optional hardening & polish Force HSTS (only after HTTPS is stable): add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age31536000; includeSubDomains" always; Disable PHP execution in upload/temp directories: Add to server block: location ~* ^/(logs|temp)/.*\.php$ { return 404; } Dovecot/IMAP tuning: Make sure your IMAP server’s SSL/TLS is valid and ciphers modern. Fail2ban: Protect /login against brute force. Quick Apache (httpd) alternative If you prefer Apache: dnf -y install httpd mod_ssl systemctl enable --now httpd # Minimal vhost cat >/etc/httpd/conf.d/webmail.conf ServerName webmail.example.com DocumentRoot /var/www/roundcube AllowOverride All Require all granted # Security Require all denied Require all denied DirectoryIndex index.php ProxyTimeout 300 APACHE # SELinux booleans are the same (httpd_can_network_connect_db / sendmail) setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect_db 1 # Reload systemctl reload httpd Then run Certbot with --apache instead of --nginx. Verify Visit https://webmail.example.com Log in with a valid mailbox (IMAP/SMTP working) Send/receive a test email and attach a file Confirm logs are clean: tail -f /var/www/roundcube/logs/errors journalctl -u nginx -u php-fpm -f That’s it! You’ve completed the steps to install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS with production-grade web, PHP, DB, HTTPS, firewall, and SELinux settings. Conclusion You now know how to install Roundcube on Rocky Linux VPS.

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