RainLoop is a web-based email system developed using PHP. It allows you to aggregate multiple mailboxes for easy management. Recently, I encountered some minor issues when installing RainLoop in an Nginx environment. Here, I will share the method of installing RainLoop in an Nginx environment.

Download RainLoop

Official download link for RainLoop: Downloads / RainLoop Webmail

Go to your site's root directory and execute the following commands:

### Download RainLoop
wget http://www.rainloop.net/repository/webmail/rainloop-community-latest.zip
### Unzip
unzip rainloop-community-latest.zip
### Set user/user group permissions
chown -R www:www ./*

On my blog, I use the OneinStack integrated environment, where the user and user group are both "www". Therefore, the command is chown -R www:www ./*. Please modify it according to your actual Nginx user.

Test Access

On my blog, I have bound the domain name "mail.hixz.org" to the host. I will use this domain name for testing. The RainLoop backend URL is http://your_domain/?admin, with the username as "admin" and the password as "12345".

When accessing, an error "[105] Missing version directory" occurred. After checking the official documentation, I found that it was a permission issue. Execute the following commands in the site's root directory:

find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Now, access http://mail.hixz.org/?admin again. This time it should work. Enter the username "admin" and password "12345" to log in.

Basic Settings

RainLoop supports multiple languages. After entering the backend, click on the options in the screenshot and select "Chinese (Simplified)" for the language.

First-time login, the system will prompt you to change the administrator password. Click on "Change" to proceed.

Set Email Domain

This step is important. Click on "Domains" in the backend, and you will see that RainLoop has enabled Gmail by default. If you need to use Outlook, QQ Mail, etc., you can enable them as well.

Next is to add aliases, which means adding the email accounts you want to manage. For example, I frequently use Outlook email, so I will add one as a test.

Go back to the homepage (http://mail.hixz.org/), enter the newly added Outlook email and your own email password to log in. If everything goes well, you can now use the backend to send and receive emails.

Other Notes

RainLoop is developed using PHP and can run in a PHP environment under normal circumstances. However, it has special requirements for certain components, so there may be issues on virtual hosts. It is recommended to use a VPS for installation. If you need to enable email contacts, you will need a database (MySQL), which you can experiment with on your own.

Summary

RainLoop relies on the network of the server itself. If the server is in China and you use overseas email services, sending and receiving emails may be difficult and not very stable. If you have higher requirements, you can consider using email clients like Foxmail.

RainLoop Official Website: www.rainloop.net