Basic Install

The following guide will walk you through the steps to install AliasVault on your own server. Minimum experience with Docker and Linux is required.

Basic Install

1. Basic Installation

To get AliasVault up and running quickly, run the install script to pull pre-built Docker images. The install script will also configure the .env file and start the AliasVault containers. You can get up and running in less than 5 minutes.

Hardware requirements

Linux VM with root access (Ubuntu or RHEL based distros recommended)
1 vCPU
512MB RAM
16GB disk space
Docker installed

Installation steps

Download the install script to a directory of your choice. All AliasVault files and directories will be created in this directory.
```
curl -o install.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lanedirt/AliasVault/main/install.sh
```
Make the install script executable.
```
chmod +x install.sh
```
Run the install script. This will create the .env file, pull the Docker images, and start the AliasVault containers. Follow the on-screen prompts to configure AliasVault.
```
./install.sh install
```
Note: AliasVault binds to ports 80 and 443 by default. If you want to change the default AliasVault ports you can do so in the .env file. Afterwards re-run the ./install.sh install command to restart the containers with the new port settings.
After the script completes, you can access AliasVault at:
- Client: https://localhost
- Admin: https://localhost/admin

2. SSL configuration

The default installation will create a self-signed SSL certificate and configure Nginx to use it.

You can however also use Let’s Encrypt to generate valid SSL certificates and configure Nginx to use it. In order to make this work you will need the following:

A public IPv4 address assigned to your server
Port 80 and 443 on your server must be open and accessible from the internet
A registered domain name with an A record pointing to your server’s public IP address (e.g. mydomain.com)

Steps

Run the install script with the configure-ssl option
```
./install.sh configure-ssl
```
Follow the prompts to configure Let’s Encrypt.

Reverting to self-signed SSL

If at any point you would like to revert to the self-signed SSL certificate, run the install script again with the configure-ssl option and then in the prompt choose option 2.

3. Email Server Setup

AliasVault includes a built-in email server that can handle multiple custom domains for your aliases.

To set up the email server, you need the following:

Public IPv4 address
Open ports (25 and 587) in server firewall for SMTP traffic
Access to DNS record management for your domain

a) DNS Configuration

Configure the following DNS records for your domain:

Name	Type	Priority	Content	TTL
mail	A		`<your-server-public-ip>`	3600
@	MX	10	`mail.<your-domain>`	3600

Note: Replace <your-server-public-ip> and <your-domain> with your actual values.

b) Port Configuration

The email server requires the following ports to be open:

Port 25: Standard SMTP (unencrypted)
Port 587: SMTP with STARTTLS (encrypted)

Verifying Port Access

You can test if the SMTP ports are correctly configured using telnet:

# Test standard SMTP port
telnet <your-server-public-ip> 25

# Test secure SMTP port
telnet <your-server-public-ip> 587

If successful, you’ll see a connection establishment message. Press Ctrl+C to exit the telnet session.

c) Setting Up Email Domains

Run the email configuration script:
```
  ./install.sh configure-email
```
Follow the interactive prompts to:
- Configure your domain(s)
- Restart required services
Once configured, you can:
- Create new aliases in the AliasVault client
- Use your custom domain(s) for email addresses
  - Note: you can configure the default domain for new aliases in the AliasVault client in Menu > Settings > Email Settings > Default Email Domain
- Start receiving emails on your aliases

Important: DNS propagation can take up to 24-48 hours. During this time, email delivery might be inconsistent.

If you encounter any issues, feel free to open an issue on the GitHub repository.

4. Troubleshooting

Resetting the admin password

If you have lost your admin password, you can reset it by running the install script with the reset-password option. This will generate a new random password and update the .env file with it. After that it will restart the AliasVault containers to apply the changes.

./install.sh reset-password

Verbose output

If you need more detailed output from the install script, you can run it with the --verbose option. This will print more information to the console.

./install.sh install --verbose

No emails being received

If you are not receiving emails on your aliases, check the following:

Verify DNS records are correctly configured
Ensure ports 25 and 587 are accessible
Check your server’s firewall settings
Verify that your ISP/hosting provider allows SMTP traffic