How to Install Dada Mail on Ubuntu Server Latest

Dada Mail is a contemporary mailing list manager that enables you to easily create, manage, and deliver targeted email campaigns. It is written in Perl, making it platform-independent and compatible with most web servers. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Dada Mail on an Ubuntu server.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding to install Dada Mail, ensure that the following requirements are met:

• A virtual or cloud server with Ubuntu 18.04 or newer.
• Access to a terminal shell with sudo or root privileges.
• A functional web server (e.g., Apache or Nginx).
• A registered domain name.

Step 1: Update System

First, update the Ubuntu server's package sources and installed software to the latest version:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Install Required Packages

Next, install the required dependencies for Dada Mail on your server:

sudo apt install apache2 wget gzip perl perl-base perl-modules libapache2-mod-perl2 libapache2-mod-perl2-dev libdbd-mysql-perl libhtml-template-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libnet-ldap-perl libtemplate-perl libtemplate-plugin-subst-perl libtemplate-plugin-datetime-perl liburi-perl libwww-curl-perl lynx openssl

Step 3: Download Dada Mail

Download the Dada Mail distribution package from their official website. You can download the file using wget command as follows:

wget https://dadamailproject.com/d/Download_latest.cgi -O dada.zip

Extract the downloaded ZIP file to a directory in the web server's document root. We recommend using /var/www/ as it is the default location for Apache sites hosted within Ubuntu:

sudo mkdir /var/www/dada
sudo unzip dada.zip -d /var/www/dada/

Step 4: Set Permissions

Give ownership of the Dada Mail files and directories to Apache's user and group, www-data:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/dada

Step 5: Create Apache Virtual Host

Create an Apache virtual host to serve Dada Mail pages to visitors:

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

Paste the following configuration content in the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerAdmin admin@example.com
  DocumentRoot /var/www/dada/cgi-bin
  ServerName your-domain.com
  
  AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
  Options +ExecCGI
  DirectoryIndex index.cgi

  <Directory /var/www/dada/cgi-bin>
    Options -Indexes -FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
  </Directory>

  <Location />
    Options -Indexes -FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
  </Location>

  ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/dada_error.log
  CustomLog /var/log/apache2/dada_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Save and exit the file. Finally, enable the virtual host with the following command:

sudo a2ensite dada.conf

Restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 6: Run Configuration Script

Navigate to the configuration module of Dada Mail by visiting http://your-domain.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi in your web browser. Replace your-domain.com with your registered domain name. You will be prompted to complete some configuration settings before starting to use the Dada Mail interface.

Conclusion

That's it! You have successfully installed and configured Dada Mail on an Ubuntu server. You can now use Dada Mail to create, manage, and deliver email campaigns from within a browser interface.

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