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This tutorial will explain how to install and configure Request-Tracker 3.6 on Debian Etch with postfix and fetchmail, use fetchmail to retrieve emails from the mail server and inject them into RT.
Preparing your system
Install Postfix, fetchmail using the following command
#apt-get install postfix fetchmail
Select “Internet Site” when prompted
Install MySQL Server 5 using the following command
#aptitude install mysql-server-5.0
Install Request-Tracker Apache2 package using the following command
#aptitude install rt3.6-apache2
Install Request-Tracker 3.6 using the following command
#aptitude install request-tracker3.6
Configuring Request Tracker
Request Tracker Configuration file located at /etc/request-tracker3.6/RT_SiteConfig.pm you need to edit this file using the following command and change the required configuration.
# vi /etc/request-tracker3.6/RT_SiteConfig.pm
# RT_SiteConfig.pm
#
# These are the bits you absolutely *must* edit.
#
# To find out how, please read
# /usr/share/doc/request-tracker3.6/NOTES.Debian
# THE BASICS:
Set($rtname, ’support.example.org’);
Set($Organization, ‘example.org’);
Set($CorrespondAddress , ’support@example.org’);
Set($CommentAddress , ’support-comment@example.org’);
Set($Timezone , ‘Europe/Brussels’); # obviously choose what suits you
# THE DATABASE:
Set($DatabaseType, ‘mysql’); # e.g. Pg or mysql
# These are the settings we used above when creating the RT database,
# you MUST set these to what you chose in the section above.
Set($DatabaseUser , ‘rtuser’);
Set($DatabasePassword , ‘wibble’);
Set($DatabaseName , ‘rtdb’);
# THE WEBSERVER:
Set($WebPath , “/rt”);
Set($WebBaseURL , “http://host.example.org”);
Mysql Database Configuration
Create MySQL user
First set up root password
# mysqladmin -u root password myrootpassword
Create the user “rtuser” :
mysql -u root -p
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON rtdb.* TO ‘rtuser’@'localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘wibble’; FLUSH PRIVILEGES; QUIT
Set up RT database :
# /usr/sbin/rt-setup-database-3.6 --action init --dba root --prompt-for-dba-password
You should see something like the following :
Password:
Now creating a database for RT.
Creating mysql database rtdb.
Now populating database schema.
Creating database schema.
readline() on closed filehandle SCHEMA_LOCAL at /usr/sbin/rt-setup-database-3.6 line 223.
Done setting up database schema.
Now inserting database ACLs
Done setting up database ACLs.
Now inserting RT core system objects
Checking for existing system user…not found. This appears to be a new installation.
Creating system user…done.
Now inserting RT data
Creating Superuser ACL…done.
Creating groups…3.4.5.6.7.8.9.done.
Creating users…10.12.done.
Creating queues…1.2.done.
Creating ACL…2.3.done.
Creating ScripActions…1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.done.
Creating ScripConditions…1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.done.
Creating templates…1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.done.
Creating scrips…1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.done.
Creating predefined searches…1.2.3.done.
Done setting up database content.
Configuring Apache
Set up Apache2
Add the following to /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default
Paste at the end of the file just before the closing virtualhost tag
Include “/etc/request-tracker3.6/apache2-modperl2.conf”
RedirectMatch ^/$ /rt/
Enable mod rewrite
# cd /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/
# ln -s ../mods-available/rewrite.load .
Restart Apache2
# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Finally you need to login to rt and grant CreateTicket and ReplyToTicket to the group Everyone.
http://host.example.org/rt/
Login as user “root”
Password is “password”
Configuration > Global > Group rights
Set up a queue :
Configure > Queue > New queue
You can rename the general queue to whatever you want
Create your first SuperUser :
Configure > Users > New User
We’ll call it SupportJedi
Then :
Configure > Global > User Rights > Set SuperUser right to SupportJedi
You may want to edit the templates provided by RT by default :
Configuration > Global > Templates
The most interesting templates are autoreply and resolved.
Configuring Fetchmail
Setting up fetchmail
Edit /etc/default/fetchmail
# vim /etc/fetchmailrc
Set START_DAEMON=yes
save and exit the file
Prepare log files
# touch /var/log/fetchmail.log
# chown fetchmail /var/log/fetchmail.log
Edit /etc/fetchmailrc
set daemon 60
set invisible
set no bouncemail
set no syslog
set logfile /var/log/fetchmail.log
# support@example.org
poll pop.example.org
protocol pop3
username “login-of-support-mailbox” password “verysecretpassword”
mda “/usr/bin/rt-mailgate-3.6 --queue support --action correspond --url http://support.example.org/rt/”
no keep
# support-comment@example.org
poll pop.example.org
protocol pop3
username “login-of-supportcomment-mailbox” password “verysecretpassword”
mda “/usr/bin/rt-mailgate-3.6 --queue support --action comment --url http://support.example.org/rt/”
no keepThis howto assumes the mailboxes are created on the email gateway, it’s going beyond the scope of this article though.
The mda line tells fetchmail what to do upon reception of a new email.
You can select the queue in which the mail should be injected, the action can either be “correspond” for customer correspondances while “comment” is for internal comments on a ticket.
Restart Fetchmail
# /etc/init.d/fetchmail restart
Logs go in /var/log/fetchmail.log
You can now try to send an email to support@example.org, the mail would be retrieved by fetchmail and injected into RT.
The requestor will receive an autoreply email (see template autoreply).
Configuration tips
1. You should set up an “Administrative CC” on the support queue. You’ll get an email notice whenever a new ticket is created or a reply from the customer has been received.
2. I noticed that if you create a ticket from the web interface of RT and add an email address in the CC field, the email specified in the CC will not get the email at the creation of the ticket, only on response made to it. (while AdminCC’s are notified)
You must create a new scrip in Configuration > Global > Scrips with the following properties :
On Create Notify Ccs with template Correspondence
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