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Current Stable Release:

SME Server 8.0 released on 25th May 2012

Under Development:

SME Server 9.

Information.png Tip:
Read more in a review by The Register: SME Server: A Linux server OS that's had 11 years to improve, November 17, 2010

SME Server

Welcome to http://contribs.org, the home of the SME Server. We're here to provide collaborative documentation of the SME Server project.

SME Server is a leading Open Source distribution for small and medium enterprises. It is a simple, powerful, secure Linux server for networking and communicating, used by thousands of individuals, companies and organizations all over the world. SME Server provides a friendly, free alternative to expensive proprietary software, standing apart from the competition by shipping with most common functionality preconfigured, and features a number of popular additional enhancements in the form of downloadable Contributions.

SME Server is built on CentOS using the publicly available open source Red Hat Enterprise Linux sources. It's advantages include:

  • Simple to set up and use
  • Secure and stable to operate
  • Cross platform and extendible to meet future needs
  • Open source and Free to use

SME Server provides the following standard functionality (See About SME Server for more detail):

  • Ease of Administration
  • File and print sharing
  • Sharing of a single Internet connection between multiple computers
  • A robust email server, which includes virus and spam filtering and webmail
  • A network firewall to protect against Internet intruders
  • Secure remote access
  • Directory services
  • Web application server, including support for Apache, MySQL, PHP and Python (LAMPP)
  • RAID and Backup
  • Automatic updates
  • Extendibility
  • Support for multiple languages
  • and much more ...

all managed through an intuitive web interface

The wiki menu bar at the left together with the links to the right provide comprehensive access to all the available Documentation for SME Server including details of the Community, Server Manuals (including screenshots), FAQ, Contribs and How To's. There are also links for Downloads, Bugzilla to report any bugs, and the vibrant user community Forums.

Many individuals and corporations contribute to the ongoing development of SME Server, which is made available freely under the GNU General Public License. This license requires the public release of any modifications to the server, and allows these to be used to improve later versions.

While SME Server is freely available under the GPL license, if you find SME Server useful we ask that you make a Donation in order to help keep this project alive.

Support

Support for SME Server is via the Community and it is highly recommended that you make yourself familiar with it and the Documentation (read this at least twice) before diving in. You should also read the Advice for new and existing users.

The three main methods of support available are:

Documentation
  • The Wiki documentation is the primary source of information for SME Server. This should always be your first port of call when seeking help and support for SME Server
  • 'Google' is your friend (as well as all other internet search engines)


Important.png Note:
Be aware that all the Manuals and the complete Wiki are currently undergoing a full review and proofing exercise to identify those areas, Chapters, Sections and paragraphs that need updating to reflect the current release, most often this is a simple change of release number from 7 to 8, but also can include changes to reflect minor changes to the interface and underlying system. Although this type of work is never totally complete it is hoped the majority of such actions will be finished by end of the first quarter 2013

Bugzilla
  • If you do something and it doesn't 'just work', or it doesn't work as per the Wiki, raise a Bug
  • If you want to do, or are trying to do, something which is not standard SME or not in the Wiki, ask in the Forums
  • For more information on Bugzilla see the Bugzilla Help page.
Important.png Note:
The place of choice of the Developers to solve problems is Bugzilla, so don't be afraid to use it.

Forums
  • Use the Forums if you want advice on how to do something not covered in the Wiki
  • Post to the Forums if you found or did something, and you think other people might find it interesting or helpful to share
  • If you don't know how to do something, or don't understand the Wiki, ask in the Forums
  • If you report a problem in the forums, and it relates to how standard SME Server, a Contributed Add-on or Howto should work, you will more than likely be directed to raise it as a Bug to be given structured advice and help you resolve it

Documentation

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Additional Documentation

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
HowTo's - Specific Help, Instructions and Tutorials

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Contributions

Contribs - SME Server Contributed add-on packages

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Categorised Contribs and Howto's

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Contribs and Howto's rated by Skill Level

Easy
Medium
Advanced
Developer

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Wiki Help

Help with reading and editing this Wiki
Language Template and Translation Help for this Wiki
MediaWiki Help with editing MediaWiki's generally

...and don't forget all the navigation links in the sidebar to the left.