From Kopano to grommunio: Running Modern Groupware Sovereignly in Your Own Data Center
We recently made an important move in our infrastructure: our existing Kopano environment was fully replaced with grommunio. The decision was made deliberately, for both technical and strategic reasons. In this article, we share the reasoning behind it, our current setup, and the benefits we’ve gained from the transition.
Why the Switch?
The new hardware requirements of Kopano were no longer economically feasible for our use case. At the same time, it was clear that we wanted to continue operating a powerful and sovereign groupware solution fully under our control and on-premises. grommunio turned out to be the ideal alternative. Its architecture and user interface are very similar to Kopano, yet it is far more resource-efficient, actively developed, and maintained within the EU.
Our Current Setup at a Glance
The new groupware platform is based on grommunio and includes all core functions:
- Email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and webmail
- ActiveSync support via zPush
- Integration of external clients via IMAP/SMTP, CalDAV, and CardDAV
- Authentication via FreeIPA
- High availability through integration into our Proxmox cluster environment
- Benefits in Daily Operations
- grommunio offers a range of advantages, especially for administrators familiar with Kopano:
- Familiar interface and similar configuration
- Full data sovereignty thanks to pure on-premises operation
- Multi-tenancy, ideal for internal and external mailboxes
- Compatibility with Outlook, Thunderbird, and mobile devices (iOS/Android)
- A dashboard to support configuration and operation
- Development and support within the EU, specifically from Vienna
- Important Considerations for Implementation
Running grommunio requires solid knowledge in email infrastructure, TLS, authentication, and DNS. While grommunio provides functional documentation and an active community, the scope of support is more limited compared to larger commercial solutions like Microsoft Exchange. In particular, functionality with Outlook may vary depending on the ActiveSync version. Security updates and system maintenance are entirely the operator’s responsibility, a factor that must be considered during planning and operations.
Conclusion: A Sovereign Transition for Kopano Users.
grommunio is a modern, data-sovereign groupware solution with a familiar user experience, making it a worthwhile alternative especially for former Kopano users. It combines full control over data with strong functionality and efficient resource usage, all developed in Europe, with its headquarters in Vienna.
