A company in Vienna called Grammm makes an open-source platform for business communication. Grammm is a digital workplace that has interfaces for common proprietary and open source programmes and is meant to help people communicate with each other worldwide. The provider believes the platform is safe to use. In addition, there are built-in apps for communication and collaboration that come with the computer. It has email, a calendar, video conferencing, chat, file sharing, and other apps for communication and collaboration.
Grammm is made in Vienna and is an alternative to the Exchange server.
People in Vienna say that the software is “the first fully working implementation of MAPI/HTTP anywhere” Is Version 2021.02 compatible with Microsoft Outlook? It is said to support Microsoft Exchange, among other things. Grammm with three “m” stands for “groupware and much more.” As a free download, the software can now be used by up to five people. In addition, the start-up has a commercial version that comes with help for bigger groups. Grammm is now called Grommunio.
The main core of Grammm is C++
The programming language of the platform’s codebase was developed in C++. Most of its components support RPC through the HTTP protocol. It also supports POP3, IMAP, SMTP, EWS (Exchange Web Services), EAS (Exchange ActiveSync), CardDAV, and CalDAV.
There is a grammm admin interface in the cockpit that you can use (part of the software that is not visible in the public demo version).
Thanks to the native Exchange protocols, Gramm doesn’t need a plug-in to work. Microsoft Outlook talks to the software like a Microsoft Exchange server does. More information about the architecture section of the grammm website can help you learn more. You can find it there. A web browser can also be used to get in. According to the announcement, the platform should be up and running in about a fifth of the time it takes for Microsoft Exchange environments to respond in a productive way.
A lot of people should be able to use grammm with a lot of different clients: It should be possible to mix and match Microsoft Outlook, macOS and iOS, Mozilla Thunderbird, Android, grammm Web, and Microsoft Windows Mail in any way you want. Users can keep working even when they don’t have an internet connection because of the Exchange cache mode. The platform will automatically synchronize the data when the internet connection comes back. A service called Exchange ActiveSync lets users get their data and public folders on different devices. This service is called grammm.
This is how the user interface looks in the demo version: Microsoft Outlook talks to grammm like it talks to an Exchange server.
Data encryption to keep data safe
According to the company, each user’s personal data is encrypted end-to-end and stored in a safe place. Users can choose where their communication data is stored: on their own server or with a hosting service of their choice. You can see how the grammm website works by clicking on the link. People who want to see it should be able to use Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac OS Mail, a mobile phone, or the web without installing extra software. To try it out, you enter the log-in information that was randomly generated on the website to get into the demo platform for a short time.
In the demo version of grammm, there is a mail interface with a random user profile.
Following the plan set out by the development team, the next release should come out in August of 2021. This will get even more support for Linux distributions, and there will also be native apps and a new admin interface to go along with it.
There are a lot of paid and free alternatives to Microsoft Exchange for people who want to look for other ways to keep in touch with their friends and family. The grammm repositories can be found on GitHub. The ISO file can be found on the grammm website, where you can also find instructions for how to start the quick start guide.
As of February 27, 2021, there was an update. The GitHub link has been added. A note from February 28, 2021: The provider has added a download link to the Quickstart information on that date.
Tutorial for using Grammm
Some simple tutorials in this chapter will help you set up your own grammm infrastructure.
Using the Grammm UI for admin
Using your browser, you can get to the UI after you’ve successfully installed the grammm ISO. The UI can be found at 8080. (8443 with HTTPS soon).
Domains
Click on the domain list in the drawer. This will take you to a list of all the already set up domains. If you just set up grammm, the table won’t have any food on it at first. If you want to show domains that have already been deactivated, check the box that says “show deactivated.”
Add domain to Grammm.
To add a new domain, click the blue “NEW DOMAIN” button. This opens a form.
The following can be changed:
- Domain: This is the name of the domain (it cannot be changed afterwards).
- Whether or not the domain should be active or not,
- Organization: The domain is organized in a way that makes sense.
- The maximum number of users (emails) of this domain must be met before you can use this domain.
- It is called “Title.”
- A place where you can find the address of the domain name
- The person in charge of the domain is known as the administrator.
- A hotline for problems: a telephone.
- Add to agree or cancel to change your mind.
Users
If there is at least one domain in the database, users can be added to a domain and become part of that domain. To show people who already use a domain, go to the domain view in the drawer.
When you click on a domain, the sub-pages that are available will open up. Then, click on Users, which will take you to the list of users for this domain. The list will not be filled in if you just installed grammm or added the domain to the list at this point.
Add a user to Grammm.
- Make sure you click the blue “Add a new user” button to get to the form:
- The following can be changed:
- Username: This is the name of the person who is using this app.
- Password: The user’s password
- Display name: The name this user will be shown as.
- Storage quota: the amount of space the user can use.
- Type: The personality of the person who is using it.
- Add to agree or cancel to change your mind. If you need to add more information about a user, you can click “Add and Edit” to get to the detailed view of this person.
Folders
If there is at least one domain in the database, folders can be added to a domain and become part of it. To see all the folders in a domain, go to the domain view in the drawer.
When you click on a domain, the sub-pages that are available will be shown. Then, click on Folders, which will take you to a list of folders for this domain. If you have just started using grammm or added the domain, the list will be empty until you do something else.
Add a folder to Grammm.
- Fill out the form by clicking the blue “New Folder” button. The form opens in a new window.
- The following can be changed:
- Folder name: The name of the folder
- It’s the type of folder that goes inside this.
- This is what people are saying about the subject.
- There are people who own this folder (multi-select of users in the database).
- Add to agree or cancel to change your mind.
Groups
If there is at least one domain in the database, groups can be added to a domain and become part of it. To see groups that already belong to a domain, go to the domain view in the drawer.
Then, click on a domain to see all the sub-pages. Click on Groups, which will take you to a list of groups from this domain. If you have just started using grammm or added the domain, the list will be empty until you do something else.
Hierarchical groups are built like a graph with no loops and no trees, but not like a tree. Thus, groups can have many parent groups and many children.
To show a list of groups, click the List tab. Groups can be shown in different ways, too. You can go to the Tree tab and click it to do this. Instead of a graph, different trees can be shown here in order to make sense of the complex structure of groups. Root groups can be chosen so that the cut-out of the graph can be shown as a tree with the group chosen as the root node. All of the children that are recursive will be shown.
Add a group to Grammm.
- If you want to start a new group, click the blue “NEW GROUP” button. This opens a form.
- The following can be changed:
- Groupname: The name of the group.
- How did this group get its name?
- Members of the group:
- Here is a list of the filters:
- Each member of a filter can be chosen.
Mail list
If there is at least one domain in the database, mail lists can be added to a domain if it has one. There is a drawer that has a view called “Domains.” In the drawer, click on “Domains.”
When you click on a domain, you’ll see more sub-pages. Then, click on “Mail lists,” which will take you to the list of mail lists for this domain. If you have just started using grammm or added the domain, the list will be empty until you do something else.
Add a mail list to Grammm.
- Fill out the form by clicking the blue “ADD MAIL LIST” button in the upper right-hand corner.
- The following can be changed:
- The name of the mail list
- mail list type
- If the type is “Domain”, the mail list privilege isn’t available to you.
- The people who get emails are called recipients.
- Email senders: people who send emails (only if privileged = specific).
- Add to agree or cancel to change your mind.
License
To get the most out of grammm, you can upload your licence by clicking Upload and selecting the licence you bought. If you don’t have a grammm licence yet but want to get one, you can click on “Packages” to get one.
The following licence information is shown:
- Product: What kind of grammm subscription do you get (Community, Business, etc.)
- When the licence was made: This is the date that it was made.
- The licence expires on the last day of the month.
- Users: The number of people on this licence at the moment.
- With this licence, the maximum number of users that can be made is 10.
Configuring grammm-dbconf
grammm-dbconf is an internal service that runs commands and actions when the configuration changes. These actions can be set up for each service individually.
Add grammm-dbconf file
It is important to write down what will happen when the configuration of a service called “servicename” changes in the file grammm-dbconf/servicename.
You can use pre-made commands to set up for changes to your keys, files, or services. These can be found on the Commands tab of the app.
It will run the next lower level command if there isn’t one for the command you want to run (service->file->key).
Mobile devices
When you open the drawer, you can click on mobile devices. This will take you to a list of mobile devices that have been synchronized. This view is based on the grammm-sync-top CUI that was used before.
A new view will show up on the devices every two seconds. Table filters can be chosen at the top, such as text-based search or the activity of the devices that are shown in a row.
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Taylor Gilbert is the admin and freelance writer at How About Tech since 2020. He primarily writes Tech articles, How-to guides and Entertainment as well.