Zammad on GCP - Developer Guide

Welcome to the Meetrix Zammad developer guide for Google Cloud Platform! Zammad is an open-source help desk that pulls email, chat, phone, and social media requests into one ticket queue, with a knowledge base and SLA tracking built in. With the Meetrix pre-configured GCP image, you can run it inside your own GCP project in minutes, without per-agent SaaS pricing.

This guide walks you through finding the product on GCP Marketplace, configuring the deployment, pointing DNS, creating the admin account, generating SSL, and managing the server. For pricing, features, and the AWS option side by side, see the Zammad store page.

Related Article

Zammad - Developer Guide (AWS)

Step-by-step guide for deploying Zammad on AWS using the Meetrix pre-configured AMI and CloudFormation.

Meetrix.IO • Binuka Ranatunga

Launch Zammad from GCP Marketplace

Step 1: Find the Product

1. Log in to your Google account.
2. Go directly to the product page: Zammad Helpdesk on GCP Marketplace
3. You can also browse all Meetrix products at the Meetrix Solutions Page.
4. You will see the following product listing page. Click Launch.

Step 2: Accept the Agreement

1. Select your GCP project from the project selector at the top.
2. Tick the terms and agreements checkbox.
3. Click AGREE.

Free Trial

This product includes a 5-day free trial with up to USD 50.00 in licence fee credits. To activate it, tick I accept the solution trial Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the deployment form before you click Deploy.

Configure Your Zammad Deployment on GCP

You will see the deployment configuration form. Fill in the fields across the following sections:

General

• Deployment name: A unique name for this deployment.
• Deployment Service Account: Use an existing account with the required roles, or create a new one.
• Zone: Select the GCP zone closest to your users.
• Machine type: Zammad runs PostgreSQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch next to the application, so give it room. e2-standard-4 (4 vCPU, 16 GB memory) is a good baseline for a small support team. Go larger for busy desks with many agents.

Networking

• Network / Subnetwork: Leave as default unless you have a custom VPC.
• External IP: Leave as Ephemeral so the help desk is reachable from the internet.
• Allow SSH (TCP port 22): Enabled by default. Restrict the source IP range if you want to limit SSH access to specific IPs.

Application Settings

• Domain name: The domain for your help desk (e.g. zammad.yourdomain.com). Point your DNS A record to the instance IP before or shortly after deploying.
• Admin email: Used for SSL certificate registration via Let's Encrypt.

Click Deploy and wait a few minutes for the deployment to complete.

Point DNS to Your Zammad Server

Step 1: Get the External IP

1. Once deployment is complete, click the VM instance resource name in the deployment details.
2. Copy the External IP from the Network interfaces section.

Step 2: Create a DNS A Record

1. Go to your DNS provider.
2. Add an A record pointing your Zammad domain (e.g. zammad.yourdomain.com) to the copied external IP.
3. Wait for DNS propagation before proceeding (typically a few minutes to 1 hour).

Access Zammad

Once DNS has propagated and SSL has been issued, visit your domain. Zammad opens its setup wizard instead of a login form. Choose Set up a new system, then fill in the Administrator Account form and click Create.

The wizard then asks for your organization name and an email channel. If you want Zammad to send and receive ticket mail through a server you also control, our Mailcow on GCP developer guide sets one up in the same project. Zammad also supports SAML and OAuth2 login, so you can put it behind the same SSO as your other tools with Authentik.

Generate an SSL Certificate for Zammad Manually

Zammad automatically tries to issue SSL for the domain name you provided during deployment. If that fails, for example because DNS had not propagated yet, generate it manually.

Step 1: SSH into the Server

1. Go to the VM instance page in the GCP console.
2. Click SSH to open a browser-based terminal and authorize access.

Step 2: Run the Certificate Script

The image includes a pre-configured certificate script. Run it with:

sudo bash /root/certificate_generate_standalone.sh

This script runs certbot using the domain name and admin email you provided during deployment.

Check Zammad Server Logs

SSH into the server as shown above, then list the running containers:

sudo docker ps

Zammad runs as several containers (the Rails app, websocket server, scheduler, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch). Pick the one you need and check its logs:

sudo docker logs <container_id>

Manage Your Zammad Deployment on GCP

Shut Down the VM

To stop the VM without deleting it, go to Compute Engine → VM Instances in the GCP console, select your instance, and click Stop. You can restart it later by clicking Start/Resume.

Delete the Deployment

To fully remove the deployment and stop all billing:

1. Go to Solution deployments in the GCP console.
2. Find your Zammad deployment.
3. Click Delete to remove all associated resources.

Upgrades

When there is an upgrade, we update the product with a newer version. You can check the product version in GCP Marketplace. If a newer version is available, back up your server data, delete the current deployment, and launch the product again using the newer version.

Troubleshoot Zammad on GCP

Insufficient Capacity Error

If you see an error stating there is not sufficient capacity for the selected machine type while deploying, try a different zone or try again later.

502 Bad Gateway

If you see a 502 Bad Gateway error when accessing your domain, the application is still starting up. Wait 5-10 minutes and try again. If it persists, check the container logs for Elasticsearch memory errors and move to a machine type with more memory.

Storage Full Error

Zammad's Elasticsearch index and ticket attachments can grow quickly on a busy support desk. If the application becomes unresponsive, SSH into the server and run:

df -h

If the root volume is between 90-100%, resize the boot disk from the Compute Engine console, then reboot the instance.

Conclusion

You now have a self-hosted Zammad help desk running in your own GCP project, with SSL and your own domain. From here, connect your email channels, invite agents, and build out the knowledge base. If you are also choosing an internal chat tool for the team behind the help desk, our Rocket.Chat vs Mattermost comparison covers the two most common self-hosted picks.

For questions about Zammad itself rather than the GCP deployment, the official Zammad documentation, the Zammad admin documentation, and the Zammad GitHub repository are the best starting points.

Technical Support

If you run into any issues, our support team is here to help. Reach out to us at support@meetrix.io and we will respond within 12 hours.