One-Stop Linux Administration with Webmin

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April 6th, 2000, 05:39 PM

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Very nice product!

This is a very nice piece of software, I found it to to work quite well with my Red Hat 6.2 system and will be consulting with my school sysadmin about it to see if it makes sense for us to run it. I think this software is quite user friendly, which is a big plus to those that don't have much of a clue. However I guess one drawback is it is very sloppy with Lynx. Many people who run full on servers don't use X because it uses more resources so they will be using text mode. I tried it with Lynx, it can be done but is quite hard to follow. Overall I would say it is worth it and those that run servers should try it and see what they find out. Also, once done using it you should be sure to shut it down because with it left open there is bound to be an attack on it. I will be looking into this soon. Download it and try it, it's cool.

April 9th, 2000, 06:12 PM

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Re: Very nice product!

I agree. I have actually been using Webmin for a long time on my Redhat 6.1 web server. It helps a lot with administration, especially since the computer is co-located in a different state and I can't simply walk up to the machine and start typing away in the console. If you're going to have webmin running all the time, make sure it's secure. I have it configured where it will only run under a subdomain assigned to my computer by my web host. I also built several layers of password protection. It'd be pretty hard to get in.

April 9th, 2000, 09:07 PM

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Re: Very nice product!

How did you layer the password protection??

Keith

April 9th, 2000, 10:53 PM

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Re: Very nice product!

I modified the program's code to include a username/password screen that takes the information from a database. That, of course, is after they pass the .htaccess-like authentication that comes with Webmin.

April 10th, 2000, 02:31 AM

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Re: Very nice product!

One way (allbeit long) to do this is by using Apache (if available) and PHP for authentication purposes along with .htaccess. Here is an example of the code that you can use for this purpose:


<pre><xmp>
<?PHP
if (!isset($PHP_AUTH_USER)) {
header('WWW-AUthenticate: Basic realm="My Private Junk"');
header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
echo 'Authorization Required.';
exit;
} else if (!isset($PHP_AUTH_USER)) {
if (($PHP_AUTH_USER != "admin") || ($PHP_AUTH_PW != "abc123")){
header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="My Private Stuff"');
header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
echo 'Authorization Required.';
exit;
} else {
echo"
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Hello</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>It Worked!</H1>
</BODY>
</HTML>
";
}
}
?>
</xmp></pre>


You should place this code around the

<pre><xmp><HTML></xmp></pre>

tags. Where I have the

<pre><xmp><HTML></xmp></pre>

tag is where you should insert the contents of the page. This applies to authenticating pages in general but may be used along with Webmin. Rather than having it up using it's own server you can use what you may already have and save on the processes. I never even looked at what Webmin uses. Well, just a thought for those of you with Apache and PHP.

April 10th, 2000, 02:33 AM

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Re: Very nice product!

Ooopsy, I forgot to give webmonkey.com credit for most of the code I used. It's universal code I know but they gave me the idea so I give them credit for the majority of it.

April 11th, 2000, 06:40 AM

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FreeBSD

Can webmin be configured for FreeBSD and is there any particular issues I need to consider before doing this. I am using FreeBSD 3.1 with Apache and MySQL 3.19
Thanks

April 11th, 2000, 08:25 AM

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I've used it for a year...

and it's wonderful. It really helps me a lot. I have different kinds of servers bsd macosx and redhat and I can really recommend it especially if you are using redhat cos' it's one of the best "webmin supported" systems.

April 11th, 2000, 08:31 AM

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Re: FreeBSD

I have FreeBSD 3.3 and it works just fine !
I am using it a long time already. Also mysql 3.22.... is supported correctly.

#10

April 12th, 2000, 08:56 PM

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Compare with linuxconf via browser?

How does this compare to linuxconf via web browser?

#11

April 13th, 2000, 12:20 PM

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Re: Compare with linuxconf via browser?

There's not even a close comparision. linuxconf is very basic, and it pretty tricky to use. If you're already using linuxconf take a look at some of the screen shots on www.webmin.com/webmin and you'll see what I mean. One of the great things about Webmin is that there are tons of people writting additional modules for it, wheras linuxconf dosen't have any modular abilities (that I'm aware of).

Another great benifit is that Webmin works on about every version of Linux out there. Every linux distrubution is alittle different, but if you know how to use Webmin you can get stuff done no matter what distrubution it is.

Keith

#12

April 15th, 2000, 06:43 AM

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Re: I've used it for a year...

It also works very well with SuSE Linux and I heartily recommend installing it.

YaST, the config program that comes with SuSE, is a breeze to use, but can be fussy about telnet clients. Webmin solves all those problems.

#13

April 15th, 2000, 11:46 PM

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SSL

I have been using this for sometime.. I would make one minor sugestion though.... Setup wEBMIN WITH OPEN ssl!!!

#14

April 17th, 2000, 01:15 AM

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Help with apache

Hi to all,
this is one heck of a cool tool, i start using it three days ago and and i really love it , i don't have the default apache running on the system "it's installed but does not run on start up" i did install the latest version of apache in /usr/loacl/apache and i start it manually every time , is there a way to let webmain see this apache and not the default one ????????? thanks..

#15

April 18th, 2000, 08:51 PM

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Re: Help with apache

You need to do the "Module Config" to tell Webmin where your Apache install is. This incldes the apache binary (httpd) and the paths to apachectl for the "start" and "stop" function.

If you put apache in /usr/local/apache and retained the stock directory hierarchy, then your path to the binaries would be:

httpd:
/usr/local/apache/bin/httpd

Start apache command:
/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl start

Stop apache command:
/usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl stop

To get apache to start when the system boots, you have to install the httpd script (not binary!) in /etc/rc.d/init.d and then create symlinks to it in the appropriate /etc/rc.x directories. There's a URL out there that points right at a good tutorial on doing just this. EMail me and I'll reply with the URL when I find it later tonight...

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