Now that you have been introduced to Webmin, let’s see what it takes to install Webmin and get started.

Where do I get the files/packages?

The latest RPM’s, .deb package and source files can be found at the following page:

http://www.webmin.com/download.html

Alternatively, you could download the selective package/version from Sourceforge.net:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/webadmin/files/

The Virtualmin files can be found at:

http://download.webmin.com/download/virtualmin/

e.g. http://download.webmin.com/download/virtualmin/virtual-server-3.77.gpl.wbm.gz

Installing Webmin using RPM:

RPM suitable for Redhat, Fedora, CentOS, SuSE or Mandrake Linux is at :

http://www.webmin.com/download/rpm/webmin-current.rpm

# wget http://www.webmin.com/download/rpm/webmin-current.rpm
# rpm -ivh webmin-*.rpm

+++++
warning: webmin-1.500-1.noarch.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 11f63c51

Preparing… ########################################### [100%]

Operating system is CentOS Linux

1:webmin ########################################### [100%]

Webmin install complete. You can now login to http://xxx.example.com:10000/

as root with your root password.

+++++

Once the RPM is installed, the files/configurations reside at /etc/webmin and /usr/libexec/webmin and the service webmin can be started/stopped using the following commands:

# /etc/init.d/webmin start
# /etc/init.d/webmin stop
# /etc/init.d/webmin status

And if you would want to uninstall Webmin, just remove the rpm. The first command would get you the exact rpm name and the second command would be to remove the rpm.

# rpm -qa|grep webmin
# rpm -e webmin-xxxx (here you should be giving the exact name of the rpm, you got just above)

Installing Webmin using Unix tar/gzip(from source):

You can get the compressed source files at:

http://www.webmin.com/download/webmin-current.tar.gz

Before you proceed with the installation, you might have to check few paths such as that of shell, and Perl.

The commands given below will help you locate the paths(in case they are in custom locations):

# which sh
# which perl

Steps for the install :

# wget http://www.webmin.com/download/webmin-current.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf webmin-*
# cd webmin-*
# sh setup.sh

The output for the install is highly verbose, and shouldn’t get you confused!

Uninstalling Webmin:

If you would like to un-install webmin at some point of time, you may perform it by running the uninstall script located at /etc/webmin/uninstall.sh

# sh /etc/webmin/uninstall.sh

+++++
Are you sure you want to uninstall Webmin? (y/n) : y

Stopping Webmin server in /usr/local/webmin-1.500

Running uninstall scripts ..

Deleted init script /etc/rc.d/init.d/webmin

Deleting /usr/src/webmin-1.500 ..

Deleting /etc/webmin ..

Done!

+++++

Installing Webmin- minimal version(from source):

If you want to keep the installation light, you can install the compact/minimal version! A minimal version of Webmin contains only the core API and programs, including a few modules required for its basic operation. The source can be found at :

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.500-minimal.tar.gz

The steps for the minimal version install is the same as outlined above for the full version – using source files.

Getting Started:

Post install, the panel can be accessed at http://Server’s_IP_address:10000 or http://hostname_of_the_server:10000 (provided your hostname has valid A records).

• First step after login to the panel is to set the hostname(if it’s not already set). Also check/provide the resolvers(usually provided by the datacenter).Networking > Network Configuration > Hostname and DNS Client (once changed, click save)
• To setup SSL (you might have to install Net::SSLeay perl module, if it is not already installed, from within the section mentioned below)Webmin > Webmin Configuration > SSL Encryption >under the tab SSL settings

  Select yes for the following options:

  i) Enable SSL if available?
ii) Redirect non-SSL requests to SSL mode?

  These options are important, as this is to make sure that authentication details are sent over network in an encrypted form.

• You may set up “panel access control” based on client IP/network from within the following section:Webmin > Webmin Configuration > IP Access Control

  Also, setup authentication options from within :

  Webmin > Webmin Configuration > Authentication

  In this section, make sure you have “Enable password timeouts” selected, and have set it’s timeout as per your needs. Also enable:

  i)Log blocked hosts, logins and authentication failures to syslog
ii)Enable session authentication
iii)Set Auto-logout after a fixed time-duration of in-activity(preferably about 15 minutes).

  Please be sure not to change anything apart from these options(unless you are sure of what you are doing)

• To access shell from within the panel(you might need Java enabled browsers, and a network that does not block SSH traffic).Others > SSH LoginThe panel is highly feature rich, and almost all features are self explanatory. You may check out various features on your own.

  Resources:

  A bit of caution is advised, as the changes you make, could adversely affect the server, if you are not quite sure about the exact implications. Personally, I would advise you to test them on the demo panel provided at:

  http://webmin.com/demo.html

  You may look for more information on the panel at:

  http://doxfer.com/Webmin/WebHome

  The various standard modules that are bundled with Webmin, are listed in the following page:

  http://webmin.com/standard.html

  The doc’s on various modules can be found at:

  http://doxfer.com/Webmin/Modules

  Part III of this series will mostly be a “how-to” for various common and advanced features of this powerful tool! Do check back soon!