Disclaimer: Although I believe the information in this document to be accurate, it is YOUR responsibility to verify any information written within this document. By reading this document you agree this information is provided on an as-is basis, and you agree to hold no one liable in anyway for any information contained in this document. Even negligence.

Author: Ricky Bryce (Montgomery County, Illinois)

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Webmin (Web Administration)


Now, we are going to provide ourselves with an easy way to administer the server graphically. This document will assume you are logged onto your server as a standard user using PUTTY.


  1. Type su to become the super user.


  1. Now, we need to copy a link from the latest version of webmin. We will get a link to the RPM file since this is a redhat based system. Go to webmin.com, and let's see what the latest version is.




  1. It looks like the latest version today is 1.430. Click the link for the RPM file.


  1. Click cancel, because we do not want to save the file to our own machine.




  1. Right-Click the direct link, and copy the link location.




  1. In PUTTY, type RPM -Uvh (then space) then right click and paste the link location.




  1. Press ENTER, and webmin should install. This could take a very long time (an half hour or so) on slower systems, but when webmin is finished installing, you will be returned to the command prompt.




  1. Now, let's test webmin. Open your web browser, and type http://brycefamily.com:10000 into your address bar. That's port 10000 (ten thousand) You will substitute your own domain. Be sure to put a colon “:” between your domain name and the port #.



  1. Enter root as your username, and enter your root pasword to log into webmin. If you have a small VPS machine, logging in could be slow.




  1. Now, let's set up encryption for webmin, so we are not sending out the root password in plan text.

    1. Under the Webmin Category, click Webmin Configuration



    1. Now click SSL Encryption.




    1. Download and install the Net::SSLeay Pearl module.



    1. Verify the transaction was complete.




    1. Now, we need to set webmin to use the encryption we just installed, so go back to Webmin Configuration in the navigation tree on the left.



    1. Go back to SSL Encryption.



    1. Choose to Create a Certificate.



    1. Populate the fields on your form to create the SSL Key, then click “Create Now”


    1. The key should have been successfully created.



    1. Return to Webmin Configuration




    1. Go back to SSL Encryption



    1. Choose to enable SSL if available.




    1. Save your settings.


  1. Now, you will be asked to accept the certificate into your web browser. If your browser complains about the certificate, you may need to add an exception. Look at your screen closely. There should be a way to continue anyway. If you are using IE, there may be a bar at the top of your browser window to click on. We are not going to worry about getting the certificate signed by a trusted authority for this lesson.




  1. Now, access your server by entering https://brycefamily.com:10000 (substitute your own domain) Notice the letter 's' after http. This means you are accessing a secure site.



  1. Webmin is now configured, and ready for the root user to utilize.