How to Setup Ubuntu with Webmin on Azure/AWS/GCP
To install Webmin on Ubuntu or CentOS and run in any of the cloud platfors (Azure/AWS/GCP), the best way is to deploy the template from the marketplace. It setups Ubuntu or CentOS and automatically installs and fully configures Webmin for you. Click on the links below to deploy to your preferred cloud environment.
Webmin Features
Webmin is a program that simplifies the process of managing a Linux system. Normally you need to manually edit configuration files and run commands to create accounts, set up a web server and manage email forwarding. Webmin lets you perform these tasks and many more through an easy to use web interface and automatically updates all required configuration files for you. This makes the job of administering your system much easier.
- Create, edit and delete Unix Accounts on your system.
- Export Files and Directories to other systems with the NFS protocol.
- Set up Disk Quotas to control the amount of space available to users for their files.
- Install, view and remove Software Packages in RPM and other formats.
- Change your system’s IP address, DNS Server settings and routing configuration.
- Set up a Linux Firewall to protect your computer or give hosts on an internal LAN access to the Internet.
- Create and configure virtual web servers for the Apache Webserver.
- Manage databases, tables and fields in a MySQL or PostgreSQL Database Server.
- Share files with Windows systems by configuring Samba Windows File Sharing.
Webmin makes the process of creating Unix users, managing the Squid Proxy Server easy, LDAP Server, Mail server, Jabber, postfix mail, proFTPD Server, clustering setup, NFS and more.
Table of Contents
Getting Started with Webmin on Ubuntu Server
Once your Linux server has been deployed, the following links explain how to connect to a Linux VM:
- How to connect to a Linux VM on Azure
- How to connect to a Linux VM on AWS
- How to connect to a Linux VM on GCP
Once connected and logged in, the following section explains how to access the Webmin portal.
Access Webmin Configuration
Once the server has booted up and you are logged in via SSH terminal, the first step is to update the miniserv.conf file
From your SSH terminal run the following command:
Webmin Config on Ubuntu
For Ubuntu Server run the following command:
sudo nano /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
Webmin Config on CentOS
For CentOS server run the following command:
sudo vi /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
Edit SSL on Webmin Conf
Then scroll down to ‘SSL=1‘ and change it to ‘SSL=0‘
This is so you dont receive SSL errors when accessing the Webmin portal.
For Ubuntu:
Press Ctrl+O to save and then Ctrl+X to exit the config file
For CentOS:
Press i to enter insert mode. Change ‘SSL=1‘ to ‘SSL=0‘. Then press esc to exit insert mode. Then type :X to save and exit.
Run the following command to restart the Webmin services.
sudo /etc/init.d/webmin restart
Or if the above command doesn’t work try:
sudo /etc/webmin/restart
Access Webmin URL
Once you’ve edited the Webmin conf file you can now access the following URLs to access the Webmin portal using the servers IP:
http://PublicIP:10000
Or
http://PrivateIP:10000
Login using the root user and password.
Change Root User Password
If you want to change the root user password, simply run the following command:
sudo passwd
Create a new root user account
If you want to create a root user and password, follow this step.
Open up your terminal and run the following commands:
Use the adduser command to add a new user to your system.
Be sure to replace username with the user that you want to create.
Create Root user on Ubuntu
For Ubuntu run the following command to create a new root user account.
sudo adduser username
Set and confirm the new user’s password at the prompt. A strong password is highly recommended!
Follow the prompts to set the new user’s information. It is fine to accept the defaults to leave all of this information blank.
Add new user to SUDO Group
Now you need to add this new user account to the sudo group which will give it root access. Use the usermod command to add the user to the sudo group. By default, on Ubuntu, members of the sudo group have sudo privileges.
sudo usermod -aG sudo username
Create Root user on CentOS
To create a root user on CentOS run the following commands:
sudo adduser username
sudo passwd username
Add new user to SUDO Group
Use the usermod command to add the user to the sudo group. Members of the wheel group for CentOS users have sudo privieges.
sudo usermod -aG wheel username
You can now login to Webmin URL using the new account.
Webmin Support / Documentation
Refer to Webmin documentation on using Webmin on Ubuntu and CentOS:
Webmin Firewall Ports
If you have a firewall on your network/cloud infrastructure or Network Security Group in Azure/AWS/GCP you will need to make sure the following ports are open:
TCP 10000
To setup AWS firewall rules refer to – AWS Security Groups
To setup Azure firewall rules refer to – Azure Network Security Groups
To setup Google GCP firewall rules refer to – Creating GCP Firewalls
