Guide to install Webmin on Ubuntu and securing it
In this post, I am going to explain how to install Webmin on Ubuntu and secure it to prevent unauthorized break-ins. Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any modern web browser, you can setup user accounts, Apache, explore files, setup cron jobs, DNS, file sharing and much more. Webmin removes the need to manually edit Unix configuration files, and lets you manage a system remotely. Several posts, such as, setting up MiniDLNA, backing up XBMC, and tracking a website’s social stats, published here take advantage of Webmin’s ease of use. Therefore, it is time we explain how to install Webmin on Ubuntu to help those of you who are not comfortable with commandline. Webmin Wiki is a very good place to visit if you have questions on any of the features in Webmin.
Let start and make sure we are up to date before we do our install
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Webmin requires certain other packages to be present for it to run smoothly. Use the following command to install the dependencies for Webmin
sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl apt-show-versions python
Now lets download the latest version of Webmin for ubuntu/debian
wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.791_all.deb
After the download completes we can install it using these commands
sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.791_all.deb
(optional) if you get an error during the install process try this command to correct the issue
sudo apt-get -f install
Webmin install complete. You can now login to https://LOCALHOST:10000/
as root with your root password, or as any user who can use sudo
to run commands as root.
Securing Webmin
You will notice that when logging in to Webmin you get the alert about connection not being secure
One you log in with a root/sudo user Click the webmin down arrow in the menu on the right and Click Webmin Configuration, Finally click SSL Encryption
Creating a SSL certificate we are going to click on the Lets Encrypt tab add your Domain or IP and click Request Certificate
Now your all set, allow for 15min for the certificate to propagate then you will see
