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Webmin Administrator's Cookbook
Webmin Administrator's Cookbook

Webmin Administrator's Cookbook: Over 100 recipes to leverage the features of Webmin and master the art of administering your web or database servers.

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Profile Icon Michal Karzynski
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$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (11 Ratings)
Paperback Mar 2014 376 pages Edition
eBook
$25.99 $28.99
Paperback
$48.99
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Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Michal Karzynski
Arrow right icon
$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4 (11 Ratings)
Paperback Mar 2014 376 pages Edition
eBook
$25.99 $28.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m
eBook
$25.99 $28.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $19.99p/m

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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Webmin Administrator's Cookbook

Chapter 2. User Management

In this chapter, we will cover:

  • Creating a Webmin user

  • Creating a Webmin group with access to specific modules and options

  • Allowing users to log in to Webmin with the system credentials

  • Creating Webmin users based on system accounts

  • Controlling who is currently using Webmin

  • Creating a system user account

  • Modifying a user's UID and other information

  • Temporarily disabling a user account

  • Creating and editing a system group

  • Changing a user's password

  • Exporting users and importing them into another system

  • Installing Usermin

Introduction


Webmin's user management features are quite sophisticated. You can use Webmin to manage users and groups on your system, decide which of them have access to Webmin, and which modules they will be allowed to see. You can also create special Webmin-only users, who will not have regular accounts on your system, but will still be able to access selected Webmin modules.

If you're the main administrator of a system, you can set up Webmin to allow other administrators to modify only selected parts of your system's configuration. For instance, you can allow sub-administrators to configure the Apache web server but not to change other settings. This particular workflow is so common, in fact, that a sibling product to Webmin called Usermin was developed to allow non-administrators access to a Webmin-like environment through which they can access databases, configure web hosts, set up cron jobs, and read local mail.

Note

Webmin distinguishes between two types of users:

  • Unix users (system...

Creating a Webmin user


The simplest way to grant someone access to Webmin is to create a Webmin user account for him/her. You can regulate which IPs the user will be allowed to log in from and even at what times during the week the access will be open. During account creation, you can specify what modules the user will have access to or which group he/she will belong to.

In this recipe, we will create a new user with access to only one module.

Getting ready

We will create a new user account with a single-use password, which the user will have to change after the first login. In order to use this one-time password, we need to enable a feature in Webmin. Perform the following steps to set the password expiry policy:

  1. Go to Webmin | Webmin Configuration | Authentication.

  2. Set the Password expiry policy option to Prompt users with expired passwords to enter a new one.

  3. Webmin's server process will restart; wait for a few seconds before continuing.

How to do it...

Perform the following steps to create a...

Creating a Webmin group with access to specific modules and options


Webmin users should be organized into groups. If you have more then one user whom you would like to equip with the same privileges, creating a group is the way to go. Webmin provides very granular permissions, which you can grant to each group. You can set the following three types of permissions:

  • Specify which Webmin modules are available to a group

  • Set global permissions, which apply to all modules

  • Set module-level access control settings, specifying which options of each module will be available

    Tip

    Permissions for an individual account can be configured with the same level of granularity.

How to do it...

In this recipe, we will create a Webmin group with access limited to viewing log files from the /var/log directory:

  1. To create a new Webmin group, navigate to Webmin | Webmin Users, and click Create a new Webmin group.

  2. Name the new group log_viewers, and supply a group description.

  3. In the Available Webmin modules section, select...

Allowing users to log in to Webmin with the system credentials


Webmin's default settings don't allow regular system users to log in to Webmin, but at least one user is allowed to log in after installation. Depending on the settings included in your Webmin package, that may be any of the following:

  • The root user

  • Users with unrestricted root access via sudo (specifically those with an ALL=(ALL) ALL rule)

  • The user created during manual Webmin installation

In this recipe, we will allow all users of a Unix group to log in to Webmin with limited permissions.

Getting ready

We need to begin by creating a standard Webmin account, which will be shared by all system users we grant access to. Refer to the recipe, Creating a Webmin user, for instructions, and create a Webmin account, named webmin_user, for instance, with specific permissions.

How to do it...

Follow these steps to allow members of a system group to log in to Webmin:

  1. Navigate to the Webmin | Webmin Users | Configure Unix User Authentication screen...

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What you will learn

  • Learn how to install, configure, and use Webmin
  • Set up file sharing over FTP, SFTP, NFS, and CIFS (Windows Networking)
  • Monitor the state of your server and analyze system logs
  • Get started with popular technologies such as WordPress, Drupal, and Django
  • Learn to manage files and folders on your system
  • Run an Apache web server
  • Set up web applications written in PHP and Python

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Mar 26, 2014
Length: 376 pages
Edition :
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849515849
Languages :
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Product Details

Publication date : Mar 26, 2014
Length: 376 pages
Edition :
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849515849
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

12 Chapters
Setting Up Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
User Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Securing Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Controlling Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Monitoring Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Files on Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Backing Up Your System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Running an Apache Web Server Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Running a MySQL Database Server Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Running a PostgreSQL Database Server Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Running Web Applications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Setting Up an E-mail Server Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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(11 Ratings)
5 star 18.2%
4 star 72.7%
3 star 0%
2 star 9.1%
1 star 0%
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Roberto Avilés Jun 12, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
A great resource for the people currently working in system administration, or wishing to move into the ‘sysadmin’ area, this book on WEBMIN, an open source (web-bases system configuration tool mainly written in PERL) ‘tool’ that allows us to control a system remotely, through the web, from any computer with a browser, describes in 12 chapters what it takes to use Webmin to get the most of your system, including tips on clustering functions. Chapter 1 is about Setting up you system, Chapter 2 on the User Management, Chapter 3 Securing the System, Chapter 4 about Controlling it, Chapter 5 Monitoring, Chapter 6 about Managing Files, Chapter 7, Backing the System, Chapter 8, Running an Apache Web Server, Chapter 9, Running a MySQL Database Server, Chapter 10, Running a PostgreSQL DB Server, Chapter 11, Running Web Applications and Chapter 12 is about Setting Up an E-mail Server.This well written book contains many examples that will guide you through the many packages and tools Webmin provide. Every chapter is a step-by-step guide through procedures that enable us to install, control and get the most of our specific system. Is a well written book, you will forget this is a technical one and soon it will be your swiss knife on your desktop or shelves, for every problem you need to solve related to the administration of your system.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Angelo Caruso Jun 08, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Often a Linux appliance, on a real or virtual machine, is the best way to go for effectively put up a service in your network. Then a friendly way to administer this server becomes a primary need, specially if you, as me, are not a system administration guru!Webmin is the best answer I know to this need and its primary advantage is it doesn't add further complexity to the situation.This book covers with a very practical approach most of the tasks you should perform administering a system using Webmin, from installing the webmin tool itself to put up a database or email service, without requiring you to become a guru or even knowing commands and all the complexities behind them.I regret only the book not being available when I began experimenting Webmin, now it is, so I recommend you to get a copy!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
BRANKO BOGUNOVIC Jun 01, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
Webmin Amin Cookbook, gives you a good introduction of Webmin tool in everyday administration work. It is mostly suited work Linux based (Debian/Fedora) OS and is good alternative to the some commercial tools such as CPanel.Content of the book is well written and it is easy to follow. Some chapters (3 Securing Your System,5 Monitoring System and 7 Back Up) are very interesting and useful particular from the view where everything is possible to to in Webnin without using bash in the console. However some other chapter in my opinion are just brief introduction to the larger scope databases(MySql and Postgres) and web server(Apache) and I would recommend some other more specialized books on these topics. Overall I recommend this book to everyone how has any kind of connection with administrating Unix based OS.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Geek On The Hill Jul 20, 2020
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
If you're moving from some other Web server control panel to Webmin / Virtualmin, and you're clueless about it, this book will serve as a good introduction to how the Webmin panel works.On the other hand, it's somewhat out-of-date; so although you'll be in a better place than you were before, you'll still have to educate yourself on more recent developments.In fairness, however that's true of pretty much anything in IT. By the time a book gets to press, it's already starting to get obsolete. So if you need to learn Webmin / Virtualmin, this is as good a way as any to start learning as any. Just be aware that you'll still need to bring yourself up to date.Richard
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Jun 02, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
I'm glad some one put out a resource for Webmin. After reading several reviews I came to the conclusion that Webmin was the best software to use for my VPS. This textbook did the trick. A few things I tried didn't work however and I had to search through other documents (hence the 4 stars)... The book is well laid out and maybe jumping around chapters screwed me up. Webmin is a great program if you want a OS alternative to CPanel. Good book for a great program. Give it a try.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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