Chapter 4. Administration tool (Webmin)

4.1. Installing Webmin

To install we need to add packages to the system.

apt-get install webmin 
apt-get install webmin-core

This will then install the absolute minimum of packages needed to use Webmin.

Notice that the openssl package was installed by webmin. This package will be extensively used later by both LDAP and Apache.

The Webmin we have installed at this point is not really enough to do much good on the system. I like to start out with the following packages:

apt-get install webmin-inetd
apt-get install webmin-software
apt-get install webmin-sshd
apt-get install webmin-status

The above packages will let me do various tasks on the system, and while I have never actually used the webmin-software module, I can foresee an eventuality where it would be a nice thing to have.

4.2. Stop listening

Per default, Webmin listens on all interfaces. As this is a server which is exposed on the internet, I don't want this behaviour. I want Webmin to be exposed only on the internal network.

Webmin itself supports listening on all configured IP addresses, or one. It is not possible to listen on 2 out of 3 addresses, which is too bad.

I want webmin to be restricted to one IP address, which is done by the following little excersize:

Start a browser, and point it to the server on port 10000 using https.
Log in as root
Go to Webmin->Webmin Configuration
Select Port and adress
Enter IP to listen to
Save

Webmin has a habit of also listening on an UDP port 10000, which is used when other Webmin's wants to know what port Webmin is listening on.

This can be disabled by editing the file /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf, and comment ot the line wihch reads:

listen=10000

Restart the webmin

ember:~# /etc/init.d/webmin restart

Webmin should now only listen to the specified IP. If You want to use Webmin from the server itself, You will need to point it at the IP specified and not just use localhost.