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Managing Linux Systems With Webmin
The book is structured as 60 chapters, without any division into sections and I have serious arguments with the order of chapters; why are the chapters about configuring Webmin at the end, for example. That said, the book has a fine index and the usual two-level contents make it a fraction easier to find what you want.
I do, however, have a little digression about the 'Bruce Peren's Open Source Series,' of which this book is a member. Frankly, I think they all need, and deserve, a much stronger hand in editing. With this volume it is the bad structure and order; with "Intrusion Detection Systems with Snort" I found myself engrossed by the information and furious at the appalling grammar and sentence construction, particularly in the introductory chapters. The others in the series look significantly better at first glance but could still use better editing.
Once again we have an author or publisher who throws Linux into the title to make sure that it gets found by the greatest mass of likely readers while the tool described is more (not that I criticise the practice, they want to sell books.) Any *nix system can be controlled using Webmin -- including a great deal of Mac OS X not available through 'System Preferences.' Indeed, I'd recommend the tool to all OS X users who want to gain better control and install better tools for the underlying BSD layer in OS X. I use it myself for just this reason. If you run any other *nix system don't be put off by the 'Linux' in the title: very little of this book is Linux specific.
This one is well written -- Cameron has a light, informative style that I look for in a tech book. The book is well laid out, he gives good examples, good explanations and screen shots.
Cameron starts out with three introductory chapters on Webmin, its installation and security before launching into forty three chapters on using various Webmin modules, but with no real pattern to the order of most of the chapters. Why, for example, is the NFS module at chapter 4 while the Samba module is discussed in 43? I could list another half dozen examples without raising a sweat.
There is then a chapter on Usermin, the Webmin system for ordinary users. This is followed by three chapters on the server clustering system, a few on Webmin configuration and logging before the volume ends with chapters on building modules and themes.
Some of the chapters on the modules within Webmin border on merely stating the obvious, others are extremely useful. Overall they constitute a good manual to using the system, Webmin users who have not spent a great deal of time administering servers will find them particularly useful. The chapters on clustering, using Webmin on multiple servers to perform the same task at the once on many machines, are a good guide to administering and using this useful facility. I found the chapters on writing your own module more than adequate, I'm well under way to writing my first one after only a short time with the system and book.
One final complaint. Where in this book does it tell you how to start Webmin? I didn't want Webmin running from boot, so I answered No to that question and Webmin then ran. Nowhere did it tell me how to restart Webmin after I rebooted my computer and having the script 'start' in the directory specified as the config directory is a little less than intuitive.
Prentice Hall have a page for the book that has an author bio, the Preface and a sample chapter. Though this book is supposedly 'open content,' I couldn't find an electronic version anywhere. It might have helped, as it would give me a way to search the book faster.
In conclusion, this is a good book. With a little work on the structure it would be an excellent book, rising from a rating of six to an eight or nine. the lack of structure makes it unduly hard to find what you are after. I would recommend Webmin, as a tool, to almost everyone running a supported server. If you have no need for the section on clustering and writing your own modules you could buy The Book of Webmin for a few dollars less or browse the same book (even download a PDF version free) at Swelltech, which is less comprehensive but much better structured (and tells you how to restart Webmin). If you want a guide to Webmin that includes notes on writing your own module then this will do until something better comes along, or they release a second edition with greater thought to structure and order.
You can purchase Managing Linux Systems With Webmin from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I work at an Application Web Host Provider which has been providing web services to Fortune 500 companies for the last eight or so years. We have purchased an Enterpise WebMin license (which wasn't that expensive) but overall I'm not too impressed.
Since we run Windows 2003 on all of our administrative servers it was challenge to get the underlying PHP framework properly. We also found that it would allow us to kill processes on on our Red Hat 7.2 MySQL server clusters. There was also some minor latency effect on a couple of the Sun boxes we host although it sometimes subsides after all.
I do know that the programmer is planning on extending the application to allow support to SharePoint and other server suites.
Which is nice.
I run some apache servers, and I have a friend that runs dns on one of the boxes for me. I use his dns server, and he uses mine, so we have two each. But he's far more competent using foss software than I am, and he teaches linux 1 & 2, unix 1 & 2, and other related classes. So I lean on him for advice and knowledge.
He's helped to keep my apache and dns servers running for several years now without incident. For him to run dns for me, I've had to give him root access, and there haven't been any problems. He's insisted on some configurations for security reasons. One of the things he's insisted on is no webmin, because "it's insecure".
Can someone go over the security issues on webmin, and if they can be adequately compensated for?
Well, I've found Webmin extremely useful in getting an idea of what a certain server can do, what type of options there are, etc. Manpages are nice, but don't provide a quick oversight in the same way. Also, when configuring stuff using webmin, the fact that it's a gui makes it quite easy to correct mistakes, try new things, etc.
Later on, you can always dive into a config file or use the commandline directly.
We use Webmin primarily to administer our Bind servers... Like every other GUI, it has it's ups and downs. The ups would be that it (obviously!) makes it easier to administrate those horribly syntaxed named.conf files (Umm, did I put a } in front of the ; or after? Was there a space there? DAMN IT!).. The downs are, obviously, once you know the config files well enough, you have much more control over everything. Webmin, for example, by default puts it's zone files in /var/cache/bind. I was used to putting them in /etc/bind. It just makes it that much more frustrating when you have scattered zone files. I mean, it's not like it makes it any worse performance wise, but I like keeping neat and tidy systems. It seems that the old saying always rings true - "If you want something done right, do it yourself." That being said, I think Webmin is an awesome thing for people who don't necessarily have the time to sift through all the man pages and spend hours learning the context of a config file before they need to set up a simple web/dns/samba/whatever server for their company, or themselves. It's a great stepping-stone.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Stopping eth0 will, typically, though.
I pre-install Webmin on our Linux Virtual Private Servers. I think its a great tool.
It is a great help for setting up programs that require a fair bit of configuration. After you're done, you can look at the config changes that Webmin made. Next time around you are a bit more empowered to make the changes via the command-line.
Unlike some control panel software, it doesn't 'take over' your server. It doesn't overwrite RPMS with its own custom versions. It doesn't make config files 'Webmin only'
The help from within Webmin itself is not so great. Often you have to have a very good understanding of the service you're configuring before Webmin will make much sense. There is little contextual help in the program.
I've found The Book of Webmin to be quite useful. Plus I've created a few of my own HOWTOs for common tasks: