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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.
Around these parts, we call that Windows mister! And we don't like it, no sir. Devil's work I say, DEVIL'S WORK. A real man just needs a command line, his boots and his brain. Nothing more, nothing less.
Normally, books get an 8 or a 9 (nobody's perfect, and with so many books there's no reason to review a mediocre one).
Sounds like the editor may be headed for a one way trip in the candle truck, if you catch my drift.
I find it funny that the reviewer makes specific mention of the poor grammar in the book and then goes on to show that his is no better.
Why, for example, is the NFS module at chapter 4 while the Samba module is discussed in 43?
Because NFS is a unix feature, samba is a kludgy addon to play nice with windows.
Makes perfect sense to me, though I do agree with the criticism of Perens editorial skills as a whole.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
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.
Okay, no surprise that we've already got the obligatory: "CLI or DIE" posts. This is /. afterall. But, if we can put away the over zealous uberlinux advocacy for a minute, I'd like to offer some a positive defense for Webmin.
As a cat who occasionally works with at risk youth and adult computer literacy -- I personally find Webmin very useful for a simple reason... uhm, it's kind of simple. Especially when your target group is accustomed to working within Windows (and often nothing else).
Taking a kid (with a short attention span) and expecting him/her to gain immediate appreciation for a command line is like asking a republican to join you at a Pro Hemp rally -- it rarely happens, and almost never for the reasons you hope.
The same can be said for many small to mid-size business owners. They understand what they know and what they know is graphical representations of the underlying system that they use on a daily basis. Many would like to delve deeper, but simply don't have the immediate understanding of how to.
Trust me, it's far easier to take someone who thinks of linux as: that really hard to get OS, to take a shot when you can present many of the deeper OS configurations in a safe, understandable environment -- and what could be more understandable for the MTV generation than a browser?
I find it ironic that a user base as dedicated to expanding desktop acceptance and market share growth for their preferred OS would want to exclude and deride a product that provides growth potential.
----
#SickNotWeak
My take on it is that Webmin is a single program, so it runs as a specific user, but in order to admin multiple services, it needs root permissions. I like webmin, but I don't trust it.
For example, most Apache setups run apache as nobody (or some other non-login account) and save the config files as root. THis way, if someone hacks apache, they can't rewrite their own config files and get more privs. If someone hacks webmin, they have privs for everything that webmin administers.
You can make webmin run under a non standard port (actually I think it does by default), routable only locally, and accessable only via ssh. That is fine if you want it for Root only. Ideally, the user space stuff would run as the user specified, and I don't think that is the case.
Webmin is a step in the right direction. I think it needs some work on the security model to really be usable.
Open Source Identity Management: FreeIPA.org
Guess what buttons you should never be clicked on in this webmin page:
[Stop SSHD] [Stop LPD]
[Stop FTPD] [Stop LDAP]
[Stop SMBD] [Stop NFSD]
[Stop HTTPD] [Stop ETH0]
Did you find the answer?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
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.
Sorry about the editing stuff, I'll point your review out to Mark, the executive editor. My role is acquisition and overall series direction - I don't get involved in production.
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
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.
I've used webmin for something like 8 months now. i never had a need for a book but i must say that i LOVE webmin. the program is just about the best thing ever :-P
-I use webmin so that I don't have to remember all the man pages and switches for some CLI commands.
-Webmin shows some switches and configuration possiblities that you may not run across during your normal CLI sessions.
-It can help tweak your installations without trying a command 5 or 10 times until I get all the switches right.
-Sometimes just being able to hit the high port # (10000) when all the lower ports are closed can be a life saver too.
This sig has moved on
While I use a command line for just about everything I do, I have a business partner who can't seem to grasp the concept of the Vi editor, and I have forbidden him from using that atrocity of an editor, Pico. I've had simply no choice but to put webmin on our boxes we distribute only because it's the only way he can manage them. It also helps when you're installing one at a site that doesn't want a maintenance plan, but wants to be able to manage it all easily. Unfortunately, the computing world has changed so that people have become dependent on GUIs to step them through everything. I do give webmin quite a bit of credit, though, and if you use Usermin you can let users access the server through that to manage their accounts. It is a nice add-on for Linux, but I rarely use it unless I'm configuring something that has a script that's simply too difficult to edit by hand.
Rarely is it good for one to complain about grammar when one does not have a great grasp of it themselves. Any review is suspect in quality when it mentions (esp without examples) problems with "grammar and sentence contruction," and then proceeds to do be riddled with such itself.
So that I'm not a hypocrit, here is an incomplete list types of errors found:
"more than adequate, I'm well under way" should be "more than adequate; I'm well under way"
"Prentice Hall have a page for the book" should be "Prentice Hall has a page for the book"
"the lack of structure makes it unduly" should be "The lack of structure makes it unduly"
"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" should be "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." Seperating "if" and "then" should make sense to IT folk, even if they don't know what a conjunction is. The comma before the word "or" was improper, considering there was only two items being compared.
Oh, I could go on...but eh. I'm sure that my own complaint about the complainer's grammar has problems too...but ya don't see me writing a review on his review. Such things (reviews, that is) should be done with a little more editing...you know, that thing that supposedly (can we believe that?) was lacking in this book's publication.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Shop around. Couple copies at half.com and cheaper than amazon at overstock.com. Addall is very helpful when buying my textbooks..
Book of Webmin page at nostarch.com
Full disclusure: I am the acquisitions editor for No Starch Press
Hyperic Community Manager
When you are stuck at a place who's firewall rules don't allow you to shell to your box without using wierd connection methods like http tunnelling, webmin thru SSL is about the best alternative. I set up an email trigger with procmail to turn on the service so it isn't running all the time, and set limits on retries, after I found some logs of some dialup accounts trying to log into it. Anyway, I use it to read my spam proofed email, run apt-get for security updates, and write lyrics (saves me from having to email personal stuff to myself unencrypted over the network or lug a disk around).
One thing you might be missing if, like me, you prefer to do everything in a shell: Webmin makes it easy for you to provide limited admin access to the other IT guys in your department who don't know Unix. If you're anything like me, you are probably getting used to being stuck doing boring adminstrative crap on the Unix boxes because noone else is willing to invest the time to learn how to do it. Webmin will set you free! Between the built in modules and the ability to add "custom commands" (really a simple interface that allows CLI challenged folks to pass some arguments to a command and see the results) you can enable any moron to do basic unix system administration tasks. No more phone calls to reset a password, change an MX record, or restart the web server! Create user accounts that limit the modules available, pass out some logins, and all the Windoze guys see is a web interface with buttons, no more scary unix shell.
-Lod
Thanks
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Port 10000, Webmin's default port, is reserved by IANA for NDMP usage, a network data management service utilized by some backup softwares. I know this is a Webmin developer issue and not a book author issue, but it deserves to be mentioned in any comprehensive book on Webmin. Webmin installed from its native scripts or from RPM on a box that has backup software will barf at startup. Backup softwares installed after Webmin will barf at their startup. Not a good thing, something Webmin should have accomodated for by now.
BTW, I use Webmin all the time. Great product. I have wished out loud and in print that Red Hat had spent their "NT Admin migration" energy in a cooperative work on Webmin instead of on their distro's own python tools. redhat-config-print is a fine tool, but CUPS comes with a web interface and Webmin has modules for both CUPS and LPR. Focus, people! Focus!
-j
for administering linux. As a quick solution for managing Sendmail, DNS, MySQL and Postgresql, it does the trick.
For more complex Postgresql and MySQL functions you still need to use other tools.
Sendmail and Bind are the big things I use Webmin for. Sendmail's configuration files are so convoluted that screwing it up is easy. Webmin eases configuring Sendmail.
Also, I like using Webmin to add multiple IP addresses (virtual) to a single server. It's alot quicker and cleaner than hand editing the network scripts and interfaces.
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:
I'm the author of this book, so I thought I'd add a comment explaining why the chapters are ordered the way they are. Basically, they follow the categories that modules are grouped under in Webmin itself, so all the system, networking and hardware related topics are covered first (such as users and groups and managing printers), followed by chapters on servers like apache, sendmail and squid.
:-) Rather, you can just read the first few chapters that explain how to set things up, and then skip to the chapters covering the specific servers that you are interested in.
Because it wasn't really written to be read all the way through from start to finish like a novel, the ordering shouldn't matter too much to readers anyway