Looking for some feedback on Virtualmin / Webmin as Control Panel. I currently have a VPS with cPanel / WHM however I am moving to a dedicated and don't think I'll be using it on the new server. I don't really plan on reselling other than offering hosting to friend and family so I don't feel the need for cPanel in all it's glory.
However with Webmin and/or Virtualmin GPL, am I able to recompile the server build for hardening the server?
IE: putting on suEXEC etc.?
I know with cPanel I can do this with WHM, but does Webmin and/or Virtualmin GPL allow this?
Also, how well does it handle creating shared accounts for people to have their own domain hosted. I know how to do it manually, IE: SSH, just would rather a handy web interface to do all that for me.
--Please don't suggest Virtualmin Pro, as I'm not looking to pay $180/year at this stage for something I'll not use much. Down the track I might upgrade, but not planning on it just yet.
Howdy,
First, what I'd recommend is Webmin + Virtualmin (whether that's GPL or Pro is up to you). But Webmin and Virtualmin work in conjunction -- Virtualmin is a Webmin module.
It's straight forward to install. If you're starting on a fresh OS install, you could simply download the install.sh file, run it, and it'll setup all the goodies for you -- Apache, BIND/DNS, Postfix, SpamAssassin, ClamAV, etc.
Webmin/Virtualmin try to give the admin plenty of flexibility (which is a large reason I moved to it in the first place).
That is, Virtualmin doesn't care whether or not you use suexec -- that's an admin decision, not a Virtualmin one. And Virtualmin can work with either.
That said, from a security standpoint, suexec is super -- and a version of suexec compiled for use in /home is provided in the Virtualmin software repo (and is installed by default when setting things up with the install.sh).
While using suexec works out of the box with the Pro version, it's something you'd need to manually configure with the GPL -- but details on doing that are here:
http://www.virtualmin.com/node/8462
As for your last question -- I'm not 100% sure I know what you're asking -- but I can offer that as you setup a "Virtual Server" (or "domain" in cPanel-speak), it automatically creates a system account for you. You can configure how that works -- whether it should be SSH, just FTP, or what.
You can add additional admins for each Virtual Server you setup -- or you can simply add FTP-only accounts for people who should only have access to certain areas.
I hope that helps!
-Eric
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback.
So with Virtualmin GPL I can have it (manually clicking through menu's) rebuild the server kernel or what-not so that suEXEC is installed? I have it setup on my VPS atm and personally would like to do the same thing with new server.
If Virtualmin GPL allows me to configure "virtual server" (IE: domains) then all the more power to it :) If only the webmin / virtualmin gpl demo's were up and running >.<
If you install Virtualmin GPL using the install.sh, you'll have a version of suexec that's all ready to go.
The only thing you'd need to do is follow the instructions in the forum thread above to configure Apache to utilize it for things like PHP apps.
As far as demo'ing Virtualmin GPL -- one way to do that is to setup something like VMware on your desktop, then install a Linux distro with Virtualmin inside a VMware Virtual Server.
-Eric
Had a feeling I'd have to setup a virtual server. Only just over a week until I get my new server anyway. Thanks for the info!!
Ok - bit delayed, finally got things going now :D
Running virtualmin gpl. Would just like to comment that looks like (by default) SuEXEC gets turned on for users home directories etc. etc. So all is good there, however it isn't labeled as it says in the thread linked, nor in the location mentioned. :)