Maintaining an enterprise wide server could become a daunting task. One of the main reasons I avoided many of the flavors of UNIX was due to the lack of a graphical user interface (GUI) to perform many of the perfunctory tasks of systems administration. The command line has never been a friend of mine. Given the option I would prefer to point and click my way through the mundane process of system administration.
Webmin is a web based graphical user interface that automates many functions
Make sure the aptitude function is available by issuing the following command.
sudo apt-get install aptitude
Now we should load the dependencies for Webmin.
sudo aptitude install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl
If the wget function is not installed or up to date issue the command below to put it in place.
aptitude install wget
Now we should manually install the required perl package. Issue the following command to get the package.
wget http://ftp.debian.org/pool/main/libm/libmd5-perl/libmd5-perl_2.03-1_all.deb
Issue the following command to extract the package
sudo dpkg -i libmd5-perl_2.03-1_all.deb
My Webmin package is stored on my server so I will fetch it now.
wget https://archbrooks.us/webmin_1.550_all.deb
Next install the package by issuing the following command.
sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.550_all.deb
Install the available packages by issuing the following command.
sudo apt-get -f install
Should a restart of Webmin be required issue the following command.
sudo /etc/init.d/webmin restart
You have successfully installed the Webmin application and are able to access it by issuing the following command.
https://your.domain:10000
This application allows the administrator to be highly productive by offering a environment that is conducive to successful administration of the enterprise server.
After the application initiates you my proceed by giving the root login and password.
This article was authored by Mr. Arch Brooks, Software Engineer for Brooks Computing Systems, LLC.