Howto: Webmin Free Control Panel with Usermin and Virtualmin on Ubuntu 8.04

[dejitarob]

Webmin (http://www.webmin.com) is a free and open source web-based control panel for Linux system administration. It is very feature-rich and simple to use, a worthy contender with cPanel and Plesk imo. Webmin provides .deb files to make installation easier, however there is some configuration necessary to get it working with Ubuntu 8.04 that took me a little bit to figure out. Webmin goes well with an OpenVZ (http://openvz.org) VPS (see my howto (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=929106)). See http://www.webmin.com for more info.

Virtualmin is a Webmin module (also comes as a standalone package) for managing multiple domains with a single host. Once installed it creates another tab named Virtualmin when logged into Webmin. Usermin is another useful Webmin module that provides more automation of user administration.

I used to set it up manually but now recommend just using Virtualmin's install script. It supports Ubuntu 8.04 and will automatically install the necessary packages (including Webmin and Usermin) and configuration. It is available at http://webmin.com/vinstall.html

Make sure you have the universe repositories (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu) enabled before installing. If you run into problems check the log at /root/virtualmin-install.log

Check out http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/id,virtualmin_on_low_memory_systems for ways to save memory with Virtualmin. There are some good specifics in the sample config at the end too.

[cmileto]

ty!!

[dileepa]

Excellent howto , how ever when I try to create a new domain using virtualmin I get this

Failed to create virtual server : Cannot write to directory /etc/postfix/virtual


and the account creation progress is like this

Creating administration group test.mydomain.com ..
.. done Creating administration user test ..
.. done
Creating aliases for administration user ..
.. aliases failed : Cannot write to directory /etc/postfix/virtual at ../web-lib-funcs.pl line 1010.
Adding administration user to groups ..
.. done
Creating home directory ..
.. done
Creating mailbox for administration user ..
.. done
Adding to email domains list ..
.. Mail for domain failed! : Cannot write to directory /etc/postfix/virtual at ../web-lib-funcs.pl line 1010.
Adding new virtual website ..
.. done
Adding Apache user www-data to server's group ..
.. done
Setting up scheduled Webalizer reporting ..
.. Webalizer reporting failed! : Cannot write to directory /etc/postfix/virtual at ../web-lib-funcs.pl line 1010.
Creating SSL certificate and private key ..
.. done
Adding new SSL virtual website ..
.. done
Setting up log file rotation ..
.. Log file rotation failed! : .. the log file /home/test/logs/access_log is already being rotated at ../web-lib-funcs.pl line 1010.
Creating MySQL login ..
.. done
Creating MySQL database test_mydomain_com ..
.. done
Creating FTP virtual server ..
.. done
Adding ProFTPd user ftp to server's group ..
.. done
Creating Webmin user ..
.. done
Adding virtual IP interface for 192.168.103.16 ..


Can you give any idea why this happens ?

Many Thanks ,
D

[dejitarob]

Excellent howto , how ever when I try to create a new domain using virtualmin I get this

Failed to create virtual server : Cannot write to directory /etc/postfix/virtual
What is the output of
ls -al /etc/postfix | grep virtual

Mine is
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3328 Nov 7 16:27 virtual

If your's is different, do

chmod 644 /etc/postfix/virtual
chown root:root /etc/postfix/virtual

[dejitarob]

I now recommend just using Webmin/Virtualmin's install script. It supports Ubuntu 8.04 (possibly 8.10 too) and will automatically install the necessary packages and make configuration changes I outline below. It is available at http://webmin.com/vinstall.html

[brack]

I'm trying to use the instal.sh script from virtualmin site and first I tried it with apache2 already working and it gives errors during installation, then I decided to try on clean machine, and script worked longer but still I get
Error: An error was detected in the new Cron configuration : <pre></pre> <pre>0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /etc/webmin/status/monitor.pland after that whenever I try to ran apt-get I see following respond:
Errors were encountered while processing:
virtualmin-base
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
I dont have an idea what else to do.

[dejitarob]

What version of Ubuntu are you running?

What is your output of 'crontab -l'?

Can you attach a copy of /var/log/apt/term.log ?

Also, try 'sudo dpkg --configure -a'

[infallible]

The install.sh scripin the linkyou provided does not work with my install; it fails when it discovers webmin is not in the repositoried for intrepid. However, the .deb package here (http://superb-east.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/webadmin/webmin_1.450_all.deb) installed with these instructions (http://webmin.com/deb.html) worked out for me.

[dejitarob]

The install.sh scripin the linkyou provided does not work with my install; it fails when it discovers webmin is not in the repositoried for intrepid.Yes I believe the script has a warning when you run it that it's only for 8.04 unfortunately. When installing with the .debs I needed some manual configuration, see my first post above.

[binbash]

Nice tutorial thanks

[brack]

What version of Ubuntu are you running?

What is your output of 'crontab -l'?

Can you attach a copy of /var/log/apt/term.log ?

Also, try 'sudo dpkg --configure -a'

I run ubuntu 8.04 server, 'crontab -l' returns 'bash: crontab: command not found' and lastly 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' doesnt do anything

After following this tutorial "http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu8.04-lts-p6" I was able to setup server manually, then disabled suexec and set the document folder to /home/user/public_html but keep getting " You don't have permission to access / on this server." now.

[brack]

new try of installation of virtualmin returns the same errors:
Displaying the last 15 lines of /root/virtualmin-install.log to help troubleshoot this problem:
Configuring resolv.conf to use local DNS server
Enabling status monitoring
Error: An error was detected in the new Cron configuration : <pre></pre> <pre>0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /etc/webmin/status/monitor.pl
</pre>
Error
-----
An error was detected in the new Cron configuration : <pre></pre> <pre>0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /etc/webmin/status/monitor.pl
</pre>
-----
dpkg: error processing virtualmin-base (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
virtualmin-base

The virtualmin interface starts on port 10000 and checking configuration returns this:
The status of your system is being checked to ensure that all enabled features are available, that the mail server is properly configured, and that quotas are active ..

BIND DNS server is installed, and the system is configured to use it.
But the very next time I login there I requires me to check configurations. Basically the only thing that I can do is to check configurations.
'sudo dpkg --configure -a' now goes through setting up virtualmin-base but hangs on the line 'Configuring resolv.conf to use local DNS server' Dont know how to skip this or something.

[brack]

Ok, even I get all errors above I could manage to use webmin and setup virtual server through Webmin, (not through Virtualmin) and looks like everything is working. there where some permission problems but I fixed everything manually. specially this is the only xen machine that I had problems to install stuff via install.sh script, other machines setup perfectly fine, even on the same pc. Dont have much time to sort this problem, will do it next month.

[dejitarob]

I honestly don't know what to say. If you don't have crontab there might be something really messed up with your Ubuntu install. Do you get these errors on a clean install? I've used the script about 20 times for installing OpenVZ VPSs at my work and never had a problem.

[brack]

Ok, the problem is solved. When I was creating this xen machine I used buggy script - it didnt make swap so there was only virtual memory. Now I fixed the script, and I have swap and virtualmin installed without single problem.

[Radio91]

If you are using the installation script on a VPS with a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.x do you still have to manually take steps to secure the server or does the installation script handle this?

[dejitarob]

If you are using the installation script on a VPS with a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.x do you still have to manually take steps to secure the server or does the installation script handle this?
Good question. I think it depends on how secure you want your server and what you are using your server for. The Virtualmin installer script does a pretty good job of providing a base level of security I believe--it won't leave your server as an open relay for example. But it's not going to setup a firewall for you, or SSH restrictions, suphp, etc.

[Radio91]

cheers

Can you point to a good step by step Howto tutorial for setting up a decent level of security in ubuntu 8?

[SwellJoe]

"setting up a decent level of security in ubuntu 8"

It should have a "decent level of security" out of the box. ;-)

Firewalls have limited utility in a virtual hosting environment...the services you want to use need to be available to everyone, so you can't firewall them. Services that you don't need shouldn't even be running, so firewalling the port is meaningless. You can make use of stateful firewall rules to do clever things like block large numbers of new connections on important ports like ssh (the connection will be "ESTABLISHED" or "RELATED" once a session is started with a user, so lot of new connections is suspicious and might indicate a brute force attack, for example). But, this isn't necessarily the most important use of your time when it comes to security.

The most important security concepts are very simple, but a lot of people get them wrong:

1. Keep your system up to date. In a system with many services running, there will occasionally be security issues discovered. So, you need to update immediately when fixes for security issues arrive. This is the leading attack vector used against servers. You cannot run out of date software on your system. Ubuntu provides apt-get, and has a good security response history, so as long as you stay on top of Ubuntu-provided updates (and you're taking advantage of the Virtualmin.com apt-get repository for those packages), you'll be way ahead of the game on security.

2. Strong passwords. Never use weak passwords, even for low-powered accounts. A strong password is 8+ characters in length, has numbers and letters and optional punctuation and is not based on dictionary words.. Gaining low-level shell access is the first step in an escalation attack, and so even a simple account can be dangerous (particularly if you forget to update your system, and a new local exploit is discovered).

3. Don't run unnecessary services. Every piece of software running on your system is a potential attack vector. The less you run, the safer you are. So, figure out what services you need, and make sure any you don't have been shut down.

There's all sorts of snake oil security advice out there, but a lot of it is just distraction from the important stuff. If you do those three things...then you can look around for other hardening advice. But don't get distracted from the core security principles.

For Virtualmin specific advice, if you'll be sharing your box with other users, you'll want to switch to running all scripts under suexec. This is the default for regular CGI scripts in Virtualmin GPL, but PHP still runs under mod_php (which means as the Apache user), so switching to suexec+FastCGI is recommended. If you don't share your box, or only with trusted users, then this isn't a very big deal. suexec makes web applications run as the user that owns the virtual host in which they run, which prevents them from snooping on other virtual hosts data, among other things.

We've covered this process a few times in our forums at Virtualmin.com, and this is the mostly definitive thread with a HOWTO:

http://www.virtualmin.com/node/8462

[dejitarob]

Thanks for the informative post Joe. The exploits I've seen and fixed in my limited experience as a sysadmin were nearly all due to #1 and #2. Then there's always the problem with end users getting their passwords stolen due to trojans on their own boxes but not much you can do about that besides having some damage control in place, which you also outline.

[Radio91]

Awesome joe thanks a lot!

Does the virtualmin script update ubuntu to the latest version or do you have to do that yourself?

[dejitarob]

It definitely doesn't change your Ubuntu release (which isn't necessary to have the latest security updates) and I don't believe it updates your packages either. But the latter is real easy to do with a simple
apt-get update; apt-get upgrade

[Radio91]

Yeah thanks I wasn't sure if those commands would update to an entirely different version release or just update to latest version of my current release.

[dejitarob]

Yea just updates currently installed packages. To go to the next release: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading

[Radio91]

Dam it the install script failed

Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...

FATAL - Fatal Error Occurred: Something went wrong during installation: 0
FATAL - Cannot continue installation.
FATAL - Attempting to remove virtualmin repository configuration, so the installation can be
FATAL - re-attempted after any problems have been resolved.
FATAL - Removing temporary directory and files.
FATAL - If you are unsure of what went wrong, you may wish to review the log
FATAL - in /root/virtualmin-install.log


Just trying to figure out how to open this log now

[dejitarob]

nano /root/virtualmin-install.log
or
less /root/virtualmin-install.log

[Radio91]

the log file tells me nothing of use anyway!


INFO - 2009-06-15 23:52:14 - Removing Debian apache packages...
DEBUG - 2009-06-15 23:52:14 - Reading
INFO - 2009-06-15 23:52:15 - Installing dependencies using command: /usr/bin/apt-get --config-file apt.conf.noninteractive -y --force-yes install postfix postfix-pcre webmin usermin ruby libapache2-mod-ruby libxml-simple-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl unzip zip quota
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - Fatal Error Occurred: Something went wrong during installation: 0
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - Cannot continue installation.
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - Attempting to remove virtualmin repository configuration, so the installation can be
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - re-attempted after any problems have been resolved.
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - Removing temporary directory and files.
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - If you are unsure of what went wrong, you may wish to review the log
FATAL - 2009-06-15 23:52:16 - in /root/virtualmin-install.log

[dejitarob]

Hmm, is there anything above that first line you posted "Removing Debian apache packages?" Every now and then I run into a snag having to do with a package. It will usually say somewhere in the log what package it is and just requires it to be installed manually. At least this is my experience.

[Radio91]

ahh i found something:

INFO - Removing Debian standard Webmin package, if they exist (because they're b roken)...
INFO - Removing Debian apache packages...
INFO - Installing dependencies using command: /usr/bin/apt-get --config-file apt .conf.noninteractive -y --force-yes install postfix postfix-pcre webmin usermin ruby libapache2-mod-ruby libxml-simple-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl unzip zip quota
...in progress, please wait...
.E: Couldn't find package libapache2-mod-ruby

/usr/bin/apt-get --config-file apt.conf.noninteractive -y --force-yes install po stfix postfix-pcre webmin usermin ruby libapache2-mod-ruby libxml-simple-perl li bcrypt-ssleay-perl unzip zip quota failed. Error (if any): 0

[dejitarob]

Yup! That's really weird. That same package sometimes gives me trouble too. It seems random and I can't reproduce it (I'm always installing on OpenVZ VPSs running Ubuntu 8.04 with all the standard repositories enabled). Maybe it is a bug though if others get it too. What release of Ubuntu are you running?

You can fix it with:

apt-get install libapache2-mod-ruby and then run the script again.

[Radio91]

its 8.04 updated with the commands you gave me above

[Radio91]

it cant find it apparently:

apt-get install libapache2-mod-ruby
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package libapache2-mod-ruby

[Radio91]

at a loss with what to do now

[Radio91]

Ok after a bit of digging and asking on the virtualmin forums I found the problem.

The Version of ubuntu that was installed on my VPS never had the universe repository added to the /etc/apt/sources.list.

I added the following lines:

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates universe

deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security universe
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security universe

and then ran apt-get update

The install script now seems to work.

Hope some other newbi find this useful ;)

[Radio91]

Are there any step by step howto's on how to setup DNS servers in Virtualmin Im a little confused

[dejitarob]

What are you trying to do, run your own nameserver? From what I understand you can disable BIND unless you really need your own nameserver.

[Radio91]

well iv setup my VPS with virtualmin and its all running sweet but I cant use the providers nameservers so I assume I will have to setup my own nameserver? Id rather avoid this if possible and use somthing like godaddys free dns service but Im not sure how this will work with the virtual servers and their associated domain names ect..

[dejitarob]

Check with your domain registrar. They should have some kind of DNS interface you can use with their nameservers to change the @, www, and MX records of your domain to the IP address of your VPS. If not, I'd transfer to a registrar that knows what they are doing hehe. I work for http://4domains.com and we have a free DNS management interface, which is pretty standard among established registrars.

If you do actually want to run your own nameservers you will need two separate IPs and then register them. Your registrar will have to do this for you.

[Radio91]

Well I can edit every aspect of the DNS at godaddy via total DNS control but how will the effect the running of virtualmin and setting up virtual servers for clients and mail accounts for them ect..?

[dejitarob]

You will have to do the same with their domains too. The other option is to run your own custom nameservers and have them set their domains to your custom nameserver.

[Radio91]

Yeah id rather avoid using custom namesevers if possible and just disable bind saving ram.

[dejitarob]

Check out http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/id,virtualmin_on_low_memory_systems for other ways to save memory. There are some good specifics in the sample config at the end too.

[Radio91]

Iv got it resolving to my ip address but I cant get the mail servers to work at all.

[dejitarob]

Not sure what you exactly mean by that (sending, receiving, bounce backs, etc?) but does /var/log/mail.log give any clues?

[Radio91]

I managed to get the Dns and nameservers set up OK but I have one final issue that I cant see to resolve.

In virtualmin system information ProFTPd FTP Server is not running, when I try to enable it I get the following error:

Failed to start service :

* Starting ftp server proftpd
* warning: unable to determine IP address of 'ns1.mydomain.com_'
* error: no valid servers configured
* Fatal: error processing configuration file '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf' ...fail!

I tired to edit the /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf and remove the _ from the end of ns1.mydomain.com but its not in that file.

There is no typos in /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname

/etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
94.xx.xxx.xxx ns1.mydomain.com ns1
94.xx.xxx.xxx ns2.mydomain.com ns2

hostname is returing ns1.mydomain.com which is correct but

hostname -f is returning:

hostname: Unknown host

Which makes no sense!

Any idea whats going on here?

[Radio91]

anybody got any idea where this might be?

ns1.mydomain.com_

[Francewhoa]

Great post thanks dejitarob.

@all: If you're are an absolute beginner I wrote a how-to handbook at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1197883 It covers installing Virtualmin, Webmin & Usermin on Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS.