Webmin is a web based tool to help manage your Linux system.

Let’s get started by downloading the official installer script.

curl -o setup-repos.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/webmin/webmin/master/setup-repos.sh

 % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  4876  100  4876    0     0  95607      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 95607

Execute the script.

sudo sh setup-repos.sh

Setup Webmin official repository? (y/N) y
  Downloading Webmin key ..
  .. done
  Installing Webmin key ..
  .. done
  Setting up Webmin repository ..
  .. done
  Cleaning repository metadata ..
  .. done
  Downloading repository metadata ..
  .. done
Webmin package can now be installed using apt-get install webmin command.

Let’s install Webmin now.

sudo apt -y install webmin

Once installed, we will need change the default port number and then allow this through the firewall (if you have one). To begin, edit Webmin config file miniserv.conf.

sudo nano /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf

Change the port value to a different number. Valid port numbers range from 1-65535, remember the first 1024 are considered reserved. 

port=11223

Save and exit the file.

If you have a firewall, allow this port access. I will also only allow local access to Webmin. I use UFW so here is the command for that. Of course, replace 11223 with the port you picked. Since I’m only allowing local access, then changing the port is just obfuscation.

ufw allow from 192.168.2.0/24 to any port 11223 proto tcp comment 'Allow Webmin'

Starting your browser, enter your IP address of your machine, colon, and finally the port number. For example 192.168.2.55:11223. You should see this prompt asking for your username and password.

The default username is root and the password is the same as what you used to sign into Linux as root.

Once you click Sign in, you should see the dashboard and it’s ready for your modification. But before you start let’s get rid of the root user and create your own user.

On Webmin’s Dashboard, click Webmin, then Webmin Users.

Then click Create a new Privileged user.

Fill in the Username, set the password.

Click to open Available Webmin modules.

Select the check box Select all.

This will select all modules, giving your user the same access as root. Next logout of Webmin and login as your new user. Checking you have access to all modules.

To delete the root user, go back to Webmin Users. Select the root user and click Delete Selected.

That is all for today, hope this was of some help to you. Good Luck!

Share this content: