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Managing Linux Systems with Webmin: System Administration and Module Development (Bruce...
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by Jamie Cameron
Sales Rank: 401742
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List Price: $54.99
$38.49
At Amazon
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Paperback: 816 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR August 15, 2003
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0131408828
ISBN-13: 978-0131408821
Product Dimensions:
9.1 x 6.9 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
Product Description
Written by the creator of Webmin, this book explains how to use the most popular Webmin modules to perform common administration tasks on a Linux system such as adding users, configuring Apache, setting up NFS file sharing and managing the Sendmail mail server.Each chapter covers a single server or service, and is broken down into sections that list the steps required to carry out certain tasks using Webmin. The chapters also provide some background on the service being configured and the basic concepts behind it.Cameron also explains how to develop your own Webmin modules and themes, and includes a complete reference for the API that is available to module writers. He dissects each of the standard modules and themes so that programmers thinking of writing their own can see how they work, and what kind of coding style is used.Webmin is a browser-based user interface for performing system administration tasks on Linux and Unix servers.Part of the Bruce Perens' Open Source Series
Back Cover Copy
I am more than satisfied (actually impressed) with how much system administration is possible from Webmin. Comprehensive and convenient, just about any administration I've done is covered here, along with several areas that I've hesitated to explore.
--Karel Baloun, Sr. Software Engineer, Looksmart, Ltd.
Easy, browser-based Linux/UNIX administration with Webmin--step by step
Webmin gives you an easy, browser-based solution for virtually any day-to-day Linux/UNIX administration task. Now, there's a definitive Webmin guide for every beginning-to-intermediate sysadmin. Written by Webmin's primary developer, Managing Linux Systems with Webmin delivers authoritative, step-by-step coverage of the latest version of Webmin, from basic installation to centrally managing multiple servers. Coverage includes: - How Webmin works--and how to install and secure it
- Using Webmin to configure basic system services, including filesystems, users/groups, and printing
- Configuring Apache, Sendmail, Squid, Samba, MySQL, PostgreSQL, FTP services, and more
- Cluster modules: configuring multiple systems from one master server
- Webmin modules: configuring Webmin itself
- Full API documentation and instructions for writing your own Webmin modules and themes
Jamie Cameron walks you through more than 50 essential Webmin tasks--offering all the background you need, step-by-step instructions, extensive screen captures, and listings of the underlying configuration files that are being modified. Whether you're new to Linux/UNIX system administration or you simply want an alternative to the command line, Managing Linux Systems with Webmin will be an indispensable resource.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Webmin is a pretty neat tool for administering a server using a GUI, particularly remotely. Managing Linux Systems with Webmin, written by Webmin's author Jamie Cameron, is an extensive look at using and extending it, a good guide not without flaws. 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. 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.
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Managing Linux Systems with Webmin: System Administration and Module Development (Bruce...
List Price: $54.99
Available from Amazon
Price: $38.49
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