Guides - Deploying Webmin through the Linode Marketplace

Webmin is an open source interface for Unix system administration that offers an easy to use graphical interface for managing user accounts, DNS, file sharing, and more. Webmin alleviates the need to use the command line to edit Unix system configuration files and allows you to configure your system easily from a simple web interface.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Note

Estimated deployment time: Webmin should be fully installed within 2-5 minutes after the Compute Instance has finished provisioning.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Debian 10
• Recommended minimum plan: All plan types and sizes can be used.

Webmin Options

Limited User (Optional)

You can optionally fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited user for your new Compute Instance. This is recommended for most deployments as an additional security measure. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permission when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user.
• Password for the limited user: Enter a strong password for the new user.
• SSH public key for the limited user: If you wish to login as the limited user through public key authentication (without entering a password), enter your public key here. See Creating an SSH Key Pair and Configuring Public Key Authentication on a Server for instructions on generating a key pair.
• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes (recommended). You can still switch to the root user once logged in and you can also log in as root through Lish.

• Enable passwordless sudo access for the limited user? Select Yes to disable SSH password authentication for your limited sudo user as an additional security measure. Requires an SSH Public Key for SSH access to your Linode.

Additional Security Configuration

• Configure automatic security updates? Select Yes to enable automatic security updates for your Linode.
• Use fail2ban to prevent automated instrusion attempts? Select Yes to enable SSH login protection with Fail2Ban as an additional security measure.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to access your application using a custom domain, fill out the following fields.

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

• SOA Email for your domain The email address to register as your Start of Authority (SOA). This field is required for creating DNS records for a new domain.
• Do you need an MX record for this domain? Select Yes to automatically configure an MX record for the purpose of sending emails from your instance.
• Do you need an SPF record for this domain? Select Yes to automatically configure an SPF record for the purpose of sending emails from your instance.

Getting Started after Deployment

Webmin is now installed and ready to use.

1. If you filled out the optional Webmin configuration fields:

   • In the Cloud Manager DNS Manager, confirm that there is now an entry for your domain with possible subdomain, MX, and SPF records pointing to your new server.
   • Configure rDNS on your Linode to point to your new domain name.

2. Webmin is served on port 10000. To access Webmin, navigate to either the IP address of your server, or to your domain name followed by port 10000. For example, entering http://example.com:10000 or http://203.0.113.0:10000 while replacing the domain name or IP address with values for your server will allow you to reach the Webmin login screen.

   

3. At the login screen, login using either:

   • The system root username and password
   • The sudo username and password if you set that up in the Webmin optional configuration during installation.

4. Once logged in, you will be taken to the Webmin dashboard, where you can see various statistics and controls for your server.

Note

Currently, Linode does not manage software and systems updates for Marketplace Apps. It is up to the user to perform routine maintenance on software deployed in this fashion.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• Webmin Documentation
• Webmin on GitHub
• Webmin Tutorials