Chapter 6: Server and Daemon Configuration

Clicking the Servers tab on the Webmin category bar brings you to what is probably the most interesting of the Webmin pages. It is here that all of the various complex servers and daemons can be configured. Webmin provides standard modules for a large number of the most popular servers and daemons in use on network systems in the world today, and more are being written all the time.

Introduction to Servers

The Servers Webmin category allows for administration of the server applications that run on a system, which provide some service to clients on the network. One example is the Apache web server daemon. Clicking on the Apache icon in this category allows you to edit the Apache configuration files, which are usually located in /etc/httpd/ conf. Most modules located in Servers will enable you to edit some configuration file found in /etc or some subdirectory therein. One of the most impressive features of Webmin is the ability to allow you to edit files without damaging existing hand-edited configuration details.

Figure 6-1: Servers category

The root of much of Webmin's popularity is the ability for an administrator to perform some tasks through the Webmin interface without being forced to do all tasks with Webmin. Unlike some graphical front ends for UNIX systems, Webmin leaves an edited file intact as much as is possible. Comments are untouched, and the ordering of directives is not changed. This results in a system that can be configured through Webmin and through hand-editing of configuration files, but with no conflict between the two methods.

A side effect of this feature is that Webmin generally must provide a one-tooneinterface to configuration files in order to ensure that configuration options are not confused and to ensure that a savvy administrator gets what is expected from the Webmin output. This means that Webmin is not an 'easier' way to administer a UNIX system. The administrator still must understand the tools he or she is administering with Webmin. For example, configuring DNS from Webmin requires an understanding of named and its required configuration files. The same applies to squid, httpd, sendmail, and so on. Webmin can make the learning process somewhat quicker, however, as all of the options are present on the display, which may or may not be the case with configuration files.