Managing Linux Systems with Webmin: System Administration and Module Development (Bruce Perens' Open Source) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The book's author, Jamie Cameron, is also the main developer of Webmin. When you read the book you realize that he is first and foremost a command line administrative guru. However, he wanted to develop something to help novice admins get important jobs done quickly without getting bogged down in learning syntax.

The book has a useful "Contents at a Glance" page at the start which is handy when you want to quickly look up a common administrative task. Then there is the main "Contents" section which contains all of the chapters' subtopics and titles. The end of the book contains a very thorough index. Although the book has 60 chapters, the author did not bother to explicitly divide them up into sections. On my first glance at the book, it seemed as though the chapters were not very logically ordered, but upon further inspection I realized that they follow the general ordering of the modules within the Webmin application. The one exception is that the chapter on configuring Webmin itself is found close to the end of the book although it is the very first module in the actual application. If I had to split the book up into sections, I would do so as follows: Introduction/Installation, System Modules, Networking Modules, Hardware Modules, Miscellaneous Modules, Server Modules, Usermin, Clusters, Webmin Configuration, Custom Module Development, and The API.

The book starts off with a rather short but efficient introduction, installation guide and security suggestions for Webmin. Maybe a few more ideas should have been included in the "Securing Your Webmin Server" chapter. I'm sure security is a topic which many admins would like to see emphasized because of the general mistrust of granting power to a remotely accessible administration system which might easily allow a hacker or ignorant admin to take down a critical server.

Webmin lets you perform many high-level tasks without ever knowing what files on the server are being affected. For myself, as a programmer who sometimes gets involved with administration work, I have configured sendmail services using Webmin many times and I have just let it work its magic without worrying about the file changes being made. This book, in addition to explaining usage of the application, fills in the details of what is going on behind the scenes.

I believe Webmin is a great tool for junior administrators or hobbyists to learn Unix-based administration as long as a book like this one is used so the processes are thoroughly understood. This book probably won't be of much use to a professional administrator with lots of experience and a repertoire of scripts to handle all daily admin tasks. Although, if you are a pro and have grown weary of tedious command line work, this book will help you quickly get up to speed with the Webmin interface.

I found that the book also introduced me to a few concepts I had only heard about but had not really bothered to delve into more, such as Usermin and Clustering. Usermin is basically a trimmed version of Webmin meant for use by the average user on a system. I can see this being used in cases where an administrator wants to give users enough power to control their own email and website settings without giving them shell access. The author devotes three chapters to clustering and explains its usefulness, management and configuration.

At the end of the book you will find a number of useful chapters on creating your own Webmin modules, including explanations of standard module flow structuring, API function descriptions, and a sample dissection of the default theme structure. This section alone may be reason enough for some to purchase this book.

The writing is fairly clear, although as I mentioned before, some of the unusual chapter ordering and missing section divisions are distracting. All in all, this book is a very thorough explanation of the Webmin administration interfaces as well as an introduction to the lower level work being done by the interface, and a short but informative section for those wanting to create their own modules.

Not only does this book teach you all the things that you can do with Webmin, it is an excellent general Linux tutorial. The author goes into details about each subject (including what command line programs are run or which config files are changed by Webmin) and provides the meaning behind each setting. Along the way, you learn things that you didn't know existed or couldn't figure out how to do. For example, I had no idea I could mount a folder from a Windows machine without using samba or NFS. If you need to set up Raid, LVM, Apache Web server, Samba, the list goes on... this is the book.

If you need to set up Linux in a home or small office with Windows file sharing, internet gateway, web and mail hosting, DHCP server, etc., you should buy this book.

This book is not about installing Linux or server software (such as Apache, BIND, or MySQL). Rather, it guides one through both the installation of Webmin --making sure your Webmin installation is complete and secure-- and the use of Webmin to administer practically *everything* on your Linux machine. And, it does an excellent job of accomplishing these goals!

For those new to Linux, this book provides information on making your server easy to administer via the friendly Webmin interface. For the seasoned Linux/UNIX Administrator, this may provide you the turn-key solution for setting up Junior Admins with the appropriate levels of access and configurability. For small shops looking to find more cost efficient and reliable solutions, Webmin may be the final piece needed to turn these prospects into reality. Jamie's task-oriented book makes mastery of Webmin simple and straightforward.

There are many impressive aspects of Webmin, including the fact that Webmin is available for almost every major Linux and UNIX distribution. This can provide those in a heterogeneous environment with a higher level of interface uniformity, thus reducing the complexity involved in administering several disparate systems. Also impressive are the modular nature of Webmin development and the highly extensible Webmin API (for creating your own custom modules). I highly recommend this book both for those getting their feet wet in Linux/UNIX administration and those looking for an effective alternative to command line management.