How To Install the Webmin Control Panel on an Ubuntu 18.04 VPS or Dedicated Server

Hosting Expert less than a minute

June 2, 2022 3:47 PM

Webmin is a server control panel that lets you manage your server using a sleek modern interface. With it, you’ll be able to adjust to a myriad of settings as well as manage users/groups and software packages. In this tutorial, we’re going to install Webmin, do some basic configuration, and then secure access to the control panel.

Before going through the steps in this article, there are a couple of things to make sure of. First, make sure your LAMP stack has been installed and is running correctly. You should at least be able to get to the default Ubuntu index page on Apache and phpinfo() should be returning valid output.

Additionally, make sure to have a fully qualified domain name as we’re going to be securing our Webmin Panel using a certificate from Let’s Encrypt.

Installing Webmin

Add the Webmin Repository to the sources.list File
```
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
```
Add the following to the bottom and save the file then exit:
```
deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib
```

Add Webmin’s PGP Key

wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
sudo apt-key add jcameron-key.asc

Update the List of Packages Now That Webmin is Included
```
sudo apt update
```
Install Webmin
```
sudo apt install webmin
```

Securing Webmin

At this point, Webmin is running but you have to reference port 10000 on the IP/domain. We’re going to install a TSL/SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt and use Apache to proxy requests to Webmin on port 10000.

Create a New Apache Virtual Host File

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/yourdomainname.conf

Add the Following Text to the New File Then Save and Close the File

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin YourEmailAddress
        ServerName YourDomainName
        ProxyPass / http://localhost:10000/
        ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:10000/
</VirtualHost>

Open Webmin’s miniserv.conf File
```
sudo nano /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
```
Locate the Line
```
ssl=1
```
and Change It to
```
ssl=0
```
then Save and Close the File.
Open the Webmin Config File
```
sudo nano /etc/webmin/config
```
Add the Following Line to the Bottom of the File:
```
referers=YourDomainName
```
Restart Webmin
```
sudo systemctl restart webmin
```
Enable Apache’s proxy_http Module
```
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
```
Enable the Virtual Host
```
sudo a2ensite YourDomainName
```
Restart Apache
```
sudo systemctl restart apache2
```
Create Your Security Certificate
```
sudo certbot --apache --email YourEmailAddress -d YourDomainName --agree-tos --redirect --noninteractive
```
You should see some output indicating that you have successfully enabled https://YourDomainName.

Conclusion

Webmin is now installed, running, and you’ve secured the control panel.

As soon as you log in you will be on the Dashboard where you can get a quick overview of system health and see critical information such as update notifications. Use the left-hand menu to explore all the different tasks Webmin makes easier.