Webmin? Good, Bad, Ugly?

[Adam McGreggor]

On Sat, Jul 21, 2007 at 01:53:18PM -0800, Damien Hull wrote:
> Is Webmin good, bad or just damn ugly?

I think the UI's hideous, and the app itself a bit hit-and-miss.

> I would like others opinions. I use Webmin for all my linux servers. I 
> know I should be using the command line. However, I work with a lot of 
> people that are new to Linux. They don't know anything about the CLI.

That's a reason I've installed it, a few times in the past; and all the
other 'management' tools (like CPanel &c) need to be incorporated at
install time, not after I've got a box the way I like it (in addition,
the other packages don't appear to give me a choice over some things,
like MTAs; which I'm quite fussy/prejudiced about).

> Other Questions:
> 
>     * Is Webmin a good thing for new Linux users ( server side not
>       workstation )?

Depends on how you define "good thing", and whether you want people to
learn skills/the art of vi and config files, or Just Get The Job Sorta
Done. For sorta getting the job done, Webmin can produce results which
don't need tidy-up; but like many things, *I'd* not leave people a login
and say "get on with it", I'd rather train them up. But, for some things,
it (webmin) does make things a lot easier for those less familiar (they
needn't be a n00b).

>     * Is there another option?
For delegating control? Well, sudo's your friend, traditionally... for
other options, depends, really on what you're wanting your colleagues to
do; if it's database creation, phpmyadmin/phppostgresadmin can do stuff
in a browser; swat can do samba, that sort of thing really.

Without knowing what you want people to do, it's a wee bit hard to say.

> All suggestions / opinions are welcome.

If it's working for you, (and you've locked it down appropriately (as
other posters have mentioned)) -- then perhaps it is the right tool; if
there are too many modules delegated, restrict them. If you need more
modules, there's not a shortage/write one.