Cannot re-install Webmin - out of memory

Webmin
1
SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version Ubuntu 24.04.3
Webmin version 2.510

I’m trying to re-install Webmin but keep getting out of memory errors. Running Ubuntu 24.04.03 with 4GB of RAM on a virtual machine. I have other servers with less RAM that installed Webmin just fine.

Screenshot 2025-09-26 at 9.33.06 AM
Screenshot 2025-09-26 at 9.33.06 AM2442×388 94.5 KB

The install eventually completes, but something goes wrong because then I cannot access Webmin in the browser. It logs me in, but never fully loads, and eventually the Webmin process is killed by the server because it runs out of memory.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

2

Just my opinion I would never attempt a re-install.

Webmin/Virtualmin instructions are very clear must be installed on a clean grade A OS.
everything should already have been put on a backup so I would, and have done so, start with a new VM then go from there.

3

I agree, unfortunately I had no choice. This problem started yesterday during a normal system update. Webmin was one of the items to get updated. During its setup, the out of memory errors started. I then tried the uninstall/re-install.

4

This is what I see when checking its status:

webmin.service - Webmin server daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/webmin.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-09-26 09:14:03 CDT; 2min 33s ago
    Process: 4388 ExecStart=/usr/share/webmin/miniserv.pl /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 4389 (miniserv.pl)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 4616)
     Memory: 3.6G (peak: 3.6G swap: 3.8G swap peak: 3.8G)
        CPU: 1min 58.271s
     CGroup: /system.slice/webmin.service
             ├─4389 /usr/bin/perl /usr/share/webmin/miniserv.pl /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
             ├─4390 /usr/bin/perl /usr/share/webmin/miniserv.pl /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf
             ├─4413 /usr/bin/perl /usr/share/webmin/authentic-theme/stats.pl 560
             ├─4455 /usr/share/webmin/syslog/index.cgi
             ├─4801 sh -c "(vmstat 1 2 2>/dev/null)"
             └─4802 vmstat 1 2

Sep 26 09:14:00 wiki systemd[1]: webmin.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Sep 26 09:14:00 wiki systemd[1]: Starting webmin.service - Webmin server daemon...
Sep 26 09:14:00 wiki perl[4388]: pam_unix(webmin:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty= ruser= rhost=  user=root
Sep 26 09:14:03 wiki webmin[4388]: Webmin starting
Sep 26 09:14:03 wiki systemd[1]: Started webmin.service - Webmin server daemon.
Sep 26 09:16:37 wiki systemd[1]: webmin.service: A process of this unit has been killed by the OOM killer.
5

I don’t think this applies to Webmin only installs.

But if the OOM killer is killing processes, then it is clear that you are running out of memory. It probably isn’t webmin but I’m assuming from the system name it is for a wiki system. I’d look there, especially if it uses a database.

6

You are correct. It’s a MediaWiki server, using MariaDB. I’ll take a look there. Thanks.

7

Stop httpd and mysqld while doing the upgrade.

8

Hmm…something pathological is happening, but I can’t guess what. Webmin is usually much smaller than that.

9

What is the output of top -c command?