I am managing the migration from a old version of Webmin to the latest one.
This Webmin instead of being used to control the machine on which it’s installed, it is used as some kind of portal from which to run a collection of .sh scripts from the Custom Commands page.
After populating the new Webmin with the same commands that are being used from the old version, I have encountered a performance issue.
The problem is this: if I try to load the Custom Commands page from a chromium web browser (Chrome or Edge), the browser hangs for up to a minute, while also displaying a warning that the page is frozen, until it succeeds.
If I try to load the same page from Firefox, the loading is instantaneous.
This occurs on Windows on Chrome and Edge and also on Linux on Chrome.
I also tried to tail /var/webmin/webmin.log and I haven’t seen any warning or difference between loading from Firefox or Chrome.
Does anyone have any clue of what could be the issue here?
Look in the browser web developer console for errors or clues about what it’s doing. Use the network performance tab to see what URL is taking so long.
I don’t think anyone else has reported similar problems, so it may be specific to something about your server or client environment…maybe a browser extension? Try it in a private window with all extensions disabled to see if the behavior persists.
I use Chromium, and notice no issues – maybe try CTRL SHIFT DEL and clear your cache. Or, I have found over 50gig of “junk” on my computers before, all cleaned away using BleachBit… “temp” files can slow down apps.
Just a note. At one point another user and myself had some issue about getting something to load. It stopped after I switched browsers. I kinda, sorta THINK I remember the code did need some cleaning. I think we need at least one other person with that page actually populated to weigh in.
Yes at the beginning when the list was empty it loaded fine, but the more I added commands the more it slowed down and now it almost takes a minute to load.
The old webmin with the same number of commands loads instantly.
This sounds to me like a “fringe” functionality that might have not been tested during the development of the product over the years, but of course I might be wrong.
Firefox shows the same metrics (I can´t embed more than one picture)
I suppose that this issue is not related to any network issue, but maybe related to how Chromium based browsers render the page?
I am just guessing here.
I don’t think anyone else has reported similar problems
Maybe we are the only ones with ~80 custom commands loaded on Webmin
I also think that might be the problem here (that seems to me to be excessive). Were “Custom Commands” ever intended to be used that aggressively?
no problem here … but then again Chromium has also gone through some serious updates recently and we are also having to pick up the pieces (they are getting as bad as Microsoft at implementing unwanted bloatware)
Were “Custom Commands” ever intended to be used that aggressively?
I suppose not.
Historically speaking the custom commands page is being used here as some kind of portal to start some business-related procedures that are handled through bash scripts.
This clearly goes against the real main purpose of Webmin (i.e. handling the OS on which it’s installed) but I guess the previous sysdadmins found out that it worked well enough to satisfy their purpose.
In the meantime we could simply use the new webmin with Firefox and if you want you might look into this.
it seems like it does need @staff to at least comment on it - though i think it will get a lower priority atm due to it being a bit esoteric. I cannot speak for them but I guess they are currently busy firefighting recent Webmin/Virtualmin updates.
if you have a work around it is at least a way
is there no way of reducing/grouping/re-working/re-organising the number of scripts?
Does this issue happen in incognito mode when all browser extensions are disabled?
If the issue still happens in an incognito tab with all extensions turned off, zip up /etc/webmin/custom and send it to me in a private message. I don’t need the actual scripts to be clear.
Does this issue happen in incognito mode when all browser extensions are disabled?
Yes.
zip up /etc/webmin/custom and send it to me in a private message.
I need to discuss this with my colleagues, I don’t think that the folder contains anything that could be considered a data breach (aside from the .acl files) but I need to be sure.
Only 3 seconds? On Chrome? That would be desirable.
On my side it takes ~30 seconds for the page to load, with the browser opening an alert window asking the user if they would like to kill the page or to keep waiting.
To be honest, even 3 seconds isn’t acceptable. There’s something wrong going on. I will update this ticket with progress later today. Thanks for the data provided!
