Hey,
i have to admit that Peter knows his stuff. He is very friendly and helpful, he also shows those little tweaks, which help you a lot in the process of understanding the -min world.
If you ever run into problems with virtualmin, he’s the one to help you 
Thanks Peter. If there would be more ppl like you, world would be loads better…
Best
If you are like me, there is not enough time to learn everything about Webmin-Virtualmin, dns, linux, sql, and email authentication to the extent you’d like to, to be sure that what you are doing is correct or reasonably intelligent. Why? because you are doing other things too. Even though I read and understand, I have not had enough experience to really know the right process or approach for some of these more difficult issues. After many years managing these websites on a Virtualmin-Webmin VPS, I decided we needed some expert help. In short, this is where Peter comes in.
We’ve had our small VPS with about 8 websites, for about 17 years, and I’ve managed ok during that time, with some help from our provider at times. We’ve been through one provider’s bankruptcy during the dot.com bust and stuck with the company and migrated to a good provider and recently that company was purchased.
Greater email authentication is being required by major email companies like AOL, Yahoo, hotmail, etc. Our email was starting to be dropped or bounced for some reason. We were warned several times by blacklists and I had difficulty determining why. We had spamassin and antivirus but were getting more junk. Our certificates were not working properly. Support from our new provider was not great, they resisted putting in place rdns when I know it was was needed for our outgoing email, they cut of my access to the DNS panel because they wanted control (I learned that their servers were blacklisted at times and they wanted control) and they suggested that we move to cpanel because they did not know virtualmin - webmin. It was time to address our problems with an expert, and after our first discussion with Peter, I was pretty sure he could help us.
Being sure your email gets delivered without soft or hard drop, or bounce is pretty basic to business these days. I used to take it for granted, then recently we started living with bounces and copying and sending from another account. After leaving for a couple of days, we found one of our accounts with endlessly bounced email, that had to be deleted. Then we started getting emails that disappeared into thin air. Thin air that meant we lost business. That does get your attention. So we hoped Peter could help with that. I had a pretty big list in my head including SPF, DKIM, DMARC and Feeback Loops for our email. Peter called and we talked. The list got bigger and we decided to move to his servers.
From the talk with him it was pretty clear to me that he knew Virtualmin-Webmin, Linux and DNS because of the thought that had gone into how he sets up his servers, He patiently explained what was happening to us and how he would address the email problem. I actually did not quite believe him because of my recent experience, but it was basically the way we had setup the email originally going through one server, but with more authentication. One outgoing mail server with good authentication. Peter used a UPS analogy with regard to email configuration, delivery notice, and delivery which was very helpful. There are more details, but basically Peter sets up his servers to be optimized for the job they do, with as few open ports as possible and he often split the jobs onto two servers. He is a strong advocate for efficiency and has some great analogies and a wonderful sense of humor.
We are about about one half of the way through the migration and there have been a few setbacks, but Peter’s skills, knowledge and speed have turned this into an easier journey without having to be too anxious. His enthusiasm, sense of humor and patience is remarkable. The first plan was to set up the DNS, then migrate the webs, then the email, but we had to setup email somewhat manually first, and the websites should transfer more readily with tools available in Virtualmin “Transfer”.
During this process I was struck by how powerful DNS is in the hands of someone who really understands how it works, because he migrated the email and then activated the email on the new server,while making manual entries into Virtualmin to keep the websites up on the old servers. He checked ips and verified email delivery and outgoing, and then checked the DNS configuration. Then he had to make adjustments for the websites on the old server still. It was a little faster than I could absorb, but I pretty quickly knew I was watching a master at work.
So my suggestion is to watch and learn. Some of it will sink in and you will become better too and use those new skills for your more routine operations. Teach others, you will learn more, this what Peter does.
So we are about halfway through the migration, now, and it is late, but I will report back after the second half.
Thank you Peter!
Hi,
It’s always a joy to read about a good experience someone has had, especially when I had even the smallest contribution toward it. Funny thing is, it’s because of these kind of testimonials that I wake up each day ready and willing to help people out, whether it be Virtualmin related or randomly buying someone a coffee a Starbucks or Tim Horton (yeah, I’m Canadian).
Thanks again everyone for your comments, and for reaching out for assistance. I’m always happy to help 
Hi,
I have had this VPS for a while that the utilizes WHP+Cpanel which now I decided to try to move them to AWS EC2, the free tier to test things out.
I have successfully created Ubuntu instance and installed Webmin. Now, I dont know how to point the name servers on Godaddy to my newly installed Webmin’s virtualmin.
In Godaddy, I have changed the ip address to Elastic IP that I created/associated with my instance, but in the nameserver where currently displays (in Godaddy):
NS1.domain.com
NS2.domain.com
what do I need enter there now?
I not a techie but I have been reading and researching to come thus far. I greatly appreciate any help you can offer.
Cheers,
Dave
Dear Dave,
Any move can be an exciting and exacting experience, but it appears you are willing to learn and do this yourself, and recognize that there are always some problems and difficulties. I admire your guts to attempt do this.
I understand that
Is Godaddy is your registrar for the Domain Name?
In Godaddy
A. Changed ip address to Elastic IP that I created/associated with my instance.
B. In the (Godaddy) nameserver currently displays.
NS1.domain.com
NS2.domain.com
A couple of questions first, so we can understand what you are doing.
What do you mean by A. above …created/associated with my instance?
What is “Elastic IP” I am not familiar with that, sorry.
Normally there are a number places to host your nameservers:
Note that Peter Knowles advises that it is better to have the Nameservers (NS1 and NS2) on the same local servers as your VPS. Virtualmin has controls to turn on a nameserver, however you also need a second backup nameserver with a different IP address (I believe). For example this is how Peter set ours up:
As Peter suggests, when the DNS for webmail server is turned on that acts as NameServer 1 and the email server DNS becomes NameServer 2. This is more efficient because the DNS is like a big transfer switch that directs requests to the correct server through the correct IP and addressing, all without having to go over the internet, so it is faster. Keep in mind that there are many ways to get the job done, and that we have used all three places to host our nameservers, over the years. Indeed, Peter showed us some very interesting setups that were hybrids, that I would not attempt myself without a little expert backup!
Since I am assuming you have a single server, I am not sure how you will host the two necessary nameservers, but the choices might be dedicated nameservers and vDNS at your registrar, GoDaddy or use of your VPS provider’s nameservers and vDNS. --Note Peter may have some comments and corrections about some of these statements…so heads up! Please advise with details about what you know you have available.
The other question I have at this point is what is Elastic IP? is this some dynamic IP address or is it a Static IP that is yours to use?
Ok, Its time to write up the second half of our migration to TPNS Servers.
Migrating Email to the TPNS new eml1.xxx.com server.
Once the primary domains email website is up and running. There are several ways to transfer the email (This is big picture.)
1.Backup the email on the old servers and download the backup, While keeping a record of the logins and setup. Then manually setup the emails and upload the backup file and then restore. [I have not done this yet.]
2. Use your FTP or SFTP software to download the appropriate directories where your email is stored. Then recreate the email accounts in Virtualmin and then upload to the new but same directories.
3. Use Thunderbird to download and upload the email, by creating separate IMAP Thunderbird accounts for each of the emails on both the old and the new email servers. Then use drag and drop to move the email, waiting patiently as each email folder gets transferred. (This is why it is best to delete and clean up all email!)
4. If the above seems like a long task, it is but it is worth it because if you are like us, we needed to clean up and simplify after many years anyway, but eventually we relied on Peter to speed the transfer up by use of his high speed fiber connections. What he did I am not certain, but we gave him access to our old servers and he was able via his tools to transfer all remaining email accounts and very soon we had each websites emails running adequately… (since then we have reestablished filters and made more improvements).
5. Peter showed us the power of the default email setup, which allow me to create new domains and email for about 5 of the smaller sites very quickly.
6. Once the email migration was done, migration the websites was much is faster.
Migrating Website to the TPNS new web1.xxx.com server.
We were very lucky to have Peter helping us with this migration and we still have some more work to do on certificates, SPF, DKIM, Feedback Loops for AOL, which are a part of our goals for the new website, but we are slowly getting things back to normal but better and more efficient.
As I think about and remember various parts of this process I will add them. At this point I do not remember why we had to do the email manually, because initially Peter thought it could be done very simply, but there was a reason this would not work for us.
Many thanks to Peter for helping me get through this DNS issue that has eluded me for months.
Problem: WARNING: SOA MNAME (ns4006846.ip-198-27-80.net) is not listed as a primary nameserver at your parent nameserver!
Solution: Virtualmin/webmin/servers/bind dns/pic a domain/edit record file
In my case:
@ IN SOA ns(server assigned name). root.ns4006846.ip-198-27-80.net. (
was changed to …
@ IN SOA ns1.(ns1.domain name). root.ns1.naples-fl-real-estate.com. (
then SAVE/Apply Zone/ Apply Configuration
Another problem was : SETTING DNS DEFAULTS FOR CREATING NEW DOMAINS
VIRTUALMIN/SYSTEM SETTINGS/SERVER TEMPLATES/DEFAULT SETTINGS/BIND DNS DOMAIN/
Master DNS server hostname: set as ns1.....
Additional manually configured nameservers: set as ns2.....
And yet another problem: SETTING DNS DEFAULTS FOR DATES
Virtualmin/Webmin/servers/ bind dns server – click on Module Config
THEN ZONE FILE OPTIONS – SET TO DATE BASED
TEST DNS SETTINGS
http://viewdns.info/dnsreport/?domain=
All good, thanks Peter Knowles of TPN Solutions
Hi all,
Just wanted to post review of some consulting I received from TPN solutions.
I was having trouble configuring a Virtualmin install with Amazon’s Route 53 DNS . So I decided to bring in a pro and have him go through Amazon and Virtualmin configurations. Money well spent! He fixed all problems, did through cleanup and explained what was going on and why. Nice.
Bottom line, TPN Solutions is a valuable resource to anyone with Virtualmin problem solving needs. A+
Dan Skeen
IT MGR
Go To Descent LLC
Hi all,
Just wanted to post review of some consulting I received from TPN solutions.
I was having trouble configuring a Virtualmin install with Amazon’s Route 53 DNS . So I decided to bring in a pro and have him go through Amazon and Virtualmin configurations. Money well spent! He fixed all problems, did through cleanup and explained what was going on and why. Nice.
Bottom line, TPN Solutions is a valuable resource to anyone with Virtualmin problem solving needs. A+
Dan Skeen
IT MGR
Go To Descent LLC
I would like to second what Dan has said. TPN Solutions is an excellent consultant who helped us migrate and reconfigure with some major improvements to service and security.
Dan,
Always appreciate the kudos, but more importantly am glad I was able to help you solve your Route 53 issue.
We had moved a WP website to new servers. The old website used FTP for updating Wordpress and required entry of log name and PW. The new site does not use FTP which caused some difficulty updating.
The reason was, the file settings from the old site had been copied over. Normally Virtualmin uses FastCGI by default, but this website was trying to use FTP.
After an afternoon of studying the problem and testing, Peter suggested I look at the Virtualmin FastCGI settings for PHP for that website. Found these notes…
Convert PHP sites to use mod_fcgid with suEXEC
http://www.virtualmin.com/node/8462#comment-35133
https://www.virtualmin.com/node/25947
Virtualmin supports 3 PHP Execution Modes – FCGID, CGI, and mod_php.
FCGID is quite similar to FastCGI in function:
http://httpd.apache.org/mod_fcgid/
You can switch between those 3 in Server Configuration -> Website Options -> PHP Execution Mode.
By default, all domains use FCGID.
Virtualmin > FOCS > Server Configuration > Website Options
Run CGI scripts as domain owner? Yes
PHP script execution mode No Apache mod_php (run as Apache’s user)
CGI wrapper (run as virtual server owner) No
FCGId (run as virtual server owner) Yes
Then went into Wordpress and updated to 4.0
Message
You have successfully updated WordPress! Please log back in to see what’s new."
Thank you Peter for the very helpful Clue. -I Iearned something new again… FastCGI. Never heard of it before. My understanding is that provided the files are all on one website and owned by the same user, FastCGI is certainly fast and easy transfer within Wordpress, but the Apache Server needs to be told to use FastCGI through Virtualmin.
Just had tpnsolutions run through setting up CentOS6.5 to Virtualmin setup which I’d be having intermittent success on for ages.
Very happy with the competency to action the issues and answer questions.
Need to watch the system and see if it runs smoothly now, but the tweaks and fine tuning should help from today.
Much appreciated after finally catching up on different time zones.
Thanks again
Hi Peter,
I have just sent email directly to you, I need help with nameserver glue record and DNS setting for virtualmin and webmin on amazon EC2.
will keep this comment update.
Regards,
Sugiono
update 18 November 2014
use Amazon EC2 IP address for for virtualmin virtual server, tally with Amazon 53 DNS A record.
I’ve sent an initial contact email based upon all of the glowing reports of success and happiness. I’m looking forward to adding my two cents worth to the thread and my $ to your wallet.
If there are any of you who may need assistance with Joomla!, I’m a Joomla expert, template designer and component developer. I don’t mind assisting for free or cheap when I can either. I’ve also got experience with SAM Broadcaster, SAM2Joom components for Joomla/SAM broadcaster interface, Shoutcast servers, Red5 Flash Media Server, and other related expertise.
I must say that Peter spent a great deal of time explaining his reasoning and basis for setting things up the way he did, going so far as to assist me with domain name issues with a former host and setting me up for free on his own solution so that we could easily move forward on my project. Not only that but he was very helpful with various other features and settings for my particular needs. Looking forward to working with him on a continual basis as I develop more client solutions.
Despite having to work across different time zones we managed to hook up on a couple of occasions. Peter spent a great deal of time helping me during a couple of intense sessions. What started out as a question about Postfix set up through Virtualmin turned into a session reorganizing and rationalizing my routers and network configuration. I have to say that Peter really knows his stuff. He did a great job in sorting out my DNS issues and other things that I had not set up in the best manner.
What was really great is that Peter explained what he was doing and why he was setting things up in a particular way. This is so much better than someone just jumping in and sorting it for you. It really meant I was able to get hold of these issues myself and start using some of the things Peter suggested. By the end I really felt I was getting to understand what was going on. Its like having your own personal master class in Virtualmin.
Peter clearly doesn’t just know t he ins and outs of Virtualmin but he really knows what’s going on behind the scene. If you are starting out in the world of Virtualmin like me, it’s really fantastic to have the type of support that Peter gives. Im looking forward to keeping him up-to-date with my progress.
Peter really is fantastically generous with his time. He did a great job for me. If you are a newbie and lost in some dark corner of configuration hyper space Peter is the person to talk to. I totally recommend him.
Hi,
I’d like to take a brief moment to thank everyone for their comments during 2014; it was truly a fantastic year of growth and I look forward to assisting more folks this year.
While January 1st represents New Years for the masses, here at TPN Solutions it’s also celebrated as our yearly anniversary.
Today marks our 5th anniversary offering exceptional services, and technical assistance. I’ve been so happy with the positive feedback from the Virtualmin community, and am already excited about some really cool stuff planned for this year.
This year amongst other things, I am working to roll a new inexpensive support plan which focuses around Linux administration, and ofcourse the full suite of “Min” products. While I’m still working on finalizing details, as part of this program I will be offering a FREE copy of Virtualmin Pro.
*** depending on which plan you purchase, I will be offering up to the unlimited yearly license ***
Once again, I want to thank everyone here for putting their faith in my assistance over the past year. Regardless of whether it was a paid or free session, it was my pleasure to assist everyone with their technical needs!
*** If you’d like some early information on the new support plans being drawn up, or would like to contribute some ideas toward them, please feel free to fire me an email or message me on Skype. ***
I had a centos 6 vm that had pam, sasl, and smtp issues. I have posted about this issue on the forums. I also had another vm with webalizer missing data issues. The sasl issue was a flag that somehow didn’t get set on sasl at install. The webalizer issues was caused by log rotation and a limitation of webalizer. It took less than 1.5 hours to find the e-mail issues on one vm and the webalizer issues on another vm. Well worth the price paid and will use again!
Honestly it’s as simple as this. If I wouldn’t have met Peter on the forum, I wouldn’t have had Virtualmin Pro. He gave me the confidence to go ahead with the install as he watched and helped via Team Viewer.
Also take into consideration, I’m a complete Linux Newbie!
My Unbuntu 14.04.1 LTS web server setup consist of a LSI raid card running two raid configurations. I needed help moving the hard drive location. Peter moved website data /home folder to my 2nd hard drive. Answered a million of my questions including the dynamic DNS aspect of the install.
He walked me through the entire install with some performance optimizations of turning some items off that didn’t need to be activated.
Activated a new theme which looks pretty cool.
Peters problem solving skills great, not only did he help me with Virualmin Pro but also helped with the aspect of Linux that I didn’t know. If your wanting to learn or get help. Contact Peter – Maybe the happiest man on the Planet
In short I would go to say Peter knows Linux and the product very well. I would recommend this guy to anyone.
Thank you Virtualmin Pro for a good product and the luck of meeting Peter.
Pretty cool little setup!!!