1 - The ntp package, which used to be the default way to set the system clock from a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, has been replaced by ntpsec .
Question: From my checks both ntp and ntpsec packages can be installed. Are Virtualmin/Webmin ready to use ntpsec if it will be installed?
2 - The rsyslog package is no longer needed on most systems and you may be able to remove it.
Question: Can we create in a tutorial the behavior from Debian 11, just for a while, until everyone gets used to journalctl and there are no issues in Virtualmin/Webmin?
3 - Fail2Ban already uses logs from journalctl. Configuring it to use the files generated by rsyslog would mean making changes.
Question: If Virtualmin was not intended to work with rsyslog, then shouldn’t a tutorial be created with all the necessary changes made manually/automatically through a script to run without issues?
This is not a Virtualmin question. We don’t care how you sync your time. (And, I’m personally mostly using systemd-timesyncd on systems that don’t need to provide NTP services to other devices.)
I’d rather we not go backward. I’m only aware of minor inconveniences from the switch to the journal (I think it’s just mail logins that we’re not showing?). Is there something else I don’t know about?
I’m not willing to recommend overhauling your logging just to get mail login times (which we’ll fix pretty soon, I’m sure).
I don’t know what you mean. syslog (and all compatible variants) is how systems have worked for the past few decades, and Webmin/Virtualmin has worked fine with them forever. The new thing is the journal, and as distros switch more and more logs into being only in the journal, we’ll need to address it. I can’t put a firm timeline on it, but I don’t know of any critical issues currently, even on Debian 12. related to this change.
Note that you don’t need rsyslog to write logs to a file! journald can also be configured to send logs to a file. I’m sure there’s an example out there somewhere to put the mail.log back to normal in a file. But, I’m personally just gonna roll with the punches and figure it out as I go along with journalctl.
Yes, that looks reasonable. I believe you’d want to integrate all three of the mail services (postfix, dovecot, and saslauthd) to get the behavior you have on older systems.
But, also, it’s probably as good a time as any to get comfortable with the journal.
Joe’s Reply
This is not a Virtualmin question. We don’t care how you sync your time. (And, I’m personally mostly using systemd-timesyncd on systems that don’t need to provide NTP services to other devices.)
The first question was not specifically related to Virtualmin, but to Virtualmin/Webmin. In the web interface, if you visit the Webmin > Hardware > System Time section, in the third tab "Time server sync", the settings related to time synchronization can be made. If you choose to change the configuration of the module, you will get the following page where reference is made to NTP
I haven’t checked what’s going on behind the scenes in Webmin, but I wanted to make sure it’s ready to support both packages, as long as they can be installed, being interested more in NTPSEC support.
Joe’s Reply
I’d rather we not go backward. I’m only aware of minor inconveniences from the switch to the journal (I think it’s just mail logins that we’re not showing?). Is there something else I don’t know about?
I’m not willing to recommend overhauling your logging just to get mail login times (which we’ll fix pretty soon, I’m sure).
Analyzing the situation better, I agree with your opinion, we cannot continue to swim in reverse. If you manage to make the changes by using journalctl information so that plain-text files are no longer needed for mail, then the issue is solved.
However, if you have information related to how the sending of information from journalctl in plain-text files could be implemented, it should be made public somewhere. What I pointed in that link is a solution, but it still depends on rsyslog installation, which I would like to avoid. Unfortunately, I did not find many resources when searching the Internet, journalctl is not very popular.
I haven’t been able to get ntpsec working with webmin, I keep forgetting to bring this up and usually just install ntp and move on, but if I read correctly ntp is on the chopping block in deb 13
In the past the same section in Webmin was modified based on a discussion initiated by me. Then I showed that the ntpdate package is deprecated and we have to take a step forward. After so many years, it’s time for that module and the whole time synchronization part to adapt to the times. The Debian team makes us choose ntpsec.
PS - We should be happy that Debian 12 works with Webmin/Virtualmin since July of the year. In the past, it took until the end of the year to have something stable. There are some issues reported, but I think the people behind this wonderful control panel know what they have to do.
@Ilia, @Joe
In Debian 12 there is no service called spamassassin.service. I tried to restart it but the only service starting with spam is spamd.service.
Is this a potential issue? I don’t have Debian 11 installed, but in Debian 9 and 10 spamassassin service exists.
@Jamie, it seems that SpamAssassin 4 in Debian 12 no longer has spamassassin.service but instead a new spamd.service is being used.
I can see that enable_spamd() sub is calling either, so it should work. However, we don’t enable spamassassin-maintenance.timer, which perhaps we should do!?
Also, I have fixed SpamAssassin Webmin config:
In Debian 12 there is no service called spamassassin.service . I tried to restart it but the only service starting with spam is spamd.service .
You can manually fix restart command in /etc/webmin/spam/config file. Thanks for the heads up!
The purpose of the spamassassin-maintenance.timer is to periodically trigger the spamassassin-maintenance.service , to handle tasks like rule updates, bayesian database cleanup, expired token expiry and etc.
As we disable spamassassin and/or spamd service upon Virtualmin installation time, I think we should also try to enable spamassassin-maintenance.timer if available.
Virtualmin backups are failing to create the base directory on remote file backups as detailed in my thread at Backup not creating base directory
It’s been suggested, and I was already thinking it myself, that this could be a Debian 12 specific issue. I can see Debian 12 is listed as a grade A supported OS so I am querying whether this issue can be replicated on any Debian 12 test systems or if it really is a environment specific problem for me to deal with?
I see 12.0 is working for folks so just tried 12.2 it errors out 100 citing there is no release file for the repository. Not entirely sure is this like a version check that only allows 12.0 bookworm or is there something more to it? I just tried the GPL cause I’ll be danged if I’m trying to memorize and type in the installer info for the pro version I can always switch up down the line but wanna make sure it works before going too crazy.
