What is the best OS to use with Virtualmin?

Virtualmin
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I have been asked to redo a couple of Silverstone servers as the prior webdev made a mess of the installtion of Ubuntu server and I had to step in and salvage the sites on them.

Being completely new to the server side of things, I have been researching different cPanels and have already posted about using Virtualmin on an already installed up and running system with active domains.

Having failed to recover files/folders that had either disappeared or had been corrupted I mentioned to the owner that it may be best to redo everything. He agreed so I am at the point of figuring out what software packages to use.

I have decided on using Virtualmin as the cPanel and am wondering if there is a flavor of Linux that Virtualmin works best with.

Also, I am a bit puzzled at how the two servers were configured. One server had the Ubuntu server software installed and the other had all the websites located on it. And they worked together in that one could log into the server with a regular terminal login to the installed OS (Ubuntu) and then switch to the other server via the command line.

Each server is a Silverstone server with eight 16TB drives in a RAID 1 configuration (a pair on each level - 4 rows, 2 columns of drives with each row being a pair in a RAID 1 array).

Would the Virtualmin software also manage the RAID configuration or is that done via the Ubuntu OS?

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Virtualmin works best with these Grade A supported operating systems:

It’s impossible to say for sure but it is likely that the other server was a NAS which the first server used for storage. Virtualmin could be installed to work with such an arrangement should you wish to continue with it.

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@judgedredd,

Virtualmin should be installed on a “new” server that has NOT been configured or used prior for hosting. This means you should not use existing servers that for instance were running cPanel or another control panel, but first re-format the system and then install Virtualmin.

*** this rule generally applies to most control panels for the same reason ***

As @calport has already noted, any “Grade A” distro shown on page linked by him should work fine, and well recommendations will vary depending on who you ask, often due to personal preference.

I used to use CentOS before the project shifted gears, then I used Ubuntu for a while, and now use Debian. Use the distro that works best for you from the list of “Grade A” distros.

At the core of Virtualmin is “Webmin” which itself is a “System Control Panel” similar (dare I compare) to Windows Control Panel. Essentially Webmin can manage things like “Disks”, “RAID”, “Networking”, etc.

Compared to cPanel, IMHO Virtualmin can do MORE given the design of the overall software. Webmin is a “System Control Panel”, Virtualmin combines what Webmin offers, then offers Web Hosting specific tools that are often seen by competing panels. The combination of “Webmin/Virtualmin/Usermin” off 3 tiers of amazing control over your hosting business. With a few clicks of the mouse you can accomplish countless manual tasks and then some :slight_smile:

I’d recommend starting with the GPL version…

Then if you are happy with things and want to both support the development, while getting extra features that will enhance things… Then consider buying a Pro license…

https://www.virtualmin.com/shop/

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in the forums, people here are generally quite friendly and willing to help.

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I am not a Linux guy and I used Ubuntu minimal server which is based on Debian.

Debian is for hardcore Linux guys, not as bad as arch Linux though.

Ubuntu is very popular with various Linux software

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Thanks guys for all the responses. Much appreciated.

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I’d suggest Debian the reason is there is the least amount of overhead and it supports some slower older hardware thats actually in fact why I started with Debian originally my server was too old to run windows 10 so I turned it into a debian machine and started messing about and I happened upon some interesting hypervisors and tried all the glossy expensive ones prior to then I found Min Software and most of the time things are understandable but there is a learning curve with it all everyone here is still learning we’ll try our best not to insult you but get a decent grip know enough to be dangerous then work on eliminating the danger. Those that never fail will never do. There is a lot to take in it is like a college course technically coming over from windows just don’t host no personal information for starters maybe setup a split network with good networking equipment that doesn’t have old bugs of its own and set your server on one network and the rest on another. Then if you mess up you are not giving access to anything important. It is the wild wild west lately with hackers.

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@forlotto, thanks for your input. After reviewing the answers and reading up on the data provided at one of the links above I have decided to go with Ubuntu Server.

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yeah well enjoy do lots of reading and searching get the pro versions to support the project and keep it going not to mention “premium support”

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Well, Ubuntu is migrating their forum over to a discord server which leaves me out as I don’t like Discord. Really stupid move by Ubuntu people.

So it looks like I will have to use Debian. Not too happy about that.

@forlotto do you have any links to manuals (hopefully they have lots of images or screenshots) of how to set up the server?

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I moved to Debian after getting burned by Mandrake. Ubuntu is to Debian as Mandrake was to RedHat. I have tried, and failed multiple times, to bond with Ubuntu. Support cycle sucks but the upgrade costs are hard to beat. :wink:

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Hi @ID10T, do you mean that the support cycle sucks for Debian or Ubuntu?

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Once you install 12 bookworm on your system
follow these instructions to get Virtualmin installed on your system from the terminal.

From there follow the documentation virutalmin is fairly intuitive.
Some things you’ll want to consider are you running the server on location or is it a remote sever?
Do you plan on hosting for many people if so you may want to start with cloudmin and spin up KVM instances otherwise you may wind up having two Bind instances running instead of a single one if you upgrade later not a complete killer really but cloudmin technically isn’t needed unless your really going ape with hosting.
If you are running a server locally you may be able to lock it down a bit more than a remote connection by disabling some features. You may not have to add access remotely for things that are on site lets say you may assign a single IP that is allowed to login to the usermin panel that may even be your local PC using a local network.
Pretty much configuration is on you depends on what you are doing essentially.
Virtualmin has a fairly easy setup process and good documentation. Although a bit bulky it has a fair amount of pictures Cloudmin on the other hand is slightly confusing. For all intents and purposes Virtualmin may be all one needs to get by.

That documentation is found here: Documentation | Virtualmin — Open Source Web Hosting Control Panel

I would suggest going pro because of all the extra features and support. Updates can be automated for your server so you get the latest security updates and they are installed immediately. Backup is super simple you can download the backup to your PC without pause it’s just a great system overall and every dollar you spend is a dollar well spent with Min Software.
You can get the hang of it with the free GPL version however I wish I kinda had opted for professional first because the support was there so many questions the interface is large it can be daunting to get the hang of it and requires a refresher every now and again. But there likely isn’t a more fully featured software that exists I’ve tried several hypervisors so far this is the one with the best interface web based not a lot of eye candy but there are a lot of options that overwhelm you at first but after using you realize it is simply superior management software.

Also folks on the form frequent this place are kinda old school they don’t mind not getting paid for donating a little time to try to help someone if they can. There are times when you’ll be left by your lonesome but in these times you can dig in and learn a bit more. I’ve spent weeks 12 hours a day working with certain aspects and the support simply made it more difficult one time but it was due to my inability to elaborate in small social media style postings. I suck at that.

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Both. Ubuntu looks good until you read the fine print. SOME packages are updated by a third party after the distro support expires IF someone pays for them. And this is leaching off of Debian. This is pretty much why, realistically, RedHat owns the server market. If this is personal stuff or a small server then it’s not a problem. If you can’t upgrade without a bottle of antacid on hand, well… :wink:

But the reality is, a few smaller upgrades along the path versus a larger one may be better in the long run.

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Warning, self-promotion :smile:

These are my notes on setting up Virtualmin with my chosen OS.

https://quantumwarp.com/kb/articles/34-web-server/1016-my-virtualmin-notes

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Thanks again guys for the responses and all the great info. Lots to read and learn.