install virtualmin on ubuntu VPS

VirtualMin is an amazing web hosting panel for a self-managed server, if you are searching things in free section. It has everything a web server panel should have. Installing VirtualMin on VPS (Virtual Private Server) is more easier than it looks.

I will be using my favorite, affordable and powerful RamNode VPS 512MB for this one. I will skip CentOS this time and Operating system will be Ubuntu 14.04 x64. Reason for this is simple. VirtualMin should be installed on minimal package version to avoid issues. People accept or not but CentOS and higher versions of Ubuntu does have problems with VirtualMin. However, you can try all steps with CentOS as well.

Note: It is extremely important that you do enter a FQDN for “hostname” during your server setup. A Qualified Domain Name is something like ‘google.com’, ‘domain.net’ etc. Don’t miss this step. VirtualMin can’t run properly without it.

Steps and Config while Installing VirtualMin on VPS

After installing Ubuntu login to shell using Putty etc as root user and fist update your server,

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Now, you will need to pull VirtualMin GPL script which will perform automated installation,

wget http://software.virtualmin.com/gpl/scripts/install.sh

and start the installation with,

bash install.sh

VirtualMin will do an initial testing and will show details of currently supported OS. If you followed and installed Ubuntu 14.04 x64 then you can safely press Y and then Enter.

Intall VirtualMin with Script
Intall VirtualMin with Script

Now site back and let script installer do everything for you. If all went ok, then you should see something like this,

VirtualMin pre-install complete

You can logout from SSH now and access the VirtualMin Panel now. Open your browser and enter this,

https://IP_Address:10000

If you have DNS of your domain already pointed to your IP address then you can use,

https://domain.com:10000

You will get an error for HTTPS which is ok. Accept it and you will be presented with login page.

Login with root user and password. VirtualMin will start the Post-Installation Wizard as below, which you must complete by answering each question.VirtualMin Post-installation Wizard

I will give short explanation so you can select best for you and keep clicking on Next.

  1. Preload Virtualmin libraries?– It is not needed in most of the cases. So, you can select it as NO to save RAM.
  2. Run email domain lookup server? – If you want to host your own email server and use emails like ‘admin@geekact.com’ then you must select this as YES.
  3. Run ClamAV server scanner? – Now, this is problem. If you want to run an antivirus for emails then you will need this and it will consume more memory. In my experience, only using SpamAssasin was ok for me. I kept this off.
  4. Run SpamAssassin server filter? – Definitely, aye i.e. YES.
  5. Run MySQL database server?And Run PostgreSQL database server? – If you use MySQL then set it to YES and other as NO. If you use PostgreSQL then set that to YES and MySQL as NO.
  6. Set MySQL password– Set this to something unbreakable and note it.
  7. MySQL configuration size– This is very important setting. If your server use MySQL heavily (for loaded sites) then set it to high. You should not set it to more than 50% of your actual RAM. Most of the servers do fine with ‘Small’ setting.
  8. Primary nameserverand Secondary nameservers (optional) – I have set it to ns1.dotfind.net and ns2.dotfind.net. Mark “skip resolvability” if you had not registered NameServers. You will need to register your own like ‘ns1.domain.com’ and ‘ns2.domain.com’ add your domain registrar.
  9. Password storage mode– You should use Plain-text if you are prone to losing password.

VirtualMin will now do post installation check and then welcome screen will be presented with stats. VirtualMin will declare that it is ready to be used with your server.

Done! Now, you can add your domain name by creating a server from sidebar.

By Mrinal Buddekar

Data Manager and a technology enthusiast! Mrinal Buddekar is Pune based blogger who loves building server, websites, technology, and affiliate blogging.

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