Install Webmin on AWS EC2 server

This tutorial shows how to install Webmin on AWS EC2 server.

Webmin is web-based management interface for system administration of *nix systems. It allows remote management of your system without having to manually modify the configuration files. It lets you install packages like LAMP stack, mail servers, wordpress etc. and setup & configure – firewalls, DNS, FTP servers, users, file sharing etc. all through a remote web interface. It is a must have tool for system and web administrators.

Below are the steps to install Webmin on AWS EC2 server.

Step 1: Download Webmin

Get the latest Webmin package from the download site using the following command.

Step 2: Update apt-get

Update the apt-get package index files so that it fetches the latest information on new and updated packages. This step is very important.

Step 3: Install dependencies

Install the packages required by Webmin using the following command.

Step 4: Install Webmin

On successful installation, the output would look similar to the output shown below. Note the Webmin web interface url. The IP in the url is the internal IP. You need to replace it with your EC2 server’s public domain name/IP to access it from outside network/internet.


Step 5: Fix install errors

If you encounter any errors during installation, you can recover and fix the broken dependencies with the following command.

Step 6: Create Webmin user

EC2 ssh users require an ssh key to login and do not have a password hence, you cannot login into webmin with the root user.  You need to create a new sudo user for logging-in into Webmin console. Use the following commands to create a sudo user called webmin. Use a STRONG password for the webmin user because if this interface is compromised then the entire server would be compromised.

Step 6: Open port

Edit your AWS security group and add a custom TCP rule to allow traffic on the webmin port as shown in the screenshot below. The default Webmin port is 10000.


Step 7: You are Done!

You can now access the Webmin UI from the internet. The Webmin login page would like below. Log in using the user created in step 6 and start exploring!




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