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Rating: 
Summary: Book Teaches Linux, Not Just Webmin
Review: Before buying this book, I used Webmin and thought it was pretty easy to use and didn't think I needed a book about it. Was I wrong.Not only does this book teach you all the things that you can do with Webmin, it is an excellent general Linux tutorial. The author goes into details about each subject (including what command line programs are run or which config files are changed by Webmin) and provides the meaning behind each setting. Along the way, you learn things that you didn't know existed or couldn't figure out how to do. For example, I had no idea I could mount a folder from a Windows machine without using samba or NFS. If you need to set up Raid, LVM, Apache Web server, Samba, the list goes on... this is the book. If you need to set up Linux in a home or small office with Windows file sharing, internet gateway, web and mail hosting, DHCP server, etc., you should buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Linux Admin made easy -- at last
Review: Jamie Cameron's book is a fantastic voyage inside what I think is one of the most important administration based tools available. He has created a very unique and easy to use masterpiece that makes the daily (and not so daily) administration tasks easy to perform - both remotely and on-site. The book gives a more in depth look at the application he's built and you get a better understanding of how it works, saves you time and money. His chapter on building and integrating your own webmin
modules is a must read for anyone that's used webmin and wanted to add their own pieces - It shows the true versatility and strength of Webmin. This book helps to solidify Jamie's remarkable understanding of and contribution to systems administration. This is a must have for everyone who uses Linux on the server!
Rating:
Summary: Webmin is great
Review: The book finally shows what many have already known - This is one of the best Administration tools available. Jamie Cameron has done an incredible job in streamlining Administration - This book is fantastic - The chapter on creating modules is the icing on the cake. Great job Jamie!
Rating:
Summary: Great software. Great book. Thanks, Jamie!
Review: The evolution of the Webmin Linux/UNIX administration tool is nothing short of phenomenal. It stands as yet another great example of Open Source development, as many modules and bug fixes were contributed by the User Community. However, the core of Webmin comes from Jamie Cameron, who began developing a simple tool back in 1997 to help Junior Sys Admins maintain DNS servers. It is clear that Jamie was the best possible person to write "Managing Linux Systems with Webmin" not only because of his intimate knowledge of the software, but also because he is able to explain esoteric Admin-speak in clear, concise language. This book is not about installing Linux or server software (such as Apache, BIND, or MySQL). Rather, it guides one through both the installation of Webmin --making sure your Webmin installation is complete and secure-- and the use of Webmin to administer practically *everything* on your Linux machine. And, it does an excellent job of accomplishing these goals! For those new to Linux, this book provides information on making your server easy to administer via the friendly Webmin interface. For the seasoned Linux/UNIX Administrator, this may provide you the turn-key solution for setting up Junior Admins with the appropriate levels of access and configurability. For small shops looking to find more cost efficient and reliable solutions, Webmin may be the final piece needed to turn these prospects into reality. Jamie's task-oriented book makes mastery of Webmin simple and straightforward. There are many impressive aspects of Webmin, including the fact that Webmin is available for almost every major Linux and UNIX distribution. This can provide those in a heterogeneous environment with a higher level of interface uniformity, thus reducing the complexity involved in administering several disparate systems. Also impressive are the modular nature of Webmin development and the highly extensible Webmin API (for creating your own custom modules). I highly recommend this book both for those getting their feet wet in Linux/UNIX administration and those looking for an effective alternative to command line management.
Rating:
Summary: Great software. Great book. Thanks, Jamie!
Review: The evolution of the Webmin Linux/UNIX administration tool is nothing short of phenomenal. It stands as yet another great example of Open Source development, as many modules and bug fixes were contributed by the User Community. However, the core of Webmin comes from Jamie Cameron, who began developing a simple tool back in 1997 to help Junior Sys Admins maintain DNS servers. It is clear that Jamie was the best possible person to write "Managing Linux Systems with Webmin" not only because of his intimate knowledge of the software, but also because he is able to explain esoteric Admin-speak in clear, concise language. This book is not about installing Linux or server software (such as Apache, BIND, or MySQL). Rather, it guides one through both the installation of Webmin --making sure your Webmin installation is complete and secure-- and the use of Webmin to administer practically *everything* on your Linux machine. And, it does an excellent job of accomplishing these goals! For those new to Linux, this book provides information on making your server easy to administer via the friendly Webmin interface. For the seasoned Linux/UNIX Administrator, this may provide you the turn-key solution for setting up Junior Admins with the appropriate levels of access and configurability. For small shops looking to find more cost efficient and reliable solutions, Webmin may be the final piece needed to turn these prospects into reality. Jamie's task-oriented book makes mastery of Webmin simple and straightforward. There are many impressive aspects of Webmin, including the fact that Webmin is available for almost every major Linux and UNIX distribution. This can provide those in a heterogeneous environment with a higher level of interface uniformity, thus reducing the complexity involved in administering several disparate systems. Also impressive are the modular nature of Webmin development and the highly extensible Webmin API (for creating your own custom modules). I highly recommend this book both for those getting their feet wet in Linux/UNIX administration and those looking for an effective alternative to command line management.
Rating:
Summary: A very good and comprehensive book on webmin and Linux
Review: This is a comprehensive book on managing Linux systems with webmin. It covers everything from installation of webmin to cluster management. It is good for system administrators as well as those who want to develop webmin modules. The book also discusses webmin API functions, how to use them, and their return codes. A good reference to keep.
Rating: 
Summary: A nice book with some flaws
Review: Webmin is a pretty neat tool for administering a server using a GUI, particularly remotely. Managing Linux Systems with Webmin, written by Webmin's author Jamie Cameron, is an extensive look at using and extending it, a good guide not without flaws. The book is structured as 60 chapters, without any division into sections and I have serious arguments with the order of chapters; why are the chapters about configuring Webmin at the end, for example. That said, the book has a fine index and the usual two-level contents make it a fraction easier to find what you want. I do, however, have a little digression about the 'Bruce Peren's Open Source Series,' of which this book is a member. Frankly, I think they all need, and deserve, a much stronger hand in editing. With this volume it is the bad structure and order; with "Intrusion Detection Systems with Snort" I found myself engrossed by the information and furious at the appalling grammar and sentence construction, particularly in the introductory chapters. The others in the series look significantly better at first glance but could still use better editing. Once again we have an author or publisher who throws Linux into the title to make sure that it gets found by the greatest mass of likely readers while the tool described is more (not that I criticise the practice, they want to sell books.) Any *nix system can be controlled using Webmin -- including a great deal of Mac OS X not available through 'System Preferences.' Indeed, I'd recommend the tool to all OS X users who want to gain better control and install better tools for the underlying BSD layer in OS X. I use it myself for just this reason. If you run any other *nix system don't be put off by the 'Linux' in the title: very little of this book is Linux specific. This one is well written -- Cameron has a light, informative style that I look for in a tech book. The book is well laid out, he gives good examples, good explanations and screen shots. Cameron starts out with three introductory chapters on Webmin, its installation and security before launching into forty three chapters on using various Webmin modules, but with no real pattern to the order of most of the chapters. Why, for example, is the NFS module at chapter 4 while the Samba module is discussed in 43? I could list another half dozen examples without raising a sweat. There is then a chapter on Usermin, the Webmin system for ordinary users. This is followed by three chapters on the server clustering system, a few on Webmin configuration and logging before the volume ends with chapters on building modules and themes. Some of the chapters on the modules within Webmin border on merely stating the obvious, others are extremely useful. Overall they constitute a good manual to using the system, Webmin users who have not spent a great deal of time administering servers will find them particularly useful. The chapters on clustering, using Webmin on multiple servers to perform the same task at the once on many machines, are a good guide to administering and using this useful facility. I found the chapters on writing your own module more than adequate, I'm well under way to writing my first one after only a short time with the system and book. One final complaint. Where in this book does it tell you how to start Webmin? I didn't want Webmin running from boot, so I answered No to that question and Webmin then ran. Nowhere did it tell me how to restart Webmin after I rebooted my computer and having the script 'start' in the directory specified as the config directory is a little less than intuitive. In conclusion, this is a good book. With a little work on the structure it would be an excellent book, rising from a rating of six to an eight or nine. the lack of structure makes it unduly hard to find what you are after. I would recommend Webmin, as a tool, to almost everyone running a supported server. If you have no need for the section on clustering and writing your own modules you could buy The Book of Webmin for a few dollars less or browse the same book (even download a PDF version free) at Swelltech, which is less comprehensive but much better structured (and tells you how to restart Webmin). If you want a guide to Webmin that includes notes on writing your own module then this will do until something better comes along, or they release a second edition with greater thought to structure and order.
Rating: 
Summary: Making system administration easy
Review: Webmin is an open-source web application which puts a graphical user interface on the typically command line oriented tasks involved in administrating a Unix-based server. I personally have been using Webmin for many years already, although I initially acquired most of my administration knowledge by getting my hands dirty at the command line level. If administration is not your main job and you don't have all the administration tool syntax memorized or the time to wade through man pages, having a helpful interface like Webmin is a godsend. The book's author, Jamie Cameron, is also the main developer of Webmin. When you read the book you realize that he is first and foremost a command line administrative guru. However, he wanted to develop something to help novice admins get important jobs done quickly without getting bogged down in learning syntax. The book has a useful "Contents at a Glance" page at the start which is handy when you want to quickly look up a common administrative task. Then there is the main "Contents" section which contains all of the chapters' subtopics and titles. The end of the book contains a very thorough index. Although the book has 60 chapters, the author did not bother to explicitly divide them up into sections. On my first glance at the book, it seemed as though the chapters were not very logically ordered, but upon further inspection I realized that they follow the general ordering of the modules within the Webmin application. The one exception is that the chapter on configuring Webmin itself is found close to the end of the book although it is the very first module in the actual application. If I had to split the book up into sections, I would do so as follows: Introduction/Installation, System Modules, Networking Modules, Hardware Modules, Miscellaneous Modules, Server Modules, Usermin, Clusters, Webmin Configuration, Custom Module Development, and The API. The book starts off with a rather short but efficient introduction, installation guide and security suggestions for Webmin. Maybe a few more ideas should have been included in the "Securing Your Webmin Server" chapter. I'm sure security is a topic which many admins would like to see emphasized because of the general mistrust of granting power to a remotely accessible administration system which might easily allow a hacker or ignorant admin to take down a critical server. Webmin lets you perform many high-level tasks without ever knowing what files on the server are being affected. For myself, as a programmer who sometimes gets involved with administration work, I have configured sendmail services using Webmin many times and I have just let it work its magic without worrying about the file changes being made. This book, in addition to explaining usage of the application, fills in the details of what is going on behind the scenes. I believe Webmin is a great tool for junior administrators or hobbyists to learn Unix-based administration as long as a book like this one is used so the processes are thoroughly understood. This book probably won't be of much use to a professional administrator with lots of experience and a repertoire of scripts to handle all daily admin tasks. Although, if you are a pro and have grown weary of tedious command line work, this book will help you quickly get up to speed with the Webmin interface. I found that the book also introduced me to a few concepts I had only heard about but had not really bothered to delve into more, such as Usermin and Clustering. Usermin is basically a trimmed version of Webmin meant for use by the average user on a system. I can see this being used in cases where an administrator wants to give users enough power to control their own email and website settings without giving them shell access. The author devotes three chapters to clustering and explains its usefulness, management and configuration. At the end of the book you will find a number of useful chapters on creating your own Webmin modules, including explanations of standard module flow structuring, API function descriptions, and a sample dissection of the default theme structure. This section alone may be reason enough for some to purchase this book. The writing is fairly clear, although as I mentioned before, some of the unusual chapter ordering and missing section divisions are distracting. All in all, this book is a very thorough explanation of the Webmin administration interfaces as well as an introduction to the lower level work being done by the interface, and a short but informative section for those wanting to create their own modules.
Rating:
Summary: Making system administration easy
Review: Webmin is an open-source web application which puts a graphical user interface on the typically command line oriented tasks involved in administrating a Unix-based server. I personally have been using Webmin for many years already, although I initially acquired most of my administration knowledge by getting my hands dirty at the command line level. If administration is not your main job and you don't have all the administration tool syntax memorized or the time to wade through man pages, having a helpful interface like Webmin is a godsend. The book's author, Jamie Cameron, is also the main developer of Webmin. When you read the book you realize that he is first and foremost a command line administrative guru. However, he wanted to develop something to help novice admins get important jobs done quickly without getting bogged down in learning syntax. The book has a useful "Contents at a Glance" page at the start which is handy when you want to quickly look up a common administrative task. Then there is the main "Contents" section which contains all of the chapters' subtopics and titles. The end of the book contains a very thorough index. Although the book has 60 chapters, the author did not bother to explicitly divide them up into sections. On my first glance at the book, it seemed as though the chapters were not very logically ordered, but upon further inspection I realized that they follow the general ordering of the modules within the Webmin application. The one exception is that the chapter on configuring Webmin itself is found close to the end of the book although it is the very first module in the actual application. If I had to split the book up into sections, I would do so as follows: Introduction/Installation, System Modules, Networking Modules, Hardware Modules, Miscellaneous Modules, Server Modules, Usermin, Clusters, Webmin Configuration, Custom Module Development, and The API. The book starts off with a rather short but efficient introduction, installation guide and security suggestions for Webmin. Maybe a few more ideas should have been included in the "Securing Your Webmin Server" chapter. I'm sure security is a topic which many admins would like to see emphasized because of the general mistrust of granting power to a remotely accessible administration system which might easily allow a hacker or ignorant admin to take down a critical server. Webmin lets you perform many high-level tasks without ever knowing what files on the server are being affected. For myself, as a programmer who sometimes gets involved with administration work, I have configured sendmail services using Webmin many times and I have just let it work its magic without worrying about the file changes being made. This book, in addition to explaining usage of the application, fills in the details of what is going on behind the scenes. I believe Webmin is a great tool for junior administrators or hobbyists to learn Unix-based administration as long as a book like this one is used so the processes are thoroughly understood. This book probably won't be of much use to a professional administrator with lots of experience and a repertoire of scripts to handle all daily admin tasks. Although, if you are a pro and have grown weary of tedious command line work, this book will help you quickly get up to speed with the Webmin interface. I found that the book also introduced me to a few concepts I had only heard about but had not really bothered to delve into more, such as Usermin and Clustering. Usermin is basically a trimmed version of Webmin meant for use by the average user on a system. I can see this being used in cases where an administrator wants to give users enough power to control their own email and website settings without giving them shell access. The author devotes three chapters to clustering and explains its usefulness, management and configuration. At the end of the book you will find a number of useful chapters on creating your own Webmin modules, including explanations of standard module flow structuring, API function descriptions, and a sample dissection of the default theme structure. This section alone may be reason enough for some to purchase this book. The writing is fairly clear, although as I mentioned before, some of the unusual chapter ordering and missing section divisions are distracting. All in all, this book is a very thorough explanation of the Webmin administration interfaces as well as an introduction to the lower level work being done by the interface, and a short but informative section for those wanting to create their own modules.
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