As you're no doubt aware already, I'm new to managing my domains on a VPS server, I have setup my Linode 360 on Ubuntu and have installed Webmin and Virtualmin to control it. I have read many posts here and articles elsewhere descirbing the system but not seem to answer all of my questions and leave me less informed than before...

Could someone briefly explain an example setup of these on a Linode? I am particularly interested in using Virtualmin (as it is supposed to handle multiple domains better) but I am confused about DNS, should I let Virtualmin handle it or keep using Linode's DNS system.

Also, when creating new virtualhosts, I would like to set a bunch of defaults so I don't have to repeat myself each time; these would be defaults htaccess rules used in the .conf files etc - how do I do this?

Virtualmin initially asks me to create a Virtual server, what does this mean? In creating it, will I delete my existing virtualhosts...

i would also really appreciate some tips and default settings for making the setup run efficiently.

I know I might have asked for a lot but if you at least know some of what I'm asking, then hopefully someone else will fill in the gaps elsewhere.

Many thanks in advance.

When I setup virtualmin I let it handle DNS.

When is says create a virtual server that's just it letting you host a new domain & website etc. Think of it as you creating a new hosting account on your linode.

Depending on what version of virtualmin you're using (GPL or Pro) will determine how may virtual hosts you can create.

If you've already created virtual hosts by hand I'm not sure if it will overwrite them, but if you've created from within virtualmin it won't overwrite existing accounts.

Also worth mentioning in case you've not come across it already, disable the root login to virtualmin as a security precaution. Login to VM as root, go to Webmin->Users, duplicate the root account with a different username. Then re-login as that new user which has root premissions, go to Webmin->Users and delete the root user.

HTH

Awesome, thanks Mr Nod!

So let me get this straight, do I use Virtualmin to create a new virtual server for every website/domain that I host? What if a client has bought multiple domains that all point to a single, primary domain, for instance a .com, .co.uk & .org... would i create a new virtual server for each and point two of them to the primary domain? A bit of a fluffy question I know, but it is a situation that often happens.

FYI, I'm using Virtualmin GPL, how many hosts can I create? Does each virtual servers have its own ftp credentials?


Thanks for the tip, its these little things that I find are really useful.

Does anyone else have any tips to help get me up and running properly?

Yes use virtualmin to create a new virtual server for every website/domain that you want to host. From memory the GPL version lets you create unlimited domains/websites. It's only the pro version, that has licensing limitations on the number of sites that you can create.

From memory - I'm a bit rusty but I'm pretty sure - if a client has multiple domains and you want them to point to a primary one, virtualmin will let you do that by aliases...

Good luck with virtualmin - it's a solid bit of software, just a shame it's so ugly =)

I started to work with virtualmin but then found kloxo. If you are used to hosting with cpanel, kloxo is probably the next best thing...and it's free.

You mean the software that's from the same guy as HyperVM, which was exploited so badly that the author offed himself?

Yes, it has a bad rep because of that, but it is open source now and really quite awesome.

It's been open source for about 10 minutes. I don't know that I'd be betting a business on it just yet.

Well, I wouldn't start a hosting company based on it, but for administering my own websites it is very suitable.

Am I right in thinking Virtualmin comes with its own version of apache etc? Or does it use the system software? I've never actually used it, but I've considered it.

As part of the install script, it'll install the apache from your distribution.

Aha. But, I've already got Apache on the system. Is that gonna be a problem?

not sure, but it's really meant to go onto a blank system. it'd likely wipe out your configs.

Didn't we learn nothing from the "Pepsi Syndrome" skit on SNL?