Installing Cloudmin

Cloudmin can be installed in a number of ways, including an automated install script which uses the standard package management features of your OS, and software repositories containing our software in native package formats. We strongly recommend that you use the automated install script to install Virtualmin, if at all possible.

Automated Cloudmin Installation - Installation of the full Cloudmin stack using our automated install script. This is the recommended way to install Cloudmin.

Manual Cloudmin Installation - Installation of Cloudmin and related packages manually. This is the method recommends for systems that are not currently supported by the automated install script.

Installation Troubleshooting - Troubleshooting common problems encountered during installation.

Uninstalling Cloudmin - Uninstallation of Cloudmin and selective removal of packages.

Automated Cloudmin Installation

The simplest way to install Cloudmin is to use the install script on the serial numbers page that matches your system. The steps to follow are :

  1. Pick a system that will be your Cloudmin master. Ideally this should be a freshly installed machine with just the basic operating system. We recommend CentOS, but Debian, Ubuntu and Solaris are also supported.
  2. Download the correct install script for your OS from the serial numbers page.
  3. Upload the script to your Cloudmin master system, then SSH in as root and run it

From this point on, installation should be fully automated. Cloudmin packages, Webmin and other tools will be download from the appropriate repositories using APT or YUM.

Once the installation is complete, you can login via the URL https://mastersystem:10000/ . See the Getting Started with Cloudmin page for what to do next.

Manual Cloudmin Installation

At the time of writing, Cloudmin does not have an automated installation process for very many platforms like Virtualmin. However, it is relatively simple to install, as it has far fewer dependencies. A yum repository is provided for RPM-based distributions, as well as a Webmin compatible wbm repository for updates via the Webmin update system.

To install on a CentOS, Redhat Enterprise or Fedora Core system, the steps to follow are :

  1. Install Perl, using the command : yum install perl
  2. If you want access to Cloudmin to be encrypted, install SSL support with the commands : yum install openssl openssl-devel perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::SSLeay'
  3. Install the latest version of Webmin in RPM format from www.webmin.com . The command to do this is : rpm -U http://www.webmin.com/download/rpm/webmin-current.rpm
  4. If you plan to use Cloudmin to manage Amazon EC2 instances, several Perl modules need to be installed. These can be added to your system with the commands : perl -MCPAN -e 'install Params::Validate' perl -MCPAN -e 'install LWP::UserAgent' perl -MCPAN -e 'install MIME::Base64' perl -MCPAN -e 'install Digest::HMAC_SHA1' perl -MCPAN -e 'install XML::Simple' perl -MCPAN -e 'install HTTP::Date'
  5. Install the RPM packages containing the Cloudmin module and Virtualmin theme with the command : rpm -U wbm-server-manager-*.rpm wbt-virtual-server-theme-*.rpm
  6. Put the license and serial numbers into the license file. Edit the file: /etc/server-manager-license And put your licensing information in using the following format: SerialNumber=NNNN LicenseKey=XXXXXXXXXXX

Assuming that all of the above steps succeeded, you are done! Open a web browser, and go to http://yourserver:10000/ to login (replace yourserver in the URL with the IP address or hostname of the Cloudmin master system). If your system has a root password, you will be able to login as root - if not, you can typically login as a user who has permissions to sudo to root).

Once you are logged in, see the Getting Started with Cloudmin page for what to do next.

Uninstalling Cloudmin

Since Cloudmin is built on top of Webmin, un-installing it is simply a matter of removing Webmin and some additional modules. The commands for this on CentOS, Fedora or Redhat Enterprise are :

rpm -e webmin wbm-server-manager wbt-virtual-server-theme wbt-virtual-server-mobile wbm-security-updates
rm /etc/yum.repos.d/cloudmin

Or on Debian or Ubuntu, run :

dpkg --remove webmin-server-manager webmin-virtual-server-theme webmin-virtual-server-mobile webmin-security-updates
grep -v cloudmin.virtualmin.com /etc/apt/sources.list >/etc/apt/sources.list.tmp && mv /etc/apt/sources.list.tmp /etc/apt/sources.list

In both cases, any virtual systems created by Cloudmin will continue to run un-changed.

If you ever decide to re-install, systems that it used to manage can be re-imported using links under Add System on the left menu.

Installation Troubleshooting

This page lists common installation issues and recommended solutions :

  • Install script fails The most common cause of installation failures is problems downloading packages. If this happens, check the following :

    1. Can you Cloudmin master system access cloudmin.virtualmin.com to download packages via HTTP? If it is blocked by a firewall, the install will fail.
    2. Is your system's YUM or APT configuration file up to date? If /etc/yum.repos.d is missing files or /etc/apt/sources.list is in-complete, some required packages may not be found.
  • Cannot Login as root This can happen if your system doesn't have a root password set, perhaps because authentication is done via an SSH key. To set a password on CentOS, Fedora or Redhat Enterprise, use the command :

    /usr/libexec/webmin/changepass.pl /etc/webmin root mynewpassword

    Or on Debian or Ubuntu, run :

    /usr/share/webmin/changepass.pl /etc/webmin root mynewpassword

  • Perl module install fails If the install script reports that a Perl module has failed to install, try it manually from the shell with a command like :

    perl -MCPAN -e 'install Net::SSLeay'

    Assuming Net::SSLeay was the module that failed. The cause may be missing dependencies such as C development libraries that Cloudmin cannot automatically install.