I suggest you add a predefined Webmin category ID called "hidden" that can hold modules that are not shown in the left frame menu.

I know I can use Reassign Modules to move all the modules I currently don't want to work with (see) but don't want to delete into the Others category.

That is what I've done on my test server.

But, it would be better if they just were completely out of sight.

Also, it would be nice if I could "hide" entire categories as I see no reason to have a category called "Cluster" in my case.

Basically, I'm looking to simplify the look of Webmin so the menu only shows me modules I might actually want to use and hides the rest.

One of the daunting aspects of Webmin is that there are so many modules in so many categories. I seem to be opening up each category and searching for the module I want too often. Frankly, I'll only be using less than 10 of these modules on my real server. It would be good if I could just have a single category that had these 10 modules listed for easiest access.

At the same time, I don't want all the unused modules deleted since I might occasionally need one of them or start using them. If that is the case, I could just unhide the module and start using it.

The same could be said for the Virtualmin menus, but for the most part, I'll probably use most of them. But still, it might be good to have the same menu system (with hide operation and menu configuration options) as the Webmin side.

Just a suggestion...

Hey Kevin,

Good ideas. This is less of a problem now with the Virtualmin Framed Theme, since you normally only see Virtualmin options until you click the Webmin link at the top of the menu...but Webmin can be intimidating to even experienced administrators because it is so huge. Just way too much stuff in there.

However, as you note, it would be silly to get rid of all of the power of Webmin (that's 9 or so years of hard development work, and a lot of really great modules to cover just about every system administration need)...So here's what I think we'll do, and I really would love some feedback from folks on this proposal:

Introduce a new Webmin user called "admin" that has root-like privileges, but only for those modules that seem appropriate for virtual host administration work. i.e. Apache, BIND, mail server, ProFTPd, databases, quotas, network, etc. We could automatically create this user with the root password to start. Then, when you want to work as a Virtualmin administrator, you login as admin and get the Virtualmin menu and a few relevant Webmin modules. When you want to do system administration, you login as root. root could even get the old non-framed theme, so that he isn't distracted by Virtualmin stuff...But then, I kinda like the framed theme, even on systems that aren't for virtual hosting, so maybe we skip that one. ;-)

Another, possibly more flexible path would be to create, on installation, a new Webmin group called "virtualadmin" or something that only has access to those modules. The first member could be the previously mentioned admin user, and then the root user could create new members of the group in order to delegate responsibilities for the Virtualmin stuff to one or more other users.

Just a theory, but I think it addresses all of your needs in a clean manner.

BTW-You don't need a "hidden" category. You can make modules disappear, even from root, without deleting them. But creating a group that only has the modules you want is a really easy way to make new users that have the "right" modules for whatever tasks you want.

BTW2-The nice thing about using one of these methods is that it can be added by anyone, right now, in just a couple of minutes in the Webmin Users and Groups module and it will be safe from upgrades. It's clean and works right inline with the Webmin Way of doing things.

I'll be the only admin on my server. I do not plan to resell. So, I am only an example of one kind of Virtualmin/Webmin user.

I didn't think of creating a separate Webmin account. I'll try that. Certainly it seems like a good idea to me to have a root account that is all powerful and then a "virtualadmin" account that is used to manage a simpler subset of webhosting modules that might be needed on an ongoing basis.