HOW TO: Install Webmin on FreePBX

Webmin is a super useful tool for administering Linux, however due to security concerns, it doesn’t come installed on FreePBX by default. While Webmin is considered to be a security risk, it really is only a risk if it is open to the outside world. So, if your FreePBX is behind a firewall, and you aren’t port forwarding TCP 10,000, you are pretty safe from exploitation.

There are two main ways to install Webmin – downloading the RPM, or installing the repo. I prefer to install the repo as it makes further administration and updates much easier down the road because you don’t have to know version numbers, and you can simply yum update to get the latest version.

Here is how to add Webmin to FreePBX using the repo method.

1.  Create the Webmin repo file.  Log into FreePBX via SSH as root and run:

nano -w /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo

Copy and paste this repo info into the open webmin.repo file:

[Webmin]
 name=Webmin Distribution Neutral
 #baseurl=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum
 mirrorlist=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist
 enabled=1

Do CTRL+X followed by ‘Y’ to save and exit.

2.  Install the GPG key.

cd /usr/src
 wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
 rpm --import jcameron-key.asc

3.  Install Webmin.

yum install webmin

Once complete, you can point your browser to https://[server IP address]:10000 (note https, not http).  Login as ‘root’ with your root password.