Topic: Webmin on SME

[pierhomme]

Could you be able to authorize Webmin on SME, because it's a very good servver administration interface.
Thanks

[Jason Benedict]

sorry i had to say that.... i hope not. why, because e-smith already have a wonderful user friendly interface via server-manager and contribut ones for user via user-manager by Dungdog.net.

[Paul]

Another reason that Webmin won't be implemented on an SME server is because it won't work.  SME uses templates to configure the server and Webmin does not.  If you use Webmin to change a config file then as soon as you reset or upgrade the server then the templates will change everything back and you will loose any Webmin adjustments.  Webmin is completly incompatable with SME.

[edward chow]

But i also want to setup the webmin in SME,
because I need to configurate the samb server
for user accounts mappign between windows and linux.

Any methods can solve the all configure change back after reboot?

[Paul]

As I stated before, Webmin is NOT COMPATABLE with SME, and because of the differances it CAN NOT WORK.  SME uses a totally unique and different approach to configure the system.  SME uses templates.  You can create custome templates if you need to change configurations that are not addressed in the server manager.

Edward,

What exactly do you need to do with Samba?  Most, if not all needed functions are configurable thru the server manager.

Paul

[Meijers]

Hate to break it to you: webmin does work on SME...

The only things to keep track of is which modules you activate for webmin (as you know most parts all modules and extensible). If you only want to target Samba, that should work as long as you keep track of all configuration data for the module.

We use webmin parallel to the SME interface Should the latter be broken due to our constant experimenting than we switch to webmin which runs on its own mini server.

[Paul]

>>Hate to break it to you: webmin does work on SME...

Well I didn't really mean that it doesn't work.  It does work and configure the settings for you BUT...

>>If you only want to target Samba, that should work as long as you keep track of all configuration data for the module.

If  the system is rebooted or reboots itself for any reason such as power outage, then you have to go back and change the settings in webmin.  If you are not available to respond to this problem, then Samba will not work until you can get to a terminal and re-adjust your settings with Webmin.  So technically speaking, it really doesn't work properly because Webmin takes it's cofigurations from the .conf files and these files will be overwritten by their  SME templates unless you somehow dissable the template.

It just seems easier to create custom templates as necessary and forget about it to me..

JMHO,

Paul

[Meijers]

Webmin settings not being saved on reboot/restart was a bug which was in a previous version, however for the Samba part that is a bit of a challenge yes as the default module in Webmin does not really handle Samba very well. But there's an alternate module for it, best to run a query through google.

I had a look at our implementation (we now no longer actively use SME as we've found a better candidate) of webmin where we ran into the same issue of .conf files being rewritten; it's easy to make Webmin doublecheck the settings or even get a script to parse variables when .conf files are rewritten by the core system.
I also remember that a Dutch client did his own Webmin, kind of He modified the core webmin webserver (cgi based) to run php as cgi parallel to it and hooked up the SME gui to it.

[Paul]

All this work you speak of here is exactly why trying to implemint Webmin on an SME server is not practacle.

Adjusting settings thru a custom-template sounds like a lot LESS work than all the BS you have to go thru to get Webmin working.  This has been my whole point all along here.  

"it's easy to make Webmin doublecheck the settings or even get a script to parse variables when .conf files are rewritten by the core system.
I also remember that a Dutch client did his own Webmin, kind of He modified the core webmin webserver (cgi based) to run php as cgi parallel to it and hooked up the SME gui to it."

Why didn't you just spend some time re-working the server-manager to include more settings that were needed?  At least that way you could have contributed your work for other people to use on their sme servers.

"we now no longer actively use SME as we've found a better candidate"

Why not, and what is this "better canditate"?

[Bill Talcott]

Paul wrote:
>
> If  the system is rebooted or reboots itself for any reason
> such as power outage, then you have to go back and change the
> settings in webmin.

FYI, the files are not rebuilt on every reboot. Only when you signal an event where stuff is updated. Not as big a problem as you say, but it does still work against the built-in SME customization features, and will overwrite your Webmin-created files at times...

[Paul]

"FYI, the files are not rebuilt on every reboot. Only when you signal an event where stuff is updated. Not as big a problem as you say, but it does still work against the built-in SME customization features, and will overwrite your Webmin-created files at times...."

This is exactly my point and by your own words you make my point for me.  WHEN, HOW , WHY will your webmin files be overwritten?  Just too much to worry about.  Why have 2 systems fighting each other?  Using webmin complicates the process and to me this seems counter-productive.

I don't have anything against webmin, but why install something that (because of sme's design) won't work properly?  If you use the custom templates that sme was designed to use then you won't have to worry about re-running webmin after every system adjustment.  Using Webmin just doesn't make sense to me.

If you want to use webmin, then use it.  I was just trying to get the point across that installing webmin was not easy and does not work on sme as it was intended to work on other distros, especially if you don't understand how SME works in the first place.  I assume the person that asked the question "Webmin on SME" doesn't totally understand the sme system and the implications of installing webmin or they would have not asked the question in the first place.  

If you insist on installing webmin then you MUST FIRST have a FULL understanding of how the SME template design works and what impact webmin has on it.

"But i also want to setup the webmin in SME,
because I need to configurate the samb server
for user accounts mappign between windows and linux."

Besides all of this, Samba is so easy to custom configure with a custom template that webmin would be a waste of time just for Samba.

edward chow, I ask again, what in samba do you need help with?  I will be happy to walk you thru a custom-template for any non-standard configuration that you may need.

Paul