Virtualmin is a control panel that is used to manage a VPS.
This is a complete guide to setting up Virtualmin and also the VPS.
If the guide is followed to the end, one will have a fully functional website with wordpress as the CMS.
cPanel vs. Virtualmin
Virtualmin is similar in all respects to cPanel, the popular control panel.
However, the big difference between Virtualmin and cPanel is that while the latter is very expensive and costs several dollars in license fee, the former is totally free.
Effectively, one can achieve with Virtualmin most, if not all, the functions that one can achieve from cPanel.
It has a UI (user interface) that is as easy to understand as cPanel.
Setting up nameservers
It is always better to do this first because it takes time for changes to the nameservers to propagate across the internet.
Virtualmin comes with its own DNS servers.
By default, the nameservers are ns1.nameofdomain.com and ns2.nameofdomain.com
Note: change ‘nameofdomain.com’ to the name of your domain and tld.
Go to the domain registrar (e.g. namecheap.com) and make the following changes to your domain:
(i) Select Domain List from the left sidebar and click the Manage button next to your domain:
(ii) Find the Nameservers section and select CustomDNS from the drop-down menu.
Fill in the names of the two nameservers referred earlier.
Click on the green checkmark to save the changes.
Nameserver changes take some time to propagate. This depends on various factors such as the ISP etc.
One can check the status by pinging the website using the cmd tool in windows.
Install virtualmin
The virtualmin script has to be downloaded onto the VPS and run.
Run the following command using putty:
wget http://software.virtualmin.com/gpl/scripts/install.sh
Execute the install script using this command:
sudo /bin/sh install.sh
After a few minutes, virtualmin installs everything that is required to run a VPS, including Apache webserver, php, MySql, DNS server, Email (POP3 and IMAP), Spam Assasin etc.
Login into the backend
After the installation, one can access the backend through the path:
https://mydomain.com:10000
One can login using the name ‘root’ and the root password.
Create virtual server
Virtualmin enables the setting up of websites using the ‘create virtual server’ setting.
All the settings are self explanatory as shown in the image.
Once you click the ‘create server’ button, the Control Panel does all that is necessary, including creating the necessary folders on the server, the Virtual hosts, the DNS records etc.
Install wordpress
Click the ‘Install Scripts’ button to install wordpress and several other scripts/ programmes like phpMyAdmin, RoundCube, SquirrelMail, WHMCS etc.
You can choose whether to install wordpress at the top level or a specified folder.
Conclusion
Following these easy steps enables one to use virtualmin to set up a full fledged website totally free of cost.
The Control Panel offers advanced users to tweak and change all aspects of the webserver.
If you have any questions or doubts, ask in the comments section and I will answer them ASAP 🙂
Unfortunately, all of the mails sent from my VPS using virtualmin control panel are going into the spam box of Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail. Even though the DKIM, SPF and DMARC are showing as ‘PASS’. Tearing my hair out in frustration.
Pl check the IP reputation. If the IP is blacklisted, the mails may be treated as spam. Another solution (slightly expensive) is to use Amazon SES which gives free emails of 60,000 per month.
http://www.vps2.me/how-to-set-up-amazon-ec2-vps-to-send-email-from-ses/