# VestaCP, Webmin, CSF, Observium, is that combination made in heaven or what?



## Belucci (Oct 16, 2014)

Well I got the bug to manage my own servers from now on (after using managed dedicateds for 10 years or so) just few weeks ago.

I had just bare knowledge about linux before.

After lots of reading and questions asked I got the following list

1. VestaCP, free, lightweight, opensource control panel that installs apache,nginx, php, mail, ftp automatically and have all the basic configurations with just couple of clicks

2. webmin, i find my way around in a terminal, but this should make my life easier and also has visual interface for CSF

3. well CSF

4. Observium, seems like the most polished open source monitoring tool?

(0. I'm going to use ubuntu 14.04 for server just because that's my home setup and i'm familiar with it)

The goals were, efficiency and security using only free and open source solutions.

So, here are my questions to you.

Would you add anything to the list?

Would you critique any of my choices?


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## HalfEatenPie (Oct 16, 2014)

Belucci said:


> Well I got the bug to manage my own servers from now on (after using managed dedicateds for 10 years or so) just few weeks ago.
> 
> I had just bare knowledge about linux before.
> 
> ...


VestaCP is great for a lightweight shared hosting (esque) control panel.  The entire fact that it already sets up nginx to service the static content and Apache to service the dynamic content is one of the best features of this open-source control panel.  

Personally... while Webmin dose make life easier I personally wouldn't utilize it simply because it'd be another security vulnerability access point.  Now I'm not saying it's 100% bad and should never be used, but most software and things that Webmin makes easier to manage via a Web Panel can be done via CLI and frequently there are tutorials and instructions on the internet about it.  So I mean go for it if you need it, but I'd advise against it.

CSF is pretty useful all around.  Sometimes a bit iffy to adjust but it does get the job done.  No comment from here about it. 

Observium is great.  SNMP is a great monitoring protocol but would also probably need some adjusting to fit your needs.  Remember it's probably the best idea to have Observium on a different VM or a different system than what it's monitoring.  I mean I run my installation of Observium on its own VPS with an incredibly reliable provider and everything else on other VMs.  You could combine the Observium VM with other VMs (or hell even run it off of the VestaCP VM) but I'd advise against it simply for the "all the eggs in one basket" ideology (also if you have it set to notify you, what good will it do if it's offline?) 

In terms of a private VM, I'd say that does a decent job.  Now you could go further in-depth with security and all that jazz by having it setup to email you anytime someone logs in, have a higher resolution of monitoring data by utilizing Collectd in addition to SNMP (Standard Observium (following the instructions) have the cron set at every 5 minutes.  Collectd would probably reduce the resolution of the data from 5 minutes to 1 minutes or even 30 seconds on certain ones.  It's what I prefer, but be warned it could use up a ton of space in the long-run).  

I would add more but I'm pretty beat at the moment.  Maybe more later!


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## Belucci (Oct 16, 2014)

I had the same concerns about Webmin, so I'm going to limit it to just localhost and then ssh tunnel to it.  To be honest the main reason I went with it is because it allows visual configuration of CSF, and boy does this thing have options.....still haven't looked at them all

Thanks for the detailed info about the rest, really helpful.


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## nunim (Oct 16, 2014)

Belucci said:


> I had the same concerns about Webmin, so I'm going to limit it to just localhost and then ssh tunnel to it.  To be honest the main reason I went with it is because it allows visual configuration of CSF, and boy does this thing have options....


If you're only using Webmin for CSF, you should know that CSF provides a built-in httpd/UI, see


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## heetrash (Oct 16, 2014)

Take a look at Centos Web Panel


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## Belucci (Oct 20, 2014)

nunim said:


> If you're only using Webmin for CSF, you should know that CSF provides a built-in httpd/UI, see


Well not only, but mostly. Who knows, might be useful for some stuff down the road....



heetrash said:


> Take a look at Centos Web Panel


why?


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