Issue installing virtualmin in vps

Question

Trying to install Virtualmin in my new Ubuntu Xenial vps, executing install.sh, I get the following error:

[... up to here all fine..]
Processing triggers for dovecot-core (1:2.2.22-1ubuntu2.2) ...
Job for dovecot.service failed because the control process exited with error cod                                                                                        e. See "systemctl status dovecot.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript dovecot, action "restart" failed.
dpkg: error processing package dovecot-core (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for libapache2-mod-php7.0 (7.0.8-0ubuntu0.16.04.3) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 dovecot-core

FATAL - Fatal Error Occurred: Something went wrong during installation: 0
FATAL - Cannot continue installation.
FATAL - Attempting to remove virtualmin repository configuration, so the install                                                                                        ation can be
FATAL - re-attempted after any problems have been resolved.
FATAL - Removing temporary directory and files.
FATAL - If you are unsure of what went wrong, you may wish to review the log
FATAL - in /root/virtualmin-install.log

I have installed virtualmin in other vps and did not have such issue before. I meet the same issue in this vps also if I change operating system. What could I do to solve? Thanks

Answer 1

I wanted to install virtualmin on Ubuntu 16.04; I met same issues (as in your log); the error is quite cryptic and unexpected; virtualmin setup worked flawlessly in other vps.

A particular thing of my new vps is that ipv6 is not supported; it is probably the same in your case. Working on this information I made virtualmin work as expected, with the following steps:

• fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04

• apt-get install dovecot-common dovecot-imapd dovecot-pop3d (these packages are the part related to dovecot for Ubuntu, taken from virtualmin install.sh). This gave issues. Then edited: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf file.. uncommenting the line "listen = *, ::" and setting it to "listen = *" (listen just to ipv4 instead of also ipv6)

• then again "apt-get install dovecot-common dovecot-imapd dovecot-pop3d", to check that installation finely completes.

• install virtualmin: "/bin/sh install.sh"

• service apache2 restart

• In /etc/hosts comment the rows related to ipv6 (those with ::)

• remove the "ipv6=1" line from /etc/webmin/miniserv.conf

• /etc/init.d/webmin restart (now webmin should be up and working at https://yourip:10000)

Answer 2

I've tried these steps to install VirtualMin on my VPS Ubuntu 16.04. I am damn sure it will work for you.

Here are some prerequisites of the VirtualMin on Ubuntu:

-> You must have a new Ubuntu VPS or system with at 1 GB RAM.
-> You must have root access or access to a user with Sudo privileges. 
-> A valid hostname set on your server’s primary IP address.
-> Two registered custom nameservers for Virtualmin. 

Steps:

Step 1: Update your system with the latest available version:

Linux command: apt-get update

Step 2: Set Hostname and FQDN:

For Virtualmin to work properly, you need to configure the hostname and FQDN on the server itself by editing the /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts files, as well as update your DNS settings so DNS lookups resolve properly.

Linux command: hostname

To change the hostname for your server, open the file /etc/hostname in your editor:

Linux command: sudo nano /etc/hostname

Delete the current hostname and replace it with your hostname:

Use just the hostname, not the entire FQDN, in this file. For example, if your FQDN is demo.yourdomainname.com, enter demo in this file.

Save the file and exit the editor.

Next, add both the hostname and FQDN in the /etc/hosts file:

Linux command: sudo nano /etc/hosts

Modify the line that starts with 127.0.0.1 to use your FQDN and hostname, in that order:

127.0.1.1   your_hostname.your_domain.com your_hostname
127.0.0.1   localhost
...

Remember to replace your_hostname and your_domain.com with your own hostname and domain name. Save the file and exit the editor.

To check if the name has been changed correctly, reboot your server.

Linux command: sudo reboot

Step 3: Download and install Virtualmin

To install Virtualmin, download and run the official Virtualmin installation script, which will install Virtualmin, and Webmin, along with a LAMP stack, BIND, and Postfix.

Use wget to download the script:

Linux command: wget http://software.virtualmin.com/gpl/scripts/install.sh -O /tmp/virtualmin-install.sh

After the Virtualmin script has been downloaded successfully, we will go for the execution of the script. For that, first we will have to make the script file executable by running the following chmod command:

Linux command: chmod +x /tmp/virtualmin-install.sh

Once the file is made executable, we will go further towards running it using a shell. Enter the following command in the terminal to install Virtualmin through script.

Linux command: sh /tmp/virtualmin-install.sh

The script will give a warning message about existing data and compatible operating systems. Press y to confirm that you want to continue the installation.

The installation process may take a few minutes to complete all the steps as it installs various software packages and components.

Step 4: Configuring Webmin Using The Post-Installation Wizard

To configure Webmin, we'll use its web-based Post-Installation Wizard. Open your web browser and navigate to https://your_server_ip:10000. You can also use your fully-qualified domain name to access the site.

Note: Your browser may show a "Your connection is not secure" or "Your connection is not private" warning since Virtualmin uses a self-signed certificate. This warning is normal. You can ignore it. 

Next, we'll need to enter the root username and password which is same as of the Linux system's to get access to the Web-based Control Panel of VirtualMin.

Once you have logged in, you'll see the Introduction screen stating that you are going through the steps to configure Virtualmin. Press Next to continue.

On the Memory use screen, select No for Preload Virtual Libraries, because you don't need to run the Virtual User interface all the time. Select Yes for Run email domain lookup server to enable faster mail processing. Press Next to continue.

On the Virus scanning screen, select No for Run ClamAV server scanner so you'll use less RAM. Press Next to continue.

On the Spam filtering screen, select No for Run SpamAssassin server filter and press Next to continue.

On the Database servers screen, select Yes to Run MySQL database server because MySQL server is widely used and supported by most applications, and no to Run PostgreSQL database server. Press Next to continue. On the MySQL password screen, enter your desired MySQL root password. It should be different from the root password you used to log in to Webmin.

Select Yes if you’d like to remove the test MySQL database Select Yes if you’d like to remove the anonymous MySQL user On the MySQL database size screen, select the RAM option that matches the amount of RAM your server has. For a 1GB server, select Large system (1G) on which MySQL is heavily used. Press Next to continue.

On the Nameserver screen, Enter your primary and secondary nameservers which you configured in the prerequisites. If you haven't set these up, check the Skip check for resolvability box to avoid error message and proceed. Press Next to continue.

On the Password storage mode screen, select Store plain-text passwords if you must support password recovery. Otherwise, choose Only store hashed passwords. Here we have chosen plain-text passwords as an example. Press Next to continue.

you will see the All done screen. Click Next to end.

You may see a message stating that Virtualmin's configuration has not been checked. Click the Re-check and refresh the configuration button to check your Virtualmin configuration. Address any errors that the check reports. This process may take a few minutes to complete.

Congratulations! Your server is now configured.