Controlling servers (e.g. apache, samba)

[Derek Broughton]

Scott Kitterman wrote:

> On Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:37:20 -0500 John Dangler <jdangler at atlantic.net>
> wrote:

>>So, since webmin is obviously _not_ the developers/maintainers choice,
>>what is/are the alternative(s) ?
>>One alternative that I tried was ISPConfig (under Breezxy).  ISPConfig
>>is a nightmare with Ubuntu, and is as difficult to remove as Norton on
>>Doze (and doesn't handle qmail/vpopmail, among other things).
>>
>>So, what do the developers/maintainers suggest?
> 
> The standard answer to this question on the postfix-users is don't.  These
> are complex systems and by using such tools you will not develop a
> sufficiently deep understanding of how they work and how to operate them.
> 
> I'm inclined to agree.

I used to see exactly the same on the Exim list.  I frequently and
vehemently _disagreed_.  

In almost every case of a misconfigured mail server, the problem comes down
to a case that any half-decently written GUI would have prevented from ever
occurring.  Which is not to suggest that Webmin modules are usually, or
even ever, written half-decently, but I cannot accept that forcing people
to code rules for a complex system by using a text editor ever improves
either the user experience or the reliability of the system.

If webmin modules suck, they should be fixed.  Just removing webmin and not
providing a better config tool is asking for trouble (that said, there are
better config tools for many apps - but not for mail servers, ime).
-- 
derek