OUR EXPERT
David Bolton has been using Virtualmin for several years now, so is the perfect person to explain how it can work with a free VPS to set up websites and other activities.
Virtualmin has been helping people administer their Linux boxes for almost 20 years and it V runs on most distros, particularly CentOS, Debian, RHEL and Ubuntu. Available as both free (GPL) or commercial versions, it enables you to create virtual servers with fully independent users. This includes mailboxes, web application development environments, websites, web apps, quotas, account rules and instances of web server, database server and other software. If you need to install an SSL certificate on your box, it can generate a CSR and install the certificate. It’s all done through the admin website.
It’s handy when you need to look after an internet box, such as a VPS or dedicated server, but lack the skills to set everything up – safely or otherwise. Do not underestimate securing your server. The internet is an ongoing and permanent war zone; any internetfacing computer can expect to come under a low-level automated attack on most days. The author’s own WordPress website has had over 13,000 attacks since 2019, according to the Jetpack plugin.
Many VPSes come with or but those are not free – typically, you pay between £12 and £16 per month just for those, on top of the hosting fees. Foris ideal. The VPS usually lets you choose between different Linux server distros, such as CentOS or Ubuntu. Free VPSes usually have a more limited choice; this was done using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
