Amahi Forums

Not required now, thanks. I'll use brute force.

Funny signature, though not with Amahi any more.

What was your issue again? SSL where??

Hi

Thanks for replying. I had (still have) a problem with the SSL on my server. I spent a while trying to figure out how best to get 'secure'-ish external (internet) access to my machine. I had some failed attempts to set up the ssl on the server as it would not accept the signature files that Webmin set up. Having finally got it to accept the files ( having done nothing different than before), I enabled ssl, only to find that it now would not let me log in (would not even get to the login screen) and would not give me a login screen even on the server. The VNC would not work, as it had previously extremely well. It has basically locked me out of my machine.

I'm in the process of getting all the stuff off it (I mainly wanted it to be a media server, with outside access and the ability to grab documents etc off of it) and I'm going to shut it down. The Amahi install was fine and worked well, but I'm not into the weekends spent getting it back on it's feet when I change the smallest thing, or try out a package (yes, this was on Amahi). I think it's a great package, to say that it's free, but I'm very much a technical end user who doesn't mind setting things up, but not twice, three times or more. I've got to say the DLNA server works well (I can still see everything, mapped drives etc, just can't get into the machine to change everything) so I would recommend this to anyone who finds this on a DNLA search. I've moved to a HDMI Lacie Media Centre now, so between that, the HDA and my PS3 I can listen to my music and play films anywhere I want.

I might play with it as a web server, but I'll strip Amahi off and do a rebuild. If you know how to get around the ssl (which would be disturbing) I'd like to know, but for now thanks for your interest and I'll beat the thing into submission when I've got time, not when it demands it.

If you're interested in my opinion (humble as it is), I think Amahi is great, but just some simple things (for simple people like me) would be:
- When you 'load' it, let it ask if you want to access from the outside/internet/local network and give you instructions how to do it, or just do it itself.
- Don't give things like Webmin to just anyone. I'm a fairly technical user, but the things I wanted to try to set up through Webmin were really just (see above) ordinary set up options IMHO.
- The DLNA server works well, could this be pushed as a 'version' of Amahi, with some funky background stuff being done to give people a media server that can be accessed via the net? Come on, everyone would love this - get your files from home at work without that pesky 'GoToMyPC'?
- With the packages like Webmin, where you can do serious (see above) damage to an otherwise usable setup, give people instructions or maybe a Do's and Don'ts starter pack. Idiot that I may be, I was well intentioned in trying to get the most out of my server, I just pressed something I shouldn't have.

Just my opinions. Thanks for your interest.

M

heh. webmin LOL

Just about anybody who knows a bit (or a lot) about Linux I've spoken to about webmin loathes it, damns it, curses it, removes it (if found installed by some clueless admin) and hates it

Now I can understand that it _may_ simplify _some_ tasks but if you look at the config files it generates it's a miracle stuff doesn't break more often (doesn't Amahi keep its config in the DB or am I lagging that much behind?). You can completely bork your entire install with this tool. That and it has countless holes, exploits etc. and the stuff that gets fixed usually introduces even worse bugs or exploits. I think the trade-off is not worth it.

IMHO this should have never made it to the Amahi apps. If someone wants to install it on their own, fine. They probably know what they're doing (kind of, otherwise they'd stay away from it) or just want to take a look at it for educational purposes.

So if not Webmin, what do you suggest? Is there some other app that helps configure the system without all the problems that Webmin instroduces?

Well yes there are some nice configuration tools, but they're not web based. They are however well-tested and reliable.
Most tools on the desktop that start with "gnome-system-" are meant to be front ends to configure services and system settings.