10 Linux GUI tools for sysadmins

Has administering Linux via the command line confounded you? Here are 10 GUI tools that might make your life as a Linux administrator much easier.

If you're a system administrator, it's reached a point where Linux has become a must-know. This is especially true when you're working in a larger environment. Many organizations have migrated from Windows, where everything is managed with a point-and-click GUI. Fortunately, Linux has plenty of GUI tools that can help you avoid the command line (although every serious sysadmin should become familiar with the commands).

What are some good GUI tools that can simplify your Linux sysadmin tasks? Let's take a look at 10 of them.

1: MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench is one of my favorite tools for working with MySQL databases. You can work locally or remotely with this well designed GUI tool. But MySQL Workbench isn't just for managing previously created databases. It also helps you design, develop, and administer MySQL databases. A newer addition to the MySQL Workbench set of tools is the ability to easily migrate Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Sybase ASE, PostgreSQL, and other RDBMS tables, objects, and data to MySQL. That alone makes MySQL Workbench worth using.

2: phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is another MySQL administration tool... only web based. Although it doesn't offer the bells and whistles of MySQL Workbench, it's a much more user-friendly tool. With phpMyAdmin you can create and manage MySQL databases via a standard web browser. This means you can install phpMyAdmin on a headless Linux server and connect to it through any browser that has access to the machine.

3: Webmin

Webmin is a web-based one-stop-shop tool for administering Linux servers. With Webmin you can manage nearly every single aspect of a server—user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing, security, databases, and much more. And if what you need isn't included with the default installation, a massive number of third-party modules are available to take up the slack.

4: YaST

YaST stands for Yet Another Setup Tool. It enables system configuration for enterprise-grade SUSE and openSUSE and serves as both the installation and configuration tool for the platform. With YaST you can configure hardware, network, and services and tune system security, all with an easy-to-use, attractive GUI. YaST is installed by default in all SUSE and openSUSE platforms.

5: Shorewall

Shorewall is a GUI for configuring iptables. Yes, there are other GUIs for tuning the security of your system, but many of them don't go nearly as deep as Shorewall. Where an app like UFW is one of the best security tuners for the desktop, Shorewall is tops for the server. With this particular security GUI, you can configure gateways, VPNs, traffic controlling, blacklisting, and much more. If you're serious about your firewall, and you want a GUI for the job, Shorewall is what you want.

6: Apache Directory

Apache Directory is about the only solid GUI tool for managing any LDAP server (though it is designed particularly for ApacheDS). It's an Eclipse RCP application and can serve as your LDAP browser, schema editor, ApacheDS configuration editor, LDIF editor, ACI editor, and more. The app also contains the latest ApacheDS, which means you can use it to create a DS server in no time.

7: CUPS

CUPS is the Linux printer service that also happens to have a web-based GUI tool for the management of printers, printer classes, and print queues. It is also possible to enable Kerberos authentication and remote administration. One really nice thing about this GUI is its built-in help system. You can learn nearly everything you need to manage your print server.

8: cPanel

cPanel is one of the finest web-based administration tools you'll use. It lets you configure sites, customers' sites and services, and quite a bit more. With this tool you can configure/manage mail, security, domains, apps, apps, files, databases, logs—the list goes on and on. The only drawback to using cPanel is that it's not free. Check out the pricing matrix to see if there's a plan to fit your needs.

9: Zenmap

Zenmap is the official front end for the Nmap network scanner. With this tool, both beginners and advanced users can quickly and easily scan their network to troubleshoot issues. After scanning, you can even save the results to comb through them later. Although you won't use this tool to directly administer your system, it will become invaluable in the quest for discovering network-related issues.

10: Cockpit

Cockpit was created by Red Hat to make server administration easier. With this web-based GUI you can tackle tasks like storage administration, journal inspection, starting/stopping services, and multiple server monitoring. Cockpit will run on Fedora Server, Arch Linux, CentOS Atomic, Fedora Atomic, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Setup LAMP and Install Drupal

Setting up LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL & PHP)

• If you have Debian or Ubuntu OS installed in your system, type su for Debian or sudo su for Ubuntu and press enter it will prompt for password, enter your root password

• Update package sources

apt-get update

(This is safer than apt-get upgrade or apt-get dist-upgrade, because it safely upgrades your server and resolves dependencies)

• Install Apache2 and PHP5

apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-gd
chmod -R 777 /var/www

Check if apache is working

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart
nano /var/www/info.php

Copy & paste the folowing php code in the nano editor

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Go and check http://localhost/info.php in your browser to see configuration of installed php version.

• Install Mysql and PHPmyadmin

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client php5-mysql
apt-get install phpmyadmin

When prompted for a password enter MySql Password.

• Creating a MySQL DB & user for your Drupal installation

mysqladmin -u root -p create d7

Enter MySql Password when you are prompted for password. If you get a “Database exists” error, please issue “mysqladmin -u root -p drop d7” to delete the existing database and then issue the create command.

• Configuring Apache for Clean URLs

a2enmod rewrite
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart
chmod -R 777 /var/www

Install Drupal

• Download the latest stable version of drupal from http://drupal.org/project/drupal
• Prepare server for drupal setup
  • Copy the drupal-7.2x.tar.gz file to /var/www and uncompress the files so that you get /var/www/drupal-7.2x finally
  • Rename the drupal folder to d7
  • Goto d7/sites/default, create a folder called files so that you have d7/sites/default/files
  • Copy default.settings.php as settings.php so that you have d7/sites/default/settings.php
  • Give 777 permissions to file(apply permissions to enclosed files) & settings.php
• Install drupal
  • Goto http://localhost/d7
  • Choose Standard installation profile and save and continue
  • Leave English as is and save and continue
  • Give Database Name as d7, Database username as root & Database password as hello for LAMP or leave blank for XAMPP and Save and continue
  • configure Site information
    • Site Name your full name
    • Site e-mail address your email id
  • configure Site maintenance account
    • username as admin
    • password & Confirm password as hello
  • configure Server settings
    • Choose India under Default country
    • Choose Asia/Kolkata: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 14:51 +0530 under Default time zone and Save and continue
  • Now click on Visit your new site

Menus

Adding content

• Click on add content in top black menu
• Then click on Basic page
• Give Title as Workshop
• Write a summary about workshop in the body
• Check the box Provide a menu link under Menu Settings below Text format group
• Give Workshop in Menu link title
• Ensure <Main menu> under Parent item
• Choose 1 as Weight and click save