NethServer 7.3 Installation and first look
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Project website: https://www.nethserver.org/
Today we are taking a look at NethServer, version 7.3. NethServer is a CentOS-based distribution, with the primary feature and difference from CentOS being modular design and a comprehensive web-interface.
We proceed to the web-interface, which is the selling feature of this distribution. By default, it's listening on port 980. We enter our domain name, verify the time zone selection, and are given the opportunity to change the default SSH port, choose whether mail should be sent via smart host, and a chance to opt out of usage statistics.
After brief self-configuration, we are presented with the Network page of the web-UI, where we can review and change our network settings.
Going through the list of available pages from the top, we can see that we have no applications currently installed, and proceed to the Dashboard. Here we are warned that at least one network interface is using DHCP, which is not an issue for our testing purposes. The page itself contains a lot of useful information, being updated real-time. The data includes NethServer and kernel releases, RAID configuration, system load, uptime, date and time, network and hardware information, memory and disk usage.
Moving down in the list of pages, we open the Disk usage section. This is a very handy tool, which helps quickly identify which folders are using large amounts of storage.
Next, is the Domain accounts section, where we can choose to configure LDAP and Active Directory.
On the Services screen, we see the list of all installed services, their listening ports, and basic management features.
Next one down is Users and groups page, with the sole Configure button, which takes us back to the domain accounts configuration.
The Log viewer page allows us to review and follow various system logs, which is certainly a nice feature to have if we are managing a configured server from the web-ui.
Next to the Log viewer is the Shutdown page, which is self-explanatory.
Moving down yet another line, we have the Software center. After a moment of pondering, we are presented with a list of available applications. We shall come back to this page after we are finished with the tour.
Next page is Network services. Here we can manage the firewall options for all listening services.
Still moving down the sidebar, we have the SSH page. As expected, here we can change the SSH port, as well choose whether root login is permitted, and if password authentication should be used.
Under the SSH page we have Trusted networks, where we can manage local networks that should have access to the system services.
Down below is the Accounts provider page, which we have seen before, as well as DHCP, DNS, date and time, email and network settings. We can change our company name and contacts, which are displayed in certain areas of the web-interface, manage our SSL certificate, change the hostname and set up static routes.
Now, let's go back to the Software center. We are notified of available updates and a list of packages pending update. We can trigger the update with a single click. After that's done, we can review the list of available applications. We can configure an email server, an FTP server, IPsec, OpenVPN, SQL and a variety of other features with a couple of clicks.
For the sake of the video, let's try the Web server with a few extra php modules. The task completes within seconds, and we are prompted to reload the page. Checking the server's IP-address on port 80 indeed displays a page rendered by the Apache web server.
I get interested in trying out the KVM virtual machine manager. Just like the web server, it's installed and configured within seconds. In its settings we choose whether the VM manager is enabled, choose to enable its own web-interface and are given the opportunity to change the administrator password. The web-interface is listening on port 8000, where we can login with the password presented earlier. We configure a storage pool, with a variety of options available, and proceed to create our first VM. Choosing from a predefined list of configurations, we click Create, set-up basic options, and our KVM managed virtual machine is ready. A multitude of options are available for each VM, as well as some real-time stats, and a VNC console. Unfortunately, VNC did not work for me, but it may be due to my web browser configuration.
Overall, I've found NethServer to be quite intuitive and easy to use. It would be a great solution for someone wishing to set-up their own server, and not quite ready to get down and dirty on the command line. With a variety of applications and services available at a touch of a button, it's a great starting point, that still allows to dig down under the hood if desired.