How Do I Update Linux Packages Using the Webmin Control Panel?

This article will describe how to update the various packages on a Linux system using the Webmin control panel.  This is a very useful way to ensure your Linux system is running the most updated versions of software for the best performance and security.

1)Log into your Webmin Control Panel.

2)Select System then Software Package Updates from the menu options on the initial Webmin screen.

3)Once you are in the Software Package Updates screen you will have the following options:

This first screen allows you to choose what states are available for packages.

Installed: Shows you all current software packages installed and what versions they are.

Only Updates: Will only show a listing of current packages that have updates available from the repositories that Webmin uses to check for the latest packages.

Only New: Will display every available new package that can be installed on your system.  

The last option of Find packages matching allows you to search for a specific package in question for any new updates.  This is useful if you want to focus on a certain service such as Apache or MySQL.

The next screen allows you to control a schedule of how to handle new updates when they are available.  You can either set this to just notify you or the system administrator at a certain time or have the system do the package installations for you.

The last section of Action when update needed will let you dictate how the system handles new updates as follows:

Just notify:  This would be the best option for system administrators who want full control over what package updates are available and then manually update them.

Install security updates: This is a great option for Linux users who don't need to worry about the specifics of package updates but want to ensure their system has the latest security updates applied to their system to prevent any type of potential compromise or other malicious activity.

Install any updates:  This last option will blindly install any and all packages available regardless if the package is considered a critical security update or not.  This option should be used with caution as it could cause potential problems with different services running and interacting correctly on your server.  This would be especially true of any web server related packages for Apache and any modules that are being used with it.