On the main page, scroll down to the Install a New Package form.

If the package file is already on the master system, select From local file and enter its full path into the adjacent text field. If some of the managed systems use NFS to share files with the master and if the package file exists in the same directory, this option is the most efficient as it avoids the need to transfer the file to each managed host using RPC. Instead, the remote Webmin server will just read it directly from the NFS-mounted filesystem.

If the package file is on the PC on which your browser is running, choose From upload files and click the Browse button to select it.

If the file is on some web or FTP site, select From ftp or http URL and enter the full URL into the text field. Normally, the master server will download the file and then transfer it with RPC to each managed host. If the Each server should re-download package box is checked, each host will perform the download instead, which is more efficient if the URL refers to a web server on your local network.

Click the Install button to go to a page showing the progress of the package file's download (if necessary), the package name, and a form for choosing installation options. These options depend on the package system in use and are documented in more detail in Chapter 12.

By default, the package will be installed on all managed systems. However, you can limit it to just one or the members of a group by making a selection from the Server(s) to install on menu. This can be useful if the package is only appropriate for certain systems. You can also select hosts that don't have it to tell the module to skip installation attempts on systems that already have any version of this package. This will prevent upgrades from being attempted as well.

Click on Install again to go ahead. This will bring up a page showing the results from each managed host. It is quite possible for installation to succeed on one system but fail on another due to dependency problems or because the package is already installed. Installations will be done simultaneously on all managed systems so that you don't have to wait for them to complete one by one.