remote admin: ssh vs. webmin

List, I know that I shouldn't log in remotely as root via ssh, but how can I start/stop networking daemons or manipulate config files in the /etc without this level of access? Should I use something like webmin instead? Can I create a user that has write privileges in the /etc directory and should this user be capable of starting /stopping network daemons? Just looking for direction on this subject. Thanks, Matt Hubbard