Parallels BUSINESS AUTOMATION Provider's guide
Parallels
Parallels Business
Automation - Standard
Provider's guide
Release 4.0
(c) 1999-2010
Printed: 12/27/2010
Copyright Notice
Parallels Holdings, Ltd.
c/o Parallels International GMbH.
Parallels International GmbH
Vordergasse 49
CH - 8200 Schaffhausen
Switzerland
Tel: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 0
Fax: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 255
Copyright © 1999-2010 by Parallels Holdings Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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technology, patents, and trademarks are listed at http://www.parallels.com/trademarks
Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Windows NT, Windows Vista, and MS-DOS are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporatio n.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Mac is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.
All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Contents
Preface 9
About This Guide......................................................................................................................................... 9
Audience........................................................................................................................................... 9
Typographical Conventions.............................................................................................................. 9
Feedback......................................................................................................................................... 10
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 11
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Advantages..............................................................................11
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Hardware Requirements.......................................................... 14
Management Node requirements (if the Management Node is a separate computer)................................ 14
Virtuozzo Hardware Node Requirements.................................................................................................. 14
Plesk Hardware Node Requirements:.........................................................................................................15
Sitebuilder Hardware Node requirements:................................................................................................. 15
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Users....................................................................................... 16
Browsers Compatible with Parallels Business Automation - Standard ...................................................... 16
Connecting to Parallels Business Automation - Standard Browser-Based Tools ......................................17
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Interface Features.................................................................... 17
Navigation.................................................................................................................................................. 17
Main Screen ............................................................................................................................................... 18
Adding a Comment to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Object............................................19
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 20
Checking Provider Account Contacts........................................................................................................ 21
Setting Up Access Permissions for Parallels Business Auto mation - Standard Users............................... 22
Setting Up Messenger and S/MIME Signing for E-mail............................................................................ 24
Selecting Regional Settings........................................................................................................................ 25
Language......................................................................................................................................... 25
Default Time Zone.......................................................................................................................... 25
First Day of Week........................................................................................................................... 25
Currency .........................................................................................................................................25
Available Languages....................................................................................................................... 26
Customizing the Onscreen Help in Control Panel......................................................................................26
Securing the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools Using SSL................................................ 27
Getting the SSL Certificate............................................................................................................. 28
Enabling SSL for Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools............................................... 28
Managing Parallels Business Automation - Standard Services and Data Center 29
Plesk Nodes Specific Settings.................................................................................................................... 30
Virtuozzo Nodes Specific Settings............................................................................................................. 34
Managing Parallels Server Nodes..............................................................................................................34
Registering Parallels Server Nodes................................................................................................. 35
Managing Virtual Machines ........................................................................................................... 36
Managing Parallels Operations Automation Services................................................................................ 37
POA Integration Guidelines............................................................................................................ 38
I. Configuring POA Node............................................................................................................... 38
II. Registering POA Node in PBAS................................................................................................40
III. Synchronizing POA Service Templates.................................................................................... 40
IV. Creating POA Hosting Plan...................................................................................................... 40
Managi
Managing POA Subscripitons.........................................................................................................47
POA Synchronization Setup........................................................................................................... 48
Sitebuilder Management............................................................................................................................ 48
Sitebuilder Services Provisioning................................................................................................... 50
Connecting Sitebuilder Nodes ........................................................................................................ 52
Setting Up Sitebuilder..................................................................................................................... 53
Managing Sitebuilder Nodes........................................................................................................... 54
Managing Sitebuilder Plans............................................................................................................ 55
Managing Sitebuilder Sites............................................................................................................. 56
Managing Dedicated Servers ..................................................................................................................... 57
Registering Data Centers ................................................................................................................ 58
Registering Racks in Data Centers.................................................................................................. 58
Registering Switches....................................................................................................................... 59
Registering Dedicated Server..........................................................................................................60
Activating Dedicated Server Subscription...................................................................................... 62
Managing Nodes by Groups.......................................................................................................................63
Selling Licenses ......................................................................................................................................... 64
Managing Key Administrator Plug-Ins........................................................................................... 65
Selecting License Classes to Provide.............................................................................................. 66
Managing Licenses......................................................................................................................... 67
Allocating IP Addresses............................................................................................................................. 71
Supervising Service Level.......................................................................................................................... 72
Configuring Traffic Classes....................................................................................................................... 73
ng POA Nodes.................................................................................................................... 41
Setting Up Domains Registration 75
How to Start Registering Domains Online................................................................................................. 75
Configuring Domain Registration Plug-Ins ............................................................................................... 76
Top Level Domains Assignment................................................................................................................ 77
Setting Registrar Prices.............................................................................................................................. 78
Allowing Domain Transfer Per Registrar TLDs........................................................................................ 80
Configuring Default Records for Zone Files (DNS Templates).................................................................81
Specifying Name Server Sets..................................................................................................................... 82
Registering Internationalized Domain Names ........................................................................................... 83
Managing Contacts Used for Domain Registration....................................................................................85
Specifying Whois Servers.......................................................................................................................... 86
Setting Up HTTP Whois Search..................................................................................................... 86
Viewing Incoming and Outgoing Domain Registration E-mails............................................................... 87
Setting Up Billing System 88
Understanding the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Billing System.......................................... 89
Calculations for the Services Provided........................................................................................... 91
System-Wide Billing Settings.................................................................................................................... 91
Pricing and Discounts ................................................................................................................................ 92
Managing Prices ............................................................................................................................. 92
Setting Credit Terms.................................................................................................................................. 94
Configuring Taxation................................................................................................................................. 96
Configuring Fraud Protection..................................................................................................................... 97
Adjusting Anti-Fraud Plug-ins General Settings............................................................................ 97
Managing Accounts and Documents Held Up by Anti-Fraud Filters............................................. 98
Configuring Credit Card Payment Plug-ins............................................................................................. 100
What Payment Plug-Ins are Available.......................................................................................... 100
How to Configure a Payment Plug-In........................................................................................... 100
Activating Payment Plug-Ins and Making Them Available for Resellers .................................... 100
Security With CVV and AVS.......................................................................................................101
Configuring Bank Transfer Payment Plug-ins......................................................................................... 102
Using Specific Accounting ......................................................................................................................103
Russian Accounting Options......................................................................................................... 104
Managing Website and Online Store 106
Configuring and Opening Store............................................................................................................... 108
Managing Resellers' Stores...................................................................................................................... 109
Customizing Store Using File Manager................................................................................................... 110
Known Problems Related to Store........................................................................................................... 116
Managing Payment Methods 118
Configuring Encryption for Payment Methods........................................................................................ 119
Managing Recurring Payments................................................................................................................ 120
How a Payment Method Can be Added................................................................................................... 121
Managing Credit Cards............................................................................................................................ 121
How to Start Accepting Credit Cards ...........................................................................................122
Setting Transactions Approval and Processing Mode..................................................................123
Managing Bank Accounts........................................................................................................................ 124
How to Start Accepting Bank Transfers....................................................................................... 124
Adding Bank Account Manually .................................................................................................. 125
Changing Bank Account Attributes in Parallels Business Automation - Standard Databa se....... 125
Viewing Transaction Log......................................................................................................................... 126
Removing a Payment Method.................................................................................................................. 126
Managing Hosting Plans 127
Hosting Plan Types.................................................................................................................................. 128
Hosting Plans Categories ......................................................................................................................... 129
Creating Hosting Plans............................................................................................................................. 129
Creating POA Hosting Plan.......................................................................................................... 132
Upgrading Hosting Plans......................................................................................................................... 134
Adding Custom Services to a Hosting Plan............................................................................................. 136
Managing Hosting Plans by Versions...................................................................................................... 138
Creating a Hosting Plan on the Basis of an Existing One........................................................................ 139
Promoting Hosting Plans..........................................................................................................................139
Calculations for the Hosting Plan Change ............................................................................................... 140
Managing Accounts 141
Users ........................................................................................................................................................142
User Roles................................................................................................................................................ 142
Permissions.............................................................................................................................................. 142
Creating Accounts.................................................................................................................................... 143
Entering User Agreement......................................................................................................................... 144
Assigning a Tax Zone.............................................................................................................................. 146
Granting a Discount................................................................................................................................. 147
Adjusting Account Balance...................................................................................................................... 148
Viewing the Account Billing History....................................................................................................... 148
Managing the Set of Events a Customer Receives E-Mail Notifications................................................. 149
Managing Account Contacts by Versions................................................................................................ 150
Changing a Customer Billing Day........................................................................................................... 151
Managing Resellers 153
Entering Reseller Agreement................................................................................................................... 153
Managing Pre-Defined Reseller Configurations...................................................................................... 154
Creating Reseller Account ....................................................................................................................... 155
Assigning Partner Discount to Reseller Account..................................................................................... 158
Assigning Discount to Reseller Account.................................................................................................. 159
Hiding Reseller's URL............................................................................................................................. 160
Creating Hosting Plan for Reseller........................................................................................................... 161
Managing Receivables 162
Understanding Parallels Business Automation - Standard Billing Workflow.......................................... 163
Viewing and Immediately Operating Receivables...................................................................................164
Processing Offline Payments and Changing Payment Method..................................................... 165
Increasing Accounts Balance by Online Payment or Bank Transfer............................................ 166
Editing Orders and Invoices.......................................................................................................... 167
Issuing Invoices Manually............................................................................................................ 167
Reopening Cutoff Invoices........................................................................................................... 168
Processing Documents Paid by Credit Cards........................................................................................... 169
Processing Documents Paid by Bank Transfers....................................................................................... 170
Refunding Documents Paid by Credit Cards ........................................................................................... 171
Recreating Orders With Updated Tax Rates............................................................................................ 171
Managing Statements............................................................................................................................... 172
Printing out Documents............................................................................................................................ 173
Managing Subscriptions 174
Understanding Subscription Types and Statuses...................................................................................... 175
Renewing Subscriptions........................................................................................................................... 177
Managing Subscription Grace Period ...................................................................................................... 178
Terminating Subscriptions....................................................................................................................... 179
Changing Account for Subscription......................................................................................................... 180
Upgrading Dedicated Third-Party Subscriptions..................................................................................... 181
Sending Subscription Notification........................................................................................................... 181
Synchronizing Customer System With Subscription............................................................................... 182
Managing Resold Subscriptions............................................................................................................... 182
Managing Subscription Attributes ...........................................................................................................186
Managing Payables in Reseller Control Center 187
Viewing Balance of Reseller Account Payable........................................................................................ 188
Increasing Reseller Account Balance....................................................................................................... 188
Managing Financial Documents Issued by HSP......................................................................................189
Managing Orders .......................................................................................................................... 189
Paying HSP Invoices ....................................................................................................................190
Viewing Payments........................................................................................................................ 190
Viewing Adjustments....................................................................................................................191
Viewing Statements Issued by HSP......................................................................................................... 191
Viewing Billing Reports 192
Accounting Reports.................................................................................................................................. 193
Taxation Reports...................................................................................................................................... 194
Managing Containers 195
Managing Both OS and Application Templates for Containers............................................................... 195
Managing Standard Templates......................................................................................................196
Managing EZ Templates............................................................................................................... 197
Importing Templates from Hardware Nodes................................................................................ 198
Removing Application Template from Hardware Node............................................................... 198
Application Template Properties ................................................................................................ .. 199
OS Templates................................................................................................................................ 203
Managing Container Applications Upgrades................................................................................ 204
Creating More Application Templates.......................................................................................... 204
Setting Up Both Trial Containers and Containers Backups Creation....................................................... 205
Keeping Container Root Passwords in Parallels Business Autom ation - St anda r d Database.................. 205
Backups Management.............................................................................................................................. 206
Creating C
Operating Container................................................................................................................................. 209
ontainer................................................................................................................................... 207
Migrating Container...................................................................................................................... 210
Repairing Container...................................................................................................................... 212
Managing Plesk Clients and Domains 214
Setting Up Trial Plesk Domains Creation................................................................................................ 215
Plesk Applications Vault Management.................................................................................................... 216
Creating a Plesk Domain.......................................................................................................................... 218
Creating a Plesk Client............................................................................................................................. 219
Managing Domains 221
Configuring Domain Registration Plug-Ins ............................................................................................. 222
Understanding Domains Management in Parallels Business Automation - Standard.............................. 224
Registering a Domain from Control Center............................................................................................. 226
Promoting Domains Registration............................................................................................................. 227
Transferring or Registering Domains in Parallels Business Automation - Standard................................ 228
Switching Domain Pointer to DNS Hosting and Conversely................................................................... 231
Managing DNS Records Suppliers .......................................................................................................... 232
Managing a Domain Zone File.................................................................................................................232
Updating Domain Owner Contacts.......................................................................................................... 233
Managing SSL Certificates 234
Configuring SSL Certificates Plug-Ins.....................................................................................................235
Managing SSL Certificates Provisioning ................................................................................................. 236
Editing or Re-Issuing Certificate .................................................................................................. 237
Managing Certificate Contacts......................................................................................................239
Viewing SSL Certificates Transaction Log.............................................................................................. 239
Support and Administration 240
Using the Problem Viewer....................................................................................................................... 240
Trouble Ticket System............................................................................................................................. 241
Configuring Parallels Business Automation - Standard Trouble Ticket System.......................... 241
Using the Screens Viewer........................................................................................................................ 243
Using the Mass Mailer............................................................................................................................. 243
Managing Parallels Business Automation - Standard Objects Description Templates............................ 244
Managing Events...................................................................................................................................... 245
Service Logging In to Resellers and Customers Tools ............................................................................ 247
Using the Maintenance Mode for your Hardware Nodes......................................................................... 247
Managing the User Password Strength.................................................................................................... 247
Updating Parallels Business Automation - Standard................................................................................248
Monitoring the Vital Services Status............................................................................................250
Checking Parallels Business Automation - Standar d Database Inte grity................................................. 251
Setting the Statistics Storage Period......................................................................................................... 253
Tasks Management...................................................................................................................................253
Viewing Log Files.................................................................................................................................... 254
Log Level Settings........................................................................................................................ 254
Using the Action Log.................................................................................................................... 255
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Profiling..................................................................... 256
XML-Based Data Import and Export....................................................................................................... 256
Resolving Data Conflicts 257
Resolving Container Subscriptions Registration Conflicts...................................................................... 258
Synchronizing the Plesk Subscription on a Node and in Parallels Business Automation - Standard
Database................................................................................................................................................... 259
Marketing and Affiliate Programs 260
Configuring your Store to Collect Referrals Statistics............................................................................. 260
Managing Marketing Campaigns............................................................................................................. 261
Managing Affiliate Programs................................................................................................................... 263
Customizing the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools Appearance...................................... 265
Uploading Files and Images..................................................................................................................... 266
Integration and Customization Opportunities 267
Parallels Business Automation - Standard API and Customization......................................................... 267
Application Templates Creation............................................................................................................... 268
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Internal Licensing 269
Installing License Certificates.................................................................................................................. 269
Getting Technical Support 270
An Overview of Parallels Technical Support........................................................................................... 270
Questions for Technical Support.............................................................................................................. 270
How to Send Support Questions.............................................................................................................. 271
Index 273
9
C HAPTER 1
Preface
In This Chapter
About This Guide..................................................................................................................9
About This Guide
This Guide describes the most important and frequently-used Parallels Business Automation Standard working scenarios including initial settings for the system.
Note: The PDF-version of this Guide is an overview of the Parallels Business Automation Standard overall functionality and is not to be used as a thorough howto. For details see contextsensitive HTML help (the Help link at the upper right corner of every screen).
Audience
This guide is addressed to Hosting Service Providers and helps both to evaluate the product and
get acquainted with Parallels Business Automation - Standard.
T ypographical Conventions
Before you start using this guide, it is important to understand the documentation conventions
used in it.
The following kinds of formatting in the text identify special information.
Formatting convention Type of Information Example
Special Bold
Items you must select, such
as menu options, command
buttons, or items in a list.
Go to the System tab.
Titles of chapters, sections,
and subsections.
Read the Basic
Administration chapter.
Preface 10
Italics Used to emphasize the
importance of a point, to
introduce a term or to
designate a command line
placeholder, which is to be
replaced with a real name or
value.
Monospace
Preformatted
Preformatted Bold
The names of commands,
files, directories, and
domain names.
On-screen computer output
in your command-line
sessions; source code in
XML, C++, or other
programming languages.
What you type, contrasted
with on-screen computer
output.
The system supports the so
called wildcard character
search.
The license file is located in
the
http://docs/common/
licenses directory.
# ls –al /files
total 14470
# cd /root/rpms/php
CAPITALS Names of keys on the
keyboard.
KEY+KEY Key combinations for which
the user must press and hold
down one key and then
press another.
SHIFT, CTRL, ALT
CTRL+P, ALT+F4
Feedback
If you have found a mistake in this guide, or if you have suggestions or ideas on how to improve
this guide, please send your feedback using the online form at
http://www.parallels.com/en/support/usersdoc/. Please include in your report the guide's title,
chapter and section titles, and the fragment of text in which you have found an error.
11
C HAPTER 2
Meet the Parallels Business Automation Standard
Parallels Business Automation - Standard is an end-to-end solution for hosting service providers
(HSPs) and Internet Data Centers covering full life-cycle of HSP/IDC operations. Parallels
Business Automation - Standard allows HSPs to drastically decrease the cost of operating
hosting business while increasing revenues, developing new reseller channels, and improving
usage of hardware and personnel resources.
In This Chapter
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Advantages ........................................................11
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Hardware Requirements ....................................14
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Users.................................................................. 16
Browsers Compatible with Parallels Business Automation - Standard.................................16
Connecting to Parallels Business Automation - Standard Browser-Based Tools................. 17
Parallels Business Automation - Standard Interface Features............................................... 17
Parallels Business Automation Standard Advantages
Parallels Business Automation - Standard includes everything a company needs to run a
successful and profitable hosting business from advanced technology and tools to manage your
servers and overall infrastructure to billing, sales channel management, and e-commerce
application:
The full range of services supported:
Domain registration
Plesk Domain hosting
Virtuozzo Container hosting
Parallels Plesk Control Panel
and Parallels Plesk Sitebuilder
licenses
Parallels Plesk Sitebuilder
support
Dedicated servers for resellers
Dedicated or Co-location
Miscellaneous
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 12
Complete infrastructure management:
Powerful Container
management
IPs allocation and DNS
administration
Flexible self-provisioning
Server-/client-side backups
Integrated trouble ticketing and
External Helpdesks support
Maintenance automation and
more
Integrated complete billing solution:
Customizable online store
Country-specific accounting
Automated recurring invoicing
Private label resellers
Discounts, promotions, coupon
codes
Taxation with tax exemption
Automated upgrades/downgrades
Customizable notifications and
more
Credit Cards processing through over 30 payment gateways (new added
monthly):
integrated with fraud screening
flexible manual approval rules
refunds, reversals, credits
sensitive data is encrypted
delayed capture
CVV/AVS verification and more
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 13
Bank transfer payments for German (DTAUS), Spanish (Norma 19), and Netherlands
(ClieOp3) standards: flexible batch management with approval queues.
Domain registrations through over 25 domain registrars (new added
monthly):
Wide range of Operating Systems and Applications for Container hosting:
Centralized management
Automated upgrades
Over 50 applications
Easy customization and integration:
Customizable PHP based store
Notifications customization
Customizable menu items
Colors, logos, page content
Create your own plug-ins
Redhat, Fedora, Suse, Debian
Open-source and commercial
applications
Game servers and more
Application templates creation
guide
Powerful API
Advanced multi-language
support
XML data export/import tools
Everything in one box!
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 14
Parallels Business Automation Standard Hardware Requirements
Recommended hardware configuration is two or more computers for Hardware Nodes.
Note: Parallels Business Automation - Standard can work well with just one Hardware Node,
but existence of two nodes increases availability of the hosting service. With two or more nodes
one of them may be taken off-line for maintenance, replacement or upgrade with minimal
disruption for the hosting service.
If you use Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, we recommend installing the Management Node
software in a special service Container hosted on one of your Hardware Nodes. In this case that
single computer shall meet both Hardware Node and Management Node requirements and you
then need at least one workstation for system administrator to manage it.
However, you can have your Management Node as a separate computer.
Management Node requirements (if the Management Node is a separate computer)
IBM PC-compatible computer with 2 GHz (or higher) Intel Celeron, Pentium, or AMD
Athlon CPU;
At least 1 GB of RAM;
At least 40 GB of total disk space;
Network card;
Virtuozzo Hardware Node Requirements
IBM PC-compatible computer;
Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, or AMD Athlon CPU;
At least 128 MB of RAM;
Hard drive(s) with at least 4 GB of free disk space;
Network card (either Intel EtherExpress100 (i82557-, i82558- or i82559-based) or 3Com
(3c905 or 3c905B or 3c595) are recommended).
SCSI controllers:
Adaptec7xxx SCSI controller (including AHA 2940/3940/3944/29160);
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 15
RAID controller based on the AMI MegaRAID chips (including DELL PowerRAID
PERC2/PERC3).
Caution: For Athlon-based systems: It is not recommended to use computers with VIA chipsets.
Plesk Hardware Node Requirements:
The minimal hardware requirements for the Plesk installation are the same as those of the
operating system intended to be used with Plesk.
Number of domains Amount of RAM Processor
100 256 MB Pentium II
500 512 MB Pentium III
1500 2000 MB dual Pentium III
2000 4000 MB dual Pentium IV
Sitebuilder Hardware Node requirements:
RAM 256mb
30 Mb HDD space for Sitebuilder installation (+ 1 Mb per User's web site) - minimal
configuration.
CPU Celeron 1,7
Ethernet 10 Mb
For more details (OS versions, additional software) please refer to the Sitebuilder Installation
guide shipped together with the product.
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 16
Parallels Business Automation Standard Users
The following Account types exist within Parallels Business Automation - Standard:
Provider Account (only one Account of such type can exist). This Account is registered
during Parallels Business Automation - Standard installation and it always has the ID=1. All
registered persons that have role in Provider Account are considered as Provider staff
members with particular access permissions to Parallels Business Automation - Standard
Provider Control Center. The number of Provider staff members that can concurrently log in
to the Provider Control Center is defined by the Parallels Business Automation - Standard
license.
Reseller Account. Reseller Accounts are registered using the Account Director > Reseller
Manager. The number of Reseller Accounts is defined in the Parallels Business Automation -
Standard License. All registered persons that have role in Reseller Account are considered as
Reseller staff members with particular access permissions to Parallels Business Automation
- Standard Reseller Control Center.
Customer Account. Customer Accounts are being registered using the Account Director >
Customer Manager. Customer Accounts can be of two types: personal or business. All
persons associated with Customer Account have access to Parallels Business Automation Standard Control Panels.
Browsers Compatible with Parallels Business Automation - Standard
The following browsers are fully compatible with Parallels Business Automation - Standard
web-based tools:
For IBM PC compatible computers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0 and above,
Netscape Navigator 7.0 and above,
Opera 7.5.3 and above,
Mozilla 1.5 and above,
Firefox 1.0 and above.
Google Chrome 8.
For Macintosh:
Safari 1.3 and above,
Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac 5.2,
Opera 8.5
Mozilla/Firefox 1.07.
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 17
Connecting to Parallels Business
Automation - Standard BrowserBased Tools
To connect to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard tools, enter into your browser the
Management Node hostname and append the tool index (http://hostname/index). If no
tool index is specified, then nothing to be appended to open the tool:
Tool Tool index
Public Site
Online Store
Provider Control Center pcc
Reseller Control Center rcc
Control Panel cp
My Control Panel mycp
The SSL protocol can be enabled separately for each of Parallels Business Automation Standard web-based tools. The SSL configuration is available both in Provider and Reseller
Control Centers.
Note: To connect to the My Control Panel, it is necessary to create a Container subscription, log
in to the Control Panel, then create a user (if System Administrator Control Panel Application is
installed inside Container) or a mailbox in multiple domains (if Workgroup Administrator
Control Panel is installed inside Container). After this you can log in to the My Control Panel
with the e-mail address as a login and a user regular password.
Parallels Business Automation Standard Interface Features
Navigation
To use one or another Parallels Business Automation - Standard component or tool, please use
the namespace tree located in the left pane.
Control Centers specific:
You can hide/display the namespace tree by clicking on the slider at the vertical bar that
separates the left and the right parts of the screen.
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 18
When you start your Parallels Business Automation - Standard session, the path (chain of links)
appears at the top of the screen. These links provide the "breadcrumb navigation" and show you
the path to your actual location within the Parallels Business Automation - Standard. By clicking
on these links, you can be one or more (depending on your location) levels up.
Main Screen
The right pane of Parallels Business Automation - Standard screen serves for operating
components selected from the namespace tree. The main screen shows the Parallels Business
Automation - Standard Directors' or Managers' dashboards, lists of objects, single objects'
properties, or other related data.
Each Parallels Business Automation - Standard component (Director or Manager) has its own
dashboard. Moreover, the Parallels Business Automation - Standard has its dashboard that may
be considered as 30,000-foot view of tools and operations. So, a dashboard is the Parallels
Business Automation - Standard component 'front-page' that provides you with the most
important statistics and a place to start including:
Shortcuts to the lists of objects.
Information about the number of objects with separate counters for the objects in different
states like Active Accounts, Accounts on Hold, Running Containers, etc.
Shortcuts for the creation of new objects that fall into the functionality of Parallels Business
Automation - Standard component selected.
To facilitate operating the lists of objects you can use:
Search particular item within the list or filter the items by a particular property. The Search
and filter bar is located at the top of each list.
Hide/Show search and filter bars, action bars, tables and create/edit forms sections. Their
hide/show status is retained throughout the session.
Change Sorting Order. To this effect, click on the column-heading you want to sort by. In
this case, the special pointer (small triangle) appears at the top of each column. This triangle
indicates current sorting order: peak-up or peak-down for ascending and descending order
respectively. Repeating click on the same link in column-heading changes sorting order
from ascending to descending (and conversely) within single property.
Change List Size. It is possible to set the listing to 20, 40, or 80 items per page. Appropriate
links are above the list, to the right. Special links for viewing pages (page numbers,
next,last) are also provided and you can find them both at the beginning and the end of the
list.
Export lists to Excel. Parallels Business Automation - Standard allows you to export data
from any list in Parallels Business Automation - Standard to Excel, thus facilitating data
operations. The information is exported from the whole list, not only from the visible part.
For example, if you have set the listing to 40 items per page and the whole list includes 100
entries, you will get an excel format document covering 100 items. The
icon is located above and under the lists.
Set columns visibility. You can choose the columns to be displayed in the list tables by
clicking on the
entries in the drop-down menu. You are also allowed to set the columns order by drag-anddropping the column titles.
icon above and under the list and enabling/disabling the corresponding
Export to Excel
Meet the Parallels Business Automation - Standard 19
In order to immediately bring the screen content in correspondence with actual state of affairs,
you can Refresh the screen using the button located at the upper right corner of the screen.
The Help button located at the upper right corner of each screen shows the context-sensitive
HTML help.
Screen ID is located at the upper-right corner of each screen. Screen ID allows to refer to a
screen for customization purposes or in the problem report. In addition, each screen ID is a
clickable link that leads the the Screens Viewer and allows getting a screen alias immediately.
Adding a Comment to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Object
You can add a free-form comment to almost any of Parallels Business Automation - Standard
object. To this effect click on the Add comment link at the upper-right corner of an object view
form.
20
C HAPTER 3
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard
When you log in to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Provider or Reseller Control
Center first time, the Setup Wizard helps you to make the most important initial settings.
Please check the initial configuration of the Parallels Business Automation - Standard
installation:
Submit/edit the company name and sender e-mail address (messenger) used in notifications.
Set data retention rules both for system events (on page 245) and logs (on page 254).
Make the regional settings including
(monday or sunday), the default time zone to bound system events and logs, select the
system-wide currency.
Set up secure communications (turn on SSL, generate CSR, install signed secure certificate).
the interface language, set the first day of week
In addition, to facilitate the operations (like domain registration) performed on behalf of the
default Provider account created in Parallels Business Automation - Standard (for Provider
Control Center users only), it is necessary to check and adjust if needed, the contact information
containing in the default Provider account.
Note: The special Getting Started checklist is provided for Resellers.
In This Chapter
Checking Provider Account Contacts................................................................................... 21
Setting Up Access Permissions for Parallels Business
Setting Up Messenger and S/MIME Signing for E-mail ......................................................24
Selecting Regional Settings...................................................................................................25
Customizing the Onscreen Help in Control Panel ................................................................26
Securing the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools Using SSL........................... 27
Automation - Standard Users..........22
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 21
Checking Provider Account Contacts
Please fill all the fields in the default Accounts’ profile (contacts, etc.). This is necessary for
successful domains registration since the information from an Account profile is being
transferred to a Registrar if you, for example, decide to register a domain (on page 226) for one
of
your own accounts.
Note: Editing the Account profile and contacts does not mean creation of new Parallels Business
Automation - Standard Users. In other words, it does not affect login credentials.
To edit the Provider Account contacts, click the topmost item in the Navigation tree (in the left
pane) and select the Company Profile tab and then click the Contacts tab.
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 22
Setting Up Access Permissions for
Parallels Business Automation Standard Users
To log in to Parallels Business Automation - Standard, a registered user must have a role in one
of accounts registered in Parallels Business Automation - Standard. This role gains a user
particular access permissions to particular Parallels Business Automation - Standard tools. It is
possible to set permissions only if a user is associated with a particular account. Users that are
not associated with an account cannot log in to Parallels Business Automation - Standard tools.
In Parallels Business Automation - Standard, editable access permissions are set for Control
Center users only. Customers that have access to Control Panel can gain only one role
(Customer Administrator) that allows working in Control Panel, and in this case the set of tools
available depends on the applications included in customer's subscription, but not on the role.
For the clean installation, there is a set of default roles both for Provider and Reseller staff
members (i.e., registered users under Provider or Reseller account).
Provider can edit access permissions for every role and add new roles both for Provider staff
members and Reseller staff members.
Resellers can only view the access permissions set for each Reseller staff role.
Basic Notions
Users
Users (staff members, customers, and resellers) permissions are identified by Accounts. Each
person is associated with one Account and may have different sets of access permissions within
that Account. An Account can have multiple Users associated with it. Staff members are users
registered within the Provider Account.
User Roles
Roles are assigned to a User within the Account. A Role defines a set of access permissions to
the Parallels Business Automation - Standard tools. In the Parallels Business Automation Standard there are three customizable roles for Provider staff members and three for Reseller
staff members. The set of permissions in each Role is defined by Provider. Customers get the
default and non-customizable role of Control Panel Administrator.
Permissions
Permissions are assigned per Role, not per individual user. Permissions are assigned separately
to Roles available for HSP staff members and Resellers.
How Permissions Control is Organized
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 23
Only Provider can edit access permissions from the Parallels Business Automation - Standard
Provider control Center. And the Reseller Control Center allows Resellers to view permissions
set for Reseller staff members roles (Operations Administrator, Sales and Marketing,
Accountant, etc.) by Provider.
Resellers can read this section to get acquainted with the Parallels Business Automation Standard security model and the mechanism of roles assignment.
Account is the basic Parallels Business Automation - Standard security notion. All operations
performed within the system are connected with different Accounts. A person registered within
an Account can gain the certain access permissions to Parallels Business Automation - Standard
tools, depending on the type of Account.
The following Account types exist in Parallels Business Automation - Standard system:
Provider Account (only one Account of such type can exist in your Parallels Business
Automation - Standard system). This Account is created during the Parallels Business
Automation - Standard installation. All persons associated with Provider Account are
considered as Provider staff members with particular access permissions to Parallels
Business Automation - Standard Provider Control Center. The number of Provider staff
members that can concurrently log in to the Provider Control Center is defined by the
Parallels Business Automation - Standard license.
Reseller Account. Reseller Accounts are registered using the Account Director > Reseller
Manager. The number of Reseller Accounts is defined in the Parallels Business Automation -
Standard License. All persons associated with Reseller Account are considered as Reseller
staff members and can be granted a particular role (i.e., access permissions) within Parallels
Business Automation - Standard Reseller Control Center.
Customer Account. Customer Accounts are registered using the Account Director >
Customer Manager. Customer Accounts can be of two types: personal or business. All
persons associated with Customer Account have access to Parallels Business Automation Standard Control Panels.
Access permissions per user role can be set in the Configuration Director > Security Manager.
Roles per account can be assigned registered persons in the Configuration Director > Security
Manager > All Users. Select a user and then select the Accounts tab.
Figure 1: PBAs Security Model
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 24
Setting Up Messenger and S/MIME Signing for E-mail
Parallels Business Automation - Standard provides an opportunity to automatically generate and
send e-mail notifications to Provider Administrator and other HSP staff members (for example,
about resources overusage or nodes outages) or to HSP Customers (for example, if Subscription
period is about to expire). The set of events that can be followed by e-mail notifications is readonly and defined in the Event Manager (on page 245). The component that automatically
generates
configured for a certain number of events that take place within Parallels Business Automation Standard system and tracked by the Event Manager.
Each message (including automatically generated ones) shall have the 'From' field. For
automatically-sent messages (or notifications) the 'From' field should contain the sender name
and e-mail of a messenger. In addition, you can enable or disable e-mail notifications sending
and select the e-mail messages encoding (character set). Finally, you can configure e-mail
messages S/MIME signing. To set the messenger, go to the Configuration Director >
Miscellaneous Settings > E-Mail Setup.
and sends e-mail notifications is called 'Messenger'. Notifications themselves may be
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 25
Selecting Regional Settings
To make regional settings, go to the Configuration Director > Miscellaneous Settings > Regional
Settings.
The regional settings include:
The language;
The default time zone;
The calendar settings (the first day of week);
The system-wide currency.
Selecting languages available for your customers to switch the interface.
Language
The language setting allows you to set the system-wide language of the Parallels Business
Automation - Standard interface.
Default Time Zone
In respect to registration of the events that happen within the system, the Parallels Business
Automation - Standard database is bound to GMT. This means that automatically-generated
notifications and system messages (for example, about subscriptions expiration dates) may
occur to be hardly understandable for the customers that reside in the other time zones.
Thus, the Parallels Business Automation - Standard provides an opportunity of setting different
time zones for different Customers (or Resellers). This can be done during creation of a new
Account or later. The special time zone can be set for each user associated with an Account.
After this, all the time-related data (in Action Log, Event Manager, or automatically-generated
notifications) will be bound to the User’s time zone, without the need for him (or her) to
recalculate time.
However, if most of your prospect customers will reside in the single time zone, it is quite
reasonable to set default time zone for the newly registered persons.
First Day of Week
You can select the day a week starts. For example, this setting is used when setting the weekly
time interval in the Billing Reports (on page 193) view.
Currency
You can set the system-wide currency (for all financial documents and Hosting Plan prices).
Resellers can set the own currency and enter the cross rate between the Provider currency and
Reseller currency. This feature is very useful for selling through international channels as well
as having separate branches in different countries around the world.
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 26
Note: Parallels Business Automation - Standard is a single-currency system. In other words
automatic currency recalculations are not available. If you change the system-wide currency,
you will have the unified currency sign, fractional part format, etc., however you will need to
recalculate all prices manually. For example, most of domain-registration Plug-Ins support US
Dollar only as an accounting currency. Thus, in order to update domain-registration prices
correctly the system-wide currency should be US Dollar by prices update, otherwise the new
prices will not be used in Parallels Business Automation - Standard billing.
Available Languages
Check the boxes next to language names to allow your customers to switch the interface into
these languages. The list of languages in this section is comprised of the languages shipped
within separate language packs with Parallels Business Automation - Standard kit and installed
during the Parallels Business Automation system configuration.
Customizing the Onscreen Help in Control Panel
Each screen of the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Panels is provided with a
short onscreen help topic.
If needed, you can edit the onscreen help topics for each screen of the Control Panels your
customers use. To this effect, login to the Control Panel (yourcompany.com/cp) using one of the
logins of your Provider Account (as a staff member). In this case, on almost every Control
Panel screen (excluding dashboards) a special "question-mark" icon appears at the upper right
corner of the screen.
Click
text appears. Type the text and click the Update button.
From the Provider Control Center you can hide or show the onscreen help and show/hide in the
source HTML of each Parallels Business Automation - Standard screen the special metatags
used to mark the Parallels Business Automation - Standard screen elements (called controls).
Usage of these metatags is described in details in the Parallels Business Automation - Standard
SDK.
at the screen you want to add a help topic for. The popup window with the help bar
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 27
Securing the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools Using SSL
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) provides a level of security and privacy for those wishing to
conduct secure transactions over the Internet. Introduced to the Internet market by Netscape
Communications, the SSL protocol protects HTTP transmissions over the Internet by adding a
layer of encryption. This insures that your transactions are not subject to "sniffing" by a third
party.
SSL provides visitors of your website with the confidence to communicate securely via an
encrypted session. For companies wishing to conduct secure e-commerce, such as receiving
credit card numbers or other sensitive information online, SSL is essential.
Important: SSL Setup for Resellers
SSL certificate is generated per vendor domain name. For provider, this domain name is
Management Node hostname, by default.
Resellers use the same domain as their provider until a reseller URL is not hidden (on page
160). Thus, if a reseller with not hidden URL tries t
same domain as provider's one will be used. This can corrupt provider's SSL settings. That is
why Parallels Business Automation - Standard does not allow SSL setup for resellers with not
hidden URL - the SSL Setup item is not available in RCC menu in this case.
To make SSL Setup available for a reseller, provider should do the following:
1. Hide reseller URL (on page 160) to provide a reseller with own d
it possible to generate an SSL Certificate for this reseller.
2. Make sure that Reseller Administrator permissions allow managing SSL. To this effect, go
to the Configuration Director > Security Manager > Setup, select Reseller Permissions tab, and
then select Reseller Administrator role. Open the Configuration Director > Miscellaneous
settings item and make sure that the SSL Setup check box is selected. After this, SSL setup
will become available for all resellers in Reseller Control Center.
o generate an SSL Certificate request, the
omain name, which makes
General Configuration of Parallels Business Automation - Standard 28
Getting the SSL Certificate
For SSL to work a valid signed SSL certificate is required. Certificates are a standard way of
binding a public key to a name. Public key encryption is a technique that uses a pair of
asymmetric keys for encryption and decryption. Each pair of keys consists of a public key and a
private key. The public key is made public by distributing it widely. The private key is never
distributed; it is always kept secret. Data that is encrypted with the public key can be decrypted
only with the private key. Conversely, data encrypted with the private key can be decrypted only
with the public key. This asymmetry makes public key cryptography so useful.
You can generate a self-signed certificate and use it for some time until the certificate “signed”
by a trusted external authority: VeriSign (http://www.verisign.com) or Thawte
(http://www.thawte.com) will be ready.
Note: Net
transmitted data or not (as for Internet Explorer, please encourage your website visitors who use
IE to use Internet Explorer 5.0 or later). Thus, if you use a self-signed certificate, your website
visitors will be notified that your website uses encryption, but the authority that signed a
certificate is not recognized. So if you intend to conduct e-commerce at your website, it is better
to obtain an SSL certificate signed by VeriSign or Thawte
To obtain the SSL certificate:
1. Generate Certificate Request in the Configuration Director > Miscellaneous Settings > SSL
2. After the Certificate request is generated, you can do one of the following:
3. Restart Apache on your Management Node. Please note that in this case your Management
scape and Mozilla browsers automatically detect whether a website uses encryption of
Setup > Certificate Request tab.
Copy the Certificate Request and send it to the Certificate Authority to obtain the signed
Certificate and import it later;
Generate self-signed Certificate and use it for some time.
Node will be not available for some time. So if you already have customers by the moment
of importing the SSL Certificate, your customer's Containers will also become offline till
Apache on your Management Node restarts.
Enabling SSL for Parallels Business Automation - Standard Tools
You can enable the SSL protocol separately for the Provider Control Center and Reseller
Control Canter, Control Panels, website, and your online store.
To enable the SSL protocol, go to the Configuration Director > Miscellaneous Settings > SSL
Setup. Select the the Enable SSL tab. You can enable the SSL protocol by checking the Enable
SSL in Parallels Business Automation > Standard Web Tools boxes next to the name(s) of the web
tools (Control Centers, Control Panels, store, etc.).
29
C HAPTER 4
Managing Parallels Business Automation
- Standard Services and Data Center
The tools for your Data Center management are collected under the Service Director.
In spite of the fact that Parallels Business Automation - Standard operates the virtual-server
farm, a Data Center should be understood in common sense, i.e., as a centralized storage facility
to retain database information related to decision-making processes.
In general, Parallels Business Automation - Standard Data Center activity includes the
following:
Servers (Nodes) management.
DNS and IP addresses management.
Service level management.
The hardware configuration to run Parallels Business Automation - Standard includes one
computer for Management Node and two or more computers for Hardware Nodes.
A Management Node is a computer (or a specially configured Virtuozzo Container) used for
management. It runs services for web-based management interface and the database containing
information about customers and services. The Management Node also establishes connection
with domain registrars and payment gates.
A Hardware Node is a computer that runs the software (Virtuozzo, Plesk, etc.) that provides
services for customers or a third-party software (server lease, collocation or dedicated hosting).
Dedicated third-party servers can be grouped into racks. A rack in Parallels Business
Automation - Standard is a logical container, it is just a record in the Parallels Business
Automation - Standard database. Logical racks can follow the actual servers grouping at your
Data Center.
The Parallels Business Automation - Standard Data Center management tools allow managing
the following servers:
Servers that run Parallels Plesk Control Panel that can be used for Plesk Domains or Clients
provisioning for customers and sold as dedicated servers. Plesk servers can also be installed
inside Virtuozzo Containers.
Servers that run Parallels Virtuozzo Containers that can be used for Virtuozzo Containers
provisioning for customers and sold as dedicated servers.
Servers that run Parallels Server Bare Metal that can be used for Virtual Machines
provisioning.
Servers that run Parallels Plesk Sitebuilder allowing a HSP to sell Sitebuilder services.
Managing Parallels Business Automation - Standard Services and Data Center 30
Third-party servers (server lease, collocation, dedicated servers). These servers cannot be
managed directly from the Parallels Business Automation - Standard web-based interface,
but in this case, the Parallels Business Automation - Standard takes care of all the billing
matters including creation of dedicated subscription, charging a customer, issuing the
renewal order, sending notifications, etc.
In Parallels Business Automation - Standard, the Virtuozzo, Plesk, or Sitebuilder servers are
called Nodes. And third-party servers are called Servers.
Nodes and third-party servers can be registered and managed using the Service Director and,
depending on a server designation, using the Plesk Manager, Virtuozzo Manager, Parallels Server
Manager, Sitebuilder Manager, or Servers Manager for Plesk, Virtuozzo, Parallels Server Bare
Metal, Sitebuilder, or third-party servers respectively.
Virtual Plesk Nodes (Parallels Plesk Control Panel installed inside a Virtuozzo Container) are
registered automatically as the Plesk nodes, after the Plesk Virtual Node subscription is
activated.
In This Chapter
Plesk Nodes Specific Settings............................................................................................... 30
Virtuozzo Nodes Specific Settings........................................................................................ 34
Managing Parallels Server Nodes......................................................................................... 34
Managing Parallels Operations Automation Services........................................................... 37
Sitebuilder Management ....................................................................................................... 48
Managing Dedicated Servers ................................................................................................57
Managing Nodes by Groups..................................................................................................63
Selling Licenses ....................................................................................................................64
Allocating IP Addresses........................................................................................................ 71
Supervising Service Level..................................................................................................... 72
Configuring Traffic Classes.................................................................................................. 73
Plesk Nodes Specific Settings
A Plesk node properties are grouped under several tabs:
Summary
Availability. Current status of a node in respect to establishing connection to it. Unavailable node
usually means some kind of hardware or network problems on a node.
Registration Status:
Registered - the connection with a Hardware Node was established successfully, a
Hardware Node is fully manageable;
Conflicts - the data found on a node does not correspond to the data existing in Parallels
Business Automation - Standard database or some other problems occurred during
registration. To resolve the data conflicts, you can use the special tool provided in
Parallels Business Automation - Standard - Conflicts Resolver (on page 257).
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