Parallels Plesk Panel - 11.5 Installation Manual

Parallels® Panel

Copyright Notice

Parallels IP Holdings GmbH

Vordergasse 59

CH-Schaffhausen

Switzerland

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Global Headquarters

500 SW 39th Street, Suite 200

Renton, WA 98057

USA

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

EMEA Sales Headquarters

Willy-Brandt-Platz 3

81829 Munich, DE

Phone: [phone]

Fax:[phone]

APAC Sales Headquarters

3 Anson Road, #36-01

Springleaf Tower, 079909

Singapore

Phone: [phone]

Copyright © 1999-2014 Parallels IP Holdings GmbH. All rights reserved.

This product is protected by United States and international copyright laws. The product’s

underlying 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 Corporation.

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

Get Started 5

Installing Panel 7

Before Installing Panel ................................................................................................................ 11

1. Check Installation Requirements .................................................................................. 12

2. Choose a Release Tier ................................................................................................. 14

3. Choose Panel Components .......................................................................................... 15

4. (Advanced) Use Alternative Package Repositories ...................................................... 19

Manual Installation....................................................................................................................... 20

Installation from the Web Interface ................................................................................... 21

Installation from the Command Line ................................................................................. 22

Typical Installation with One-Click Installer ....................................................................... 22

(Advanced) Automated Installation ............................................................................................. 23

Running Automated Installations ...................................................................................... 25

Installation Script Examples (Linux) .................................................................................. 27

(Advanced) Installation to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers .......................................................... 27

Linux PVC Templates ....................................................................................................... 29

Installation on PVC for Linux ............................................................................................. 32

Windows PVC Templates ................................................................................................. 35

Installation on PVC for Windows ....................................................................................... 36

(Advanced) Cloning Panel in Virtual Environment ...................................................................... 39

After Installing Panel.................................................................................................................... 42

Initialize Panel ................................................................................................................... 43

Install a License Key ......................................................................................................... 44

(Optional) Define Panel View ............................................................................................ 45

(Optional) Specify Administrator's Password .................................................................... 47

(Optional) Set Up Panel Locale......................................................................................... 48

(Optional) Optimize Panel for Operation in VPS ............................................................... 49

(Optional) Hide Power Panel Controls for PVC Installations ............................................ 51

(Optional) Set Up Upgrade Notifications ........................................................................... 52

(Optional) Change or Hide Web Interface Elements......................................................... 52

Upgrading Panel 53

In-Place Panel Upgrading ........................................................................................................... 55

Before Upgrading Panel .................................................................................................... 57

Manual Upgrade ................................................................................................................ 61

(Advanced) Automated Upgrade....................................................................................... 66

(Advanced) Upgrade in Parallels Virtuozzo Containers .................................................... 71

After Upgrading Panel ....................................................................................................... 74

Upgrading Panel by Transfer ...................................................................................................... 78

Upgrading with Migration & Transfer Manager ................................................................. 81

Upgrading Through Backup Files...................................................................................... 92

Completing Upgrade from Panel 9 and Earlier Versions ............................................................ 96

Conversion Schemes and Recommended Steps ............................................................. 97

Completing the Transition ............................................................................................... 101

Associating New Accounts and Subscriptions with Plans .............................................. 103

Execution of Scripts via Cron Task Scheduler (Linux Hosting) ...................................... 103

Get Started 4

Transferring Data Between Panels 104

Transferring Data with Migration & Transfer Manager .............................................................. 106

Preparing for Transfer ..................................................................................................... 107

Performing Transfer ........................................................................................................ 116

Transferring Subscriptions with Remote Databases ....................................................... 118

Transferring Data Through Backup Files .................................................................................. 121

Migrating from Other Panels 124

Preparing for Migration .............................................................................................................. 126

cPanel ............................................................................................................................. 127

Confixx ............................................................................................................................ 132

Parallels Pro Control Panel for Linux .............................................................................. 138

Helm ................................................................................................................................ 142

Performing Migration ................................................................................................................. 157

Migrating from Parallels Small Business Panel ......................................................................... 160

Important Facts about Migration ..................................................................................... 160

Migration Scenarios ........................................................................................................ 162

Preparing for Migration from SBP ................................................................................... 162

Performing Migration from SBP ...................................................................................... 164

Troubleshooting 168

Troubleshooting Installation and Upgrade Issues ..................................................................... 169

Troubleshooting Migration and Transfer Issues ........................................................................ 170

Troubleshooting on Linux Systems ................................................................................. 172

Troubleshooting on Windows Systems ........................................................................... 174

Appendix A: Installing Third-Party Services 176

Web Deploy 3.0 ......................................................................................................................... 177

Adobe ColdFusion (Linux) ......................................................................................................... 179

Google Services for Websites ................................................................................................... 180

Providing Access to Google Services on Websites ........................................................ 182

UNITY Mobile Services for Mobile Sites ................................................................................... 184

Miva E-commerce Applications (Windows) ............................................................................... 185

Miva E-commerce Applications (Linux) ..................................................................................... 185

Appendix B: Installing Panel Extensions (Linux) 187

Appendix C: Mirroring Parallels Updates Server 188

Appendix D: Parallels Installer Options 189

Appendix E: Configuring Panel for Linux to Access Vendor Updates 192

Appendix F: Enabling Support for SecureLVE 193

There are four ways to perform Panel deployment described in this guide: installation,

C H A P T E R 1

Get Started

upgrade, transfer, and migration.

Installation

Panel installation can be performed either manually (suits best for single installation) or
in an automated, unattended, manner. The latter way is recommended for installing
Panel on multiple servers. For mass Panel deployments, we also recommend that you
install Panel instances to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers.

Learn more in the chapter Installing Panel (on page 7).

Upgrade

If you use an earlier Panel version, you can upgrade it to a later version when it is
available. There are two ways of upgrading Panel: in-place upgrade and upgrade by
transfer. While in-place upgrade is the updating of Panel components within one
server, upgrade by transfer implies moving of data from the server with earlier Panel
version (source) to the server with a later Panel version (destination).

Learn more in the chapter Upgrading Panel (on page 53).

6 Get Started

Transfer

Panel supports transferring hosting data (service plans, subscriptions, and so on) from
one Panel server to another. This allows you, for example, to seamlessly move your
Panel to a more productive server.

Learn more in the chapter Transferring Data Between Panels (on page 104).

Migration

Migration is the only way to switch to Panel from other hosting solutions (CPanel,
Confixx, and other). This is done by transferring hosting data from a source server to
Panel.

Learn more in the chapter Migrating from Other Panels (on page 124).

There are a number of installation scenarios depending on your environment:

Dedicated server

 Manual or automated installation.

Virtual server

 Manual or automated installation.
 Cloning Panel from server to server.
 Installation using Virtuozzo templates (only for Parallels Virtuozzo

Containers).

Cloud Platform

 Deployment in Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure.

 Cloning Panel from server to server.

C H A P T E R 2

Installing Panel

Manual Installation

This is the best way if you want a new single installation of Panel. Manual means that
the installation requires user input. The wizard will prompt you to enter various
installation settings such as Panel version, installed components, and so on. Manual
installation is performed by the Parallels Installer utility that you should download from
the official Parallels website and run either in the GUI or in the command-line mode.
For those who want to quickly install Panel in the most typical configuration, we offer
the One-Click Installer utility. Learn more in the section Manual Installation (on page 20).

8 Installing Panel

Automated Installation

A manual Panel installation is time-consuming when it comes to handling a large
number of servers. To facilitate these complex deployments, we offer the automated
type of installation. The main idea is to run the installation without any user input. This
is done by setting up all installation parameters with the help of Parallels Installer
command-line options. Moreover, on Linux systems we suggest that you write a script
that copies and simultaneously runs the Installer utility on a number of servers. Learn
more in the section (Advanced) Automated Installation (on page 23).
Note that automated installations can be significantly speeded up if you create a local
mirror of the Parallels updates server. Learn more in Appendix C: Mirroring Parallels
Updates Server (on page 188).

Installation on Cloud Platforms

Installing Panel 9

Panel fully supports installation on cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and
Windows Azure. To deploy Panel on these platforms, use the following guidelines:

 Amazon Web Services

 Instructions for Linux (http://kb.parallels.com/en/114216) and Windows

(http://kb.parallels.com/114947).

 Video tutorial.

 Windows Azure

 Instructions (http://kb.parallels.com/en/114648).

 Video tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfzE1_6I0A).

Installation to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers (PVC) is a virtualization solution employed by a large
number of service providers. You can install Panel to Virtuozzo Containers using either
the manual or automated installation way described above but the best way to do it is
to use PVC app templates. A PVC app template is a package containing app data and
configuration scripts that are necessary for installation. The main benefit of PVC
templates is that you install an app template to your server just once, and then install
the app from the template to a number of containers simultaneously. Further app
upgrades are also applied through templates.

When installing Panel with a PVC template, you do not need to use the Installer utility.
You just apply a certain template to a container (or a number of containers) using the
Virtuozzo commands. If you need a number of containers with Panel, you can clone the
container with the installed template as many times as you need. Learn more in the
section (Advanced) Installation to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers (on page 27).

10 Installing Panel

Cloning Panel from Server to Server

In this chapter:

Before Installing Panel ...................................................................................... 11

Manual Installation ............................................................................................ 20

(Advanced) Automated Installation .................................................................... 23

(Advanced) Installation to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers .................................. 27

(Advanced) Cloning Panel in Virtual Environment ............................................. 39

After Installing Panel ......................................................................................... 42

Panel cloning is the copying of the same Panel instance to different virtual machines
without compromising Panel operability. This scenario is applicable in case you already
have a working Panel instance in some virtual environment and want to get a new
Panel server by simply cloning the virtual server image. Learn more about cloning in
(Advanced) Cloning Panel in Virtual Environment (on page 39).

Installation Steps

Typical installation begins with some preliminary steps (on page 11) (checking
requirements, choosing the proper Panel version, and so on) and ends with some post­installation configuration (on page 42) (initializing Panel, installing a license key, and so
on). Most of these steps are the same for all installation types. The only difference is
that in manual installations, post-installation steps should be performed through the
GUI, while for automated installations we suggest using Panel API or command-line
interface to automatically perform the post-installation configuration.

Note that Panel supports many third-party services that are not installed by default
(such as support for Google Services, UNITY Mobile Services, Microsoft Web Deploy,
and others). If you want Panel to provide such services, you must install them after all
post-installation steps are finished. Learn more in Appendix A: Installing Third-Party
Services (on page 176).

Moreover, you can significantly extend Panel functionality on Linux systems by
installing Panel extensions. You can access such extensions directly from the Panel
GUI and gain control over many additional and handy features, such as a file server,
firewall, and others. Learn how to install additional Panel extensions in Appendix B:

Installing Panel Extensions (Linux) (on page 187).

Installing Panel 11

Before Installing Panel

Next in this section:

1. Check Installation Requirements ................................................................... 12

2. Choose a Release Tier .................................................................................. 14

3. Choose Panel Components ........................................................................... 15

4. (Advanced) Use Alternative Package Repositories ........................................ 19

There are a few preliminary steps that you might need to perform before installing
Panel. These steps apply to all installation scenarios.

12 Installing Panel

1. Check Installation Requirements

Before you install Panel on a server, make sure you meet the following requirements.

Requirements for Linux Systems

We recommend that you install Panel on a clean operating system. Before installing
Parallels Plesk Panel for Linux, make sure that the following requirements are met:

 Your server meets the requirements described in the Panel release notes.
 A static IPv4 address is preliminarily configured. If you have an environment that

uses only IPv6 addresses, ensure the proper address translation to the IPv4
segment of the Internet.

 Certain ports should be open. For details, see http://kb.parallels.com/en/391.
 PHP 5 is required for the Presence Builder component.
 The AppArmor app is disabled. For details, see http://kb.parallels.com/en/112903.
 The disk space allocated to the /tmp directory exceeds three gigabytes.

 A user who runs the installer can execute files in the /tmp directory. This makes it

possible to install the system packages required for Panel. When the installation is
completed, we recommend that you mount /tmp with the noexec option. For
details on how to do it, see http://kb.parallels.com/en/1410
(http://kb.parallels.com/en/1410).

 If you run Debian, CloudLinux, or Ubuntu, add updates and security repositories to

your apt (package manager) configuration.

 Your hard drive must be properly partitioned. For instructions, see the article on

partitioning tips at http://kb.parallels.com/article_17_819_en.html.

 On Debian and Ubuntu operating systems, the path /usr/local/psa is reserved

for system needs. We highly recommend that you neither manually create this
directory nor mount a separate partition to this location. Instead, if you want to use
a separate partition for Panel, mount the partition to /opt/psa/, the commonly
used path for Debian and Ubuntu installations. If you do not follow this
recommendation, Panel will not be able to apply updates.

If you wish to install Panel with the Business Manager component, you should first
check that the MySQL server configuration option sort_buffer_size is set to 2
megabytes (sort_buffer_size=2M) or more. This option is set in the /etc/my.cnf file.
After the configuration change, restart the mysqld service:

service mysqld restart

Requirements for Windows Systems

Before installing Parallels Plesk Panel for Windows, back up all your server data and
make sure that the following requirements are met:

 Your server meets the requirements described in the Panel release notes.

Installing Panel 13

 Your server is not working as a Windows Domain Controller (neither primary nor

backup). If this requirement is not fulfilled, a system crash may occur during the
creation of domains with certain names.

 Internet Information Services (IIS) should be installed on the server. The default

components of the Web Server Role are required.

 A static IPv4 address should be configured in the OS prior to the Panel installation.

If you have an environment that uses only IPv6 addresses, ensure the proper
address translation to the IPv4 segment of the Internet.

 Certain ports should be open. For details, see http://kb.parallels.com/en/391.
 The installation path of the Panel must contain only ASCII symbols.
 Panel can be installed only on NTFS partitions.
 If you plan to use Microsoft SQL Server support in the Panel, the SQL Server

should be installed and configured to use standard or mixed security mode. If the
SQL Server is not installed, you can select it to be installed with the Panel and
configured with administrator name 'sa' and a random password.

 Prior to upgrading Panel, ensure that you have the latest version of the Microsoft

Visual C++ Redistributable Package.

Note: To install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as a part of Plesk installation, preliminarily
install Microsoft Installer 4.5 and .NET Framework 2.0 SP 2.

If you want to install Panel with the Business Manager component, you should first
check that the MySQL server configuration option sort_buffer_size is set to 2
megabytes (sort_buffer_size=2M) or more. This option is set in the
%plesk_dir%\Databases\MySQL\Data\my.ini file. After the configuration
change, restart the mysqld service by running these two commands from shell:

net stop mysql
net start mysql

14 Installing Panel

2. Choose a Release Tier

One more step before installing Panel is to choose the proper Panel version depending on its
release tier.

Each major version of Panel passes through a number of development stages. It is natural
that on earlier stages, some of newly implemented features may not be in their final state and
may require some further modification. The functionality of suсh features in subsequent
Panel versions is improved as they receive more customer feedback over time. To indicate
the stage of the current Panel version, we assign one of the following release tiers to it:
Testing release, Early Adopter release, General release, and Late Adopter release. The
decision on what tier to use is absolutely up to you. For example, consider installing the early
adopter release if you want to try new features before the general availability of Panel. On
the other hand, if you want to get the solution that received all major updates and is
successfully used by a number of service providers, wait until Panel gets the late adopter
release status (it may be a couple of months after the general release).

Choose one of the following:

 Testing release.

We start each release cycle with publishing a number of testing releases for preview
purposes and let you sequentially upgrade from the first one to the last, and then upgrade
to higher release tiers. We do not provide technical support for such builds even if they
were upgraded to higher tiers. Thus, avoid using this build in a production environment.

Notes:

1. By default, testing builds are not shown as available for installation. You can install the
testing Panel version only by running Parallels Installer with one of the special options.
Learn more in Manual Installation.

2. Upgrade to the next testing release is available only to the users of a testing build.
Subsequent Panel builds do not have the corresponding option in the GUI.

 Early Adopter release.

An early adopter release has all claimed features and previous versions successfully
upgrade to it. The quality of this version is eventually improved by updates. By selecting
the early adopter release you become the first to see the new features and receive the
freshest updates.

 General release.

A general release has passed all quality tests. Minor issues are promptly fixed by
updates. We recommend that you always upgrade Panel to general release versions.

 Late Adopter release.

A late adopter release has received all major updates issued for the current Panel
version, and a number of service providers have successfully used it for some time.

During the manual installation, selection of a release tier is one of the installation wizard
steps. If an installation is automated by a script, you should specify a certain tier using
Installer options. For users of PVC templates, the general release is the only option.

Installing Panel 15

3. Choose Panel Components

Panel employs a number of interchangeable components for providing its services. For
example, mail services on Linux can be provided by either Postfix or Qmail. The decision
about what component to choose is made during Panel installation. Also, some components
that you may find useful are not installed by default. Before installing Panel, acquaint yourself
with available Panel components and choose the ones to include in your final Panel
configuration. Next in this section, we will give recommendations on which components to
choose under various circumstances. The components from the list below are not installed
by default unless explicitly stated.

Note: Some components may be unavailable to you due to the limitations of your Panel
license key.

Billing Automation

 Customer & Business Manager

Customer & Business Manager is a billing automation solution available with Panel out of
the box. This automates the subscribing of customers to hosting services, along with all
attendant business operations. Do not install the component if you want to use a third­party solution or if you do not need billing automation at all.

 Payment gateway and registrar modules adapted to Business Manager

Install this component if you want to connect your Business Manager to online payment
systems and domain name registrars. On Windows, these modules are installed
automatically when you install Business Manager.

Web Hosting

Web hosting components are used to switch the support for a certain web hosting service.
For example, support for a certain scripting language or support for FTP connections.

 Plesk Web hosting

(Installed by default). Install this component if you want to use your Panel for web

hosting.

 Apache mod_fcgid module

(Installed by default). Install this component if you want to turn on FastCGI support for the

Apache web server.

 Apache mod_perl module

(Installed by default). Install this component if you want to turn on support for Perl scripts

by the Apache web server.

 ProFTPD FTP server

(Installed by default). Install this component if you want to allow users to connect to Panel

using FTP.

 Bandwidth Limiter for Apache support (mod_bw)

Install this component if you want to manage bandwidth limiting for incoming connections.

 Apache ASP support

Install this component if you want to turn on support for ASP scripts by the Apache web
server.

16 Installing Panel

 Tomcat Java Servlets support

Install this component if you want to turn on support for Java servlets.

 Apache mod_python module

Install this component if you want to turn on support for Python scripts by the Apache web
server.

 Ruby on Rails support

Install this component if you want to turn on support for Ruby on Rails scripts.

 ColdFusion support for Plesk

Install this component if you want to turn on support for ColdFusion scripts.

 MIVA Empresa support

Install this component if you want to turn on support for MIVA scripts.

 Webalizer web statistics package

(Installed by default). This component allows users to collect site visit statistics by means

of the Webalizer software.

 AWStats web statistics package

(Installed by default). This component allows users to collect site visit statistics by means

of the AWStats software.

 Cloudflare Apache Module

This component allows improving performance of websites hosted in the server using the
Cloudflare service.

Apache Web Server Versions (Linux Hosting)

If you use RHEL 5 of CentOS 5, you can choose one of the following options:

 Apache web server support

Typical Apache web server used to deliver websites to Internet users.

 Apache web server with SNI support

(Installed by default). Server Name Indication (SNI) is a feature that extends the SSL

protocol. Install this component if you want to use separate SSL certificates for websites
with a shared IP address.

Nginx Web Server and Reverse Proxy Support

 Nginx reverse proxy support

(Installed by default).

 php-fpm support for nginx

On Linux systems other than SuSE, Debian 7, and Ubuntu 12.04, installing this
component requires enabling third-party repositories (on page 19).

Plesk Webmail Support

Specify the webmail software that allows Panel users to access their mail accounts through a
browser:

 Horde webmail support
 Roundcube webmail support

Installing Panel 17

Mail (Linux Hosting)

Select the mail services Panel should provide:

 Kaspersky antivirus

Install this component if you want to use Kaspersky antivirus software for checking mail.

 Parallels Premium antivirus

(Installed by default). Install this component if you want to use Parallels Premium antivirus

software for checking mail.

 Mailman mailing list manager support

This component adds mailing list functionality to Panel.

 SpamAssassin support

Install this component if you want to use SpamAssassin software to effectively stop email
spam.

Choose one of the following mail servers that best suits your needs:

 Postfix mail server

(Installed by default).

 Qmail mail server
 MSMTP relay only mailserver (SMTP client)

Select this option if you do not want to install mail server. When you log in to Panel with
no mail server installed, it will offer you to specify an external SMTP server for sending
outgoing mail.

Databases

The default database server in Panel is MySQL. It it installed by default. However, since
version 11.5, on Linux you can replace it with MariaDB or Percona Server. For instructions
on replacing MySQL server with these alternatives, refer to the Advanced Administration Guide,
section Using MariaDB or Percona Server as the Default Database Server.

 PostgreSQL server support

If you require support for PostgreSQL databases (for example, this may be a requirement
of certain web apps), select this option to install PostgreSQL to your Panel server.

 MS SQL Server 2008 (on Windows)
 MS SQL Server 2012 (on Windows)

Important: If MS SQL server is already installed on your server, you should exclude this
component from your Panel installation. Otherwise, Panel will perform a clean installation of
MS SQL server and data stored in your MS SQL server will be lost. To let Panel use your MS
SQL server, connect it to Panel once you complete the installation. To learn how to connect
a database to Panel, refer to the Administrator's Guide, section Adding and Removing Database

Servers.

18 Installing Panel

DNS Server

 BIND DNS server support

(Installed by default on Linux). On Linux, deselect this component if you do not want to

run the DNS service on the server. On Windows, select this component if you want to use
BIND instead of the Microsoft DNS.

 Microsoft DNS server

(Installed by default on Windows). Deselect this component if you do not want to run the

DNS service on the server or if you want to use BIND instead.

Important: If you exclude the DNS server from your installation, the DNS service will not
work for websites hosted on your server. Excluding the DNS server makes sense only if you
are going to use an external DNS server. Learn more in the section Using External DNS Servers
of the Administrator's Guide.

System Monitoring

 Health monitor

Install this component if you want to track all main server health parameters, such as
memory and CPU usage by different services, hard disk utilization, number of running
processes, and so on.

Backup and Migration

 Plesk Migration & Transfer Manager

Install this component if you want to perform data transfer from another Panel or
migration from another hosting platform. Install this component to a destination server.

Extensions (Linux Hosting)

You can extend Panel functionality by installing additional extensions. Note that these
extensions require post-installation configuration. Learn more in the chapter Appendix B:
Installing Panel Extensions (Linux) (on page 187).

 Plesk Firewall extension

Install this component if you want to protect a Panel server and private network from
unauthorized access with a firewall.

 Plesk VPN extension

Install this component if you want to set up a VPN connection between a Panel server
and a remote host through the Panel GUI.

 Plesk File Server extension and SMB file server package

Install this component if you want to share files on your Panel server.

 Watchdog (System monitoring extension)

Install this component if you want to use the Watchdog software to monitor your system.
This ensures that your server is clean from malware, that all services are up and running,
and that there is enough free disk space on the server.

Installing Panel 19

4. (Advanced) Use Alternative Package Repositories

By default, Parallels Installer fetches the packages required for Panel installation or upgrade
from the standard repository of your operating system. However, if you want to have a latest
package version that is not yet available in the standard repository, you can install this
version from an alternative repository. To do this, enable this repository on your server. The
instructions on enabling alternative repositories are available on the websites of these
repositories.

If you enable alternative repositories in your system, Parallels Installer uses the latest
versions of packages it finds in all available repositories when installing or upgrading Panel.
For example, if Parallels Updates contains MySQL v.5.5.30, and another repository enabled
on your server (for example, IUS) contains MySQL v.5.5.34, the most current version
(5.5.34) will be installed.

Important: If you upgraded to Panel 11.5 from an earlier version and configured alternative
repositories according to the instructions in previous version of this guide, we strongly
recommend that you revert all changes you made according to this instruction and use
alternative repositories according to this document.

20 Installing Panel

Manual Installation

Next in this section:

Installation from the Web Interface .................................................................... 21

Installation from the Command Line .................................................................. 22

Typical Installation with One-Click Installer ........................................................ 22

Once you have completed the steps described in the section Before Installing Panel (on page

11), you can proceed directly to the Panel installation.

To install Panel on Linux- or Windows-based servers, use the Parallels Installer utility. The
Parallels Installer utility is available for download from

http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/download/. There are several distributions of

Parallels Installer created for different operating systems and platforms, so be sure to obtain
the Parallels Installer version that matches your host's operating system. Parallels Installer
can be used either via a browser-based user interface or the command line.

If you run Linux and want to quickly install the latest version of Panel in the typical
configuration, we recommend that you use our separate utility called One-Click Installer. It is
available at http://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer.

Once the installation is finished, complete the post-installation setup. This includes Panel
initialization and installation of a license key. See the section After Installing Panel (on page 42)
for details.

Installing Panel 21

Installation from the Web Interface

 To install Panel through the web interface:

1. Download the Parallels Installer utility that suits your operating system from

http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/download/.

2. (Only for Linux) Set the execution permission for Parallels Installer:

chmod +x parallels_products_installer_file_name

3. Run the Parallels Installer.

On a Linux/Unix server: ./parallels_products_installer_file_name --web-
interface

On a Windows server: parallels_products_installer_file_name
(Only for Linux) Open your browser and enter https://host-name:8447/ or
https://IP-address:8447/ in the address bar. The Parallels Installer Web interface
opens.

(Only for Windows) Parallels Installer wizard opens in a new browser window. When the
installer starts, an additional console window opens. This window displays the operations
performed by the utility. It is closed upon the successful installation, or after 30 minutes of
inactivity.

Note: As described in the section Before Installing Panel (on page 11), you can select what
Panel build to install depending on its release tier. By default, Installer shows you only the
latest general and late adopter releases as available for installation. To be able to install
other Panel releases, use the following Installer options:

--all-versions to view all available Panel versions.

--tier <release_tier> to view the latest available versions with the specified
release tier.

4. Log in to the web interface.

 If you are running Windows, type the administrator's username ("Administrator"),

administrator's password, and click Log In.

 If you are running Linux, type the root username and password, and click Log In.

5. Follow the installation steps.

22 Installing Panel

Installation from the Command Line

 To install Panel from the command line:

1. Download the Parallels Installer utility that suits your operating system from

http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/download/.

2. (Only for Linux) Set the execution permission for Parallels Installer:

chmod +x parallels_products_installer_file_name

3. Run the Parallels Installer.

On a Linux/Unix server:

./parallels_products_installer_file_name

On a Windows server:

parallels_products_installer_file_name --console

Note: As described in the section Before Installing Panel (on page 11), you can select what
Panel build to install depending on its release tier. By default, Installer shows you only the
latest general and late adopter releases as available for installation. To install other Panel
releases, use the following Installer options:

--all-versions to view all available Panel versions.

--tier <release_tier> to view the latest available versions with the specified
release tier.

4. Follow the installation steps.

Typical Installation with One-Click Installer

Use the One-Click Installer utility to perform a clean installation of Panel in one step. The
utility automatically determines your operating system and installs the latest version of an
appropriate distribution package in the typical configuration. One-Click Installer works only on
Linux operating systems.

To install Panel, run one of the following commands on behalf of the root user.

 If you have the wget utility, run

wget -O - http://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer | sh

 If you have the curl utility, run

curl http://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer | sh

 If you have the fetch utility, run

fetch -o - http://autoinstall.plesk.com/one-click-installer | sh

Installing Panel 23

(Advanced) Automated Installation

Once you have completed the steps described in the section Before Installing Panel (on page

11), you can proceed directly to the Panel installation.

To install Panel on Linux- or Windows-based servers, use the Parallels Installer utility. The
Parallels Installer utility is available for download from

http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/download/. There are several distributions of

Parallels Installer created for different operating systems and platforms, so be sure to obtain
the Parallels Installer that matches your host's operating system. Normally, Parallels Installer
binaries are distributed under names in the following format:

parallels_installer_v<installer version>_os_<operating system
version>_<platform>.

How to Automate Panel Installation

The typical manual installation takes a long time when it comes to mass deployment of
Panel, so we recommend that you automate this process. The automatic process is based
on using the command line options of the Parallels Installer utility that allow you to predefine
all installation parameters. Thus, you can run an installation that does not require any user
input. To learn how to run such installations, refer to the section Running Automated Installations
(on page 25).

Moreover, if you are going to perform mass deployment of Panels for Linux, you can write a
script that automatically copies and runs Installer on a specified group of servers. See the
script examples in the section Installation Script Examples (Linux) (on page 27). On Windows
systems, scripts with the remote commands execution are also possible but require
additional tools such as PsExec. Thus, we do not give examples of such scripts for Windows.

Automating Post-Installation Steps

After a typical manual installation is finished, you should log in to Panel to perform some
post-installation operations (initialize Panel, install a license key, and so on). If you have
multiple Panels, this process can be automated as well. If you want to avoid user input in the
Panel interface, the best approach is to perform the same operations either from the
command-line interface or with the remote API (also known as API RPC). To learn more
about how to complete Panel installation in an automated manner, refer to the corresponding
sub-sections of After Installing Panel (on page 42).

Speeding Up Automated Installations

Note that you can significantly speed up multiple installations if you create a local mirror of
the Parallels Updates server. This will allow you to save time and bandwidth, and to secure
your installations. Learn how to set up a custom mirror in Appendix C: Mirroring Parallels Updates

Server (on page 188).

24 Installing Panel

Next in this section:

Running Automated Installations ....................................................................... 25

Installation Script Examples (Linux) ................................................................... 27

Installing Panel 25

Running Automated Installations

To install Parallels Plesk Panel without requiring any user input, run the command:

parallels_installer <packages source options> --select-release-id <ID>
<components installation options> [other options]

where

 packages source options define the location where the installer should obtain the Panel

packages for installation

<packages source options> =

--source <URL>
if using a mirror of the Parallels Updates server
OR

--source <path>
if using local file system
OR
none
if installing from the Parallels Updates server

 --select-release-ID option define what Panel version should be installed. <ID> is

a unique Panel version identifier, like PLESK_11_0_9.
You can get the list of available Panel version IDs by running Installer with the --show-
releases option. Note that by default, Installer shows you only IDs of the publicly
released production versions (learn more about Panel release tiers in the section Before
Installing Panel (on page 11)). If you want to obtain a full list of available Panel versions
including those intended for product preview and testing purposes, add the --skip-
branch-filter option.

 components installation options define what Panel components should be installed

<components installation options> =

--installation-type

The installation type can be Full or Typical.

OR

--install-component component1 [--install-component component2
[... [--install-component componentN]]]

You can get the full list of components available for a certain release by running Installer
with the following options: --select-release-id <ID> --show-components

 other options include those that define proxy settings, installation logging and so on. For

full details, please refer to the Appendix D: Parallels Installer Options (on page 189).

Modifying Default Installation Paths (Windows)

Panel provides extra flexibility for installations on Windows: It lets users modify its default
installation paths from command-line. The customization is granted by the --set-option
key. The --set-option value should be a "key=value", where key is a constant that
specifies one of the parts of Panel's data, and the value is the path where you want these
data to be located. Currently, the following keys are available:

 PLESK_INSTALLDIR. This key designates the part of Panel data that insignificantly

change over time. This includes the application code, configuration files, utilities, and so
on.

26 Installing Panel

 PLESK_DATADIR. This key designates the part of Panel data that significantly change

over time. This includes customer databases, APS packages, log files, and so on.

 PLESK_VHOSTSDIR. This key designates the path where the content of all your

customers' domains will be stored. This is typically the largest part of the Panel content.

This sample demonstrates how to use the --set-option key:

ai.exe --select-product-id panel --select-release-id PANEL_11_0_9_WIN -­install-component base --install-component management --install-component
spamassassin --install-component webalizer --install-component drweb -­set-option "PLESK_INSTALLDIR=C:\Plesk Dir" --set-option
"PLESK_DATADIR=C:\Plesk Data" --set-option "PLESK_VHOSTSDIR=C:\Plesk
Vhosts"

Examples, Linux/Unix

1. The following command installs Parallels Plesk Panel 11 (release ID is PLESK_11_0_9)

from the mirror set up on the server mirror.example.com available via HTTP. Installation
files will temporarily be stored at /tmp/panel, and the installation status will be reported to the
email [e-mail]. The installed components are base Panel packages,
PostgreSQL server, and SpamAssassin spam filter.

./parallels_installer --source http://mirror.example.com/ --target
/tmp/panel --select-release-id PLESK_11_0_9 --install-component base -­install-component postgresql --install-component spamassassin --notify­email [e-mail]

2. The following command performs the complete installation (all available product

components are installed) of Parallels Plesk Panel 11 (release ID is PLESK_11_0_9) from
the Parallels Update server. All installer output will be redirected to an XML file.

./parallels_installer --select-release-id PLESK_11_0_9 --install-everything

--enable-xml-output

Examples, Windows

1. The following command installs Parallels Plesk Panel 11 (release ID is

PANEL_11_0_9_WIN) from the mirror set up on the server mirror.example.com
available via HTTP. Installation files will temporarily be stored at the
%SystemDrive%\Parallels\ folder, and the installation status will be reported to the
email [e-mail]. The installed components are base Panel packages, Bind name
server, MailEnable mail server, PHP scripting engine, Presence Builder, and Horde Webmail.

parallels_installer.exe --source http://mirror.example.com/ --target
%SystemDrive%\Parallels --select-release-id PANEL_11_0_9_WIN --install­component base --install-component dns --install-component mailenable -­install-component php5 --install-component sitebuilder --install-component
webmail --notify-email [e-mail]

2. The following command performs the complete installation (all available product

components are installed) of Parallels Plesk Panel 11 (release ID is PANEL_11_0_9_WIN)
from the Parallels Update server. All installer output will be redirected to an XML file.

parallels_installer.exe --select-release-id PANEL_11_0_9_WIN --install­everything --enable-xml-output

Installing Panel 27

Installation Script Examples (Linux)

This section provides notes on implementation and execution of an installation script, and
also presents a couple of installation script samples.

Implementation and Execution Notes

 To avoid being prompted for password each time you connect via SSH to the servers

where the Panel should be installed, place your public key to the list of authorized keys of
a user on whose behalf the script is run on each server (see SSH documentation for
details on the procedure).

 If you have a local mirror of the Panel updates server (as described in Appendix C:

Mirroring Parallels Updates Server), use the following option:

--source <mirror URL>

 By default, all downloaded packages are stored under the /root directory. To use

another directory, use the following option:

--target <directory-name>

Example

This script performs a typical installation of the latest Panel version on the specified servers.

#!/bin/sh
SERVERS_LIST="node1.example.com node2.example.com"
for current_server in $SERVERS_LIST; do
ssh -f root@$current_server 'wget http://autoinstall.plesk.com/plesk­installer -O - | sh /dev/stdin --source http://autoinstall.plesk.com/ -­target /tmp/plesk-installation --select-product-id plesk --select-release­latest --installation-type "Typical" --notify-email [e-mail]'
done

(Advanced) Installation to Parallels Virtuozzo Containers

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is a container-based virtualization solution that is employed by
a large number of service providers. Each Virtuozzo container is a separate virtual server
that acts exactly like a stand-alone one. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers exist in both Linux
and Windows versions.

If you want to deploy Panel on Virtuozzo containers, we recommend that you follow the
workflow:

1. Create a container.

28 Installing Panel

2. Install Panel into the container.

Next in this section:

Linux PVC Templates ........................................................................................ 29

Installation on PVC for Linux ............................................................................. 32

Windows PVC Templates .................................................................................. 35

Installation on PVC for Windows ....................................................................... 36

Though you can perform a typical manual or automated installation, we recommend that
you use PVC templates for this purpose. A PVC app template is a package containing
everything an app needs to be installed to a server. The main benefit of PVC templates is
that you install an app template to your physical server just once and then add the app
from the template to a number of containers simultaneously.

3. Clone the container as many times as you need.
This step is optional. If you have a number of already created containers where Panel
should be installed, the best option is to deploy Panel there using a Panel PVC template.

4. Perform post-installation setup.
The post-installation setup for Panel in a Virtuozzo container is absolutely the same as
for other types of installation. It includes Panel initialization, installation of a license key,
and so on. You can either perform it manually or automate the process using the Panel
API. Learn more in the section After Installing Panel (on page 42).

Details on how to perform these operations are provided next in this section.

Installing Panel 29

Linux PVC Templates

PVC application templates are RPM packages which, when installed on a node, allow easy
deployment of an application in as many Containers as required, saving a lot of critical
system resources like disk space. You may obtain the Panel templates at the Parallels
website, or download them using the PVC command-line utility call "vzup2date -z" (PVC 4
and later) or by means of yum on Parallels Cloud Server.

Versioned and version-free templates

Starting with Parallels Plesk Panel 10.4, Parallels ships two sets of EZ templates for each
Panel release: major-version templates, and version-free templates. Both provide the same
software components, the only difference between them is that template updates are
installed when a Container is updated:

 Provider-controlled versioned templates automatically get all the latest updates and

upgrades released for the major version of the Panel.
For example, if the versioned template of the Panel 10 (pp10) is installed in a Container,

the vzpkg update <CT_ID> command will update it to the latest released version of
the Panel 10.x.x, be it 10.0.1 or 10.1.0.
More specifically, versioned templates perform upgrades allowed by a typical Panel
license. This license allows you to perform upgrades within the second major version
number. For example, from 10.1 to 10.2, but not from 10.4 to 11.0.

 Version-free auto-upgrade templates get all updates and upgrades regardless of the

Panel license key. In other words, such templates automatically update to the last
available Panel version regardless of its number once this version in released. For
example, this can be an upgrade from 10.3 to 10.4 or from 10.4 to 11.0. Note that if your
Panel license does not allow complex upgrades, you will need to obtain a new license key
after each such upgrade.

For example, if the version-free base template of the Panel (pp) is installed in a Container
(for example, 10.x.x), the vzpkg update <CT_ID> command will update it to the latest
released version of the Panel x.x.x, be it 10.x.x or 11.x.x.

You can tell versioned templates and version-free ones apart from their names: The name
prefix of the first type contains the major version (pp11.5), while the latter does not contain
any version numbers (pp).

Toggling auto detection of EZ templates

PVC 4.0 and later versions can discover EZ templates in a container and perform automatic
actions depending on the templates. This feature provides opportunities for business
automation software (like PBAs) to automatically find products installed in a container and
start billing the container owner.

30 Installing Panel

The discovery algorithm is straightforward: If the system finds all packages included in an EZ

pp11.5

The Panel core template. Contains base components, backup
manager, and Presence Builder.

pp11.5-antivirus

Parallels Premium Antivirus.
pp11.5-bind

BIND DNS server support. If you do not install this template,
DNS server will not be installed on Panel nodes.

pp11.5-cf-support

ColdFusion support: libraries necessary to run ColdFusion with
the Panel.

pp11.5-kav

Kaspersky Antivirus extension.

pp11.5-mailman

Mailman mailing list manager.

pp11.5-migration

The Panel Migration & Transfer Manager, allows transferring
hosting data from other Panels and migrating from other
hosting platforms.

pp11.5-mod­cloudflare

CloudFlare Apache module support.

pp11.5-msmtp

msmtp relay only mail server (SMTP client). Install it if you plan
to use external mail servers.

pp11.5-mysql5.5

MySQL 5.5 support. Available only on RHEL 5 and CentOS 5.

pp11.5-nginx

nginx reverse proxy support.

template, it considers the template to be installed. The major drawback of this approach is
that Panel 9.x and SMB are very close to each other in terms of packages, so the auto­detection engine can make incorrect decisions. For example, if only one of the applications is
present in a container, the system considers that both templates are installed. The most
noticeable outcome of this detection problem is that the system fails to update both
applications and set proper billing for them.

It is possible to stop the auto-detection if you use the billing automation software or if you
want to install tightly bound Parallels products. To do this, modify the
/etc/vztt/vztt.conf file by setting APP_TEMPLATE_AUTODETECTION=no.

Shipped templates

Since both versioned and version-free sets of templates provide the same components, we
will list only the versioned ones for the simplicity sake.

The following EZ templates are shipped for Parallels Plesk Panel 11: