Parallels Plesk Panel - 8.6 - Unix User Guide
Parallels® Plesk Panel
Copyright Notice
ISBN: N/A
Parallels
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Suite 205
Renton, Washington 98057
USA
Phone: +1 (425) 282 6400
Fax: +1 (425) 282 6444
© Copyright 1999-2009,
Parallels, Inc.
All rights reserved
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permission is obtained from the copyright holder.
Patented technology protected by U.S.Patents 7,328,225; 7,325,017; 7,293,033; 7,099,948;
7,076,633.
Patents pending in the U.S.
Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Contents
Preface 7
Who Should Read This Guide ....................................................................................................... 7
Typographical Conventions ........................................................................................................... 7
Feedback ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Getting Started 9
Logging In to Plesk ...................................................................................................................... 10
If You Forgot Your Password ............................................................................................ 10
Becoming Familiar with Plesk's Interface .................................................................................... 11
Items in the Desktop View ................................................................................................. 13
Items in the Standard View ............................................................................................... 13
Changing Your Contact Information and Password .................................................................... 14
Customizing Your Control Panel 15
Setting Up Global Account .......................................................................................................... 16
Creating A Global Account ................................................................................................ 18
Connecting Local Accounts To Your Global Account ....................................................... 18
Switching Between Accounts ............................................................................................ 19
Changing Global Account Password ................................................................................ 19
Disconnecting Local Accounts From Global Account ....................................................... 20
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Standard View ............................................................... 20
Setting Interface Language and Skin for Your Control Panel ........................................... 20
Setting a Custom Logo ...................................................................................................... 21
Adding a Hyperlink Button to Your Control Panel ............................................................. 21
Removing a Hyperlink Button from Your Control Panel .................................................... 22
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Desktop View ................................................................ 22
Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package 25
Viewing IP addresses Included in Your Hosting Package .......................................................... 25
Viewing Resource Allotments for Your Account .......................................................................... 26
Viewing the List of Operations You Can Perform within Your Control Panel .............................. 28
Implementing Hosting Plans Using Domain Templates 30
Creating Templates ..................................................................................................................... 31
Modifying Templates ................................................................................................................... 35
Removing Templates................................................................................................................... 35
Hosting Web Sites 36
Predefining Content for New Web Sites ...................................................................................... 37
Obtaining Domain Names ........................................................................................................... 38
Setting Up Hosting Account for a Web Site ................................................................................ 39
Limiting the Amount of Resources a Site Can Consume .................................................. 42
Allowing the Site Owner to Log in to Control Panel .......................................................... 45
Creating and Publishing a Site .................................................................................................... 47
Preface 4
Creating and Publishing Web Sites Using Sitebuilder ...................................................... 47
Publishing Sites Through FTP .......................................................................................... 48
Publishing Sites Through Plesk File Manager .................................................................. 48
Publishing Sites Through SSH Connection ...................................................................... 50
Publishing Sites with Microsoft FrontPage ........................................................................ 50
Publishing Sites with Adobe Dreamweaver ...................................................................... 52
Previewing a Site ......................................................................................................................... 53
Deploying Databases .................................................................................................................. 54
Creating or Importing a Database ..................................................................................... 55
Creating Database User Accounts .................................................................................... 56
Changing Database User Passwords ............................................................................... 56
Removing Database User Accounts ................................................................................. 57
Removing Databases ........................................................................................................ 57
Installing Applications .................................................................................................................. 58
Installing Java Web Applications....................................................................................... 60
Installing Ruby Web Applications ...................................................................................... 61
Securing E-commerce Transactions with Secure Sockets Layer Encryption ............................. 62
Obtaining and Installing SSL Certificates from Comodo, GeoTrust, Inc. or GoDaddy ..... 63
Obtaining and Installing SSL Certificates from Other Certification Authorities ................. 64
Creating and Installing Free Self-signed SSL Certificate .................................................. 65
Uninstalling a Certificate from Your Site ........................................................................... 66
Restricting Access to Web Server's Resources with Password Protection ................................ 67
Protecting a Resource ....................................................................................................... 67
Specifying Authorized Users ............................................................................................. 68
Unprotecting a Resource .................................................................................................. 69
Organizing Site Structure with Subdomains ................................................................................ 70
Setting up Subdomains ..................................................................................................... 70
Removing Subdomains ..................................................................................................... 71
Setting Up Additional Domain Names for a Site (Domain Aliases) ............................................. 72
Setting Up a Domain Alias ................................................................................................ 72
Modifying Properties of a Domain Alias ............................................................................ 73
Removing a Domain Alias ................................................................................................. 74
Hosting Personal Web Pages on Your Web Server .................................................................... 75
Changing FTP Password for a Web Page Owner ............................................................ 76
Allocating More Disk Space to the Web Page Owner ...................................................... 76
Removing Web Page Owner's Account ............................................................................ 76
Setting Up Anonymous FTP Access to the Server ..................................................................... 77
Customizing Web Server Error Messages .................................................................................. 78
Customizing DNS Zone Configuration for Domains .................................................................... 80
Viewing Resource Records ............................................................................................... 80
Adding Resource Records ................................................................................................ 81
Modifying Resource Records ............................................................................................ 82
Removing Resource Records ........................................................................................... 83
Restoring the Original Zone Configuration ........................................................................ 84
Serving Sites with External Domain Name Servers .................................................................... 85
Serving Domain Names for Sites Hosted on Other Servers (Domain Forwarding) .................... 87
Suspending and Unsuspending Domains ................................................................................... 88
Removing Domains ..................................................................................................................... 88
Managing Hosting Accounts 89
Upgrading Hosting Accounts ....................................................................................................... 90
Renewing Hosting Accounts ............................................................................................. 93
Changing Web Hosting Type From Physical to Forwarding ....................................................... 93
Introducing Similar Changes to Numerous Hosting Accounts .................................................... 94
Suspending and Unsuspending Hosting Accounts ..................................................................... 95
Removing Hosting Accounts ....................................................................................................... 95
Preface 5
Viewing Statistics 96
Adjusting Preferences for Web Statistics Presentation by Webalizer ......................................... 98
Hiding and Unhiding Internal References from Your and Other Sites .............................. 98
Grouping and Ungrouping References from Other Sites .................................................. 99
Hiding and Unhiding Direct Requests ............................................................................. 100
Automating Report Generation and Delivery by E-mail ............................................................ 100
Viewing Log Files and Configuring Recycling of Log Files ....................................................... 103
Backing Up And Restoring Your Data 104
Configuring Control Panel for Using FTP Repository ................................................................ 105
Backing Up Your Account with Your Domains .......................................................................... 105
Backing Up Individual Domains (Web Sites) ............................................................................. 106
Scheduling Backups .................................................................................................................. 107
Restoring Data From Backup Archives ..................................................................................... 108
Maintaining Your Backup Files Repository ............................................................................... 109
Uploading Backup Files to Server ................................................................................... 109
Downloading Backup Files from Server .......................................................................... 110
Removing Backup Files from Server .............................................................................. 110
Using E-mail Services 111
Creating Mailboxes .................................................................................................................... 112
Setting Up Your E-mail Program for Retrieving Mail from Your Mailbox .................................. 113
Accessing Your Mail From a Web Browser ............................................................................... 114
Protecting Mailboxes From Spam ............................................................................................. 115
Setting Up Additional Disposable E-mail Addresses (Mail Aliases)................................ 116
Setting Up Spam Filter .................................................................................................... 117
Protecting Mailboxes From Viruses ........................................................................................... 121
Switching on Anti-virus Protection................................................................................... 121
Switching off Anti-virus Protection................................................................................... 122
Suspending and Unsuspending Mailboxes ............................................................................... 122
Removing Mailboxes ................................................................................................................. 123
Switching off the Mailbox Service When You Have Decided to Turn Your Account into a Mail
Forwarder .................................................................................................................................. 123
Setting Up Mail Forwarding to a Single E-mail Address ........................................................... 124
Suspending and Unsuspending Mail Forwarders ........................................................... 125
Setting Up Mail Forwarding to Multiple E-mail Addresses ........................................................ 126
Adding and Removing Recipient Addresses ................................................................... 127
Switching off Mail Forwarding to Multiple E-mail Addresses .......................................... 128
Removing Mail Forwarders ....................................................................................................... 128
Setting Up Automatic Reply ...................................................................................................... 129
Switching off Automatic Reply ................................................................................................... 130
Setting Up Site-wide Preferences for Handling Mail to Nonexistent Users (Mail Bounce) ....... 131
Introducing Similar Changes to a Number of Mail Accounts at Once ....................................... 133
Maintaining Mailing Lists ........................................................................................................... 133
Setting Up a Mailing List ................................................................................................. 134
Configuring a Mailing List ................................................................................................ 134
Subscribing and Unsubscribing Users ............................................................................ 135
Posting to Your Mailing List ............................................................................................. 136
Removing Mailing Lists ................................................................................................... 136
Scheduling Tasks 137
Scheduling a Task ..................................................................................................................... 137
Suspending and Resuming Execution of Tasks ........................................................................ 138
Preface 6
Unscheduling a Task ................................................................................................................. 138
Monitoring Connections to Control Panel and FTP Services 140
Monitoring Connections to FTP Service .................................................................................... 140
Monitoring Connections to Control Panel .................................................................................. 141
Using Help Desk for Resolving Your Customers' Issues and Requesting Assistance from Provider
142
Viewing Trouble Tickets in Your Help Desk .............................................................................. 142
Commenting and Closing Trouble Tickets ................................................................................ 143
Submitting a Problem Report to Your Service Provider ............................................................ 143
Preface 7
In this section:
Who Should Read This Guide ........................................................................... 7
Typographical Conventions ............................................................................... 7
Feedback .......................................................................................................... 8
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.
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.
The system supports the so
called wildcard character search.
Monospace
The names of commands,
files, and directories.
The license file is located in the
http://docs/common/licen
ses directory.
Preface
Who Should Read This Guide
This guide is intended for hosting resellers and owners of multiple domains, who were
provided with access to Plesk control panel as part of their shared, dedicated or reseller
hosting package.
Typographical 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.
8 Preface
Formatting convention
Type of Information
Example
Preformatted
On-screen computer
output in your commandline sessions; source code
in XML, C++, or other
programming languages.
# ls –al /files
total 14470
Preformatted Bold
What you type, contrasted
with on-screen computer
output.
# cd /root/rpms/php
CAPITALS
Names of keys on the
keyboard.
SHIFT, CTRL, ALT
KEY+KEY
Key combinations for
which the user must press
and hold down one key
and then press another.
CTRL+P, ALT+F4
Feedback
If you have found an error 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.
Plesk is the control panel software that you use for reselling shared hosting services,
In this chapter:
Logging In to Plesk ............................................................................................ 10
Becoming Familiar with Plesk's Interface........................................................... 11
Changing Your Contact Information and Password ........................................... 14
C H A P T E R 1
Getting Started
and hosting your own domain names and web sites.
You can manage the hosted domain names and web sites on your own, or delegate
permissions to manage individual domains to other users. Upon delegation, a separate
Domain Administrator's control panel environment is automatically created, providing
your customer with site and e-mail management capabilities in accordance with the
permissions you define.
Using the Domain Administrator's control panel, a site owner can:
Change passwords for access to control panel and Web space through FTP,
Publish and preview a Web site,
Install, manage and remove databases and Web applications,
Order and install SSL certificates to secure online transactions (this is possible for
Web sites hosted on a dedicated IP address, which is not shared among other Web
sites),
Set up, manage and remove subdomains,
Host personal Web pages for other users,
Password protect areas of a Web site,
Customize Web server error messages,
Backup and restore a Web site with its databases and applications,
Schedule automatic backups,
Create, edit, remove mailboxes, and protect them against spam and viruses,
Allow access to individual E-mail administration panel to mailbox owners (this is
convenient when running mail hosting business or creating mailboxes for other
users),
Create, edit, remove mail forwarders and automatic replies,
Create, manage, remove mailing lists, subscribe and unsubscribe users.
You have access to all these features from your own control panel, therefore, you will
not need to use neither the Domain Administrator's nor E-mail Administrator's control
panels.
To learn more about using Domain Administrator's control panel, please refer to the
Domain Administrator Guide.
10 Getting Started
In this section:
If You Forgot Your Password ............................................................................ 10
Logging In to Plesk
To log in to your Plesk control panel:
1. Open your web browser, and in the address bar type the URL where
your Plesk control panel is located.
For example, https://your-domain.com:8443, where your-domain.com is the domain
name of your Web host.
2. Press ENTER. Plesk login screen will open.
3. Type the login name and password your provid er gave you into the
Login and Password boxes, respectively.
4. If you log in for the first time, select the language for your control panel
from the Interface language drop-down box. If you had previously specified
the interface language and saved it in your interface preferences, leave
the User default value selected.
5. Click Login.
Note for hosting resellers: Your customers who were granted access to control panel
for managing their own web sites will need to specify their domain names in the Login
box.
If You Forgot Your Password
To restore your forgotten password:
1. In your web browser‘s address bar, type the URL where your Plesk
control panel is located (for example, https://your-domain.com:8443)
2. Press ENTER.
Plesk login screen will open.
3. Click the Forgot your password? link.
4. Type your login name into the Login box, and type your e-mail address
registered in the system into the E-mail box.
5. Click OK.
Your password will be sent to your e-mail address.
Getting Started 11
Becoming Familiar with Plesk's Interface
When you log in to control panel, it can open in either a standard view, a simplified
desktop view, or a combination of both. The standard view is a customary view of the
control panel divided into two main areas: navigation pane on the left and the main
screen where operations are performed on the right.
The desktop view can show site statistics and shortcuts to the operations you
frequently perform—everything you may need can now be accessible from a single
screen.
If your hosting plan includes the Web site creation and management service using
Sitebuilder, the following shortcuts are also shown in your control panel's navigation
pane:
Desktop. This provides shortcuts to the task-oriented wizards. Here you can perform
any operations on your account and Web sites through the Sitebuilder system. For
more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/using_des
ktop_interface.htm.
Users. Here you can add and manage user accounts and service plans for your
customers. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/signing_u
p_customers.htm.
Sites. Here you can add and manage sites. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/managing
_sites.htm.
Server. Here you can view and manage the following system settings:
12 Getting Started
Trial Sites Settings. Here you can configure settings for trial sites created by your
In this section:
Items in the Desktop View ................................................................................. 13
Items in the Standard View ................................................................................ 13
prospective customers. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/setting
_up_sitebuilder_wizard_for_anonymous_visits.htm
Branding. Here you can configure the logo and title setting for your prospective
customers. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/setting
_up_logo_and_title_bar_text.htm
Notifications. Here you can configure settings for notifications sent by Sitebuilder
to your users. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/config
uring_email_message_sent_at_trial_site_publishing_attempt.htm.
Modules. Here you can view the list of available modules. For more information,
see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/viewin
g_and_configuring_sitebuilder_wizard_presets_and_modules.htm.
Page Sets. Here you can view the list of available page sets. For more
information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/viewin
g_and_configuring_sitebuilder_wizard_presets_and_modules.htm.
Site Families. Here you can view the list of available templates that combine
design templates and page sets. For more information, see
http://download1.parallels.com/SiteBuilder/4.0.0/doc/reseller/en_US/html/viewin
g_and_configuring_sitebuilder_wizard_presets_and_modules.htm.
Also, on every domain management screen of your Plesk control panel, the Sitebuilder
Wizard button is shown (Home > domain name > Sitebuilder Wizard). You should use it for
accessing the Sitebuilder Web site creation and management wizard. For more
information, refer to the section Creating and Publishing Web Sites Using Sitebuilder
(on page 47).
Getting Started 13
Items in the Desktop View
The desktop view originally shows three sections:
Tools. This group shows shortcuts to the operations that you can perform through
the control panel. You can freely add and remove these shortcuts.
Statistics. This shows the number of domains you have under your account, disk
space and monthly bandwidth usage, and number of mailboxes on your hosted
domains.
Favorites. This group shows four types of shortcuts sorted by type and placed on the
respective tabs. The Domains tab shows shortcuts to your favorite domains. The Mail
Accounts tab shows shortcuts to the favorite e-mail accounts. The Shortcuts tab
shows all other types of shortcuts that do not relate to domains and e-mail user
accounts. The Recent tab shows last ten control panel screens you have been on.
The Favorites group also provides search tool for finding domains and e-mail
accounts. To use the search tool, type the search criteria (this can be any
combination of symbols, search is case insensitive) and click Search.
To customize your control panel in the Desktop view, refer to the Customizing Your
Control Panel in the Desktop View (on page 22) section.
Using Wizards
When you work with Plesk in the Desktop view, you accomplish the tasks you need
through wizards. Each wizard is a series of consecutive screens. To accomplish a task
using a wizard, follow the instructions displayed on the wizard screens. For information
on individual options, refer to the respective sections of this guide.
Items in the Standard View
The navigation pane is located on the left. It gives you access to sets of administrative
functions:
Home. This is where you modify settings related to your account, manage Web sites
and e-mail services.
Sessions. When site and mailbox owners log in to control panel, or connect to the
server via FTP protocol, they establish sessions that you can monitor and
terminate.
Global Account. This shortcut appears in your Plesk Control Panel when the single
sign-on capabilities are switched on the hosting server. Single sign-on technology
allows you to log in to different Parallels products using a single global login name
and password. This shortcut is used for changing the global login settings.
Help Desk. This is the help desk system integrated with your control panel. If your
provider uses it, then you can use it to report your problems to provider‘s technical
support staff.
Help. Provides context sensitive help.
Log Out. When finished working with control panel, click this icon to close your
session.
14 Getting Started
Below the Help icon, there is a context help tip area. It provides a brief description of the
current screen or available operations. When you place the mouse pointer over a
system element or status icon, it displays additional information.
To navigate through Plesk, you can also use a path bar: a chain of links that appears in
the right part of the screen, below the banner area. To return to a previous screen, use
the Up Level icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.
To find items in lengthy lists, use search boxes located above every list of items: type a
search criterion into the input box, and click Search. A list will show the items matching
the search criteria. To return back to viewing all items, click Show All.
To sort a list by a certain parameter in ascending or descending order, click on the
parameter's title in the column heading. The order of sorting will be indicated by a small
triangle displayed next to the parameter's title.
Changing Your Contact Information and Password
If you need to update your contact information, or change password:
1. On your Home page, click Edit in the Tools group.
2. Update your information as required, or type a new password, and click
OK.
If you forgot your password:
1. In your web browser‘s address bar, type the URL where your Plesk
control panel is located.
2. For example, https://your-domain.com:8443.
3. Press ENTER. Plesk login screen will open.
4. Click the Forgot your password? link.
5. Type your login name into the Login box, type your e-mail address
registered in the system into the E-mail box, and click OK.
Your password will be sent to your e-mail address.
In this chapter:
Setting Up Global Account ................................................................................ 16
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Standard View ...................................... 20
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Desktop View ....................................... 22
C H A P T E R 2
Customizing Your Control Panel
16 Customizing Your Control Panel
Setting Up Global Account
Global Account is a single sign-on (SSO) technology feature that allows you to log in to
different Parallels products using a single global login and password. If you have
several accounts in Plesk Control Panel, you can connect them all to a global account
and switch between these accounts without entering a password every time. You can
also connect all your accounts in other Parallels products to your global account and
switch between them without providing credentials.
To switch on support for single sign-on for your server, do the following:
In Plesk Control Panel for Linux/Unix
1. Find out the IP address of the SSO server that you will be using. It can
be provided by your hosting company, or you can set up the SSO
server on any machine that is accessible over the Internet, including
your Plesk Control Panel server. For installation instructions, refer to
the Plesk Control Panel Installation Guide.
2. Register your server with the single sign-on server: issue the command
<plesk_installation_directory>/admin/sbin/sso -server
https://idp-master.example.com:11443.
3. Switch on single sign-on: issue the command
<plesk_installation_directory>/admin/sbin/sso -e.
In Plesk Control Panel for Windows
1. Find out the IP address of the SSO server that you will be using. It can
be provided by your hosting company, or you can set up the SSO
server on any machine that is accessible over the Internet, including
your Plesk Control Panel server. For installation instructions, refer to
the Plesk Control Panel Installation Guide.
2. Register your server with the single sign-on server: issue the command
<plesk_installation_directory>\sso.exe -server https://idpmaster.example.com:11443.
3. Switch on single sign-on: issue the command
<plesk_installation_directory>\sso.exe -e.
Customizing Your Control Panel 17
In this section:
Creating A Global Account ................................................................................ 18
Connecting Local Accounts To Your Global Account ......................................... 18
Switching Between Accounts ............................................................................ 19
Changing Global Account Password ................................................................. 19
Disconnecting Local Accounts From Global Account ......................................... 20
18 Customizing Your Control Panel
Creating A Global Account
After you create a global account and connect local accounts to it, you will be able to
choose from any account connected to your global account when logging in under your
global account.
To create a global account:
1. Log in to Plesk, go to Global Account and click Connect To Global Account.
2. Select Create new global account and provide the login and password for
your global account.
3. Click OK.
Your global account is active now, so you can proceed with connecting other accounts
to it. Refer to Connecting Local Accounts to Your Global Account (on page 18) section
for more information.
Connecting Local Accounts To Your Global Account
To connect a local Plesk account to your global account:
1. Log in to Plesk under the local account you want to connect.
2. Go to Global Account and click Connect To Global Account.
3. Make sure that Use existing global account option is selected and provide
the login and password for the global account you want to connect to.
4. Click OK.
Repeat steps 1-4 for other local accounts as necessary.
To connect an account in another product with SSO support to your
global account:
1. Log in to software product with SSO support under the account you
want to connect.
2. Follow the instructions on connecting to a global account in respective
software product documentation. Make sure that you provide the
credentials for the existing global account when you are asked to.
Repeat steps 1-2 for other accounts or products as necessary.
Note. Different software products may use different names for the Global Account
feature, such as Federated Identity or Global Login. Refer to respective software
product documentation for more information.
Customizing Your Control Panel 19
After you have connected all required accounts to your global account, you can log in
under your global account all the time in any product where you have a local account
connected to your global account. You will be shown the list of local accounts
connected to your global account every time you log in under it, so you can choose
which account you would like to use now. You can switch to another account any time
you want. Refer to Switching Between Accounts (on page 19) section for more
information.
Switching Between Accounts
To switch to another account:
1. Click Switch User in the upper right corner.
2. Select the account you want to switch to:
Choose the required local account from the list of accounts connected to your
global account
or
Select Specify credentials for another account and provide login and password for a
local account not connected to your global account or to another global account.
You can also specify the language for your control panel from the Interface
language menu. If you had previously specified the interface language for that
account and saved it in its interface preferences, leave the Default value
selected.
3. Click OK.
Changing Global Account Password
To change password of your global account:
1. Log in to Plesk under your global account or any local account
connected to it.
2. Go to Global Account and click Change Password.
3. Enter your old and new passwords, and click OK.
20 Customizing Your Control Panel
Disconnecting Local Accounts From Global Account
In this section:
Setting Interface Language and Skin for Your Control Panel ............................. 20
Setting a Custom Logo ...................................................................................... 21
Adding a Hyperlink Button to Your Control Panel .............................................. 21
Removing a Hyperlink Button from Your Control Panel ..................................... 22
To disconnect a local account from your global account:
1. Log in to Plesk under the local account you want to disconnect.
2. Go to Global Account and click Disconnect From Global Account.
3. Confirm the disconnection and click OK.
Repeat steps 1-3 for other local accounts as necessary.
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Standard View
Setting Interface Language and Skin for Your Control Panel
To select an interface language and theme (skin) for your control panel:
1. On your Home page, click the Preferences icon in the Tools group.
2. Select the desired interface language and skin from the respective
drop-down boxes.
Plesk‘s interface has been translated to a number of languages, so if you do not
see your own language in the list, ask your provider to install the respective
language pack.
3. Click OK.
Customizing Your Control Panel 21
Setting a Custom Logo
To set up a custom logo image that will be visible to your customers when
they log in to Plesk control panel:
1. On your Home page, click Branding.
2. Click Browse... to navigate to the desired image file that you have on
your local computer.
We recommend that you use an image that is 50 pixels in height, in GIF, JPEG or
PNG format, and preferably not larger than 100 kilobytes to minimize the download
time.
3. If you wish to attach a hyperlink to the logo image, type the URL into
the Enter new URL for logo box.
4. Click OK to submit.
To restore the original Plesk logo image:
1. On your Home page, click Branding.
2. Click Default Logo.
Adding a Hyperlink Button to Your Control Panel
To add a custom hyperlink button to your Plesk control panel and specify
whether your customers will see it in their control panels:
1. On your Home page, go to Custom Buttons and click Add New Button.
2. Specify properties of the button:
Type the text that will show on your button in the Button label field.
Choose the location for your button. To place it in the right frame of your Home
page, select the Client home page value from the Location drop-down box. To
place it on each domain's administration screen (Home > domain name), select the
Domain Administration page value. To place it in the left frame (navigation pane) of
your control panel, select the Navigation pane value.
Specify the priority of the button. Plesk will arrange your custom buttons on the
control panel in accordance with the priority you define: the lower the number –
the higher is priority. Buttons are placed in the left-to-right order.
To use an image for a button background, type the path to its location or click
Browse to browse for the desired file. It is recommended that you use a 16x16
pixels GIF or JPEG image for a button to be placed in the navigation pane, and
32x32 pixels GIF or JPEG image for buttons placed in the main frame.
22 Customizing Your Control Panel
Type the hyperlink of your choice to be attached to the button into the URL box.
Using the checkboxes, specify whether to include the information, such as
domain name, FTP login, FTP password and other data to be transferred within
the URL. These data can be used for processing by external web applications.
In the Context help tip contents input field, type in the help tip that will be displayed
when you hover the mouse pointer over the button.
Select the Open URL in the Control Panel checkbox if you wish the destination URL
to be opened in the control panel's right frame, otherwise leave this check box
unchecked to open the URL in a separate browser window.
If you wish to make this button visible to the mailbox users with access to control
panel, select the Visible to all sub-logins checkbox.
3. Click OK to complete creation.
Removing a Hyperlink Button from Your Control Panel
To remove a hyperlink button from your Plesk control panel:
1. On your Home page, click Custom Buttons in the Tools group.
2. Select a check box corresponding to the button that you wish to remove
and click Remove Selected.
Customizing Your Control Panel in the Desktop View
To add or remove items from the desktop:
1. Go to Desktop > Customize Desktop.
2. In the Tools group, specify what tasks you would like to accomplish
through the control panel. The appropriate shortcuts will be placed to
the desktop. The Selected tasks list shows the tasks for which shortcuts
are already placed on the desktop. The Available tasks list shows the
tasks for which you do not yet have shortcuts on your desktop.
To add a shortcut to the desktop, select the required tasks in the Available tasks
list and click Add >>.
To remove a shortcut from the desktop, select the task that you do not need in
the Selected tasks list and click << Remove.
Customizing Your Control Panel 23
3. To show your custom buttons on the desktop, select the Custom buttons
check box.
4. To show the shortcut for creating new custom hyperlink buttons at the
bottom of the desktop, select the Create a new domain custom button check
box.
5. Specify whether to show the Statistics and Favorites groups and what
items to show there. Clearing check boxes will remove the respective
items from the desktop. The Favorites group shows the links to items or
control panel screens that you added to desktop by navigating to the
respective control panel screens and clicking the Create shortcut or
Add to favorites icons.
6. Click OK.
To add a domain to the Favorites group of the desktop:
1. On your Home page, click the domain name you want to add to
favorites.
2. Click the Add to favorites icon at the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Specify the desktop shortcut label and the description.
4. Click OK.
To add a mail account to the Favorites group of the desktop:
1. On your Home page, click the required domain name.
2. Click the Mail icon in the Services group.
3. Click the e-mail address you want to add to favorites.
4. Click the Add to favorites icon at the upper right corner of the screen.
5. Specify the desktop shortcut label and the description.
6. Click OK.
To add items to the Favorites group of the desktop:
1. Navigate to the control panel screen you need.
2. Click the Create Shortcut icon at the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Specify the desktop shortcut label and the description.
4. Click OK.
To remove items from the Favorites group of the desktop:
1. On the desktop, click the shortcut that you wish to remove.
24 Customizing Your Control Panel
2. Click the Edit Favorites icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Click Remove.
OR
1. On the desktop, click the icon corresponding to the shortcut that you
wish to remove.
2. Click Remove.
In this chapter:
Viewing IP addresses Included in Your Hosting Package .................................. 25
Viewing Resource Allotments for Your Account ................................................. 26
Viewing the List of Operations You Can Perform within Your Control Panel ...... 28
C H A P T E R 3
Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package
Viewing IP addresses Included in Your Hosting Package
To view the IP addresses included in your hosting package, on your Home page, click
IP Pool. Your IP addresses are listed and the following supplementary information is
given:
An icon in the S (Status) column shows if your IP address is properly configured
on the network interface. If your IP address was removed from the network
interface by your provider, an icon will show .
An icon in the T (Type) column shows if you were allotted a dedicated IP
address, and if the address is shared among other customers of your service
provider. A dedicated IP address is not used by other users, so you can use it to
host either:
A single e-commerce Web site secured with Secure Sockets Layer encryption, or
A number of web sites that do not need Secure Sockets Layer encryption.
Note: Shared IP addresses should be used for hosting only non e-commerce Web
sites.
The Certificate column shows which SSL certificate (for what domain name) is tied to
an IP address. See the section "Securing e-commerce transactions with Secure
Sockets Layer encryption" for details.
The FTP over SSL column shows whether it is possible to use secure FTP
connection (FTP over SSL) on one of the domains hosted on this IP. To switch on
FTP over SSL for an exclusive IP address, select the check box corresponding to
the required IP address under the FTP over SSL column.
The Hosting column shows a number of web sites hosted on an IP address. To view
the domain names of these web sites, click the number in the Hosting column.
26 Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package
Viewing Resource Allotments for Your Account
To view the resource allotments for your account, on your Home page, click the Limits
icon. The resource allotments are shown as follows:
Maximum number of domains. The total number of domain names/web sites you can
host on the server. This includes web sites that you host on this server, and domain
forwarders that point to web sites hosted on other servers. Domain aliases
(additional domain names for a site hosted on this server) are not limited by this
resource type.
Maximum number of subdomains. The total number of subdomains that can be hosted
for your sites.
Maximum number of domain aliases. The total number of additional alternative domain
names that you can use for your sites.
Disk space. The total amount of disk space in megabytes that can be occupied by
your web sites and sites of your customers. It includes disk space occupied by all
files related to all domains/web sites: web site contents, databases, applications,
mailboxes, log files and backup files. This is the so-called soft quota: when it is
exceeded, domain names and web sites are not suspended automatically, only the
appropriate notices are sent to your and your provider's e-mail addresses and the
resource overage is indicated by the icon shown in the control panel to the left of
your name (see the top of the right frame on your Home page).
Maximum amount of traffic. The amount of data in megabytes that can be transferred
from your web sites during a month. Once the limit is reached, the appropriate
notices are sent to your and your provider's e-mail addresses and the resource
overage is indicated by the icon shown in the control panel to the left of your
name (see the top of the right frame on your Home page).
Maximum number of web users. The total number of personal web pages that you or
your customers can host for other users. This service is mostly used in educational
institutions that host non-commercial personal pages of their students and staff.
These pages usually have web addresses like http://your-domain.com/~username.
Refer to the Hosting Personal Web Pages on Your Web Server section for details.
Maximum number of databases. The total number of databases that can be hosted on
the server.
Maximum number of mailboxes. The total number of mailboxes that can be hosted on
the server.
Mailbox quota. The limit on amount of disk space in kilobytes that can be allocated to
each mailbox for storing e-mail messages and autoresponder attachment files.
Maximum number of mail forwarders. The total number of mail forwarders that can be
set up on the server.
Maximum number of mail autoresponders. The total number of automatic responses that
can be set up on the server.
Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package 27
Maximum number of mailing lists. The total number of mailing lists that can be hosted
on the server. The mailing lists are served by the GNU Mailman software, which
may or may not be installed on the server. If it is not installed and you or your
customers would like to use it, ask your provider to install it.
Maximum number of Java applications. The total number of Java applications or applets
that can be hosted on the server.
Validity period. The term of your hosting or reseller account. At the end of the term,
your domains/web sites will be suspended, their Web, FTP and mail services will no
longer be accessible to the Internet users, and domain owners will not be able to
log in to their control panels.
28 Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package
Viewing the List of Operations You Can Perform within Your Control Panel
To view the list of operations you can perform within your control panel, on your Home
page, click the Permissions icon. The permissions for operations are listed as follows:
Domain creation. Shows whether you can host new domain names/web sites on the
server.
Physical hosting management. Shows whether you can fully control hosting accounts
for your web sites. If it says No, then you can only change FTP password for
accessing your web spaces.
Hosting performance settings management. Shows whether you can limit connections
and bandwidth usage for your sites.
PHP safe mode management. Shows whether you can switch the PHP safe mode off
for your sites. By default, PHP is configured to operate in safe mode with functional
restrictions. To learn more about PHP safe mode, refer to
http://php.net/features.safe-mode. Some web applications may not work properly
with safe mode enabled: If an application on a site fails due to safe mode, switch
the safe mode off (or ask your provider to do this) by clearing the PHP 'safe_mode' on
check box in the hosting account properties (Home > domain name > Setup icon in the
Hosting group).
Management of shell access to the server. Shows whether you can access the server
shell and allow other users to do so.
Hard disk quota assignment. Shows whether you can set up the hard quotas on disk
space allocated to your sites.
Subdomains management. Shows whether you can set up, modify and remove
subdomains.
Domain aliases management. Shows whether you can set up additional alternative
domain names for your web sites.
Log rotation management. Shows whether you can adjust the cleanup and recycling of
processed log files for your site.
Anonymous FTP management. Shows whether you can have an FTP directory where
all users could download and upload files without the need to enter login and
password. A web site should reside on a dedicated IP address in order to use
anonymous FTP service.
Task scheduling. Shows whether you can schedule tasks in the system. Scheduled
tasks can be used for running scripts or utilities on schedule.
DNS zone management. Shows whether you can manage the DNS zones of your
domains.
Java applications management. Shows whether you can install Java applications and
applets on the web site through the control panel.
Mailing lists management. Shows whether you can use mailing lists provided by the
GNU Mailman software.
Spam filter management. Shows whether you can use spam filter provided by the
SpamAssassin software.
Viewing Resource Allotments and Hosting Features Included in Your Hosting Package 29
Antivirus management. Shows whether you can use server-side antivirus protection
for filtering incoming and outgoing mail.
Backup and restore functions. Shows whether you can use the control panel's facilities
to backup and restore your sites. Scheduled and on-demand backups are
supported.
User interface. Shows what type of Plesk control panel interface you can use -
standard, desktop, or both.
Desktop management. Shows whether you can customize and manage your desktop
interface.
Ability to use remote XML interface. Shows whether you can remotely manage Web
sites through custom applications. The XML interface can be used for developing
custom applications integrated with Web sites, which could be used, for instance,
for automating setup of hosting accounts and provisioning of services for customers
purchasing hosting services from your site. To learn more about using Plesk control
panel's XML interface (also referred to as Plesk API RPC), please visit
http://download1.parallels.com/Plesk/Plesk8.1/Doc/plesk-8.1-api-rpc/index.htm.
Ability to select a database server. Shows whether you can select a database server of
each type for creating your databases, not only use the default database server.
If you are going to resell hosting services or planning to host numerous domains and
In this chapter:
Creating Templates ........................................................................................... 31
Modifying Templates ......................................................................................... 35
Removing Templates ........................................................................................ 35
C H A P T E R 4
Implementing Hosting Plans Using Domain Templates
web sites, you may want to create hosting configuration presets, referred to as domain
templates, that will simplify setting up hosting accounts for new domains and web sites.
The templates cover all resource usage allotments, permissions and limits that you can
define for a hosting account, plus mail bounce and Web statistics retention settings.
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