Parallels Plesk Panel - 8.6 - Unix User Guide

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Parallels® Plesk Panel

ISBN: N/A

Parallels

660 SW 39th Street

Suite 205

Renton, Washington 98057

USA

Phone: +1 (425) 282 6400

Fax: +1 (425) 282 6444

Parallels, Inc.

Distribution of this work or derivative of this work in any form is prohibited unless prior written 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

Preface

In this section:
Who Should Read This Guide ...........................................................................	7
Typographical Conventions ...............................................................................	7
Feedback ..........................................................................................................	8

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.

Formatting convention	Type of Information	Example

Special Bold	Items you must select,	Go to the System tab.
	such as menu options,
	command buttons, or
	items in a list.

	Titles of chapters,	Read the Basic Administration
	sections, and subsections.	chapter.

Italics	Used to emphasize the	The system supports the so
	importance of a point, to	called wildcard character search.
	introduce a term or to
	designate a command line
	placeholder, which is to be
	replaced with a real name
	or value.

Monospace	The names of commands,	The license file is located in the
	files, and directories.	http://docs/common/licen
		ses directory.

8		Preface


	Formatting convention		Type of Information	Example

	Preformatted		On-screen computer	# ls –al /files
			On-screen computer	total 14470
			output in your command-	total 14470
			output in your command-
			line sessions; source code
			in XML, C++, or other
			programming languages.

	Preformatted Bold		What you type, contrasted	# cd /root/rpms/php
			What you type, contrasted
			with on-screen computer
			output.

	CAPITALS		Names of keys on the	SHIFT, CTRL, ALT
			keyboard.

	KEY+KEY		Key combinations for	CTRL+P, ALT+F4
			which the user must press
			and hold down one key
			and then press another.

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.

C H A P T E R 1

Getting Started

Plesk is the control panel software that you use for reselling shared hosting services, 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.

In this chapter:
Logging In to Plesk............................................................................................	10
Becoming Familiar with Plesk's Interface...........................................................	11
Changing Your Contact Information and Password ...........................................	14

10 Getting Started

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 provider 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.

In this section:

If You Forgot Your Password ............................................................................

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.

Parallels Plesk Panel - 8.6 - Unix User Guide

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:

12Getting Started

Trial Sites Settings. Here you can configure settings for trial sites created by your 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).

In this section:
Items in the Desktop View .................................................................................	13
Items in the Standard View................................................................................	13

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.

C H A P T E R 2

Customizing Your Control Panel

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

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

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

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

 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
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

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.

22Customizing 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.

24Customizing Your Control Panel

2.Click the Edit Favorites icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

3.Click Remove.

1.On the desktop, click the icon corresponding to the shortcut that you wish to remove.

2.Click Remove.

C H A P T E R 3

Viewing Resource Allotments and

Hosting Features Included in Your

Hosting Package

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

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.

C H A P T E R 4

Implementing Hosting Plans Using

Domain Templates

If you are going to resell hosting services or planning to host numerous domains and 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.

In this chapter:
Creating Templates ...........................................................................................	31
Modifying Templates .........................................................................................	35
Removing Templates ........................................................................................	35

+ 113 hidden pages