Parallels Plesk Control Panel

Transcription

1 Parallels Plesk Control Panel

2 Copyright Notice ISBN: N/A Parallels 660 SW 39 th Street Suite 205 Renton, Washington USA Phone: +1 (425) Fax: +1 (425) Copyright , Parallels, Inc. All rights reserved 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.

3 Contents Preface 8 Typographical Conventions... 8 Feedback... 9 About Plesk 10 Overview of Business Model, Users Accounts and Permissions Overview of Software Components Managed by Plesk Control Panel What s New in This Version Getting Started 14 Logging In to Plesk Control Panel If You Forgot Your Password Becoming Familiar with Plesk Control Panel Changing Your Password and Contact Information Configuring Your Control Panel 23 Upgrading License Key for Your Control Panel Upgrading the Trial License Key Installing Additional License Keys for Plesk Add-ons Upgrading Your License Key Rolling Back to Your Previously Used License Key Securing Your Control Panel Restricting Administrative Access to Control Panel Securing Communication to Server with SSL Encryption Setting Up Global Account Creating A Global Account Connecting Local Accounts To Your Global Account Switching Between Accounts Changing Global Account Password Disconnecting Local Accounts From Global Account Rebranding Your Control Panel Customizing Your Home Page Changing Interface Language and Skin (Linux Hosting) Changing Interface Language and Skin (Windows Hosting) Setting a Custom Logo Adding and Removing Custom Hyperlink Buttons Installing and Removing Control Panel Themes (Skins) Installing and Removing Interface Languages Hiding and Unhiding Sets of Buttons Using Interface Customization Templates Adjusting Session Preferences Configuring and Maintaining Your Server 50 Adding and Removing IP Addresses Selecting and Configuring Software Components Used on the Server (Windows Hosting) Configuring DNS Services... 54

4 Preface 4 Configuring Plesk to Operate Behind a Firewall Configuring Plesk to Run Behind a Standalone Firewall Setting Up Plesk Control Panel s Firewall (Windows Hosting) Configuring Port Range for Passive FTP Mode (Windows Hosting) Configuring Mail Services Setting Up Spam Protection Setting Up Virus Protection (Linux Hosting) Setting Up Virus Protection (Windows Hosting) Configuring Mailman Mailing List Software (Linux Hosting) Preventing Your Customers From Sending Mass (Linux Hosting) Configuring Plesk for Database Hosting Setting Up Remote Database Hosting Managing Database Servers Configuring the Connection to External Database Management Systems (Windows Hosting).. 81 Creating New Connections to External Databases (Windows Hosting) Changing Settings Of Existing ODBC Connections (Windows Hosting) Removing Connections to External Databases (Windows Hosting) Enabling Support for Adobe ColdFusion (Linux Hosting) Enabling Integration with Sitebuilder (Linux Hosting) Enabling Support for Miva E-commerce Applications (Linux Hosting) Enabling Support for Miva E-commerce Applications (Windows Hosting) Configuring ASP.NET (Windows Hosting) Configuring IIS Application Pool (Windows Hosting) Configuring Shared SSL and Master SSL Domain (Windows Hosting) Configuring Statistics Configuring Notification System Configuring Help Desk Adjusting System Date and Time Starting, Stopping and Restarting Services Enabling Piped Logs for Web Server to Reduce the Risk of Web Service Disruption (Linux Hosting) Monitoring Mail Server Message Queue and Troubleshooting Mail Congestion (Linux Hosting)103 Scheduling Tasks with Crontab (Linux Hosting) Scheduling Tasks with Windows Task Scheduler (Windows Hosting) Extending Plesk Capabilities with Modules (Linux Hosting) Installing Modules Configuring and Managing Modules Removing Modules Delegating Administrative Privileges to Technical Support Engineers (Windows Hosting) Creating Additional Administrator Accounts Modifying Additional Administrator Accounts Suspending And Unsuspending Additional Administrator Accounts Removing Additional Administrator Accounts Serving Your Customers 116 Before You Start Serving Your Customers Simplifying Setup of User Accounts Simplifying Setup of Domains and Web Sites Prepackaging Applications Your Customers Can Use Predefining Content for New Web Sites Managing User Accounts Adding User Accounts Modifying User Accounts Converting Reseller Accounts into Client Accounts Converting Client Accounts into Reseller Accounts Converting Domain Administrator Accounts into Client Accounts Suspending and Unsuspending User Accounts Removing User Accounts

5 Preface 5 Hosting Web Sites Obtaining Domain Names Setting Up Hosting Account for a Web Site Creating and Publishing a Site Previewing a Site Configuring ASP.NET (Windows Hosting) Setting PHP Version for a Domain Deploying Databases Accessing Data From External Databases (Windows Hosting) Configuring Data Source Names for Adobe ColdFusion (Windows Hosting) Installing Applications Using IIS Application Pool (Windows Hosting) Securing Web Sites Organizing Site Structure with Subdomains Setting Up Additional Domain Names for a Site (Domain Aliases) Using Virtual Directories (Windows Hosting) Hosting Personal Web Pages on Your Web Server Setting Up Anonymous FTP Access to the Server Customizing Web Server Error Messages (Linux Hosting) Customizing Web Server Error Messages (Windows Hosting) Customizing DNS Zone Configuration for Domains Serving Sites with External Domain Name Servers Changing Web Hosting Type From Physical to Forwarding Serving Domain Names for Sites Hosted on Other Servers (Domain Forwarding) Transferring Domains Between User Accounts Upgrading Web Site Hosting Accounts Suspending and Unsuspending Web Sites Removing Web Sites Using Services Creating Mailboxes Setting Up Your Program for Retrieving Mail from Your Mailbox Accessing Your Mail from a Web Browser Protecting Mailboxes from Spam Protecting Mailboxes from Viruses Suspending and Unsuspending Mailboxes Removing Mailboxes Switching off the Mailbox Service When You Have Decided to Turn Your Account into a Mail Forwarder Setting Up Mail Forwarding to a Single Address Setting Up Mail Forwarding to Multiple Addresses Removing Mail Forwarders Setting Up Automatic Reply Switching off Automatic Reply Setting Up Site-Wide Preferences for Handling Mail to Nonexistent Users (Mail Bounce)255 Introducing Similar Changes to a Number of Mail Accounts at Once Sending Notices to Multiple Customers at Once Maintaining Mailing Lists Using Help Desk for Resolving Your Customers Issues Viewing Trouble Tickets in Your Help Desk Commenting and Closing Trouble Tickets Migrating User Accounts, Domain Names and Web Sites from Other Hosting Platforms Performing Migration Within a Single Server Backing Up and Restoring Your Data 272 Configuring Control Panel for Using FTP Repository Backing Up the Entire Server Backing Up Individual User Accounts with User s Domains Backing Up Individual Domains (Web Sites)

6 Preface 6 Backing Up Databases Scheduling Backups Optimizing Server Performance Restoring Data From Backup Archives Restoring Databases (Windows Hosting) Recovering Orphaned Database Users (Windows Hosting) Maintaining Backup Files Repository Uploading Backup Files to Server Downloading Backup Files from Server Removing Backup Files from Server Maintaining Database Backup Files Repository (Windows Hosting) Uploading Database Backup Files To Server Downloading Database Backup Files From Server Removing Database Backup Files From Server Viewing Statistics 287 Adjusting Preferences for Web Statistics Presentation by Webalizer Hiding and Unhiding Internal References from Your and Other Sites Grouping and Ungrouping References from Other Sites Hiding and Unhiding Direct Requests Automating Report Generation and Delivery by Viewing Log Files and Configuring Recycling of Log Files Viewing Virus and Spam Protection Statistics Monitoring Connections to Control Panel and FTP Services 296 Monitoring Connections to Control Panel Monitoring Connections to FTP Service Monitoring Terminal Session Connections to Your Server (Windows Hosting) Accessing The Server Using Remote Desktop (Windows Hosting) 298 Logging Actions Performed by Your Customers in the Control Panel 300 Setting Up Action Logging Downloading the Action Log Clearing the Action Log Using Centralized Access to Your Numerous Plesk Servers 303 Adding a Server Record Viewing Server Information and Logging in to a Server Removing a Server Record Upgrading Your Control Panel 306 Changing Updater Settings Blocking Access to Updater Functions from the Control Panel (Linux Hosting) Appendix A. Advanced Features 310 Using Event Tracking Mechanism Adding Event Handlers (Linux Hosting) Adding Event Handlers (Windows Hosting)

7 Preface 7 Removing Event Handlers Including Directives into Web Server Configuration File Changing Tomcat Java Connector Ports Restoring Mail Configuration Installing Custom SSL Certificates for Qmail or Courier-IMAP Mail Servers Installing SSL Certificate for Qmail Installing SSL Certificates for Courier-IMAP Mail Server

8 8 Preface Preface In this section: Typographical Conventions... 8 Feedback... 9 Typographical Conventions The following kinds of formatting in the text identify special information. Formatting convention Type of Information Example Special Bold Italics Monospace Items you must select, such as menu options, command buttons, or items in a list. Titles of chapters, sections, and subsections. 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 names of style sheet selectors, files and directories, and CSS fragments. Go to the QoS tab. Read the Basic Administration chapter. The system supports the so called wildcard character search. The license file is called license.key.

9 Preface 9 Preformatted Bold Preformatted What you type, contrasted with on-screen computer output. On-screen computer output in your command-line sessions; source code in XML, C++, or other programming languages. Unix/Linux: # cd /root/rpms/php Windows: >cd %plesk_bin% Unix/Linux: # ls al /files total Windows: >ping localhost Reply from : bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Feedback If you have found a mistake in this guide, or if you have suggestions or ideas on how to improve this guide, please send your feedback using the online form at 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.

10 C H A P T E R 1 About Plesk Plesk Control Panel is a hosting automation solution that gives hosting providers full control over the managed Web hosting servers and simplifies setup and management of user accounts, Web sites, and accounts. Plesk Control Panel is stable, secure and reliable, and the main benefit of using Plesk Control Panel is that it will save you and your technical staff much time and effort: all your customers (and customers of your resellers) will have personal isolated control panel environments and will be able to manage their sites and accounts on their own. In this chapter: Overview of Business Model, Users Accounts and Permissions Overview of Software Components Managed by Plesk Control Panel What s New in This Version... 12

11 About Plesk 11 Overview of Business Model, Users Accounts and Permissions User accounts hierarchy of Plesk Control Panel is limited to five user levels: Server administrator account. Reseller accounts. These accounts are created for the customers who need to resell hosting services and host their own Web sites. Client accounts. These accounts are created for the customers who do not need to resell hosting services, but need to host Web sites. Domain administrator accounts. These accounts can be created to allow access to the Control Panel for site administrators. One domain administrator account per one site. user accounts. These accounts can be created to allow access to the Control Panel for users. All permissions for operations performed in the control panel you define for a reseller allow the reseller to further assign them to his or her customers. The resource allotments you define for a reseller can be further redistributed among reseller s customers. For a full list of permissions and resource usage limits you can define, refer to the chapter Managing User Accounts (on page 137). Overview of Software Components Managed by Plesk Control Panel Plesk Control Panel for Linux/UNIX platforms works in cooperation with the following third-party software components and services: Bind DNS server Apache Web server ProFTPd FTP server MySQL and PostgreSQL database servers Qmail mail server Courier-IMAP IMAP/POP3 server Mailman mailing list server Spamassassin anti-spam software Dr.Web and Kaspersky antivirus programs Webalizer and AWStats statistical packages Tomcat Java applications run-time environment Plesk Control Panel for Windows platforms works in cooperation with the following third-party software components and services:

12 12 About Plesk Microsoft IIS Web server or Apache Web Server * Microsoft FTP server Gene6 FTP Server and Serv-U FTP Server ** Bind DNS server Microsoft DNS server and Simple DNS Plus DNS server ** MySQL, Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL database servers *** Acronis True Image Enterprise Server backup system MailEnable mail server Merak, MDaemon, SmarterMail, hmailserver, CommuniGate Pro mail servers ** Courier-IMAP IMAP/POP3 server SpamAssassin anti-spam software SiteBuilder Dr.Web and Kaspersky Antivirus antiviruses ClamAV and Merak Antivirus antiviruses ** Webalizer and AWStats statistical packages Urchin and SmarterStats statistical packages ** Microsoft FrontPage Horde IMP H3 web mail client MailEnable Web Client, IceWarp Web Mail 5, SmarterMail Web Client ** Apache Tomcat After installation of the Plesk Control Panel package, all essential services, such as DNS, Web, FTP and Mail are configured to run with the default optimal settings, so you can start serving your customers right away. However, we recommend that you review the default settings to make sure that they satisfy your needs, and create user account templates and domain templates, which will simplify further setup of hosting accounts. What s New in This Version Plesk Control Panel 9 for Windows and Linux/Unix platforms offer you the following new features and enhancements: Resellers Plesk Control Panel supports reseller accounts. Resellers can sign up new users and resell Web hosting services to them. APS catalog Now you can easily add site applications from the APS catalog at to the server application vault.

13 About Plesk 13 Alternative Web mail Users can now as their Web Mail tool. New backup and restore tools The redesigned backup and restore solution provides the options for selective data backup and restore. Plesk billing bundle Plesk Control Panel now comes integrated with a billing solution, formerly known as ModernBill. The following features were added only to Plesk for Linux/Unix platforms: Postfix support A long awaited alternative to Qmail on Unix servers is now available. The system allows on-line transition from Qmail to Postfix on all Unix/Linux installations. PHP over Fast CGI Site applications based on PHP implementation will now be executed faster and safer with PHP running in the Fast CGI mode. This enhancement allows running several PHP versions simultaneously.

14 C H A P T E R 2 Getting Started This chapter describes the first actions you need to perform after installation of the Plesk Control Panel. In this chapter: Logging In to Plesk Control Panel Becoming Familiar with Plesk Control Panel Changing Your Password and Contact Information... 22

15 Getting Started 15 Logging In to Plesk Control Panel 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, where your-domain.com is the domain name of your Web host. 2 Press ENTER. Plesk login screen will open. 3 Type the user name admin and your password into the Login and Password boxes, respectively. If this is your first login to the freshly installed control panel, use the default password setup. 4 If you log in for the first time, select the language for your control panel from the Interface language menu. If you had previously specified the interface language and saved it in your interface preferences, leave the User default value selected. 5 Click Login. After your first login, you should accept the license agreement and then specify the host name and IP addresses to assign to the server. 6 Read carefully the terms of the License Agreement and, if you agree to all the terms, select the I agree to the terms of this license agreement and Do not show it again check boxes. 7 Click Accept to proceed to the post-install configuration. 8 In the Full hostname field, enter your server s host name. This should be a fully qualified host name but without a trailing dot (for example, host.domain.tld). 9 Specify the IP address that will be used as the default address of your server. You have the following two options: Select one of your existing IP address from the drop-down box. This list is populated automatically and contains all IP addresses available on the server. OR Click the Add IP Address option button, select the network interface and enter the new IP address and subnet mask in the IP address box. Note: With Plesk you can mark all your IP addresses as shared or dedicated before you assign them to your customers. This allows the control panel to distinguish between them and not to let you assign a dedicated IP address to several customers at once. A dedicated IP address can be assigned to a single customer, while a shared IP address can be shared among several user accounts. 10 In the Shared IP section, specify the type for existing addresses: shared or exclusive. Click the Shared and Exclusive buttons to change the types of IP addresses.

16 16 Getting Started You can skip this stage and define the type of IP addresses later (Server > IP Addresses). 11 In the Administrator s preferences section, change the default administrator password. Change the default administrator s password. Enter the new password and confirm it in the New password and Confirm password fields. The password can have up to 14 symbols. Note that the password is case sensitive. Note: Do not forget to change the administrator s password from the default one to your own personalized password; otherwise, access to the control panel under the administrator account will be available with the default password setup, which is known to many users of Plesk. 12 Click OK. 13 Fill in administrator s contact information. Be sure to leave the I would like to create a default client account check box selected: Plesk assigns Web sites to client accounts, and selecting this check box will create a special user account My Domains, which you will use for hosting your own Web sites. 14 Click OK. In this section: If You Forgot Your Password...17

17 Getting Started 17 If You Forgot Your Password You can retrieve your forgotten password in any of the following ways: Look it up in the /etc/psa/.psa.shadow file on the server s file system (Linux Hosting). Use the password reminder in the control panel. To use the password reminder: 1 In your Web browser s address bar, type the URL where your Plesk Control Panel is located (for example, 2 Press ENTER. Plesk Control Panel login screen will open. 3 Click the Forgot your password? link. 4 Specify your login name and address registered in the system. 5 Click OK. Your password will be sent to your . If your password cannot be sent by e- mail because it was stored by the system in encrypted form, you will be prompted to set up a new password using a secret code that will be generated for that purpose and sent to you. 6 Once you received the from the password reminder, click the link in the message body. A new browser window will open. 7 Specify your login name and a new password. The Secret Code field of the form should be automatically filled by the system, and if it is not, copy the secret code from the message you received to the clipboard and paste it to the form. 8 Click OK to submit. Note: You should use the secret code within 24 hours after its generation, otherwise it will expire and you will need to go through the whole process again. Becoming Familiar with Plesk Control Panel When you log in to Plesk Control Panel, it shows your Home page with shortcuts to the operations you frequently perform.

18 18 Getting Started

19 Getting Started 19 The top banner area provides access to the following functions: My account. This is where you can select a language and theme for your Control Panel and change your contact information. Switch user. This is where you can switch between user accounts. This shortcut is shown only when single sign-on technology is enabled on the server. Log out. This is where you close your session when you have finished working with Control Panel. The navigation pane on the left provides access to the following sets of functions: Search area. Use it when you need to find user accounts and domains hosted on your server. Home. This is where you start working with the Control Panel. Most of the operations you might need to perform are accessible from this area. Resellers. This is where you perform operations on reseller accounts. Resellers can use hosting services and resell the services to end users. Resellers cannot create reseller accounts for other users. You can accomplish the following tasks from this area of the Control Panel: Create, modify, remove user accounts for resellers and their customers (referred to as clients). Create, modify, remove reseller account templates View traffic usage reports Clients. This is where you perform operations on user accounts. Clients are end users of hosting services; they cannot resell hosting services. You can accomplish the following tasks from this area of the Control Panel: Create, modify, remove user accounts Create, modify, remove user account templates (referred to as client account templates) View traffic usage reports Domains. This is where you perform operations on Web sites. You can accomplish the following tasks from this area of the Control Panel: Add Web sites (set up DNS zones, configure Web hosting settings and resource usage limits), modify Web hosting settings, remove Web sites. Create, modify, remove Web site hosting templates (referred to as domain templates). Applications. This is where you select which applications will be available for installation on users sites. Settings. This is where you configure and manage the server and program components used by Plesk Control Panel. Modules. This is where you manage the additional modules that extend Plesk capabilities, such as Firewall, Game Server, VPN, and others. Master. This shortcut gives you access to centralized management of Plesk-enabled servers.

20 20 Getting Started Global Account. This shortcut appears in your Plesk Control Panel when the single sign-on capabilities are switched on 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. You can use it to view and solve the problems reported to you by your customers. Help. Provides context sensitive help with search function. If your install Sitebuilder component and configure it as described in Enabling Integration with Sitebuilder (on page 84), the following shortcuts are also shown in your control panel s navigation pane under the Sitebuilder Administration group: 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 ktop_interface.htm. Users. Here you can add and manage user accounts and service plans for your customers. For more information, see p_customers.htm. Sites. Here you can add and manage sites. For more information, see _sites.htm. Server. Here you can view and manage the following system settings: Trial Sites Settings. Here you can configure settings for trial sites created by your prospective customers. For more information, see _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 _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 uring_ _message_sent_at_trial_site_publishing_attempt.htm. Modules. Here you can view the list of available modules. For more information, see 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 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 g_and_configuring_sitebuilder_wizard_presets_and_modules.htm.

21 Getting Started 21 The main working area on the right provides access to the tools available for the current section of the Control Panel selected in the navigation pane. Additional operations are accessible from drop-down menus that open when you click group titles. To navigate through Plesk Control Panel, you can 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 shortcuts in the path bar, or the icon in the upper-right corner of the screen. When changing settings for a user account, domain name, or account, you can quickly select another user account, domain name, or account whose settings you also want to change. To do this, click a small arrow icon located to the right of the user name, domain name, or address. This will open a list of user accounts, domain names or addresses that you can select.

22 22 Getting Started 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 Password and Contact Information To update your contact information: 1 On your Home page, click Personal Data. 2 Update your information as required, and click OK. To change your password: 1 On your Home page, click Change Password. 2 Enter your old and new passwords. 3 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, 3 Press ENTER. Plesk login screen will open. 4 Click the Forgot your password? link. 5 You will be prompted to specify your login name and address registered in the system. Type your login name into the Login box, type your address registered in the system into the box, and click OK. 6 If your password cannot be sent by because it was stored by the system in encrypted form, you will be prompted to set up a new password using a secret code that will be generated for that purpose and sent to your . 7 Once you received the from the password reminder, click the link in the message body. A new browser window will open. 8 At this step, specify your login name and a new password. The Secret Code field of the form should be automatically filled by the system, and if it is not, copy the secret code from the message you received to the clipboard and paste to the form. 9 Click OK to submit. The instructions on how to restore your password will be sent to your address.