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PLESK SERVER ADMINISTRATOR 5

Control Panel Guide

As Domain User/Owner you are able to manage mail accounts at the owned domain, create Certificate Signing Requests (CSR) or generate self-signed certificates. Other than that you are granted all the nice things that make life easier, such as setting up MySQL databases, URL forwarding, etc. You will be acessing the PSA through your web browser.

Table of Contents

Domain User
Accessing the Domain Report
Viewing the Domain Preferences
Registering a Domain via MPC.
Accessing Additional Services (Extras)
Managing Mail
Viewing DNS Settings
Databases Management
Viewing Hosting Settings
Web Users Management
Protected Directories
Managing the Domain SSL Certificate
Log Files and Log Rotation Management
File Manager
Accessing FrontPage Web Administrator from the Control Panel
Anonymous FTP

A domain is a virtual address on the Internet for any organization or entity. To an Internet user, a domain appears as space on one server, regardless of its implementation. Domains are identified by their familiar Internet URL (uniform resource locator) addresses. Syntactically, a domain name is a string of names or words separated by dots. For example, www.plesk.com is the name of the domain where Plesk's information resides on its servers.

A domain belongs to a user. For example, John Smith may be a programmer whose domain is aceprogrammer.com. In the same respect, the ABCDE, Inc. company may own a domain by the name of abcde.com. The Plesk system administrator at your Internet service provider's organization must create your domain. However, you can remotely administer your domain once the account is established.

From the Domain Administration page, you can manage several aspects of your domain, including:

  • Change the Domain Level Control Panel password

  • Access the Domain Report

  • View the Domain Preferences

  • Register a domain

  • Access additional services (Extras)

  • Manage Mail for the Domain

  • View DNS settings

  • Manage Databases

  • View Hosting settings

  • Create Web Users

  • Create Protected Directories

  • Manage the Domain SSL Certificate

  • Manage Log Files and Configure Log Rotation

  • Manage files by means of File Manager

  • Access the FrontPage Web Administrator from the PSA control panel

  • View Anonymous FTP settings

Domain User

Logging in

Access to the control panel for the domain user is done using https://'domain name':8443. The control panel login will be the domain name, and the password will be whatever is set through the control panel.

Changing the password

As the Domain User you can change the password that you use to log in to PSA. To do that, click the DOMAIN USER. button. The Domain User Properties page appears. There, to change password, enter the new password into the Password input field and confirm it in Confirm password input field.

Accessing the Domain Report

PSA keeps a summary of pertinent data relating to all of your domains. You can view this information at any time. At the top of the Report page, the domain being reported on is listed in boldface. The domain report includes the following information:

  • Provider contact name

  • Domain status

  • Creation date

  • Domain user

  • Disk space limit

  • Actual disk space

  • Hosting type

  • Virtual host type

  • IP Address

  • FTP Login

  • FTP Password

  • Traffic limit

  • Actual traffic

  • Disk space used by httpdocs

  • Disk space used by logs

  • FrontPage support

  • FrontPage over SSL support

  • SSI support

  • PHP support

  • CGI support

  • mod_perl support

  • Apache ASP support

  • Apache Error Documents

  • SSL support

  • Disk space used by httpsdocs

  • Web statistics

  • Web users

  • Anonymous FTP

  • Disk space used by anon_ftp

  • Mailboxes

  • Redirects

  • Mail Groups

  • Autoresponders

  • Disk space used by mailboxes

  • Databases

  • Disk space used by databases

From that page you can also access Web server statistics, Secure web server statistics, FTP server statistics, Traffic usage history, and send the report by e-mail if desired.

To access the domain report, follow these steps:

  1. Click the REPORT button at the Domain Administration page to see the domain-specific information and statistics.

  2. From this screen, you can do several things:

    • You can send the report by e-mail. To do that, enter the e-mail address in the appropriate field and click SEND BY E-MAIL.

    • You can access graphical site statistics for the domain by selecting the WEB STATS, WEB STATS SSL, FTP STATS options. Clicking these buttons will open a separate window where you will see the site statistics for the given domain. It should be noted that Webalizer, by default, is set to update statistics for the domain once every 24 hours. If you attempt to access Webalizer before it has operated its first update you will receive a notice that Webalizer is either not running or has not yet been started.

      NOTE

      In order to be able to utilize Webalizer the Web statistics checkbox must be checked at the Physical Hosting Configuration page for this domain.

    • To view the traffic history for the domain, click on the TRAFFIC HISTORY button. The Traffic history page will open, displaying the information on traffic usage by Months and Years.

    • To print a copy of the report, select File/Print in your browser and a paper copy of the report will print.

    • To return to the domain record, click UP LEVEL to close the report and to return to the Domain Administration page.

Viewing the Domain Preferences

The Domain Preferences page displays the preferences that the Plesk administrator or/and Client have set up for this domain. It also allows you to edit few parameters.

The parameters available for viewing from at this page are:

  • Disk Space Limit - the amount of disk space allocated for this domain.

  • Maximum traffic - maximum amount of traffic allowed per month

  • Maximum Mailboxes - the maximum number of mail accounts allowed for creation at this domain.

  • Mailbox quota - the limit set for the size of the mail accounts (mailboxes).

  • Maximum Mail Redirects - the maximum number of mail allowed for setting up at this domain.

  • Maximum Mail Groups - the maximum number of mail groups allowed for creation at this domain.

  • Maximum Mail Autoresponders - the maximum number of mail autoresponders allowed for setting up at this domain.

  • Maximum Web Users - the maximum number of web users allowed for creation at this domain.

  • Maximum Databases - the maximum number of databases allowed for creation at this domain.

  • Traffic statistics - tells about the traffic statistics retention parameters set by Admin or Client

  • Allow Scripting for Web Users - enables the Web Users to download and execute scripts.

  • WebMail - allows utilizing access to mailboxes via web-interface. If the option is provided, the mailbox can be accessed by means of a web-client, which is made available from the URL: webmail.'domain.name'

The following parameters you are able to set up:

  • For Mail to non-existent users, you are able to select either a mail bounce message to return to the sender, or a catch-all email address to which the messages are sent.

  • The WWW prefix checkbox determines whether the given domain will require the www prefix in order to be accessed.

To adjust the settings, follow these steps:

  1. On the Domain Administration page, click the PREFERENCES button to access the Domain Preferences page.

  2. To utilize a mail bounce message, select the radio button for Bounce with phrase and enter the text that the mail bounce message is to contain.

  3. To utilize a catch-all email address, select the radio button for Catch to address and enter the appropriate email address.

  4. Check or uncheck the WWW prefix checkbox to determine whether the given domain will allow the www prefix to be used to access the domain. If the box is checked, Internet users will be able to access a domain (i.e. domain.bogus) by utilizing either the domain name itself or the domain with the "www" prefix. If the box is unchecked it will not be accessible with the "www" prefix (i.e. www.domain.bogus).

  5. The UPDATE button is used to submit any and all changes.

  6. The UP LEVEL button returns you to the Domain Administration page.

NOTE

Selecting UP LEVEL without selecting UPDATE will cancel all changes.

Registering a Domain via MPC.

When a new domain is created it must be officially registered. There are a number of Internet services where you can register your domain but there is only one that is offered by Plesk Inc.

To register a new domain, follow these steps:

  1. Click the REGISTER button at the Domain Administration page to access the MPC Gate page.

  2. From MPC Gate page you can access the services provided to you by My.Plesk.com. To do that, enter the MPC Login and MPC Password into the provided corresponding text input fields and click Log in.

  3. In case you forgot the password, click on the link "forgot your password" located at the bottom of the page, the page will open, where you will have to enter your Login and e-mail address in the appropriate fields, and click the Send Password button.

  4. On the Domain Registration page, enter you domain name, select necessary top-level domains and click Look Up. The page will open displaying availability of the domain(s) selected. If the domain you would like to register is unavailable, it is marked by the link "taken", by clicking on this link you can retrieve the WHOIS information.

    If the domain is available, you will see the checkbox next to its name to provided for you to confirm the registration and the drop-down list of registration periods and prices.

  5. Click on the Register Now button. The list of Name Servers for your domain(s) will appear on the Name Servers page.

  6. Click on the Proceed To Register button. The Domain Name Purchasing Confirmation screen will open.

  7. Enter the registration and billing information in the fields provided, your credit card data, and click on the Registration Agreement link to proceed to the Registration Agreement.

  8. Read carefully the Agreement, and after that click the "back to purchasing confirmation" link.

  9. Click in the checkbox to confirm that you have read, understood and accept the Registration Agreement. Click the Confirm Order button.

    Now your domain is registered.

Accessing Additional Services (Extras)

From the Domain Administration page you can access external services (other than registering domains and managing domains registration) provided through My.Plesk.com. To do that, click the EXTRAS button.

Managing Mail

PSA allows you to perform several email administration functions. PSA uses the qmail system to help you set up email accounts and services.

You can create and manage email boxes for individuals or customers within your domain. Email management functionality includes:

  • Create, edit or delete email boxes and edit individual mailbox quotas.

  • Redirect or forward messages from one email address to another email address

  • Create, edit or delete email groups (several individual accounts grouped together under one email address for convenient multi-copy messaging).

  • Create, edit, or delete email autoresponders (automatic reply to email sent to the given mail name)

  • Create and remove mail aliases

Mail Names Page

When you create email accounts for domain users, you are creating email boxes, which will be accessible via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Mailbox creation is as easy as typing in a name and password. Follow these steps to manage mail names:

  1. Click the MAIL button at the Domain Administration page. The Mail Names Management page appears. From this page, users can:

    • Create a new mail name.

    • View a list of mail names currently existing under the specified domain. To the left of each domain name on the list there are four icons representing different mail account types. They are:

      • Mailbox (represented by the "mailbox" icon)

      • Redirects (represented by the "outgoing envelope" icon)

      • Mail groups (represented by the "people" icon) Mail

      • Autoresponders (represented by the "revolving envelope" icon)

    • Click on a specific mail name to access to the Mail Name Properties page for that given name.

    • Search the mail names list for a certain pattern. It may help you in case you have a great number of mail names in the system and you need to work with a particular one. To search the list, type the pattern string in the text input field and click SEARCH.

    • Sort the list by various parameters. To sort the list by a certain parameter in ascending or descending order, click on the name of the parameter. An arrow will appear indicating the order of sorting: down for descending order, up for ascending.

    • Delete mail names. To remove one or more mail names, check the checkboxes in the Sel column of the mail names list corresponding to the mail names you wish to remove and click REMOVE SELECTED. The Mail Names Removal page appears. There you will need to either confirm the removal (check the checkbox and click SUBMIT) or CANCEL it.

  2. To create a new mail name, click in the Mail Name text box provided and enter the desired name. Click ADD to submit this name. You then access the Mail Name Properties page, where you can adjust the Mail Name properties.

  3. The new mail name appears on the mail names list.

NOTE

The four icons to the left of each mail name are faded (grayed out) when they are inactive. The icons appear in color when active. To change the activation settings, the user must click on a given mail name. The Mail Name Properties page displays. From here, the user can enable any of the features.

Mail Name Properties Management

The Mail Name Properties page allows the client to activate any combination of mailboxes, mail redirects, and mail groups for a given mail name.

  1. Click the MAIL button at the Domain Administration page. The Mail Names page appears.

  2. In the Mail names list, click on the name you want to edit. You then access the Mail Name Properties page.

  3. The mail name is listed at the top of the page. To change the mail name, click in the name field, change the name, and click UPDATE.

    NOTE

    From the Mail Name Properties page, you can also enable and set up:

    • Mailbox Accounts and Quotas

    • Mail Redirects

    • Mail Groups

    • Mail Autoresponders

    • Mail Aliases

  4. When you are finished editing mail name properties for the domain, click UPDATE to return to the Mail Names page.

Manage Mailbox Accounts

You can set up a mailbox and password for your mail name. This mailbox will be accessible using either POP3 or IMAP protocol.

NOTE

An administrator and/or client can limit the number of mailboxes a Domain User can have for a given domain.

To create a mailbox for a given mail name, from the Mail Name Properties page, follow these steps:

  1. Click in the check box provided next to Mailbox.

  2. When enabling a mailbox for the first time for a mail name account, you must enter a password.

  3. The Old Password will say "NONE" if you have yet to enter a password. Once it is entered, the password cannot be viewed from this screen.

  4. To enter a password, click in the New Password text box and enter the selected password.

  5. To properly update the password, you must re-enter the password in the Confirm Password text box.

  6. To set up the mailbox quota, select the Default for domain radio button to set the limit to the maximum available in the given domain, or select Enter size and enter the quota you wish to set, in KiloBytes, for the given mailbox. Note that this limit may not exceed the default set for the domain.

  7. Once you have enabled the mailbox, entered the passwords and set up mailbox quota, click UPDATE to submit the information.

  8. To change a password, simply re-enter the new password in the New Password text box, re-enter this password in the Confirm text box, and click UPDATE.

NOTE

Once enabled, the mailbox icon on the Mail Names page appears in color.

Manage Mail Redirects

You can forward or redirect email from one mailbox to another email address. By creating an email redirect or alias, messages are sent to a different email box without the sender needing to know the new address. Email can be redirected to an address outside the domain. Use this feature to:

  • Temporarily forward mail when someone is unavailable to receive it

  • Send mail to a new mail box if a mail box user is leaving the organization

  • Forward mail to a new account which will eventually replace an old mail box (e.g. someone is changing their mailbox name but hasn't had time to inform all correspondents of the change yet)

NOTE

Only an administrator and/or client can limit the number of mail redirects that can be created for a given domain.

In order to create enable a mail redirect for a given mail name, from the Mail Name Properties page, follow these steps:

  1. Click in the check box provided next to Redirects.

  2. In the text field to the right, enter the appropriate address to which to forward mail sent to this mail name.

  3. To change the redirect address for a given mail name, click on the existing entry in the Redirects box and change it to the new address.

  4. Click the UPDATE button to enter these changes.

NOTE

Once enabled, the redirects icon on the Mail Names page appears in color.

Manage Mail Groups

A mail group is a list of several email accounts that are grouped together under one email address for convenient multi-copy messaging. For example, if you want to send the same message to 5 people in the programming department, you can create a "Programming" email group that includes the individual email addresses for all 5 staff members. So, when someone sends a message to the Programming email group, he/she only types and sends one message. Copies of the message are emailed to all 5 individuals. By using mail groups, the sender does not need to know each individual's email address, just the group name. In this way, mail groups save time.

NOTE

An administrator and/or client can limit the number of mail groups that the Domain User can create for a given domain.

To create a mail group for a given mail name, from the Mail Name Properties page, follow these steps:

  1. Click in the checkbox provided next to Mail Groups.

  2. To create a new mail group, ensure the box is checked, then click the ADD button.

  3. The Add Mail Groups box appears.

    NOTE

    Group members can consist of either external mail addresses (those not belonging to this domain) or accounts existing within the domain.

  4. To add an external mail address to a Mail Group, fill in the correct address in the enter external recipient mail text box, and click ADD.

  5. To add an existing account from the same domain, click on the desired address in the Select registered users list, and click ADD.

  6. The selected addresses will appear in the box to the right of the mail groups checkbox on the Mail Name Properties page.

  7. To delete one or more group members, highlight the selected group member in the box to the left of the mail group check box. Click the REMOVE button.

  8. A warning will appear. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the address from the mail group.

  9. After completing your changes, click UPDATE to submit all changes.

NOTE

Once enabled, the mail groups icon on the Mail Names page appears in color.

Clicking on the MAIL GROUPS button located at the top of Mail Name Properties page, you will access the Mail Groups Management Page.

All mail groups created for the domain are displayed on that page and two lists are provided: the list of mail groups you are currently subscribed to is located on the left side, and the list of available mail groups is on the right.

  • If you wish to subscribe to a new mail group, select the desired group from the list of available mail groups, click ADD.

  • If you wish to unsubscribe from a mail group, select it in the left side list, click REMOVE.

  • Click UP LEVEL to return to the Mail Name Properties page.

Managing Mail Aliases

You can create a number of mail aliases for your mailname.

In order to manage mail aliases, click on the MAIL ALIASES button located at the top of the Mail Name Properties page. The Mail Aliases Management page appears.

From that page you can create and remove the mail aliases:

  • To create a new mail alias, enter the name of the alias into the Mail alias name input field. Click ADD. The alias will immediately appear in the aliases list.

  • To remove an alias, check the corresponding checkbox in the Sel column. Click REMOVE SELECTED. You can also click on the Sel column header to select all list items.

  • You can also sort the list of aliases by name in ascending or descending order. To do that, click on the Name header of the list. The arrow will show the order of sorting.

  • You can search through the list of mail aliases. To do that, enter the pattern string in the field next to SEARCH button, click SEARCH.

  • Click UP LEVEL to return to the Mail Name Properties page.

Manage Mail Autoresponders

A mail autoresponder is an automatic reply that is sent out from a given mail name when incoming mail is received at that address. Autoresponders can include both a text message and attached files. This mail function is often used on mail accounts for individuals who need an automated response because they are away, or are unable to check their mail for any number of reasons. On the autoresponders' section of the Mail Names Properties page, you can upload and include attachment files for your autoresponders, enable the autoresponders function for a given mail name, and access the autoresponders' list.

In order to enable and set up a mail group for a given mail name, from the Mail Name Properties page, follow these steps:

  1. To first enable autoresponders for a mail name account, click in the checkbox provided next to Mail autoresponders. When the check appears, autoresponders are enabled for the mail name. If you click again, it will uncheck the box, and autoresponders will be disabled.

  2. For the Autoresponder feature you have the option to include file attachments. To include a file to be selectable within the set up of autoresponders for the given mail name, use the Browse... button to search for and select the desired file(s). (File sizes should be limited to no more than 1MB.) For your information, the total size of all uploaded files is displayed under the repository box.

  3. Click the SEND FILE button. The attachments will then appear in the Repository.

  4. These files will be available for any autoresponders that are set up for the given mail name. To delete one or more files highlight the desired file(s) and click the REMOVE button. A warning will appear prior to deleting the selected file(s).

  5. To add a new mail autoresponder, click the ADD button.

  6. A pop-up screen prompts you to enter a name for the autoresponder. Enter the desired identification name, and click OK to submit.

  7. The Edit Mail Autoresponder page appears.

    • The selected autoresponder name is listed for the given mail name account. You can click in the text box where the autoresponder name is listed, and edit the name. Click UPDATE to submit.

    • The ON/OFF status for the autoresponder is shown. [ON] indicates that the autoresponder is on. [X] indicates that the autoresponder is off. You can adjust this setting by clicking the ON/OFF button. This status icon also appears on the autoresponders list on the Mail Names Properties page.

    • Beneath the Request text input box, you can determine whether an autoresponder responds to specific text found within either the subject line or body of the incoming email, or if it responds to ALL incoming requests.

    • To set up the autoresponder to always respond, regardless of the contained text, click the bottom radio button for always respond.

    • Using the Request text input box and radio buttons, you can set up the autoresponder to send an auto response when an incoming request contains defined text in its subject line or body.

    • Click the in the subject radio button to respond to specific text in the subject of the request, or click the in the body radio button to respond to specific text in the body of the request.

    • You can select a specific subject to appear in your autoresponder using the Answer with subject option. To simply respond with the same subject as was received from the incoming request select the radio button for the default setting. To specify a specific subject line select the radio button beside the text box and enter the desired text.

    • In the Reply-To address field, you can specify the return address that will be set up in the autoresponder message. This is done for the messages not to be directed to the autoresponder itself, when users click "Reply to the message" in their mail client software.

    • You can enter text to be included in the autoresponder in the Answer text field.

    • Using the ADD and REMOVE buttons, you can attach files to be included in the autoresponder. These files must be uploaded into the Repository on the Mail Names Properties page. Select the uploaded file from the Attach files list, and use the ADD button to attach the file to the autoresponder. Click REMOVE to remove a file.

    • You can limit the frequency at which the autoresponder responds to the same unique address, after receiving multiple emails from it. In the Reply to the unique email address not more than [ ] times a day input field, you can set the autoresponder to respond not more than a specified number of times a day. The default setting is to respond not more than 10 times in one day to unique mail addresses.

    • You can define the number of unique addresses that the autoresponder will remember. Enter the desired number in the Store up to: field.

    • This memory enables the system to implement the answer-frequency and respond-once functionality. In the event of extremely high mail volume, to protect server performance, you can limit the address memory of the system database.

    • To specify an email address to which incoming requests are forwarded, enter the new email in the Forward request to e-mail field. Email requests meeting the properties established on this page will be forwarded to this alternate email address.

    • Click the UPDATE button to submit all changes.