Plesk

Infobox_Software
name = Plesk

developer = Parallels, Inc.
latest_release_version = 8.6
latest release date = July 2008
operating_system = Windows, Linux and FreeBSD
license = Proprietary
genre = Automation
website = http://www.parallels.com/en/products/plesk/ The Plesk software package is a commercial web hosting automation program. Originally released under the U.S. company Plesk Inc. and designed in Novosibirsk, Russia, Plesk became an SWsoft product when SWsoft acquired Plesk Inc. in July 2003. [ [http://www.hostreview.com/news/news/030610swsoft.html HostReview : Web Hosting News : SWsoft Acquires Plesk and Confixx to Create Global Hosting Software Powerhouse ] ] Plesk is now shipped under Parallels, Inc. since Parallels and SWsoft merged in January 2008. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/30/parallels_virtuozzo_containers_4point0/]

Overview

Plesk allows a server administrator to set up new websites, e-mail accounts, and DNS entries through a web-based interface. The administrator can create client and site templates, which predetermine resource allocation parameters for the domains and/or clients.

Plesk for Linux/UNIX supports multiple POSIX platforms, including Red Hat Linux/Fedora, SUSE, Debian/Ubuntu and FreeBSD. Plesk for Windows supports Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems.

Plesk installs custom versions of or manages versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases (Microsoft SQL server and Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine under Windows), Tomcat Java server, ColdFusion server, as well as "CounterStrike" and "Battlefield 1942" game servers.

Version history

Reported Issues

ecurity

Some users have complained that Plesk is not secure in the sense of multihosting security since all virtual hosts are run under the same Apache user and share the same configuration. [ [http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2007/Sep/0303.html Full Disclosure: PLESK hosting mass deface ] ] However, in Plesk 7.5.6 for Windows and onward, all virtual hosts can run under their own worker process group, secured using their own respective IIS user. In Plesk for Linux, they cannot. Plesk also defaults to port 8443 for https applications, this clashes with both Microsoft ISA servers and Microsoft Small Business Servers, which disallow non standard ports for https.

Backup and restore

One shortcoming in Plesk's data backup and restore functionality is the mechanism by which Plesk stores backup files, using server disk space before uploading files to a separate FTP server. Because Plesk backup files can be quite large, this mechanism effectively limits the usable server storage space, forcing administrators to choose between not backing up data or leaving large amounts of storage unused.

Competing software

* Cube Panel
* cPanel
* DirectAdmin
* H-Sphere
* Helm
* ISPConfig
* ISPmanager
* Lxadmin
* OpenPanel
* Webmin
* XPanel

References