2 Plesk for Windows Copyright Notice ISBN: N/A SWsoft. 13755 Sunrise Valley Drive Suite 325 Herndon VA 20171 USA Phone: +1 (703) 815 5670 Fax: +1 (703) 815 5675 © Copyright 1999-2007, SWsoft Holdings, Ltd. 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 hosting technology protected by U.S.Patents 7,099,948; 7,076,633. Patents pending in the U.S. MS Windows, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, and Windows 95 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. 3 Contents Plesk for Windows Copyright Notice 2 Preface 7 Who Should Read This Guide ....................................................................................................... 7 Typographical Conventions ........................................................................................................... 7 Feedback ....................................................................................................................................... 8 About Plesk 9 Overview of Software Components Managed by Plesk .............................................................. 10 Overview of Business Model, Users Accounts and Permissions ................................................ 11 What's New in This Version ......................................................................................................... 12 Getting Started 13 Logging in to Plesk ...................................................................................................................... 14 If You Forgot Your Password ............................................................................................ 15 Becoming Familiar with Plesk's Interface .................................................................................... 16 Items in the Desktop View ................................................................................................. 17 Items in the Standard View ............................................................................................... 18 Changing Your Password and Contact Information .................................................................... 19 Configuring Your Control Panel 20 Upgrading License Key for Your Control Panel .......................................................................... 20 Upgrading the Trial License Key ....................................................................................... 21 Installing Additional License Keys ..................................................................................... 22 Upgrading Your License Key ............................................................................................ 23 Rolling Back to Previously Used License Key .................................................................. 24 Securing Your Control Panel ....................................................................................................... 24 Restricting Administrative Access to Control Panel .......................................................... 24 Securing Communication to Server with SSL Encryption ................................................. 26 Customizing Your Control Panel ................................................................................................. 29 Changing Interface Language and Skin ............................................................................ 30 Customizing the Control Panel in the Standard View ....................................................... 30 Customizing the Control Panel in the Desktop View......................................................... 39 Adjusting Session Preferences ................................................................................................... 44 Configuring and Maintaining Your Server 45 Adding and Removing IP Addresses........................................................................................... 46 Configuring Software Components Used by Plesk ..................................................................... 49 Configuring DNS Services ........................................................................................................... 49 Configuring Plesk to Operate Behind a Firewall ......................................................................... 52 Configuring Plesk for Operating Behind a Standalone Firewall ........................................ 53 Setting Up Plesk's Firewall ................................................................................................ 53 Configuring Mail Services ............................................................................................................ 58 Setting Up Anti-Spam Protection ...................................................................................... 59 Setting Up Anti-Virus Protection........................................................................................ 63 Configuring Plesk for Database Hosting ..................................................................................... 63 Plesk for Windows Copyright Notice 4 Setting Up Remote Database Hosting .............................................................................. 64 Managing Database Servers............................................................................................. 66 Configuring the Connection to External Database Management Systems ................................. 67 Creating New Connections to External Databases ........................................................... 67 Changing Settings Of Existing ODBC Connections .......................................................... 68 Removing Connections to External Databases ................................................................ 68 Enabling Support for Miva E-commerce Applications ................................................................. 69 Configuring ASP.NET .................................................................................................................. 70 Configuring IIS Application Pool .................................................................................................. 71 Configuring Shared SSL and Master SSL Domain ..................................................................... 73 Configuring Statistics ................................................................................................................... 74 Configuring E-mail Notification System ....................................................................................... 74 Configuring Help Desk ................................................................................................................ 77 Adjusting System Date and Time ................................................................................................ 79 Starting, Stopping and Restarting Plesk Services ....................................................................... 81 Scheduling Tasks ........................................................................................................................ 83 Delegating Administrative Privileges to Technical Support Engineers ....................................... 84 Creating Additional Administrator Accounts ...................................................................... 85 Modifying Additional Administrator Accounts .................................................................... 85 Suspending And Unsuspending Additional Administrator Accounts................................. 86 Removing Additional Administrator Accounts ................................................................... 86 Serving Your Customers 87 Before You Start Serving Your Customers ................................................................................. 88 Simplifying Setup of User Accounts .................................................................................. 89 Simplifying Setup of Domains and Web Sites ................................................................... 94 Prepackaging Applications Your Customers Can Use.................................................... 100 Managing User Accounts .......................................................................................................... 103 Adding User Accounts ..................................................................................................... 104 Modifying User Accounts ................................................................................................ 109 Suspending and Unsuspending User Accounts.............................................................. 113 Removing User Accounts ................................................................................................ 114 Hosting Web Sites ..................................................................................................................... 115 Predefining Content for New Web Sites ......................................................................... 115 Obtaining Domain Names ............................................................................................... 116 Setting Up Hosting Account for a Web Site .................................................................... 117 Publishing a Site ............................................................................................................. 124 Previewing a Site ...........................................................................................................