What is it?

Plesk is a software package offering a comprehensive control panel solution for commercial Web hosting. 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. Plesk now is distributed by Parallels, Inc. since Parallels and SWsoft merged in January 2008.

Who is it for?

Parallels Plesk is used by hosting providers for shared, virtual and dedicated hosting. The control panel is intended to simplify the management and administration of Web sites. Plesk control panel automates tasks that allow service providers to reduce operating costs and resources while increasing profitability, efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Features

Plesk provides four login levels, each with its own roles and responsibilities. The Administrator is the highest individual server level login, allowing Web hosting administrators to set up and manage all system items. The Client/Reseller is the second tier login account where the users are given domain creation rights from the System Administrator. The Domain Owner is the third tier, providing individual domain owner accounts with predetermined permission sets and interface for single domain administration. The Mail User is the fourth tier individual mail account which allows the user to log in to a private interface and manage passwords, spam filters, anti-virus settings and much more.

Plesk enables System Administrators to set up new Web sites, email accounts, and DNS entries through a Web-based interface. This browser-based interface is clean and easy to use, offering usability and flexibility in the control panel. The control panel is stable, secure, and comprehensive. Parallels has integrated Plesk with other products such as Vituozzo and Sitebuilder. Integrated applications including Ecommerce, Chat, and Bulletin Board are managed through a customizable “Application Vault.” The control panel also contains over 100 new enhancements, delivering ease of management with features such as auto-update mechanism, auto-component updater, migration manager and a Web-based installation. Plesk is available in seven languages, including English, Spanish, and Japanese.

Compatibility

Plesk is based in both Linux and Windows. Plesk for Linux/UNIX and Windows now have many common features, skins, application packs, language packs and documentation. Operating systems supported are Red Hat, SuSE, Fedora, FreeBSD, Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Windows 2003. The control panel is compatible with several browsers, including Firefox 2.0 and above, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0, Mozilla 1.7 and above, and Safari 2.x. Plesk installs or manages versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, Tomcat Java server, ColdFusion server, as well as CounterStrike and Battlefield 1942 game servers.

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