What is the Plesk PowerPack?

Plesk Powerpack is an addon for Plesk that includes various useful features for managing your web hosting package.

Various useful add-ons are available for the Plesk Control Panel.
Following is a list of utilities included with The PowerPack :
* SpamAssassin Anti-Spam Software
* Tomcat (JSP) Support
* ColdFusion™ Support (You will need your own CF license, separate)
* MS SQL Support

MS SQL Server Support
MS SQL as we are aware is the most widely used advanced relational database management systems. Plesk control panel for Windows Web Hosting UK servers offers the ability to users and server administrators with the deployment and management of MSSQL databases with much simplicity via, a simple interface. With it users get the capability of managing local as well as remote instances of MSSQL Server.

Support for Tomcat
PowerPack for Windows Plesk is equipped with offering support to Tomcat. With it users get the capability to deploy and manage Tomcat web applications which is required for website’s needing JSP.

Multi-Level Helpdesk
By installing the Plesk PowerPack in Plesk control panel for Windows can help users include a Multi-Level HelpDesk. It specifically proves helpful with communication, tracking, monitoring and managing various support issues for users across varied levels within the system. Proper organisation of customer requests via a centralised system is possible using this feature.

Application Pack
The application pack that comes bundled with the PowerPack allows the administrators with the capability to choose the repository of various applications required by a website. With this users can add, deploy, remove as well as configure applications for domains in a system. As a standard feature the application pack is equipped with Mambo, post-Nuke, osCommerce Ecommerce software, phpBB , Coppermine, phpBook, bbClone, gtChat etc.

ColdFusion Support
Server administrators gets the ability of configuring ColdFusion paths and enable or disable ColdFusion support in setup with this utility offered in the PowerPack.

SpamAssassin
SpamAssassin is best known for its ability  for keeping spams under control. By adding PowerPack to the Plesk control panel users and admins can install SpamAssassin onto their web hosting accounts. Most webmasters look at it as an effective Anti-Spam tool that helps with safeguarding the server against spams.

Learn more about Plesk here : Plesk Control Panel – eUKhost
Watch Video (Flash) Tutorials on Plesk : Plesk Tutorials

Related Posts:

• Mobile commerce : The Shifting Trend of Business
• Plesk Server Hosting
• Different Types Of Control Panels | Plesk
• Choosing the Right Control Panel for You
• cPanel or Plesk

Plesk Sitebuilder is a product especially designed for beginners by Parallels. It is conventional to use and a  flexible web application designed just for creating and managing websites easily. Thanks to technology, even an unskilled user can build various kinds of Website, Blog and PhotoGallery using the Parallels Plesk Sitebuilder. It consists of a model promotional tool for the transformation of traffic to your website in the latest customer base.

In order to create/build a website using parallels plesk sitebuilder, you need to follow the following simple steps:

Step 1: Login to your Plesk Control Panel and look for Website section.

Step 2: Check for “Edit in Sitebuilder” icon in the Website section and click on it to proceed.

Step 3: The Plesk Sitebuilder Panel will be opened in a new window.

Step 4: To start building your website click on the Start button at the bottom.

Step 5: In the next window, select the type of site you would like to create/build and click on the Next button.

Step 6: Next step is to select a template for your website. It allows you to customize certain elements and upload your own logo on the website.

• Choose the Template you want for your website.
• Choose a color scheme for your template.
• You can upload a header banner for your template.
• Choose the Menu style you want for your website.
• Upload a new logo if you wish to have your own Logo for your website.
• Also, fill the Site info in the given fields.

Step 7: You can Preview your webpage after doing the necessary modifications, it will open in a new window. Hit on Next button to continue.

Step 8: On this page, you can modify the structure of your website.

You can do the following modifications:

• Select the kind of website under the Page Set section you are building, accordingly the corresponding web pages will be added to your site structure.
• Select the web pages listed under the “Standard pages” and “Special pages” you would like to add in your site structure and click on the Move button.
• You can also change the position on your web pages by selecting the added pages in the “Your site structure” and click on the Up/Down button.

Step 9: Click on the Next button to continue…

Step 10: Here on this page, you can create and edit the content of your web site. Select the web page on the left sidebar, edit the contents of each pages and add modules given on the right sidebar on the respective pages.

Step 11: You can preview your site by clicking on the “Preview” button at the bottom of the page and click on the “Publish” button.

Step 12: Now, in order to publish your website you need to enter the publishing settings:

You will need to enter the following required information:

• Publishing mode
• Host (IP address or DNS name)
• Port
• Web site URL
• Login
• Working Directory

You will need to enter the path of your directory where you wish to upload the site. (For Ex: www or public_html) whichever you prefer.

Congratulations!!! Your site has been successfully created. Same procedure can be followed on VPS or Dedicated Server Hosting accounts.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

Different methods of publishing sites using Plesk control panel..

Here’s a brief documentation on creating & publishing sites using different methods. Once you add a Domain in Plesk control panel, you can create your site content (Web pages, scripts & graphic files that compose your site) on your home or office computer & then publish it to the web server in any of the following ways:

* Through FTP connection (most common & easiest way),
* Through Plesk File Manager,
* Through Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage software.

Let’s go through each of the following processes one-by-one.

1) Publishing Sites Through FTP:

1. Connect to the server with any FTP client program, using FTP account credentials that you specified during setup of hosting account or obtained from us in the welcome email. Ensure that the passive mode is enabled if you are behind a firewall.
2. Upload files & directories that should be accessible through HTTP protocol to the httpdocs directory.
3. Place your CGI scripts into the cgi-bin directory.
4. Close your FTP session as you’re done with publishing the site using the FTP method

2) Uploading Sites Through Plesk File Manager:

1. Log in to Plesk control panel.
2. Click the domain name you need.
3. Click File Manager in the Hosting group.
4. Create & upload files & directories.

Place the files & directories that should be accessible via HTTP protocol to the httpdocs directory. Place your CGI scripts into the cgi-bin directory.

* To create a new directory within your current location, click Add New Directory in the Tools group, specify the directory name & click OK.

* To create new files in the required directory, click Add New File in the Tools group, in the File creation section specify the file name, select the Use html template check box, if you want file manager to insert some basic html tags to the new file, & click OK. A page will open allowing you to enter the content or html-formatted source of a new file. After you are done, click OK.

* To upload a file from the local machine, click Add New File in the Tools group, specify the path to its location in the File source box (or use Browse to locate the file), & click OK. You can upload up to 3 files at once through three separate File Source boxes. If you are uploading an archive file (.zip or .rar), select the corresponding Upload archive & extract it check box to extract the uploaded archive contents in the folder where the file was uploaded.

* To view or edit an existing file, click its name. When editing an HTML file, Plesk opens internal WYSIWYG editor by default. If you want to edit the source code of the HTML file, click Html. To return back to WYSIWYG mode, click Design.

When you upload web content through File Manager or FTP, your control panel automatically sets the appropriate access permissions for files & directories.

* To rename a file or directory, hover on one of the icons which displays the ‘Rename’ text. Type in a new name & click OK.

* To copy or move a file or directory to another location, select the required file or directory using the appropriate check box, & click Copy/Move. Specify the destination for the file or directory to be copied or renamed to, then click Copy to copy, or Move to move it.

* To update the file or directory creation date, click Change Timestamp. The time stamp will be updated with the current local time.

* To remove a file or directory, select the corresponding check box, & click Remove selected icon. Remove Selected. Confirm removal & click OK.

3) a. Publishing Sites from Microsoft FrontPage:

Microsoft FrontPage deals with two kinds of Web sites: disk-based & server-based. In short, a disk-based site is a FrontPage Web site you create on your local hard disk & then later publish to a Web server. A server-based site is one you create & work with directly on a Web server, without the extra step of publishing. Here’re the instructions on publishing only disk-based web sites.

You can publish disk-based web sites either through FTP or HTTP. The server your account is hosted on is running FrontPage Server Extensions, hence you would publish your site to an HTTP location. For example: http://your-domain.com/MyWebSite. If your server supports FTP, you would publish to an FTP location. For example: ftp://ftp.your-domain.com/myFolder.

After publishing, you can manage your site through FrontPage Server Extensions.

To access FrontPage Server Extensions management interface:

1. Log in to Plesk.
2. Click the domain name you need.
3. Click FrontPage Management in the Hosting group.
4. According to the Microsoft FrontPage support settings of the domain, one of the following icons will appear next to Add New FrontPage Subaccount:
   • Click FrontPage WebAdmin to manage a site, which is not protected by SSL.
   • Click FrontPage-SSL WebAdmin to manage an SSL-enabled site.
5. Type your FrontPage administrator’s login name & password, & click OK.

For instructions on using FrontPage server extensions, see online help (FP WebAdmin > Help) or visit Microsoft web site.

3) b. Publishing Sites with Adobe Dreamweaver:

Before publishing a site from Dreamweaver, you need to define the site properties, that is, you need to tell Dreamweaver where your site files are located on your computer, & to specify the server to which you want to publish the site.

1. To define a site in Dreamweaver:
2. From the Site menu, choose New Site. The Site Definition screen opens.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. In the Local Info category, specify the following:
   • Site name. This will show in Web browser’s title bar.
   • Local root folder. This is the folder on your computer where all of your site files are stored. For example c:\My Site
   • Default images folder. Specify the folder where your site’s graphic files are stored. For example c:\My Site\images
   • HTTP address. Specify your domain name. For example, http://your-domain.com
5. From the Category menu, select the Remote Info item.
6. From the Access menu, select the FTP option. Most likely, your server supports publishing through FTP (File Transfer Protocol, commonly used for transferring files over the Internet).
   • FTP host. Type your FTP host name without the ftp:// prefix. For example, your-domain.com.
   • Host directory. Specify the directory on the server where your site will reside. In most cases, this is httpdocs.
   • Login & password. Specify the login name & password for access to the FTP account.
   • Use passive FTP. Select this option only if your computer is behind a firewall.

Specify the following settings:

7. To ensure that you specified the correct login & password, & that Dreamweaver can connect to the server, click the Test button.
8. To save the settings, click OK.

Now to publish your site:

9. Open your site in Dreamweaver.
10. From the Site menu, select the Put option (or press Ctrl+Shift+U simultaneously), this will make the files to be published over the server.

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

Best Control Panel

Control panel access is now provided as standard with more or less every web hosting package that you can purchase these days, regardless of the form of web hosting that you have chosen to use or the web hosting provider that you use for your web hosting needs. Control panels are available for any form of web hosting; for example, with shared web hosting services you may be provided with client side access to a web hosting control panel but with VPS and dedicated server hosting you are provided with your own installation of the product therefore meaning you have full control of it. The control panel that you are provided with is dependent on the operating system that you choose to base your web hosting account on, since not all web hosting control panels can work on a single operating system. The main thing to consider when choosing a control panel for a shared web hosting package or for your VPS or dedicated hosting server is whether you know how to use the control panel concerned; there is no point in ordering hosting based on a control panel that you are going to be unable to use. In order to use a control panel properly, you also need to ensure that your chosen web hosting package will be able to support it.

Control panels provide you with an easy way to manage your web hosting account or server using a web browser, but are seen by some as a waste of time since they themselves have the necessary skills to manage a lone server. If you are unable to see any advantages that control panels can bring to you, then it probably isn’t worth wasting your time looking for a VPS or dedicated server that come with a control panel, but shared web hosting packages normally come with client side control panel access as default. Some of the main advantages that control panels can bring you can include:

• web based management – since a majority of web hosting control panels are now web based, you need to use a web browser in order to use them to their full effect – this means that in theory you could use a web based control panel from any computer that is connected to the internet in any part of the world, providing you with a massive advantage when it comes to sorting server problems out
• client management – if you want to host your own web hosting clients and have a reseller hosting package, VPS hosting server or dedicated server then you can make use of a web hosting control panel in order to allow you to host and manage all your clients as well as to allow your clients to manage their own web hosting accounts
• ease of use – using a control panel makes it easy for you to manage your server and/or web hosting account since an easy to use GUI is provided, whereas without a control panel you would have to rely on your web hosting provider making the necessary changes on your behalf or you would need to have the necessary skills to manage a server.

Since control panels can provide you with so many advantages, it is important that you consider a control panel for the form of web hosting that you are looking into, regardless of whether or not you have the skills to manage a server for example. Even though you may have to pay extra for control panel access in the case of VPS and dedicated server hosting, the advantage of being able to manage your web hosting account or server from anywhere can benefit all users.

Prior to choosing the control panel that you think would be appropriate for use with your web hosting package, you will need to select the appropriate operating system on which you want to base your web hosting package so that you can make sure that your websites will be able to function correctly in the web hosting environment. Because of this, your choice of web hosting control panel will be reflected by the operating system that you choose to host your website on for the main reason that not all control panels are able to function correctly with some operating systems. However, some operating system dependent control panels that you may come across could include:

• cPanel – this control panel is currently only able to run on the Linux operating system meaning that a majority of web hosting providers use it to offer their shared Linux web hosting services, however, many web hosting providers also offer cPanel as a separate add-on which is available for their VPS servers and dedicated server hosting packages
• Plesk – although Plesk is available for both Linux and Windows based web hosting servers, it is seen as the most reliable control available for Windows web hosting meaning that it is used by a majority of web hosting providers in this area – Plesk control panel is slightly more costly than cPanel meaning that web hosting providers tend to shy away from using it for Linux web hosting services
• LXAdmin – LXAdmin is traditionally offered as a control panel for VPS hosting servers since it is included as a default template by web hosting providers who are using the HyperVM VPS control panel system to offer their VPS hosting services, this means that it isn’t available for other forms of web hosting including dedicated servers
• Helm – Helm is an old Windows web hosting control panel that isn’t used by many web hosting providers nowadays since it is easy as unreliable, therefore meaning that you shouldn’t be considering a Windows web hosting package if it is based on the Helm control panel.

All of the above mentioned control panels are provided by web hosting providers at the moment, therefore meaning that a majority of web hosting companies that you may look into will probably be offering a combination of control panels for their web hosting services based on the above list. However, since there is a lot of choice when it comes down to control panels, it is important that you do your research to ensure that you choose the right control panel for you.

Your choice of control panel can also be affected by other factors. One of the main factors is the specification of your VPS, since for example, cPanel requires that your server has at least 256MB RAM but that at least 512MB of RAM is recommended to allow cPanel to run smoothly on any Linux web hosting server. Other factors that may also influence your choice could include the overall cost of a license for your chosen control panel as well as how secure it is. These factors may affect your choice in the following ways:

• server specification – if you have a server that doesn’t have enough resources in order to cope with a control panel then you will find that the control panel probably won’t function correctly and that your server will frequently crash – this is something that you don’t want since it means that you and your clients may be affected in the event of downtime
• cost – some control panels can cost a lot for the right to use them, when in the fact they don’t provide users with value for money since they aren’t provided with a great wealth of features that could help boost their website traffic for example if they were provided with website enhancement features or script installers
• server security – one thing which more and more system managers are taking into consideration is system security, and how they can make their systems more secure to ensure that malicious attackers are unable to gain access to their servers in any way – this means that system managers are being more skeptical about how secure web hosting control panels are.

If you feel that the control panel you have chosen is right for you, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t go ahead and purchase the necessary license for it. Web hosting control panels are only suited to someone if they are secure and are able to meet the requirements of anyone that is going to be using them. Although some may be daunted by the cost of a control panel, the benefits that you will receive by purchasing a control panel will more than supercede the disadvantages you will face if you don’t purchase a control panel.

In conclusion, in order to choose the right control panel for you, you need to consider your requirements such as what you will expect from a web hosting control panel along with whether you think you will be able to use it correctly. As with anything, using a control panel will take some getting used to but you still need to do your research prior to purchasing a license so that you know what you are getting yourself into. Control panels can provide you with major advantages, and unless you have server administration skills, you will be at a disadvantage if you don’t purchase a control panel license.

Related Posts:

• Plesk Server Hosting
• cPanel Server Hosting
• Different Types Of Control Panels | Plesk
• cPanel or Plesk
• All About Plesk Power Pack | A Web Hosting Control Panel Add-On

About cPanel And Plesk

cPanel and Plesk are the two popular control panels that are provided by most of the web hosting services to aid the users create and modify their websites easily. cPanel is available only with Linux operating system, whereas, Plesk is available with the Linux as well as with the Windows operating system. However, the latest version of cPanel that will be released in the year 2008 will be compatible with both the operating systems.

When buying a hosting account, you must make several decisions. One of the important decisions is to consider about which control panel to choose that will be the easiest and also will have better in-built web utilities. There are many web control panels available, but the most popular are the cPanel or Plesk. Below is the comparison of cPanel and Plesk which should help you decide which of the two will suit your web needs.

The cPanel and Plesk both offer similar basic features. Using either, you can easily create, or edit, or delete e-mail accounts, thereby manage all your email accounts, as well as also perform all domains or sub-domains maintenance from either of the control panels. You can also upload all your files and manage them from your cPanel or Plesk account. There are other add-ons available with both and for most of the webmasters, these capabilities are sufficient to produce and manage good websites.

cPanel

cPanel (Control Panel) is a very popular graphical web-hosting control panel used to simplify the administration of websites. The cPanel is provided by the cPanel Inc. It is a proprietary product. cPanel is chiefly used by the commercial hosting services and being a proprietary product, it requires monthly license fees.

cPanel is a very popular control panel and is used by most of the web designers and web masters now-a-days. It was mainly designed for Speed Hosting. cPanel is based on Perl scripts and requires no access to the database most of the time. It is an excellent graphical user interface (GUI) which helps in developing and designing the website attractively and giving it a professional look.

cPanel has many features like the FTP, e-mail management, domain and sub-domain control, back-up facility, database management, etc. cPanel even takes extremely less time than most other to load. Web developers can have their own applications and add-ons like ‘Fantastico’ and ‘RVSkins’ installed using cPanel.

cPanel even has a statistics sidebar, which gives you every detail of your website, for example, the domain name, e-mail accounts, disk space usage, SQL database, monthly bandwidth used, sub-domains, parked domains, and many more exciting applications are provided by the cPanel.

cPanel even provides Web Host Manager (WHM), which is specifically used for simplifying the reseller web hosting. By using this feature, you can easily set up a reselling account and resell web hosting service.

Migration of your website and the web hosting account to another web hosting service is easily possible through the site migration module as the cPanel. This makes it very easy to transfer your entire site or some important data from one site to another.

Plesk

Plesk is the most preferred website control panel now-a-days, as it is more reliable compared to any other website control panel. The fact that, it is compatible with the world-renowned Windows operating system makes it more special. Plesk has different versions for Windows and the Linux operating systems. You can even use the same control panel for different operating systems. Plesk is also very easy to learn. This makes it very easy for the users to learn this control panel and, in turn, saves a lot of time and money.

However, the main disadvantage of Plesk is that the web developers and the web designers cannot create their own applications and add-ons in Plesk. Also, there is some security problem noted with Plesk. Hackers can easily gain access into this control panel even if the user name and password are changed often.

So, if you want the control panel which is compatible with Widows as well as Linux operating systems, then you can choose Plesk. However, if you want the easiest control panel which allows you to install many attractive programs, then you need to choose the cPanel.

More notes on the cPanel and Plesk that will help you decide further:

The cPanel and Plesk both have a great graphical user interface (GUI) to begin your work from. It is said that the cPanel has the better GUI and is user-friendly as well. The Plesk graphical user interface (GUI) can appear a bit difficult to a first-time user. cPanel must have been designed specifically for the novice users than the Plesk design, hence the cPanel is preferred by the novice and also by the professionals.

cPanel is being provided by almost all the major web hosting services and includes the Fantastico Deluxe installer that again includes many wonderful web utilities and powerful scripts. Using the Fantastico, you can easily install forum blogs, content management systems (CMS), e-mail accounts, community boards or forums, even install the e-Commerce shopping cart solutions, and other web tools to make your website very professional easily. There is absolutely no need to know web programming, coding, or advanced database knowledge. You can install all these utilities and scripts and have them running within minutes.

Plesk also provides an application pack. Plesk also can use major third-party web utilities, but the cPanel and Fantastico seems to be in more demand.

To credit Plesk, by the way, it can support both the UNIX and Windows based web servers while cPanel can only be used on UNIX-based web servers. As the UNIX based servers are not expensive to utilize, most of the webmaster will prefer the cPanel as it costs less to host their websites.

Related Posts:

• The Popular Control Panels For Web Hosting
• What Is Web Hosting Service | Part 6
• What Is Web Hosting Service | Part 5
• What Is Web Hosting Service | Part 4
• What Is Web Hosting Service | Part 3