Integration Principles

About Integration

Plesk Expand is a powerful add-on application, specially designed for managing hosting on several Plesk servers from one centralized point. Thanks to Plesk Expand hosting service providers can set up customers' domains, analyze resource usage, set rules for new client/domain creation and also integrate Plesk with external systems - such as billing systems and various in-house accounting systems.

Integration is one of the major capabilities of Plesk Expand. Plesk Expand integrates seamlessly with Plesk, which allows to provide Plesk clients and domain management services through the Plesk Expand interface, without submergence to technical details of Plesk. On the other hand, Plesk Expand integrates with a wide range of external software, such as billing, accounting, provisioning and other systems (including in-house solutions). Integration with these external systems can be achieved via Plesk Expand Integration API.

Plesk Expand Integration API includes the set of Plesk Expand operators – special programs, which have XML input and output. These Plesk Expand operators provide access to all Plesk Expand functionality. External systems call them in when communicating with Plesk Expand.

Plesk Expand Integration API provides three major integration interfaces:

1. Plesk Expand XML API. This is the main Plesk Expand API used for executing commands with specified parameters. It can be used to perform operations on the local server.
2. Plesk Expand CLI (command line interface). You can use this API in cases when XML appears too bulky, and you wish to run simple queries directly from the command line. This API is a modification of the main XML API and is also used for executing commands on the local server.
3. Plesk Expand Remote XML API is used when it is necessary to execute the commands via XML API remotely, while maintaining the appropriate level of security.

   Among the three described APIs, XML API is the main interface to be studied. Remote XML API and CLI API are based on using the XML API.

   All three interfaces are based on the "call" principle. This means that you get the results by issuing queries to Plesk Expand. For example, to get Plesk Expand Dictionary you run a special query to Plesk database through Plesk Expand Integration API.

   All three APIs described above are used as command line tools: the input and output appear directly in the shell.

4. Plesk Expand Events. This interface is useful if you wish to set up automatic two-way interaction between Plesk Expand and the external system.

   This interface is based on the "callback" principle. Plesk Expand Events allow to monitor system activities and perform certain actions automatically when certain conditions occur in the system. For example, if a customer has created another domain, Plesk Expand notifies the system administrator about it and issues a command to the external system to bill the customer for the service.

   The Plesk Expand Events API can be configured and used via Plesk Expand interface.