Please read chapter "Known Problems and Limitations" attentively prior to starting any install/upgrade routines
Plesk Expand is the hosting automation software that unites multiple Plesk servers on a single hosting platform. It centrally manages all of your customers, domains, IP pools, provides centralized log-in across Plesk servers, implements intelligent provisioning according to the server load rules and more.
Plesk Expand can be easily integrated with provider's infrastructure through a set of special APIs.
Plesk Expand can be installed over a Plesk for Linux/Unix server (see "Software Requirements" topic for a list of Plesk version supported), or on a clean Linux server (i.e., with no Plesk installed).
Before starting the installation or upgrade process, we strongly recommend that you create a full system backup of the entire server.
Plesk Expand requires the PSA API RPC software to be installed on every managed Plesk Server. PSA API RPC is included in the Plesk for Linux software as an optional package and must be installed prior to connecting Plesk server to Plesk Expand.
PSA API RPC for FreeBSD is included in the base Plesk for FreeBSD distribution. No additional steps are required.
For Windows servers, no additional steps are required as well; all components are included in the base distribution package.
Plesk Expand software is available on the Parallels website.
This SOFTWARE is provided on an "AS IS" basis, without warranty of any kind, including without limitation the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the SOFTWARE is borne by the USER. Should the SOFTWARE prove defective, you and not Parallels assume the entire cost of any service and/or repair. All warranties, either express or implied, are disclaimed.
Plesk Expand installation requires an IBM PC-compatible computer with the following minimal hardware configuration:
Plesk Expand 2.3.1 can be installed either in standalone mode or over existing Plesk for Linux installation.
In both modes Plesk Expand can be installed on the server configuration of the following operating systems:
Plesk Expand can be installed over following Plesk server installations:
Make sure you've chosen proper Plesk Expand distribution prior to starting installation.
See the "Centralized Mail" topic for Centralized Mail specific requirements.
See the "Centralized DNS" topic for Centralized DNS specific requirements.
We recommend that you use the following VPS configuration at least:
You can use the 'unlimited' template for VPS creation. Be sure that VPS has no MySQL template installed.
none known;
Plesk Expand supports the following Plesk versions:
Plesk servers for Linux platforms must have the psa-api-rpc package installed. See the 'PSA API RPC Installation instructions' topic for details.
You can select one of the following Plesk Expand installation methods:
NOTE: Only the following OSes are supported by Web-based installation:
# sh expand_installer-2.7.3-5.sh
NOTE: Only the following OSes are supported by Expand console-based installer:
The following packages need to be pre-installed:
All the above packages can be installed from a distribution CD for an appropriate OS. For Your convenience, we provide them along with Plesk Expand.
The rest of the packages archived in the tarball cannot be substituted for packages of other vendors because they contain patched code to meet the requirements of Plesk Expand:
Plesk Expand and required software are distributed in the RPM packages rolled into a single tarball:
To install Plesk Expand, follow these instructions:
# tar xf expand_2_3_1-8*.tar
# cd expand_2_3_1-8* # rpm -Uhv *.rpm
NOTE: After the Plesk Expand package is installed, you will be notified of your login details for the Plesk Expand control panel (URL, login and password). The message of the following kind will appear:
***************************************************************** * Congratulations! You have just installed Plesk Expand v.2.3.1 * You can access the system at https://expandhost.domain:8442 * Use 'root@expandhost.domain' as e-mail and * 'setup' as password to connect to the Plesk Expand frontend. * You can change this login data after logging into the frontend. *****************************************************************
The upgrade procedure is rather straightforward.
# tar xf expand_2_3_1-8*.tar
# rpm -Uvh expand-2.3.1*.rpm expand-dist-repository*.rpm expand-locale-base-en-US-2.3.1*.noarch.rpm
NOTE: To change the default certificate please open /etc/sw-cp-server/applications.d/01_expand.conf file and modify the following option:
ssl.pemfile = "/usr/local/expand/frontend/conf/httpsd.pem"
NOTE: After the Plesk Expand package is upgraded, the message of the folllowing kind appears:
************************************************************************* * Congratulations! You have just upgraded your Plesk Expand to v.2.3.1 *************************************************************************
To deinstall Plesk Expand, issue the following command (being logged in as 'root'):
# rpm -e expand expand-dist-repository expand-locale-base-en-US
This will erase the Plesk Expand installation files from the /usr/local/expand directory and drop the 'expand' MySQL database. However, the /usr/local/expand directory will not be erased and the following files will be left for post-mortem reviews:
Upon the installation, all configuration files being patched by Plesk Expand will be pre-saved as '<filename[.extension]>.exp_bak'. However, these files will NOT be reverted to their previous copies upon deinstallation.
You can select one of the following Plesk Expand installation methods on Debian:
# sh expand-2.3-debian-autoinstall.sh
Plesk Expand and required software are distributed in the DEB packages rolled into a single tarball:
To install Plesk Expand, follow these instructions:
# tar xf expand_2_3_1-8*.tar
deb file://<path> expand_2_3_1-8.deb31/
deb file://<path> expand_2_3_1-8.deb40/
deb file://<path> expand_2_3_1-8.deb40.amd64/
NOTE: Specify a path to decompresed directory instead of <path>
# apt-get update
# apt-get install expand expand-dist-repository
A purchased license key may be installed through the Plesk Expand control panel or manually.
To install a license key manually, follow the instructions below:
# /etc/init.d/expand restart
You may skip this step if you are not going to provide the Centralized DNS service. But if you choose to provide it later, you need to go back and complete this step.
The Centralized DNS feature allows to process all DNS requests from the outside by a pool of dedicated DNS servers.
The centralized DNS software can be installed on one machine with Plesk Expand, but it is highly recommend to install services be running on separate dedicated or virtual servers, otherwise it may cause operation problems if server is overloaded. Also the centralized DNS software cannot be installed on one machine with Plesk (or with a Centralized Mail server).
Centralized DNS server is available for the same set of OSes as Plesk Expand. It is possible (but not guaranteed) that it will also run on another Linux platform.
Requirements:
Now you can go to the Plesk Expand Control Panel and register a Centralized DNS server in Plesk Expand. The DNS controller software is required to manage your DNS server, so it will be installed on your server automatically. You can choose not to install it automatically and perform manual installation of dnscontroller package.
Follow these instruction to install the DNS controller software manually:
# rpm -Uhv dnscontroller/dnscontroller-2.0.0-*.i586.rpm
# /etc/init.d/named status # /etc/init.d/named stop # /etc/init.d/named start # /etc/init.d/named restartAll these commands must succeed.
# /etc/init.d/named start
# ps -ax | grep named 31200 ? S 0:30 /usr/sbin/named -u named -n1 -c /etc/named.conf -u named -t /var/named/run-rootIf you found a '-t' option, then the parameter following it is a chroot directory and your bind server is running in a "chroot" mode.
# vi /usr/local/dnscontroller/conf/dnscontroller.confand change line
#chroot_dir = /var/named/run-rootto
chroot_dir = /your/chroot/dir
/usr/local/dnscontroller/conf/hosts.allow file
which is used to restrict unauthorized management of your DNS server. DNS controller
software won't accept any connections from hosts which IPs are not included to
hosts.allow file. Thus you need to open it and add IP of your Plesk Expand host to this file.
The file syntax is quite easy:
*' allows accepting connections from any host - USE FOR TROUBLESHOOTING ONLY!!YYYYMMDDnn format.
If you prefer UNIX timestamp format, then change
"serial_type" parameter in /usr/local/dnscontroller/dnscontroller.conf to
"unix_timestamp" value:serial_type = unix_timestampIt is recommended to choose SOA serial type BEFORE Central DNS server keeps any DNS zones. If you change SOA serial format having any DNZ zones already configured in DNSController,then you will have problems with updating your DNS zone content by outer DNS servers because new serial is lower than previous one (being compared as positive integer numbers).
You may skip this step if you are not going to provide the Centralized Mail service. But if you choose to provide it later, you need to go back and complete this step prior to registering the Centralized Mail server in Plesk Expand.
The Centralized Mail server is configured on the basis of a regular Plesk server. Just like a regular Plesk server, it can be installed either standalone (on a separate host) or on one host with Plesk Expand.
You can use the following Plesk versions (among versions available on the moment of the release notes publication) as Central Mail server:
You see, both Linux/Unix- and Windows-based hosts can be used as Central Mail server. Any Central Mail server (Linux/Unix- and Windows-based) can serve for any Plesk server (Linux/Unix- and Windows-based). But there are some limitations, see them below:
See the Plesk Installation Guide for instructions on how to install the Centralized Mail server (the installation of PSA API RPC is a mandatory step). Then return back to follow the instructions below:
When this feature is activated (a Plesk server is assigned to the Centralized Mail Server), the 'Remote Mail' button appears in the Plesk Control Panel of each domain user residing on the assigned Plesk server. By clicking this button in the Plesk control panel, users can open a special page where they can manage their remote mail settings.
Plesk Expand 2.3.1 includes the following features:
Legend:
[+] new feature
[-] bug fixed or removed
[*] bug fixed and improvement made
127.0.0.1 your-host.com your-host localhost localhost.localdomainreplace it with the following line:
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomainOtherwise you may experience problems when using CDNS feature.
Parallels Headquarters
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Suite 600
Herndon, VA 20171 USA
Phone: +1.703.815.5670,
Fax: +1.703.815.5675
World Wide Web: http://www.parallels.com
E-mail:
For billing information, email accounting@parallels.com
For purchasing or partnering information, email sales@parallels.com
For technical support, use our Online Support Form.
To report problems with Plesk software, email bugreport@parallels.com
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For general product information, email info@parallels.com
Copyright 2004-2008, Parallels. Virtualization and Automation Software. All rights reserved.
Patented hosting technology protected by U.S.Patents 7,099,948; 7,076,633.
Patents pending in the U.S.