Issue IIS was not stopped

[Thomas Oryon]

Hello Support,

I have plesk windows server. I have reseller account and there are some customers under that reseller account. I have also enabled the IIS pool for that reseller account. If I disable the IIS for that reseller account, the all the websites under that reseller should stop but it was not stopped.

May I know the reason for this?

Awaiting your reply.

 

[scsa20]

Are you talking about disabling the IIS pool within Plesk itself? If so, all that does is disables the isolation feature. Plus the settings generally doesn't populate downwards to the site so they might still be on the pools, so you'll need to make sure that the subscription is sync'd.

If that isn't what you mean, then can you clarify what you are trying to do?

 

[Thomas Oryon]

Hello @scsa20

We need clarification regarding the IIS Application Pool option available in the Plesk Windows reseller panel.

When logged in as a customer, if we stop the customer’s IIS Application Pool, the website goes offline and shows HTTP Error 503 – Service Unavailable. This behavior is expected.

However, when logged in as a reseller, we stopped the reseller-level IIS Application Pool from:

Tools & Utilities → IIS Application Pool

The pool name is:

<ResellerName>(client)(pool)

After stopping this reseller-level IIS Application Pool, the websites under this reseller are still working fine. This is our concern.

Could you please confirm:

1. What is the exact purpose of the reseller-level IIS Application Pool?
2. Should stopping this reseller-level pool affect all websites under the reseller?
3. If the websites are still working after stopping the reseller IIS Application Pool, is this expected behavior or an issue?
4. How can we identify which websites/subscriptions are using this reseller-level IIS Application Pool?
5. Is there any permission or configuration issue causing the reseller-level pool stop action not to affect the websites?

We also tried the below command to check the websites using this pool:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list app /apppool.name:"<ResellerName>(client)(pool)"

But it returned no output.

Please advise the correct behavior and the steps to verify this from the server side.

 

[scsa20]

Stopping the app pool for the reseller will not stop the subscription, you'll want to suspend the reseller account instead if that's the effect you're looking for.

As I'm too lazy to type everything up, I let grok do it for me:

**Yes, this is expected behavior in most cases.** Here's a clear breakdown of your questions based on how Plesk manages IIS Application Pools on Windows.

### 1. What is the exact purpose of the reseller-level IIS Application Pool?
The pool you see in **Tools & Utilities → IIS Application Pool** (named something like `<ResellerName>(client)(pool)`) is a **reseller/container-level pool** that Plesk creates when the reseller has dedicated IIS pool capabilities enabled in their plan or customization.

Its main purposes are:
- To provide a **shared isolation container** for all (or many) subscriptions/customers under that reseller.
- To allow the reseller (or admin) to apply global settings like CPU limits, worker processes, idle timeout, recycling, 32/64-bit mode, etc., that can apply across their customers.
- It acts as a parent or grouping mechanism for the reseller's hosting resources.

It is **not** the same as the per-subscription/dedicated pools that individual customers see under their **Websites & Domains → Dedicated IIS Application Pool for Website**.

### 2. Should stopping this reseller-level pool affect all websites under the reseller?
**Not necessarily in a hard-stop way**, and this matches what you're seeing.

- Stopping the reseller-level pool in **Tools & Utilities** primarily affects the **global/shared settings** for the reseller's pool and any child elements tied directly to it.
- Individual **subscriptions/customers** often run in their own **dedicated per-subscription application pools** (even if nested under or associated with the reseller pool). These can continue running independently.
- Plesk's architecture allows subscriptions to have their own isolated pools for better stability and security. Stopping the "parent" reseller pool does **not** automatically stop or recycle the child pools/websites.

This is why your customer-level test (stopping their own pool) correctly shows **503 Service Unavailable**, but the reseller-level stop does not.

### 3. Is the websites still working after stopping the reseller pool expected behavior or an issue?
**This is expected behavior** in standard Plesk configurations with dedicated pools enabled per subscription or package. It is **not a bug** — it's how isolation works.

The command you ran (`appcmd list app /apppool.name:"<ResellerName>(client)(pool)"`) returning no output confirms that **no applications/sites are directly bound to that reseller-level pool**. The actual websites are using separate dedicated pools.

### 4. How to identify which websites/subscriptions are using this reseller-level IIS Application Pool?
- **In IIS Manager** (best way — RDP to the server):
- Open **IIS Manager** → **Application Pools**.
- Look at the **Application Pool** column for each site under the reseller.
- Check the pool names (they often include the subscription/domain name or customer ID).
- **Via command line** (run in elevated Command Prompt):
```cmd
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list sites
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list app
%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list apppool
```
This will show mappings between sites, apps, and pools.
- In Plesk: Check each subscription's **Websites & Domains → Dedicated IIS Application Pool** status.

### 5. Permission or configuration issue?
Possibly a configuration (more likely than permissions):
- Confirm whether **Dedicated IIS Application Pool** is enabled at the **service plan / reseller customization / individual subscription** level. If per-subscription dedicated pools are active, the reseller pool is more of a settings container.
- Check **Permissions** in the reseller's plan/customization for "IIS application pool management".
- Resync subscriptions if needed (Subscriptions → select → Sync with plan).

### Recommendations
- To properly take websites offline for the entire reseller: **Suspend the reseller account** (or individual subscriptions). This is the cleanest way.
- For maintenance: Stop/recycle pools at the **subscription level** or directly in IIS Manager.
- If you want one big pool for all under the reseller: Adjust the global settings or service plans to use fewer dedicated pools.

https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMw_8ffdba86-631d-4607-b684-ffa5d7b17a20