Missing icons and directories explained

[titus@]

Hello,

I just started a new dedicated server and am somwhat lost. First, quite a few of the icons as described in the Plesk Admin manual is not showing. For example, I don't see the Server link on the navigation pane.

Also, there are a number of directories (listed below) that I can see when I FTP into my server. What do these do?
anon_ftp
bin
cgi-bin
conf
error_docs
etc
httpdocs
httpsdocs
lib
pd
private
statistics
subdomains
tmp
usr
var
web_users

The hosting company said they are all under /home/httpd/vhosts/canreef.com/. My question are:
1) Does each site run under /home/httpd/vhosts/site_name?
2) What are the other directories above the ..../vhosts directory?
3) What is the purpose of having cgi-bin when I don't have to place cgi files into this directory for them to run?
4) Why don't I have access to the statistics folder?

And is there a site where I can go to learn more about these directories? Are these created by Plesk? And if another domain is to be hosted on the same server, Plesk will create another set of these directories?

Thanks

 

[defencer]

Originally posted by titus
Hello,

I just started a new dedicated server and am somwhat lost. First, quite a few of the icons as described in the Plesk Admin manual is not showing. For example, I don't see the Server link on the navigation pane.

Plesk has 4 types of users: admin, client, domain owner, mailname. Only amin has a SERVER link in a control panel. So if you don't see a SERVER link then this means that you are not logged as admin.

Also, there are a number of directories (listed below) that I can see when I FTP into my server. What do these do?
anon_ftp
bin
cgi-bin
conf
error_docs
etc
httpdocs
httpsdocs
lib
pd
private
statistics
subdomains
tmp
usr
var
web_users

The hosting company said they are all under /home/httpd/vhosts/canreef.com/. My question are:
1) Does each site run under /home/httpd/vhosts/site_name?

Yes.

2) What are the other directories above the ..../vhosts directory?

/home/httpd/vhosts. Inside vhosts directory there are such many directories as the number of domains with hosting in plesk. I.e.

/home/httpd/vhosts/domain1.com
/home/httpd/vhosts/domain2.net
...

3) What is the purpose of having cgi-bin when I don't have to place cgi files into this directory for them to run?

No purpose. If you have CGI feature inactive in your hosting configuration, then cgi-bin directory means nothing.

4) Why don't I have access to the statistics folder?

There are an apache log files inside. You are not allowed to see this directory for the security reason.

And is there a site where I can go to learn more about these directories?

just read a manual, or ask here in forum

Are these created by Plesk? And if another domain is to be hosted on the same server, Plesk will create another set of these directories?

Yes. Yes.

Thanks

 

[titus@]

Hello,

Wow I like your reply. Very clear question and answer format.

Plesk has 4 types of users: admin, client, domain owner, mailname.

What is the difference between client, domain owner, and mailname?

/home/httpd/vhosts. Inside vhosts directory there are such many directories as the number of domains with hosting in plesk. I.e.

Sorry I meant what other directories are at /home/httpd, and /home, and at root?

No purpose. If you have CGI feature inactive in your hosting configuration, then cgi-bin directory means nothing.

But CGI is active and I am runninng a CGI script. Since the script isn't in the cgi-bin directory, I was wondering what is the purpose of having this.

just read a manual, or ask here in forum

Aside from the user manual for Pleak, are there any texts (ie dedicated server for dummies, etc) or websites that provides some type of guide to running a dedicated server?

Thanks.

 

[defencer]

What is the difference between client, domain owner, and mailname?

Client is a control panel user, that able to own and manage several domains at the same time. Admin can assign an IP addresses that client can use in its domains, Site Applications pool that client can setup on its domains etc.. Also admin can setup different set of permissions and limits for the client. For example admin can allow or disallow for client to create domains. You can use client for resellers account or as a owner of the many domains.

Domain owner is a control panel user, that can manage only one domain. As an admin for the client, client can setup different permissions an limits for somain user. Of course domain user has a subset of abilities of the client to manage domain.

Mailname is a control panel user as well as email user. It can manage only its settings, such as mailbox, mail redirect aotoresponders etc. Of course it can read a mailbox, using some email client or webmail.

Sorry I meant what other directories are at /home/httpd, and /home, and at root?

It's depends on the certain host, of course.

Fo example I have only vhosts directory in /home/httpd. In a /home directory there ar a home directories of the system users. In a root / directory I have:
$ ls -la /
total 237
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Feb 18 09:02 .
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Feb 18 09:02 ..
-rw------- 1 root root 18432 May 6 02:35 aquota.user
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Feb 18 09:02 .autofsck
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 8 18:04 bin
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 1024 Dec 17 08:56 boot
drwxr-xr-x 22 root root 118784 Feb 18 09:02 dev
drwxr-xr-x 53 root root 4096 May 5 21:44 etc
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Jan 9 08:01 home
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 24 2003 initrd
drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 4096 Jan 10 09:12 lib
drwx------ 2 root root 16384 Jun 25 2004 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Sep 8 2003 misc
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 9 20:28 mnt
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jun 30 2004 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 160 root root 0 Feb 18 04:02 proc
drwxr-x--- 11 root root 4096 Apr 6 02:40 root
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 8192 Dec 8 18:10 sbin
drwxrwxrwt 3 root root 20480 May 6 08:28 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Jul 4 2004 usr
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Jul 4 2004 var

But CGI is active and I am runninng a CGI script. Since the script isn't in the cgi-bin directory, I was wondering what is the purpose of having this.

There are several possibilities to say apache which files are cgi scripts and which are not. You can set up an apache that it will recognize cgi scripts by file extension. Or you can tell apache that I have a special directory (in our case it is cgi-bin directory) which contans only cgi scripts with no dependency of file extension. So cgi-bin directory allows you to create a cgi script with any file extension (or even without file extension at all) put it into the cgi-bin directory and this will be treated and processed by apache as cgi script. Uff, hope you understand me

Aside from the user manual for Pleak, are there any texts (ie dedicated server for dummies, etc) or websites that provides some type of guide to running a dedicated server?

I think there are a number of such sites, But I don't know them, because I am not using them.

 

[titus@]

Hello,

I guess I have a Client account because I can setup domains and templates.

When you get a dedicated server package, does the hosting company normally setup the Apache, mySQL, etc for you? Or the customer is the one that set them up?

Yes I understand your explanation for the cgi-bin directory. Now as far as I understand, the directories I have are there because they were initally set in the Skeleton in Plesk? If so, does Plesk have an explanation in the manual that describes the purpose of these directories?

Thanks.

 

[defencer]

When you get a dedicated server package, does the hosting company normally setup the Apache, mySQL, etc for you? Or the customer is the one that set them up?

It depends on the contract. Both variant is possible. It is even possible that you bring your own server to the datacenter. This called colocation, if I not mistake.

Now as far as I understand, the directories I have are there because they were initally set in the Skeleton in Plesk?

Not exact. You can put only a few directories into the skeleton.

These are:

- httpdocs
- httpsdocs
- cgi-bin
- anon_ftp
- error_docs

And If some of these directories is not in a skeleton, then such directory will be created automatically during hosting creation. You can read about skeleton management here:
http://download1.sw-soft.com/Plesk/Plesk7.5/Doc/plesk-7.5r-clients-guide-html/ch02s12.html

If so, does Plesk have an explanation in the manual that describes the purpose of these directories?

I have never seen any explanation of directories in plesk documentation. I can try to do it here

anon_ftp - root directory for the anonymous FTP content
bin, etc, lib, tmp, usr, var - directories for chrooted environment creation.
cgi-bin - cgi scripts
conf - apache virtual host configuration files
error_docs - apache error documents
httpdocs - webroot
httpsdocs - webroot for SSL enabled virtual host
pd - files with protected directories users passwords
private - private directory accessible only for ftp user
statistics - contains apache log files, and webalizer's pages
subdomains - directory for subdomains
web_users - directory for web users.