Question SiteJet

[Dave W]

Server operating system version

AlmaLinux 8.6 x86_64

Plesk version and microupdate number

Plesk Obsidian Version 18.0.53 Update #2

Why was this just enabled and pushed on our clients?

How can we disable this and any further Plesk "integrations" and just keep to a basic hosting panel?

Rgds

D.

 

[Peter Debik]

To block the extension in general, add this to the [extensions] section of panel.ini:

[extensions]
blacklist = plesk-sitejet

To remove the promo banner:

[ext-notifier]
sitejetPromo=false

You can add more extensions to the [extensions] blacklist if you want to make sure that they cannot be used. For the upcoming release, Laravel and NodeJS are planned to be auto-published, so you could consider

[extensions]
blacklist = plesk-sitejet,laravel,nodejs

etc. Regarding the "why" question, it is difficult to tell. It's a company and product policy, but these decisions are based on thorough research what customers want. Among the many users there are always others who want it different, which is alright, but Plesk follows the mainstream, the majority vote.

 

[Dave W]

Peter, the voting system is inherently flawed, a vote from one system admin that manages hundreds of Plesk installs is not the same a a vote from a developer that has one server.

Rolling out extensions like these should always be disabled by default, and enabled as an option.

 

[Maarten.]

Rolling out extensions like these should always be disabled by default, and enabled as an option.

Or make it a bit more intelligent based on how the server is used/set up:
- 1 or more customers: hide promos and disable new extensions by default
- no customers or the Power User view is enabled: show promos and enable new extensions/features by default

 

[moswak]

That's a nogo to simply activate an extension like a site builder.

Imagine a web designer hosting his customers on a Plesk server and suddenly the customers have a web builder at their disposal.

A web host with thousands of customers suddenly has to worry about broken websites and support requests because the customers start playing around with the web construction kit.

Editing the panel.ini on hundreds of servers isn't exactly done in 2 minutes and is an effort that simply doesn't need to be done.

 

[Kaspar]

Rolling out like these should always be disabled by default, and enabled as an option.

I strongly agree with Dave on this. It's admirable that Plesk regularly adds new features and extensions, like JetSite. (Which is a fantastic site builder btw). It makes Plesk a great product for hosting administrators. However using Plesk in a business environment is not an experience without worries. In particular the fast release cycle and the policy to enable new features on existing installations do not make the life of a Plesk server administrator much easier.

Now, I am not hating on Plesk. I just see room for improvement here that could make a positive impact on existing Plesk users. Especially users who administer multiple Plesk servers.

I think Plesk could really do with some type of update/feature wizard in the UI. Something that simply lets administrators choose whether they want to enable new features after a new (Plesk) update has been installed. Perhaps Plesk can draw inspiration from cPanel, which uses something quite similar. (I believe they call it a feature showcase). I am sure that this will give administrators a bit more "peace of mind". As they can be confident that features aren't enabled without manual action/confirmation. It gives administrators more control over their Plesk installation. The added benefit here, is that this way administrators are much more aware of the new features that have become available too. Basically showcasing Plesk's hard work. Because I assume that not everybody reads the change log regularly.

For me, I don't always want features to be enabled directly as they become available. Mainly because I want to familiarize myself with a feature before I enable it for my customers. This takes time. As soon as I consider myself familiar enough with a new feature I like to enable it for my customers. After all, I have to provide support to my customers too. So I like to be prepared.

Going with the theme of this topic, I created a UserVoice suggestion (I know, there is some irony here).

 

[/dev/null]

I agree with Dave and Kaspar on this issue. It should not be enabled by default. CPanel and Plesk are run by the same company
let's make best of both!

 

[Peter Debik]

I see all the strong agreement, but I only see a single vote plus an upvote by myself on the Uservoice request. Please vote for it if you believe it is an important feature.

Add a feature wizard / feature showcase for feature on updates

TL;DR: This is a feature request for adding a feature wizard/showcase (for lack of a better name) to Plesk. Something that simply let's administrators choose whether they want to enable the new features that have become available when a Plesk update has been installed. Detailed use case...

plesk.uservoice.com

 

[Dave W]

As already stated Peter, the voting system is inherently a misleading method by which to create a roadmap. 1 vote != 1 plesk install. Software should be predictable dare I say boring, adding features based on a few votes on a forum makes for a ' wtf have plesk done now' working environment. We have enough to do aside from second guessing what the hosting control panel is up to this time.