Suggestions for Plesk

[NicolaB]

Hi all,
sorry for my english I'm a beginner of Plesk (in the past i've used cPanel).
I think there a lot of works to do in Plesk, because a lot of functions (i think) not exists:

- show a detail of disk usage (folder, files,etc). A graphic for the most "big" file. It can help to find big file (yes, I can use "du" via ssh, but a graphic is more user friendly)

- More ftp service: Plesk use proftpd, but pureftpd is better. Btw, i think everyone need to select the preferred ftp daemon.

- Autoupdate: this is the bigger problem. I can't use for example Percona Server or Maria DB, because Plesk is looking for Mysql. And I can't disable from the autoupdate the mysql package because is required for base package.

- Change default ports: I need to run my Plesk over 443 if i'm behind a firewall, and with default port it's impossible.

- Disable email service. If i have on my server two website (aa.com and bb.com), aa.com can't send an email to bb.com
I need to run from ssh /usr/local/psa/bin/domain -u aa.com -mail_service false

- The last thing is a suggestion: a sysadmin need more flexibility. Then Plesk need two "mode": standard and advanced. A lot of users doesn't know ssh or how to manage a server, but a lot of sysadmin need the possibility to do a lot of customization (for example I use Litespeed webserver and Cloudlinux with Mysql 5.5, but I want Percona Server).

Do you have something in construction for the future? Thanks

 

[IgorG]

- show a detail of disk usage (folder, files,etc). A graphic for the most "big" file. It can help to find big file (yes, I can use "du" via ssh, but a graphic is more user friendly)

Yes, it is reasonable. I think it can be implemented in the one of next Plesk versions.

- More ftp service: Plesk use proftpd, but pureftpd is better. Btw, i think everyone need to select the preferred ftp daemon.

Why do you think that pureftpd is better? I think that proftpd is much more better Not sure that support a lot of different daemons in Plesk will not reduce stability and reliability of our product.

- Autoupdate: this is the bigger problem. I can't use for example Percona Server or Maria DB, because Plesk is looking for Mysql. And I can't disable from the autoupdate the mysql package because is required for base package.

Where is the business case for Percona Server or Maria DB usage instead of MySQL? Why MySQL is not enough?

- Change default ports: I need to run my Plesk over 443 if i'm behind a firewall, and with default port it's impossible.

It is possible to change port to 443 in Plesk interface config (not sure but seems in /etc/sw-cp-server/applications.d/plesk.conf)

- Disable email service. If i have on my server two website (aa.com and bb.com), aa.com can't send an email to bb.com
I need to run from ssh /usr/local/psa/bin/domain -u aa.com -mail_service false

We have already submitted request regarding this issue. I hope it will be fixed soon.

- The last thing is a suggestion: a sysadmin need more flexibility. Then Plesk need two "mode": standard and advanced. A lot of users doesn't know ssh or how to manage a server, but a lot of sysadmin need the possibility to do a lot of customization (for example I use Litespeed webserver and Cloudlinux with Mysql 5.5, but I want Percona Server).

All unsupported third-party software can be configured and implemented by experienced sysadmin on own risk via ssh. I think that ordinary users do not need such complicated implementations which can lead to unpredictable consequences.

 

[NicolaB]

Where is the business case for Percona Server or Maria DB usage instead of MySQL? Why MySQL is not enough?

Percona is simply better: http://www.percona.com/software/percona-server/benchmarks/
http://www.percona.com/software/percona-server/feature-comparison/

MariaDB is an ethical choice

The question for me is not "why Percona or MariaDB", but "why not?"

 

[IgorG]

Do you know what is the cost for changing SQL server for all operating systems supported by Plesk? Where can I find the results of investigations that Percona is really better for Plesk? Any benchmarks, tests, requests from huge hosting companies?

 

[NicolaB]

Percona and MariaDb are a "drop in replacement".
Remove Mysql, then install Percona or MariaDB and it just works.
The problem is that Plesk when update, look for "mysql" and if the rpm is called "Percona-Server", doesn't works.

You only need to add the ability to exclude mysql from plesk update.
http://www.percona.com/about-us/mysql-case-studies/
http://vbtechsupport.com/657/2/
https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/ent...ance-vB-benchmark-with-Percona-XtraDB-5-5-5-1

 

[IgorG]

NicolaB,

Thank you for clarifications and cooperation. I have submitted feature request regarding your suggestions. I hope it will be implemented soon.

 

[NicolaB]

Thanks to you IgorG for the help

Have a good day,

Nicola

edit: about 443 ports:
Parallels Plesk Panel version 10.x. Due to tight integration with other system components, the port cannot be reconfigured without manual changes in the Parallels Plesk Panel database. Such changes cannot be made by Parallels Plesk Panel administrators.
http://kb.parallels.com/138

 

[NicolaB]

Hello IgorG,
today I've found another reason to add the ability for the exclusion of a package from Plesk Autoupdate: ProFTPD.
This is the situation:
I've enabled atomic repository with psa-proftpd version 1.3.4a (latest).

Every Plesk update restore psa-proftpd to 1.3.3a (or another old version).

If I can disable ProFTPD to automatic update, I can mantain my new version. See the changelog (http://www.proftpd.org/docs/NEWS-1.3.4a)

I hope this help the developer to "think" about my suggestion

 

[Laurence@]

Igor, as a long time Plesk user, I urge you to get MariaDB working on Plesk asap. For us we are moving to CloudLinux and they have a MySQL Governor that controls MySQL processes and it is also compatible with MariaDB which benches way better than MySQL:

http://vbtechsupport.com/606/

The CloudLinux MySQL Governor doesn't work with Percona unfortunately but MariaDB looks very promising. Also the outlook moving forward for MySQL development is very bleak to say the least.

 

[NicolaB]

Another issue: phpMyAdmin is 3.4.5 with plesk.

From 3.4.5 to 3.4.9 the pma's team have fixed a lot of bugs, but we can't update phpmyadmin via yum for example (in epel repository we have 3.4.9).
This isn't acceptable!

 

[IgorG]

phpMyAdmin has been upgraded to version 3.4.9 only for Windows - http://kb.parallels.com/en/113306
Update for Linux will be released a bit later.

 

[Alexey.Plotnitsky]

Since Plesk 11.5, which is in preview stage now,

there is support for third-party repositories. The Parallels Installer utility provides the support for packages installed from third-party repositories (like Atomic, Remi, Percona, IUS, and so on). For example, if Percona Server from the Percona repository is installed on the server, Panel upgrades will not fail anymore.

One can download Plesk 11.5 for evaluation, but it is not for production servers.
The download links are in Plesk 11.5 Preview thread