Support Rating. How good is this forum for support?

[MattyUSA]

Hi

Not strictly a problem or issue but I still think this is the best place for this question.

I currently use Ensim Pro on CentOS. I am considering moving to Plesk. One of the main reasons I am likely to leave Ensim is the bad/expensive support. They have numerous patches many of which introduce other problems, they don't hesitate to charge for you for a support ticket ($50) but that doesn't always produce a response or resolution. Many questions in the forums go unanswered. or answered but no resolutions forthcoming. Often I find that the problem is known and "may" be fixed "sometime" in the future. In short a very negative experience for me.

Be aware that this is my opinion only and is based on my experience only.

I'd expect to use paid support for urgent problems or very difficult ones but otherwise I would hope to use this forum for most of the support I'm likely to need.

I am interested in how the users of this forum rate this forum for providing support. Do many questions go unanswered? Do staff members noticeably browse and answer on this forum? Are their many patches released for Plesk and do they often introduce other problems? Any Ensim converts out there that can rate one against the other?

Lets hear peoples opinions and experiences please?

Thank you in adavance.

MattyUSA

 

[JoeBoo]

well, i am very much so a novice when it comes to linux and plesk...any issues i have had, i am normally able to get resolved by using the search function and/or posting the question here on the forums...sometimes the answers are slow though...but when it's free i can't really complain.

 

[jwdick]

I have had all of my questions answered here. You will find that answers will come quicker IF you give enough information for someone to understand what your problem is in the first place. Just saying "Plesk is broke.... any ideas?" will NOT get you any help or response because no one understands what your problem is and most are way too busy with their own business to try and pry it out of you. You should also say what YOU have done to try and resolve the problem yourself. If I only had time to help one person, I would go with the person who is trying to help themself rather than the person who is doing nothing and waiting for an answer. Just my opinion.


Plesk engineers do not monitor this forum, however, I have seen one or two chime in now and again, but don't count on it.

 

[MattyUSA]

Thanks for the replies.

>Can't complain when free.
Yup. But if every little support question thing was charged for then I'd soon leave.

>Include enough info.
I agree. However the trick is imparting the info without writing a novel.

The Plesk salesman I spoke too explicitly stated the engineers regulary and frequently visited the forums with a mind to help posters. He then followed it up with he was very new. Sigh, not so regularly and frequently as all that then eh. I always viewed it as a measure of how much the company cared about its customer base and in the overall consumer experience of its product. It is all too often neglected in my experience to date.

I still hope to hear from others.

MattyUSA

 

[Who-m3]

The Plesk User Forums are an incredible source of knowledge on Plesk and problems that may arrise from it. Users such as AtomicRocketTurtle (ART for short) have the knowledge to impress even the highest of skeptics. Then you have others, such as Cranky, the 4PSA Team, and countless users that I wont try to name, who all put their time into the forums as well.

I've found very few places that I could come to get information without being "flamed" for something simple that I missed. Yes, you may get "flamed" occasionally for asking a question that's been answered a million times over...but that's why the Forum Search feature is there. To help everyone get what they need without getting attacked for a lack of knowledge.

Now, the statement previously made regarding Plesk staff visiting the forums... I've yet to see. I've seen a few people who have the knowledge that Plesk's developers should have, but I don't believe they're part of the development team. I know ART was formerly with the development team, up to and including version 6, if I remember correctly. However, he parted ways and has continued his own efforts within the community.

With freeware tools from ART, such as SpamAssassin scanning (no Plesk interface, just making sure you understand that), ClamAV, greylisting, and qmail-scanner, your server can be secure and fully functional with little-to-no extra cost. Of course, any "cost" would be that of time or compensation you pay for someone else to do the work..which you'll find most willing to do, if you decide you want to put the funds up...

Then you've got the 4PSA Team, who put out various applications that integrate directly with Plesk. Giving you control, at a price, of nearly every aspect of the things that Plesk leaves you feeling short on. Now, I'm not saying Plesk will be a bad move for you, nor am I saying it's the best move for you. I'm letting you know the pros, the cons, and of course my biased opinion on both.

In addition to the 4PSA Team, you'll notice quiet a few others placing their work in the 3rd Party Software portion of the forums. You'll notice PowerTools and SEO Tools, Automatic HAM and SPAM training, customized interfaces, and little software add-ons that make things pop. And, of course, these are provided with various licensing...Some free..some at a cost.. All optional, and all worth reviewing posts about.

Now, I've wated enough space on the forum, and I've said my peace. I'd be happy to help you, whenever I can, with any future advice, assistance, or otherwise. Make a post, everyone here that knows how to help you will be falling over themselves to...

 

[MattyUSA]

High praise, convincing points. I'll also review the 3rd party add ons. Thanks.

Nothing negative yet, thats 3 out of 3 so far. Looking good.

MattyUSA

 

[rvdmeer]

Just for the points.... the forum description can be placed within one line.

Sharing knowledge and obtaining skills...

 

[MattyUSA]

Interesting stat but should be taken in context.

At time of checking 3552 total posts in the forum. 952 unanswered.

Giving a 26.24% no answer rate.

Obviously care should be taken to remember that 0 replies isn't a truly accurate indicator of unresolved problems. Badly asked questions don't help anyone and are sometimes ignored posters will sometimes reply to their own post to bump it up the forum or further plead for help.

That said you could argue that the two are roughly equal in volume so they cancel each other out.

Is there a list of known bugs anywhere for Plesk? When I buy what known issues am I buying as well?

Matt

 

[rvdmeer]

Most of the time questions with 0 answers are those who could be answered with some basic reading. (RTFM) OR questions that aren't clear enough to give any answer.

I think that if you are starting a hosting business you, or someone within your company, should have some OS knowledge.

According to the latest Build txt file there a no known issues. According to my experience there isnt one at this moment. \

http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/P...0.0_build75050908.11_os_FedoraCore_3_i686.txt

My personal experience with bugs within plesk is that they are solved within a short period of time after submitting the bug to plesk.

Ps. bug fixes information within the build documents are limited. Like example below.

Legend:
[+] new feature
[-] bug fixed or removed
[*] bug fixed and improvement made

This doesnt tell me much. I would like to know what kind of bug it was and what was resolved. Documentation about this is limited sadly enough.

 

[rvdmeer]

Merged with post above

 

[MattyUSA]

Hi rvdmeer

Thanks thats mostly reassuring to hear.

I do have some OS knowledge but it is what you don't know that gets you in life. I also found myself thrust into this situation after I had to buy the assets of the company providing me with the hosting services when they decided to shut down.

I could really use a decent sys admin as my old one has less and less time available. I am learning more and more to cope, so far no major problems. but the perceived frequency of Ensim bugs and the negative support experiences I've had left me wondering around the corner.

To hear that there are no known issues/bugs in the current build is good. However it is tempered by the realisation that they don't detail the bugs they find anywhere.


On the hope that someone from Plesk is reading this:

What's new in Autoinstaller for Plesk v2.0.0 build 75050912.12
===============================================================
[-] Several bugs fixed

Is almost distressing to see. I understand that with security issues you don't want to surrender too many details but how does the brevity of this information help anyone? If someone was suffering from what they thought was a bug and reading the changelog to see if the upgrade was worth the hassle.... would this help?

That said I will probably give Plesk a try when it becomes time to jump ship to a new CP.

Matt