One of the original players in the Web
hosting virtualization market that evolved from a private file
management system to a provider of virtual server capabilities, Plesk
has two main product lines: Plesk Enterprise (originally branded as
Plesk Enterprise manager or PEM) and Plesk Server Administrator. Simply
put, PE automates the management of Web hosting service plans, whereas
PSA automates the management of a server farm dedicated to selling
hosting services.
The underlying philosophy with Plesk’s products is that they
manage “objects” versus specific devices. Managing objects, Plesk
believes, allows customers to manage and track self-configurable
devices on the network at the protocol level – or the architectural
layers at which these objects interoperate – with minimum intrusion
using smart code such as Java that could reside in embedded chips.
Plesk has grown its business from being a virtual file
management system on one server to managing files on server farms and
now, through a recent OEM deal and then acquisition by one-time rival
SWsoft, has been able to expand its product line to compete with the
likes of Sphera and Ensim as a provider of virtual server technology.
General Introduction to Products
Plesk Server Administrator (PSA) automates the management of up to 50
servers from a single, secure console. It includes a range of
applications that include Apache Web Server, Qmail Email Server,
ProFTPd FTP Server, MySQL Database, BIND, and a multi-tiered interface
for system administration. Using PSA, non-technical personnel can
perform changes across a large number of hosting plans, like manage and
add customers and new services.
PSA is aimed at ISPs, enterprise Web server managers and Web
hosts. Through PSA, customers can manage a range of account flavors,
from dedicated server clients to shared hosting resellers. PSA is
popular with developers and small to regional size hosting providers
because of its reputation for stability and flexibility when it comes
to integrating third party applications.
Plesk’s latest single largest product initiative to date has been an
OEM partnership with SWsoft to bundle Plesk’s PSA on top of Virtuozzo,
SWsoft’s virtual server product. Enhanced by SWsoft’s product line,
Plesk can compete for more business from Web hosts now that it has a
virtual server product that can compete directly with rivals like Ensim
and Sphera. The effect of a PSA-Virtuozzo bundle is not only that
non-techies can manipulate Web hosting accounts, but they can also
manipulate server resources. This capability enables Web hosts to sell
more advanced services off the combined platform.
Plesk Enterprise (PE) provides an architecture for managing
thousands of hardware and virtual systems across a vast array of
network configurations. It falls into the same taxonomy category as
PSA, but has the important distinction of being purpose-built to manage
large installations – server farms, corporate and carrier networks.
PE centralizes and uniformly manages provisions and interfaces with
scores of users, hardware types, virtual hosts, and virtual
environments. It also provides ‘soup to nuts’ administration of
uniquely distributed hosting systems. Although focused on hosting, PE’s
object structure makes the platform evolutionary: it can inherently
support nearly any device connected to a network including PDAs,
wireless phones, home-entertainment systems, industrial sensors,
health-care systems, on-board automotive navigation systems and other
current and nascent technologies. Moreover, PE’s integrated billing can
charge for services delivered to those devices. PE fits the regional to
larger ISP, Corporate IT department, and Web-hosting provider.
All Plesk products are integrated with MyPlesk.com, a free business
portal for administrators and resellers where they can easily find
value-added applications and services auto-integrated with Plesk’s
products.
Technical Introduction to Products
PSA
PSA versions 6.0 and below consist of server side software and
either a standard or optional master console that gives end users four
different levels of interaction with the software: master, server,
reseller and domain. Master level enables end users to manage multiple
up to 50 servers from one console; server level allows high level users
to set up their servers and service packs; the reseller level is
obviously optimized for setting up channel sales; and domain level is
for end users – small hosts or power users.
PSA runs on Linux Red Hat version 7 and above, and requires
versions four and higher of Explorer and Netscape browsers. The slowest
server required to run PSA has 256 MB of RAM and should have a Pentium
II chipset. PSA can support between 100 and 4,000 domains, based on the
server capabilities.
PSA-Virtuozzo
The PSA-Virtuozzo OEM product adds Virtuozzo functionalities
to the menu of services managed through the entire stack of PSA
interfaces. The short for Virtuozzo’s functionalities is bringing
mainframe capabilities to x86 server hardware. The software supports
dynamic partitioning, management of server resources (CPU, memory, disk
I/O, with values set per virtual server), OS virtualization and
software update distributions throughout the application. Virtuozzo has
its own management console. A standard Virtuozzo deployment supports
2,500 virtual servers per physical machine.
PE
Plesk Enterprise means more users, more resellers and more
“objects”, which typically means more servers under management. Managed
by a switchboard of “Cores”, PE’s Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (CORBA) facilitates the integration of applications
through a series of APIs. These APIs, integrated with a series of
seamless modules, are run by a Web based interface.
These managed modules include the Plesk Package Manager
(PPM) technology, whereby a user is given the ability to install,
upgrade or remove packages on servers with different Operating Systems.
A system repository provides a centralized interface to globally
facilitate updates and fast application deployment to a network. A
billing system module provides tiers of value additions as well as
automated account and user creation throughout the system user levels.
Communication service controllers and Plesk daemons allow application
and service components to be highly distributed creating a limitless
environment of flexibility for hosting infrastructure design.
Monitoring modules available to all users that can be combined with a
subscription based Event Notification Management module to facilitate a
proactive service and support approach, even fixing problems
automatically without human interaction. The Plesk Enterprise
architecture includes the ability to manage VPS or Virtual Environments
contiguous with physical hosts in the same interface.
Features
PSA features include:
Hosting tools such as Apache Web Server, Qmail Email Server,
ProFTPd FTP Server, MySQL Database, BIND, and a multi-tiered interface
for system administration.
Third party integration API
Skins for interface customization and branding.
Multi-platform support with facilitation for communication with external DNS, mail and billing systems.
The ability to run external update services without breaking
the software, such as Red Hat’s up2date and Red Carpet services.
According to Plesk, no-one else can claim this functionality.
The ability to simultaneously host multiple name-based virtual hosts on separate system IPs.
Pre-integrated tools for mail List, database, file and statistical management.
An integrated customizable system event notifications management interface.
Unlimited Client and Domain template quick creation capabilities.
Automated Web site client and domain integration utilities for “hands off” hosting service subscriptions.
Plesk Enterprise features include:
Uniform interface for provisioning all forms of hybrid and standard Web hosting formats.
Abstract user management that facilitates the ability to
manage objects which can include application services, dedicated
servers, resellers and entire network node clusters of systems
worldwide.
Distributed hosting environment for fail-over and high availability hosting.
Multi-layered system architecture providing support for tiers of resellers within reseller accounts and complete scalability.
A permission system allowing management rights to any object in the system.
Unlimited resource allocation: the ability to spread resource
limits over a set of system resources regardless of the physical
location of the resources.
An integrated billing management system. This billing system
coincides with the user hierarchy of PE including the tiered reseller
structure; therefore, it becomes a service resource available to all
resellers in the system.
Two way communication and synchronization of billing with automated client and plan creation modules.
An integrated, intuitive domain management interface for end
user access and application management designed to seamlessly allow
manipulation of distributed services.
Domain level load balancing.
A package management system with total dependency checking and management interface.
Mass installation, upgrading and removal of packages simultaneously on thousands of servers as a group operation.
Package repository with mirroring to allow for application distribution inside and outside of a network.
Open API for application integration with package management system.
Complete system monitoring with proactive and automated hands off repair functionality.
Integrated notification system with text and http outputs for handheld devices and system interface notifications.
Built-in security protocol authentication that encrypts and protects all transmissions between interface and systems.
Controls
PSA and PE come with multiple administration consoles for technical and
non-technical users. A single interface console can offer four levels
of control over a PSA system, each dependent on system administrator’s
needs. Both products console controls interface with other vendors’
original interfaces to facilitate seamless migration between platforms
and Plesk products. The Virtuozzo OEM product comes with a three
separate console interfaces.
Pricing
Plesk Server Administrator PSA is licensed per server with
five levels of domain management. PSA retail pricing starts at $99 for
a 10 domain license and provides a path to upgrade any license to
additional domains at 30, 100, 300 and unlimited. Volume discounts for
resellers apply.
PSA-Virtuozzo
PSA-Virtuozzo is a discounted bundle package that includes both Plesk
and SWsoft components. The bundle includes the Virtuozzo server
technology with provisioning capability for 10 virtual environments at
up to two GHz. It also includes the Virtuozzo Management Console
(VZMC), ten 10-domain licenses of PSA 5.0.5, 10 server Master
administration console for PSA, 1 year of 24 x 7 email support on both
PSA and Virtuozzo and installation of the system for $4,900.
Retail list price of the package is $6,479. Plesk will discount the
package to $3,900 for those customers that already have the VZMC
software. This package is also available at partner discounted rates,
which bring the total cost as low as $1,950.
Plesk Enterprise PE systems are customized solutions based on
the individual users’ integration and package template needs. Typically
onsite needs analysis is performed at $1,500 per day, which is credited
toward the overall cost of the installation and customization. Analysis
can be done over the phone at no charge depending on customers’
solutions needs.
Platforms Supported
PSA:
Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, and 9.0
FreeBSD 4.7
PSA-Virtuozzo:
Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, and 9.0
FreeBSD 4.7
Debian
Plesk Enterprise:
Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, and 9.0
FreeBSD 4.7
Windows Server 2000
Good For:
PSA
For service providers and enterprises interested in ramping up their
reseller business and managing Web servers, and who are interested in
managing hardware through the same interface in the future.
PSA-Virtuozzo For resellers that don’t own a data center but
do own their own servers and are trying to get more value out of
existing platforms.
Plesk Enterprise
Larger resellers owning their own data centers, with thousands of devices under management.
