Plesk is on of the most popular web hosting control panels available, and through the special relationship that many web hosting companies with with its creator, Parallels, the control panel is offered by many web hosting providers along with their VPS server hositng services at a lower cost than normal.
The Plesk control panel can be used on both Windows and Linux VPS servers meaning that most web hosting providers are able to offer it as a choice for all their VPS hosting services, although you will need to ensure that the VPS that you are going to purchase will be powerful enough to support Plesk once you have it installed.
In some cases you will find that Plesk is offered for free by your web hosting provider if you purchase a VPS server, the reason being that many web hosting providers use the Virtuozzo VPS daemon which is also developed my Parallels meaning that they can get Plesk licenses for free.
Plesk as a control panel will allow you to manage your server from a web interface meaning that you needn’t necessarily have root or administrator access to manage your VPS server; Plesk also provides a client side interface that your clients can use to manage their web hosting accounts, but you also have access to this interface so that you can also manage specific web hosting accounts that you have hosted on your server.
Plesk VPS server hosting can offer a level of reliability that was not previously possible with existing Plesk shared web hosting services; in order to achieve the most stable Plesk web hosting solutions, you should use Plesk on Linux VPS servers that are of a high specification which themselves are hosted on high end VPS hosting nodes as this will ensure that stability of your VPS server.
Why should I use the Plesk control panel?
There are many reasons why you should use Plesk, all of which are positive and have helped to ensure that the control panel is one of the best and most popular web hosting control panels available. Plesk is one of the only cross-platform control panels available, meaning that it is available for Linux and Windows web hosting servers; not only can this save on long term costs, but it also means that you only need to learn how to use one control panel whereas you could end up needing to learn how to manage at least two control panels if you were to use separate control panels for Windows and Linux.
If you are offering web hosting to others then you will find that it is important for you to be able to use a control panel to manage your server, but also for your customers to have access to a web hosting control panel so that they can manage their own web hosting accounts.
It is also important to remember that without a control panel you may not be able to use certain software on your server since many control panels automatically install and configure certain things for you beforehand. In summary, the main reasons for using Plesk include:
Cross-platform control panel
If you have enough servers then you could even become a partner of Parallels yourself or purchase your own Plesk licenses from a wholesaler, meaning that if you are running both Linux and Windows web hosting servers you can easily save on control panel costs in the long term if you choose to use the Plesk control panel on all your servers – if you choose to use different control panels for your Windows and Linux web hosting servers then you may find that you are paying more than you would be if you used a single control panel
Management
Having a control panel installed on your VPS will allow you to manage your server using a web based interface meaning that if you aren’t so good with managing your sever via SSH or Remote Desktop there is an easier solution available to you – when you come to make use a web hosting control panel such as Plesk, you don’t only have the ability to manage your own server but you are also able to create and manage client web hosting accounts which will allow you to offer web hosting services to others who will in turn be able to make use of Plesk to manage their own web hosting accounts
Software
Plesk will automatically install and configure certain services and programs for you to ensure that you can use your server properly, meaning that you don’t need to do anything when it comes to installing other programs apart from Plesk – Plesk will install a web server, mail server, DNS server and the most popular database servers for you and will configure them all to work with the control panel automatically, this means that once you have installed and setup Plesk you can start to host websites on your server pretty much straight away.
The above are good reasons as to why you would use Plesk on a VPS server. As Plesk isn’t that resource intensive, even the most basic of VPS servers should be able to run it regardless of the operating system that you have installed on your VPS server; you should bear in mind that the operating system which you have installed on your VPS server will also use up server resources as well as the daemons that Plesk requires in order to offer you a stable web hosting control panel service, meaning that you should go for a higher specification VPS server than what you actually need.
Advantages of Using Plesk VPS Server Hosting
There are many advantages when it comes to using Plesk on a VPS server. As VPS servers come with dedicated resources it means that you are going to experience greater reliability than you previously had with a basic shared or reseller web hosting package, although it is important to note that if you want a VPS server to be highly reliable when running Plesk you should opt to go with a VPS server that is of a higher specification than what you would normally consider.
Plesk VPS server hosting also allows you to offer your own web hosting packages to your own clients meaning that you can give yourself a secondary income by providing hosting on your Plesk VPS server, although again it is recommended that you use a high specification VPS server to reduce the amount of potential downtime that your server could face.
When it comes to using a Plesk VPS server you will need to choose which operating system you want to use, and since Plesk is a cross-platform control panel you have the choice of using either Windows or Linux on your VPS server. In summary, the main advantages of using Plesk VPS server hosting include:
Dedicated resources
As VPS servers come with dedicated resources it means that VPS server hosting is one of the most reliable forms of web hosting available as other users can’t influence the performance of your VPS server – it is important to choose a VPS server which comes with large amounts of such dedicated resources as these will be needed when running Plesk on your VPS server – having a VPS server with high amounts of certain resources also increases the reliability of your VPS server overall, and at the end of the day you are most likely considering Plesk VPS hosting as a way of getting a more reliable web hosting service
Offer your own web hosting services
Plesk is designed mainly as a web hosting control panel meaning that it also allows you to create and manage your web hosting packages which you can then offer to individual clients – if you have a high end VPS server then you can most multiple web hosting accounts off your server, and obviously the more web hosting accounts you have the more money you are going to be earning, it should be noted that high end VPS servers should be used when offering web hosting to others as otherwise you could end up facing stability issues
Cross-platform compability
Some system administrator prefer one server operating system over another, and Plesk has acommodated this by being available for both Windows and Linux web hosting servers – this means that if you prefer to use both operating systems then you can easily do so by using the same web hosting control panel, but you should bear in mind that if you are going to be running Plesk on a Windows Server 2008 VPS server you may want to consider a higher end VPS hosting server to ensure that Plesk is fully compatible with the VPS server which you will be using.
The advantages of Plesk mean that it is a dynamic web hosting control panel meaning that it can be used in a number of different situations, and since it is able to offer you flexibility not only in terms of the operating system which you can use it on but also what you can use it for means that it is one of the most popular control panels around.
You should always remember that you should have a decent amount of system management experience before purchasing a Plesk VPS hosting server – you don’t want to end up not being able to manage the thing!
Disadvantages of Plesk VPS Server Hosting
There can also be disadvantages to using Plesk VPS server hosting. You should always remember to take into consideration your skills before purchasing a VPS server as VPS servers require more management than a shared or reseller web hosting package; if you feel that you don’t have the necessary skills to manage a VPS server correctly then you could always purchase a fully managed Plesk VPS hosting service.
As high end VPS hosting servers are needed for the hosting of Plesk, you may find that you will have to pay more than you bargained for just to get a VPS server of a reasonable specification that will run Plesk; you should also note that some web hosting providers will charge you for your Plesk license, and the cost of your Plesk license will depend on certain factors including how many domains you wish to host as well as whether you want to have the ‘Power Pack’ installed on your VPS server along with Plesk.
Although Plesk provides you with many different features by default, you will need to pay extra to get certain features; Parallels has ensured that certain popular and important features are only available through the Power Pack option which users have to pay extra for, and how much you pay is dependent on your choice of web hosting provider. In summary, the main disadvantages of using Plesk VPS server hosting include:
Management
VPS servers require skill if you wish to manage them, regardless of whether you choose to go with a Windows or Linux VPS server – it is important for you to know what you are doing with a VPS server as if you change something that you’re not meant to then you could end up damaging your VPS server or rendering it unusable – although you can use Plesk to manage your VPS server if you feel that you don’t have the necessary skills to do, it would be recommended for you to consider managed VPS hosting services as by doing this you will be able to receive help from an experienced web hosting support team
Costs
In order for you to be able to make the most of Plesk on a VPS hosting server you will need to use a high specifcation VPS server which will obviously cost more than a lower end VPS hosting server which you may be considering – on top of this you may also have to pay for your Plesk license, the cost of which will vary depending on how many domains you wish to host on your Plesk VPS server as well as whether you choose to have the Plesk power pack installed on your VPS server along with the Plesk control panel itself
Features
Although Plesk comes with features that you would expect from any web hosting control panel such as the ability to manage your VPS server as well as the ability to manage and change certain settings of the different daemons which Plesk uses to offer you a reliable service – in order to make use of the most advance features of the Plesk control panel you will need to purchase the ‘Power Pack’ add-on which will offer you a number of extra features, an important one being support for Microsoft SQL Server on Windows based Plesk VPS servers.
The disadvantages of using Plesk VPS server hosting are likely to put off those who may be after Plesk server hosting but are on a low budget, and in such cases will have to consider high end Plesk shared web hosting services.
However, those who are considering VPS server hosting are normally businesses and individuals that have large hosting budgets and are after reliable web hosting services, and because of this the cost of a Plesk VPS server hosting package is unlikely to be out of their budget.
In conclusion, Plesk VPS server hosting is the perfect solution for anyone who wishes to use the same control panel on both Windows and Linux; such a situation is likely to occur when offering web hosting services to offer.
It is important to note that you should have a high specification VPS server if you wish to install and run Plesk on it as otherwise you may face stability issues; a lower end VPS server may be suitable if you only want to host several personal websites that don’t receive much traffic. At the end of the day, whether you can afford Plesk VPS server hosting is down to your web hosting budget.
