The Plesk Control Panel is a software program also known as Parallels Plesk Panel. The control panel is used for web hosting applications.
Plesk Control Panel is basically designed to simplify the tasks involved in web hosting, web account reselling, domain accounts, email accounts and administrator accounts. The Plesk software is a script that controls the underlying operating system like Windows or Linux. The Plesk panel provides an easy to use, intuitive format with icons, buttons and other controls. These image-based controls are known as a graphical user interface or GUI for short.
Before analyzing whether the Plesk Control Panel is a good choice for your purposes, let’s see exactly what this software solution does first of all.
What Plesk does
Without a control panel, many systems are operated from the command line, i.e., the user must type in commands whenever they want something done. Such operation requires memorizing a large number of different commands. If you forget something, the help systems for these applications are highly unwieldy.
The Plesk Control Panel provides a very easy to use and understandable graphic interface. The icons are designed to tell users what they are for and there are text labels for all controls in addition to the graphical cues. The arrangement of the interface is logical so that controls are grouped together according to category.
So using a control panel does not require intimate knowledge of operating systems and computer languages. The whole idea is to allow the non-initiated person to easily learn how to manage different tasks related to web hosting and server administration.
Plesk Control Panel is customizable so that owners can brand the system and give it their own unique look. The customization feature is an important factor since the panel is designed for users who are selling products and will want to have a unique design and appearance.
Another important advantage of the Plesk Control Panel is that it automates many tasks related to server management. The automation feature includes a regular update of the Plesk software so that the user always has the newest components and fixes.
By offering the Plesk Control Panel, the web hosting company can attract new customers who are not able to otherwise solve the technical issues involved with setting up a website, reselling accounts, etc. In addition, the control panel can be used to sell additional add-ons including anti-virus software, electronic shopping cart solutions, site backup, and other offerings.
Plesk Control Panel can be integrated with other software solutions in the Parallels family like Plesk Billing and Plesk Sitebuilder. The software works on Linux, Windows, Red Hat, Free BSD, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SuSE, CentOS and Windows. Language support is in: English, Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional, Spanish, French, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian and Japanese.
Is Plesk right for you?
Plesk Control Panel is designed for people who are:
• Offering dedicated hosting accounts
• Offering shared hosting accounts
• Running their own web servers
Dedicated hosting means that you will be offering one hardware server for each account. So, your clients are likely to be larger companies or organizations that require significant server capacity. Shared hosting involves the use of one hardware server by many different users. Shared hosting is used for most personal web sites.
Plesk Control Panel also supports the Virtual Private Server (VPS), which is somewhere in between the dedicated and shared server. The VPS uses a private partition of a hardware server, which is dedicated to a single user.
If you are planning to sell web space, reseller accounts and the like to the general public, then the Plesk Control Panel may be a good choice. Since many people are not that technically proficient, the control panel broadens the number of potential customers available.
However, because the Plesk software sits on top of an already existing system, it can tend to bog down performance. All those graphic images place a load on the server. If your clientele consists of tech-savvy individuals, then the Plesk Control Panel may not only be unnecessary, but it can also be cumbersome. So if you are targeting such a niche market, then the control panel is probably not best for your purposes.