Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: Plesk

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354

    Plesk

    I just purchased a dedicated server and am having to configure plesk. I currently have a reseller account w/ cpanel at another host. I have used plesk before, but only once it was configured, not having to configure it.

    My main question is nameservers. My current setup at my other host is this:

    ns1.mydomain.com
    ns2.mydomain.com

    Those are the nameservers for all of my sites. How do I set this up in plesk? Do I have to add a client, then add my domain? What do I need to set the two IP's to, shared or exclusive?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    Anyone? I know someone knows plesk inside and out

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    10,710
    http://forum.ev1servers.net/showthread.php?t=54106

    Skip the first step as I assume you already have the IPs.

    HTH

    Cheers,
    MediaLayer, LLC - www.medialayer.com Learn how we can make your website load faster, translating to better conversion rates for your business!
    The pioneers of optimized web hosting, featuring LiteSpeed Web Server & SSD Storage - Celebrating 10 Years in Business

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    When I create the domain in plesk it asks me to pick an IP address for it. What do I pick as my IP address? I've got 3 addresses assigned to my server. I figured 2 of those will go towards my nameservers but it only lets me pick one when I create the domain.

    Thanks.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Sunny So. Calif.
    Posts
    213
    Edit: Sorry I misunderstood your question. You have 3 IPs, if at least one of those is 'shared', then you would be using that IP for the hosted domains (unless someone needed to use SSL which should have an 'exclusive' type IP). Regardless if 2 of the IPs are used for your DNS nameservers, you can still use those IPs for hosted domains as well.

    If it is only showing you 1 of the 3 IPs in the pull down list, and if you would like it to show all 3, then you need to change the IP Pool settings for the Client. Then when you create a new domain for that Client, you will be able to pick from all 3 IPs...

    Additional advice on Plesk DNS:

    For Plesk 7.x.x, the first thing you should do is modify the Server DNS Template to something similar to :

    Server - DNS - Template for new domain creation

    *.<domain>. CNAME <domain>.
    <domain>. NS ns1.yourhostdomain.com.
    <domain>. NS ns2.yourhostdomain.com.
    <domain>. A <ip>
    <domain>. MX (10) mail.<domain>.
    <domain>. TXT ""v=spf1 a mx ~all"" <== optional entry
    <ip> / 24 PTR <domain>.
    ftp.<domain>. CNAME <domain>.
    gateway.<domain>. A <ip>
    mail.<domain>. A <ip>
    webmail.<domain>. A <ip>

    This assumes that your main hosting domain's
    nameservers are going to be used for all
    hosted domain's NS records instead of creating
    new nameservers for each of the hosted domains.
    Then create the new domain. This also assumes that your main hosting domain is already setup and functioning properly.

    I have helped numerous new Plesk admins in setting up their DNS, you could search the Plesk forums for more info.
    Last edited by jamesyeeoc; 07-16-2005 at 06:56 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Sunny So. Calif.
    Posts
    213
    Note: The PTR record for domains - normally you may not want a PTR for each and every hosted domain on a shared server, with Plesk it causes the email headers to randomly reflect other domain's names as the mail server which can cause confusion with your customers. I normally only have a PTR for the domain which is set as the DEFAULT domain for each IP.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    It's showing me all 3 IP's. Does it matter which one I pick? Once I create it i'll go in and edit the records for the domain.

    So for instance,

    mydomain.com is my default domain so I set ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com as my nameservers. When I create say, mydomain2.com, I just set the nameservers to ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com on my domain registrar and pick one of the shared IP's I used for the nameservers in plesk when I create that domain? If I want to use an SSL I can't use the nameservers as the IP for the domain has to be exclusive?

    When I was working with cpanel all I had to do was tell my domain registrar the nameservers for the new domain (www.mydomain2.com or whatever) are ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com and then create the new domain and bam it would work. real simple.


    sorry for the questions.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Sunny So. Calif.
    Posts
    213
    It can also be simple with Plesk. When you register a new domain, yes you still tell the registrar the nameservers are ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com (since those are already existing and active). No matter what CP you use, this is always easier (less work) than registering new domain specific nameservers with the registrar.

    Is the Plesk server the one with ns1 and ns2.mydomain.com or are those going to remain on the CPanel box at the other host?? Plesk assumes the DNS is going to be handled by itself, but things can be adjusted for external (outside of current Plesk box) DNS setups.

    If you ever get a customer who does want 'their own' nameservers (ns1.painintheass.com and ns2.painintheass.com), then you just go ahead and register those nameservers with your same IPs which you used for ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com. It does not matter how many nameserver names you associate with the same IPs at the registrar level.

    If all 3 of your IPs are setup as 'shared' and none are 'exclusive', then you may run into difficulties later if you want to implement an SSL cert for a domain. If you see this as an eventuality, then it would be best right now to change one of the IPs to 'exclusive' now (the one not used by the nameservers would be easiest).

    Then you can use that exclusive IP for a domain which needs the SSL Cert. The other 2 'shared' IPs can still be used for other hosted domains, eventhough they are also used for your nameservers. This is the wonderful thing about shared hosting! A single IP can be 'shared' with lots of domains.

    Hope this answered all your posted questions (sometimes I lose track). Let me know if you have any other questions. (PS. I haunt the Plesk forum more than I do this one, so if you ever have questions unanswered for more than 8 hours, try over there)
    Last edited by jamesyeeoc; 07-17-2005 at 03:33 AM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    Thanks! I'll give it a shot and let you know!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    Ok - before I mess this all up I want to verify what I need to do...

    * Just modify the DNS template for plesk to something similar to what you stated above.

    * Create the client domain

    * Adjust the client domain settings @ the registrar to point the nameservers to these new IP's

    And BAM, as long as the IP's set for the nameservers at the registrar are set in the client pool for this domain then it should work?

    There is nothing on the plesk side which I need to set in order to recognize the nameservers besides setting the DNS template?

    I would have thought that I needed to create something in plesk that pointed ns1.mydomain.com to one IP and ns2.mydomain.com to another IP.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Sunny So. Calif.
    Posts
    213
    I would have thought that I needed to create something in plesk that pointed ns1.mydomain.com to one IP and ns2.mydomain.com to another IP.
    As long as you have a standard setup of Plesk, the Bind/Named nameservice will automatically listen for DNS requests on all IPs on the server.
    And BAM, as long as the IP's set for the nameservers at the registrar are set in the client pool for this domain then it should work?
    The IPs for your nameservers don't have to necessarily be in the Client's IP Pool. The DNS service and the IPs on the server is independent of the Client. The IP Pool is to allow changing the IP of the actual client domains. If you were only going to put all clients on a single IP, then each client's IP Pool would only have to have that single IP.

    Setting up your domain
    I am assuming you have already created and setup your domain 'doobywhohosting.com' and that is already functioning. If the 'client domain' you refer to is your hosting domain, and your ns1 and ns2 are still pointing to the old host, then yes, you would have to change the IPs at the registrar so they point to your new server (or just create new ones ns3 and ns4 and point those to the new IPs).

    There is no limit to the number of nameservers you can create at the registrar, nor is there a limit to what IP address each defined nameserver can point to. If you leave the original ns1 and ns2 pointing to the old IPs and create ns3 and ns4 on the new IPs, and if the old server is still running, then during the propagation of the DNS worldwide, your domain should have no actual 'downtime', people who browse to your site during the transition will either get the old server (if the DNS server they are using has the old info) or they will get the new server (if their DNS server has already updated).

    Once your domain is fully setup and DNS has propagated fully, then you should be good to go.

    Setting up client domains
    If any of your clients do not wish to have their own ns1.clientdomain.com and ns2.clientdomain.com, then the only thing you have to do at their registrar is change the nameserver names to yours (no need to change any IPs at the registrar).

    If you change the template up front then as each client's domain is created, you will only have to make changes to the client DNS if that domain needs any custom settings (such as external mail service if they run their own MS Exchange Server). It just saves a little time...

    So once the template is set the way you want it, you would then create the client's domain, optionally upload site files, then test using either the site preview or set your workstation (Windows?) primary DNS to your server and browse to the new domain's site. Then when you know your server is handling the domain properly, go to the registrar and change the domain's nameservers from ns1.oldnameserver.com and ns2.oldnameserver.com to ns1.doobywhohosting.com and ns2.doobywhohosting.com

    I know this is a lot of info, but better to try and make things clear up front than have to cleanup a mess later Hope this helps clear it up.
    Last edited by jamesyeeoc; 07-18-2005 at 12:19 PM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    I went ahead and setup a test domain. So far when I go to the site I get the default plesk page instead of the page i should be getting:

    "This is the placeholder for domain mydomain.com. If you see this page after uploading site content you probably have not replaced the index.html file.

    This page has been automatically generated by Plesk. "

    What could be wrong?

    Here is my DNS

    mydomain.com. NS ns1.mydomain.com.
    mydomain.com. NS ns2.mydomain.com.
    mydomain.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    webmail.mydomain.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    mail.mydomain.com. A xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    ftp.mydomain.com. CNAME mydomain.com.
    www.mydomain.com. CNAME mydomain.com.
    *.mydomain.com. CNAME mydomain.com.
    mydomain.com. MX (10) mail.mydomain.com.
    xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx / 24 PTR mydomain.com.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    354
    If you see this post before you see my one on the plesk forum, then visit http://forum.plesk.com/showthread.ph...153#post112153 - I have an FTP problem

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •