3. Choose Plesk Components

Plesk employs a number of interchangeable components for providing its services. For example, mail services on Linux can be provided by either Postfix or Qmail. The decision about what component to choose is made by you during Plesk installation. Also, some components that you may find useful are not installed by default. Before installing Plesk, acquaint yourself with available Plesk components and choose the ones to include in your final Plesk configuration. Next in this section, we will give recommendations on which components to choose under various circumstances. The components from the list below are not installed by default unless explicitly stated.

Note: Some components may be unavailable to you due to the limitations of your Plesk license key.

Web Hosting

Web hosting components are used to enable support for a certain web hosting service. For example, support for a certain scripting language or support for FTP connections.

• Plesk Web hosting

  (Installed by default). Install this component if you want to use your Plesk for web hosting.

• Apache mod_fcgid module
  (Installed by default). Install this component if you want to turn on FastCGI support for the Apache web server.
• Apache mod_perl module
  (Installed by default). Install this component if you want to turn on support for Perl scripts by the Apache web server.
• ProFTPD FTP server
  (Installed by default). Install this component if you want to allow users to connect to Plesk using FTP.
• Bandwidth Limiter for Apache support (mod_bw)
  Install this component if you want to manage bandwidth limiting for incoming connections.
• Apache ASP support
  Install this component if you want to turn on support for ASP scripts by the Apache web server.
• Tomcat Java Servlets support
  Install this component if you want to turn on support for Java servlets.
• Apache mod_python module
  Install this component if you want to turn on support for Python scripts by the Apache web server.
• Ruby on Rails support
  Install this component if you want to turn on support for Ruby on Rails scripts.
• MIVA Empresa support
  Install this component if you want to turn on support for MIVA scripts.
• Webalizer web statistics package
  (Installed by default). This component allows users to collect site visit statistics by means of the Webalizer software.
• AWStats web statistics package
  (Installed by default). This component allows users to collect site visit statistics by means of the AWStats software.
• Cloudflare Apache Module

  This component allows improving performance of websites hosted in the server using the Cloudflare service.

Apache Web Server Versions (Linux Hosting)

If you use RHEL 5 of CentOS 5, you can choose one of the following options:

• Apache web server support
  Typical Apache web server used to deliver websites to Internet users.
• Apache web server with SNI support
  (Installed by default). Server Name Indication (SNI) is a feature that extends the SSL protocol. Install this component if you want to use separate SSL certificates for websites with a shared IP address.

Nginx Web Server and Reverse Proxy Support

• Nginx reverse proxy support

  (Installed by default).

• php-fpm support for nginx

  On Linux systems other than Debian 7, and Ubuntu 12.04, installing this component requires enabling third-party repositories.

Plesk Webmail Support

Specify the webmail software that allows Plesk users to access their mail accounts through a browser:

• Horde webmail support
• Roundcube webmail support

Mail (Linux Hosting)

Select the mail services Plesk should provide:

• Kaspersky antivirus
  Install this component if you want to use Kaspersky antivirus software for checking mail.
• Plesk Premium antivirus
  (Installed by default). Install this component if you want to use Plesk Premium antivirus software for checking mail.
• Mailman mailing list manager support
  This component adds mailing list functionality to Plesk.
• SpamAssassin support
  Install this component if you want to use SpamAssassin software to effectively stop email spam.

Choose one of the following mail servers that best suits your needs:

• Postfix mail server
  (Installed by default).
• Qmail mail server
• MSMTP relay only mail server (SMTP client)

  Select this option if you do not want to install mail server. When you log in to Plesk with no mail server installed, it will offer you to specify an external SMTP server for sending outgoing mail.

Databases

The default database server in Plesk is MySQL. It is installed by default. However, since version 11.5, on Linux you can replace it with MariaDB or Percona Server. For instructions on replacing MySQL server with these alternatives, refer to the Advanced Administration Guide, section Using MariaDB or Percona Server as the Default Database Server.

• PostgreSQL server support
  If you require support for PostgreSQL databases (for example, this may be a requirement of certain web apps), select this option to install PostgreSQL to your Plesk server.
• MS SQL Server 2008 (on Windows)
• MS SQL Server 2012 (on Windows)

Important: If Microsoft SQL Server is already installed on your server, you should exclude this component from your Plesk installation. Otherwise, Plesk will perform a clean installation of SQL Server and data stored in your MS SQL server will be lost. To let Plesk use your SQL Server, connect the SQL Server to Plesk once you complete the installation. To learn how to connect a database server to Plesk, refer to the Administrator's Guide, section Adding and Removing Database Servers.

DNS Server

• BIND DNS server support

  (Installed by default on Linux). On Linux, deselect this component if you do not want to run the DNS service on the server. On Windows, select this component if you want to use BIND instead of the Microsoft DNS.

• Microsoft DNS server

  (Installed by default on Windows). Deselect this component if you do not want to run the DNS service on the server or if you want to use BIND instead.

Important: If you exclude the DNS server from your installation, the DNS service will not work for websites hosted on your server. Excluding the DNS server makes sense only if you are going to use an external DNS server. Learn more in the section Using External DNS Servers of the Administrator's Guide.

System Monitoring

• Health monitor
  Install this component if you want to track all main server health parameters, such as memory and CPU usage by different services, hard disk utilization, number of running processes, and so on.

Backup and Migration

• Plesk Migrator
  Install this component if you want to perform data transfer from another Plesk or migration from another hosting platform. Install this component to a destination server.

Addition Components (Linux Hosting)

You can extend Plesk functionality by installing additional components. Note that these components require post-installation configuration. Learn more in Appendix G. Configuring Additional Plesk Components.

• Plesk Firewall
  Install this component if you want to protect a Plesk server and private network from unauthorized access with a firewall.
• Plesk VPN
  Install this component if you want to set up a VPN connection between a Plesk server and a remote host through the Plesk GUI.
• Plesk File Server
  Install this component if you want to share files on your Plesk server.
• Watchdog (System monitor)
  Install this component if you want to use the Watchdog software to monitor your system. This ensures that your server is clean from malware, that all services are up and running, and that there is enough free disk space on the server.