1. Install Plesk

   Create a clean installation of Plesk. For instructions, see Installing Plesk for Linux Using Installer Console.

2. Configure Plesk

   Configure Plesk exactly the way you wish the cloned instances to appear. It may include the following:

   • User interface layout through custom views - configured at post-install configuration, see Plesk Single Server Post-install Configuration.
   • Interface preferences and localization, see Appearance and Branding.
   • Control panel appearance and interface elements, see Customizing Plesk Appearance and GUI Elements.
   • Hosting plans and subscriptions, see Hosting Plans and Subscriptions.
   • DNS template, see DNS Template.

3. Prepare for Cloning

   Use the cloning --update -prepare-public-image true command to prepare a Plesk instance for cloning. You may also choose to configure certain additional options:

   • Preserve the initial configuration

     By default, the cloning command will reset the configuration parameters of the instance: each cloned instance will have to be configured anew. Use -reset-init-conf false to preserve the initial configuration during cloning.

   • Reset the license

     Optionally, you may choose to remove the product license during cloning, so it is not copied throughout the cloned instances. Use -reset-license true to accomplish that.

   • Disable updates after cloning

     After the cloned instance is started, the availability of updates for the current version is checked explicitly and the updates are installed if necessary. Installation of updates is working under the same rules as in daily maintenance task. Updates installation can be disabled if option -skip-update true is passed while cloning.

   When IP pool reconfiguration is enabled, each time the server with Plesk is restarted, it will rediscover the IP addresses and reconfigure its IP pool accordingly. Use this when the virtual servers are allocated IP addresses dynamically. You may skip this step if the virtual servers you want to copy Plesk onto use static IP addresses. Also, omitting this option will make Plesk start faster because Plesk will not have to reconfigure its IP pool on each startup.

   # /usr/local/psa/bin/ipmanage --auto-remap-ip-addresses true
   

   For detailed information on the cloning utility, see cloning: Server Cloning Settings.

4. Create a Snapshot

   Stop (shut down) the virtual machine. Then, create a virtual machine image (snapshot) by means of virtual machines management software you use. Refer to the software vendors’ documentation for respective instructions.

Example: Preparing a Plesk for Linux instance for cloning

The following command prepares Plesk for cloning by resetting sensitive data and product license while preserving the results of the post-install configuration, and disabling automatic updates.

# /usr/local/psa/bin/cloning --update -prepare-public-image true -reset-init-conf false -reset-license true -skip-update true