Support

Parallels Plesk Panel Lifecycle Policy

Parallels Plesk Panel Versions

The currently supported Parallels Plesk Panel versions are:

  • Parallels Plesk Panel 11
  • Parallels Plesk Panel 10
  • Parallels Plesk Panel 9

Lifecycle Policy:

  • A major version is defined as any change in the first number of the version number. For example, Plesk 9 and Plesk 10 are different major versions whereas Plesk 10.2 and 10.3 are not different major versions.
  • Parallels will always provide software patches and accept technical support requests for the latest Parallels Plesk Panel major version and the immediately preceding major version.
  • Each major version will be fully supported for at least a period of four (4) years after release.
    • Extended Support: After this 4 year period, the product will no longer be available for new purchases and will continue to receive patches only for critical issues. This will last for a period of six (6) months.
    • End-of-Life: Once the Extended Support period is over, the product will no longer receive further development and technical support requests will no longer be accepted.
  • In order to ensure stable operation, it is required to be on the latest update / patch within a major version. For example, this means the latest 9.5.x version in the Plesk 9 series, the latest 10.4.x in the Plesk 10 series, or the latest 11.0.x in the Plesk 11 series.
  • Support for a particular instance is also dependent on using a currently supported operating system. This policy is described in the relevant section below.
  • Even for unsupported instances, Parallels will continue to accept technical support requests that are related to updating to a supported version or environment.

The below tables describe when specific versions of Parallels Plesk Panel will enter the Extended Support phase and when patches / support will no longer be available for them. If affected by one of the below dates, customers are encouraged to upgrade to a supported Parallels Plesk Panel version.

Version Lifecycle Dates:

Product Released Extended Support End of Life & Support
Parallels Plesk Panel 11 June 13, 2012 June 13, 2016 December 13, 2016
Parallels Plesk Panel 10 November 3, 2010 November 3, 2014 May 3, 2015
Parallels Plesk Panel 9 December 9, 2008 December 9, 2012 June 9, 2013
Parallels Plesk Panel 8 September 20, 2006 March 1, 2012 September 1, 2012
Parallels Small Business Panel* November 3, 2009 August 1, 2011 July 1, 2012
Parallels Plesk Panel 7 and earlier February 10, 2004 n/a January 1, 2012

 

10 Tricks to Creating a Great Website

How to Create a Great Website

If you want your business to be a success you must have a website, otherwise you’re missing out on a huge audience.

However any old website won’t do – it must be a usable one. So with that in mind, here are some practical tips to get you started.

1. Don’t delay.

Don’t hang around: buy your domain name now if you haven’t already and put up a holding page to let people know you’re developing the site. Get the basic bones of the site up and running and then develop it as you go along. This way you’ll build an audience right from the very beginning.

2. Focus on appealing to your ideal customers.

Do you know who your customer is? All successful websites are built on this knowledge. Keep it simple and focus on providing them with exactly what they need. Know who you are aiming to connect with before you start building the site so you are heading in the right direction.

3. Invest in a web designer to create your website.

It might be tempting to do everything yourself, but expert designers are experts for a reason. They know how to appeal to your target audience and build the website so it is easy to navigate and use. You’ll also get a much better quality website in a shorter amount of time than it would take you to create one yourself.

4. Minimise your use of images.

Images and graphics do have a place on a website. However they shouldn’t dominate the text, because ultimately people will visit your website for information rather than images. Using too many of them can also lead to a much slower loading website, and that could send some people elsewhere when they want their information quickly.

5. Make sure the site works with all browsers and screen sizes.

If you hire a web designer they’ll do this for you – taking another headache out of your list of things to do. Your site might look great for someone using Firefox but it may not appear properly for someone using another browser. You want it to look its best at all times so people don’t give up and go elsewhere.

6. Make sure you are easy to get in touch with.

A key part of developing your website is to make sure all your contact details are included. It is incredible how many people forget to do this. Make sure the information is easy to access from all parts of the website too. If someone wants to get in touch but can’t find the required information, they’ll go elsewhere.

7. Entice people to come back by letting them know what’s coming in the near future.

This is another good way to pique people’s interest. Perhaps you have a new product or service coming soon. Promote it and get people to come back for a closer look in the near future. Announce a forthcoming blog post or a new web page focusing on a new area of your business for example.

8. Link to and from your website.

You don’t want to link to competitor’s sites, but you can link to sites that provide more information on your work or business. Furthermore it is a good idea to create quality links from other sites back to your own. This can be done through promoting your website as positively and consistently as you can.

9. Submit your website to web directories.

This is one of the best ways to get indexed in the search engines as quickly as you can. While the search engines will find your site eventually, you want them to know where you are without delay. The sooner your site can be found, the sooner you will start getting traffic. Don’t forget to contact web indexers either, to ensure the URL of your website is listed in all the right places.

10. Provide strong navigation and a good linking structure.

Have you ever found yourself on a website and lost track of where you are? If you have you’ll know how important good navigation is. Make sure you provide a good linking structure between pages. Again, this is something a good quality web designer can help you with. Ensure your visitors can always find their way back to the home page or to other parts of the website.

As you can see, there are a number of techniques you can use to make sure your website is strong, easy to navigate and welcoming to your visitors. The better your website is, the more likely it is people will come back and visit again and again.

New [SPAM] policy on parked domain forwarding services

Re: How we deal with SPAM for email forwarding

We have changed the way we deal with spam for all emails managed by our parked domain services. External services such as Google/Gmail, Hotmail, AOL are constantly tightening their incoming email requirements and so in an effort to minimise false positives further, we have applied the following features:

1) We have modified the score for Spam Assassin to eliminate false positives.

2) We have activated Spam Assassin for all emails. This includes incoming mail for mailboxes, out going mail for mail boxes and emails forwarded to external destinations.

3) Email determined to be SPAM by Spam Assassin is no longer quarantined but will continue to be forwarded (or delivered if you have a Mailbox) with the addition of the text “[SPAM]” added to the subject header.

4) The Spam Assassin headers will remain intact for all forwarded email. This will show the receiving mail server that we have already evaluated the email and marked the score. The receiving mail server may perform additional checks.

5) Google’s Gmail policy states that even if email arrives that they determine is spam, it will still be delivered as long as the text “SPAM” is included in the email subject header. See Best practices when forwarding to Gmail for more information.

6) These changes are only relevant to parked domain services (microlite1) and are not relevant to our Plesk hosting services.

If you see an email with [SPAM] in the subject header this just means that this MAY be spam, it is down to you to decide as it is impossible to know for sure on an automated basis. Other than the subject header change the email will be treated normally as with any other email. The modification of the subject header will ensure that all emails are delivered to your external services.

As always, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the support teams.

Cannot Receive Email from Sender – DENIED_RDNS_MISSING

The sender mail server has no reverse DNS entry. You can verify the reverse DNS setting here: Check rDNS

The reverse DNS of your IP Address is typical of a dynamic/residential IP Address. Please have it updated to something unique like mail.example.com, or use the mail servers your ISP provides for residential customer traffic.

rDNS must be in the form of a fully-qualified domain name. rDNS containing in-addr.arpa are not acceptable, as these are merely placeholders for a valid PTR record. rDNS consisting of IP addresses are also not acceptable, as they do not correctly establish the relationship between domain and IP address.

rDNS that may be similar to dynamic IP space (containing pool, dhcp, dyn, etc.) may be treated as suspect, and should therefore should be changed to reflect a fully-qualified domain name with standard reverse DNS.

How to delete files older than a specific number of minutes

Re: Use BASH to delete files older than so many minutes

When working with temporary files it is often good housekeeping to clear (delete) files older than a specific number of minutes. Use the following in bash command to achieve this goal:

# find /tmp/file* -type f -mmin +65 -delete

The above command will delete all files older than 65 minutes. Modify as appropriate.