Linux-Server-Management-Toolkit/PLESK_REFERENCE.md

Plesk Control Panel Reference

This document maps Plesk paths and structures for toolkit compatibility.

Plesk Detection

# Version file
/usr/local/psa/version

# Admin bin directory
/usr/local/psa/bin/

# CLI tool
/usr/local/psa/bin/plesk

Directory Structure

User/Domain Home Base

/var/www/vhosts/

Structure:

/var/www/vhosts/
├── domain.com/               # Main domain directory
│   ├── httpdocs/            # Public web root
│   ├── httpsdocs/           # SSL web root (if separate)
│   ├── cgi-bin/
│   ├── private/
│   ├── logs/                # (FUTURE: will move here in Plesk Obsidian 18.0.50+)
│   ├── statistics/
│   └── tmp/
├── subdomain.domain.com/     # Subdomain (separate directory)
│   ├── httpdocs/
│   └── ...
└── system/                   # System directory (logs, configs)
    ├── domain.com/
    │   ├── logs/            # Current location of access/error logs
    │   ├── conf/            # Apache/Nginx configs
    │   ├── etc/             # PHP.ini and other configs
    │   └── php-fpm.sock     # PHP-FPM socket
    └── subdomain.domain.com/
        └── ...

Log Files

Current Structure (Plesk 17.x - 18.0.49):

/var/www/vhosts/system/DOMAIN/logs/
├── access_log               # HTTP access log
├── access_ssl_log           # HTTPS access log
├── error_log                # Error log (both HTTP/HTTPS)
├── proxy_access_log         # Nginx proxy access (if applicable)
├── proxy_access_ssl_log     # Nginx proxy HTTPS access
└── proxy_error_log          # Nginx proxy errors

Future Structure (Plesk Obsidian 18.0.50+):

/var/www/vhosts/DOMAIN/logs/
├── access_log
├── access_ssl_log
├── error_log
└── ...

Configuration Files

Per-Domain Configs:

/var/www/vhosts/system/DOMAIN/conf/
├── httpd.conf               # Apache vhost config
├── nginx.conf               # Nginx config
├── vhost.conf               # Custom Apache directives
├── vhost_ssl.conf           # Custom SSL directives
└── php.ini                  # In ../etc/php.ini

PHP Configuration:

/var/www/vhosts/system/DOMAIN/etc/
└── php.ini                  # Domain-specific PHP settings

PHP-FPM

Pool Sockets:

/var/www/vhosts/system/DOMAIN/php-fpm.sock

System PHP-FPM:

/opt/plesk/php/X.Y/          # Plesk-managed PHP versions
/usr/bin/php                 # System default PHP

Plesk CLI Commands

Domain Management

# List all domains
plesk bin domain --list

# Get domain info
plesk bin domain --info DOMAIN

# Get domain document root
plesk bin domain --info DOMAIN | grep "www root" | awk '{print $NF}'

User/Subscription Management

# List all subscriptions
plesk bin subscription --list

# Get subscription info
plesk bin subscription --info DOMAIN

# List users
plesk bin user --list

Database Management

# List databases
plesk bin database --list

# List databases for domain
plesk bin database --list -domain DOMAIN

Log Files

# Get log file path for domain
# Current: /var/www/vhosts/system/DOMAIN/logs/
# Future: /var/www/vhosts/DOMAIN/logs/

PHP Version Detection

# List PHP handlers
plesk bin php_handler --list

# Get domain PHP version
plesk bin site --info DOMAIN | grep "PHP version"

Service Management

# Apache
plesk bin service_node --start httpd
plesk bin service_node --stop httpd
plesk bin service_node --restart httpd

# Nginx
plesk bin service_node --start nginx
plesk bin service_node --stop nginx

# PHP-FPM
plesk bin service_node --restart plesk-php*-fpm

User/Domain Discovery

Finding All Domains

# Method 1: Using Plesk CLI
plesk bin domain --list

# Method 2: Directory scan
ls -1d /var/www/vhosts/*/ | grep -v "system\|chroot\|.skel\|default" | xargs -I{} basename {}

# Method 3: From system directory
ls -1 /var/www/vhosts/system/ | grep -v "^[0-9]"

Finding Domain Owner

# Get subscription owner
plesk bin subscription --info DOMAIN | grep "Owner's login"

Finding Document Roots

# Main domain
/var/www/vhosts/DOMAIN/httpdocs

# Subdomains
/var/www/vhosts/SUBDOMAIN.DOMAIN/httpdocs

# Via CLI
plesk bin domain --info DOMAIN | grep "www root"

PHP Detection

Plesk-Managed PHP Versions

# Location
/opt/plesk/php/*/bin/php

# List all versions
ls -1d /opt/plesk/php/*/bin/php 2>/dev/null

# Get versions
for php in /opt/plesk/php/*/bin/php; do
    $php -v | head -1
done

System PHP

/usr/bin/php
php -v

Database Discovery

MySQL/MariaDB

# Plesk stores DB mappings in:
/var/lib/psa/dumps/

# Get databases via CLI
plesk bin database --list

# Database naming convention
DOMAIN_DBNAME (underscores replace dots)

Subdomain Handling

Important: Plesk creates separate directories for subdomains

# Main domain
/var/www/vhosts/domain.com/httpdocs

# Subdomain gets its own directory
/var/www/vhosts/sub.domain.com/httpdocs

# Logs
/var/www/vhosts/system/sub.domain.com/logs/

Email

Mailboxes

# Location
/var/qmail/mailnames/DOMAIN/USERNAME/Maildir/

Mail Logs

/var/log/maillog

Important Differences from cPanel

1. No /home directory structure - Uses /var/www/vhosts
2. Subdomains are separate - Not under main domain's directory
3. Logs in system/ - Not in domain directory (until Plesk 18.0.50+)
4. PHP-FPM per domain - Socket in system/DOMAIN/
5. No ea-php - Uses /opt/plesk/php/X.Y/
6. CLI is different - Uses plesk bin not WHM API
7. User != Domain - Subscription owners, not cPanel users

Toolkit Compatibility Requirements

Path Variables

SYS_USER_HOME_BASE="/var/www/vhosts"
SYS_LOG_DIR="/var/www/vhosts/system"

Domain Enumeration

Must use:

1. plesk bin domain --list
2. Directory scan excluding: system, chroot, .skel, default, fs

Log File Discovery

# Current Plesk
find /var/www/vhosts/system/*/logs/ -name "access*log" -o -name "error_log"

# Future Plesk (18.0.50+)
find /var/www/vhosts/*/logs/ -name "access*log" -o -name "error_log"

PHP-FPM Pool Discovery

# Find all PHP-FPM pools
find /var/www/vhosts/system/*/php-fpm.sock -type s 2>/dev/null

# Or check config
grep -r "listen = " /var/www/vhosts/system/*/etc/ 2>/dev/null

Version-Specific Notes

Plesk Obsidian (18.0.x)

• Version 18.0.50+ moves logs from system/DOMAIN/logs/ to DOMAIN/logs/
• Toolkit should check both locations for compatibility

Plesk Onyx (17.x)

• Logs in system/DOMAIN/logs/
• Stable structure