Chapter 6. Logging Into and Off the Server Administrator

Table of Contents

Accessing your Control Panel
Logging In
Logging Out

Accessing your Control Panel

For security purposes, Plesk Server Administrator (PSA) uses SSL, so both clients and administrators need to access the control panel through their browser, using HTTPS: secure protocol. To bring up the control panel for PSA 2.5, follow these steps:

Open your web browser.
Administrators and Clients can access the control panel from different urls.
- Administrators - HTTPS://'Primary IP':8443 (Primary IP refers to the primary IP address of your server - any IP address on your server will work)
- Clients - HTTPS://'Client Domain':8443 (Client Domain refers to any active domain that resolves to the server)
NOTE
These are the preferred ways of accessing the control panel. However, the Administrator can access the control panel using any IP or name associated with the server.
The control panel login screen with the username and password fields should appear.
Proceed with the logging in process.

NOTE

By default, PSA comes with a self-signed certificate that will not be recognized by your browser as a valid certificate. You can still access your control panel, but you will receive a warning message. If you purchase a valid certificate, you will not receive this warning.

Logging In

When you access the Plesk Server Administrator (PSA) control panel, you must enter your login name and password for security purposes.

Enter your PSA login name in the first text box.
Enter your password in the second box. As you type your password, the letters are masked by asterisks for security purposes.
Click Login to proceed.
Upon your initial log in as administrator you will first be required to accept the PSA product license agreement before being able to utilize PSA.
Also upon your initial log in PSA will need confirmation on the IP-Address to be used for name-based hosting as well as the hostname and domain name for the server. PSA will attempt to properly populate these fields from information found on the server.

IMPORTANT

It is very important to note the following:

As a system administrator, you can log in for the first time with the default login name admin and password of setup (both are case sensitive - lower case). Be sure to change the password the first time you administer your server.
Every PSA page has a Help button in the bottom right hand corner. Click Help for detailed information relating to using the current page.
When you log in as a system administrator, you enter the system on the Clients List page. When you log on as a client, you enter into your domain list. When you log on as a domain owner, you enter into that domain's main administration page.

Logging Out

You can leave the PSA interface at any time.

Every screen has a Log Out button in the top right hand corner. Click Log Out to leave PSA.
The PSA asks you to confirm that you really want to leave the system: Click OK to leave, or Cancel to continue.