Plesk Control Panel for Beginners: 10 Tasks You'll Do Most

Plesk is one of the most widely used hosting control panels. It looks busy the first time you log in, but you will spend most of your time in a handful of places. This tour covers the ten tasks almost every site owner needs, in roughly the order you will meet them. Menu names can vary slightly between Plesk versions and plans, but the layout is the same.

1. Log in and find your way around

You can usually reach Plesk in one click from your host's client area, or log in directly with the address and details from your welcome email. Our guide to accessing Plesk covers both.

The main screens to know:

• Websites & Domains: the home screen for everything related to a domain. Most of the tasks below start here.
• Mail: mailboxes and mail settings.
• Files: the file manager.
• Databases: your MySQL or MariaDB databases.
• WordPress: the WordPress Toolkit, if your plan includes it.

Before anything else, change your password to a strong, unique one and turn on two-factor authentication in your profile settings.

2. Add a domain or subdomain

If your plan allows more than one website, you can add another domain from Websites & Domains. Subdomains such as shop.example.com or test.example.com are added the same way and get their own folder. They are useful for staging copies or separate sections of a site.

Each domain and subdomain has its own settings for hosting, PHP, SSL and logs, so when something only affects one site, always check you are looking at the right domain card before changing anything.

3. Upload and edit files

The File Manager lets you upload, edit, move and unzip files in the browser. Your public website lives in the httpdocs folder for the main domain. Anything you put there is visible on the web, so do not store backups or private files in it.

For larger uploads, use an FTP or SFTP client with the access details shown in Plesk. You can create extra FTP accounts limited to a single folder, which is handy when a designer needs access to only one part of the site.

4. Create a database

Most dynamic sites need a database. In Databases, create a new database and a user with a strong password. Note the database name, user name and host: your application's configuration file needs all three. From the same screen you can open phpMyAdmin to browse tables, run queries, or import and export SQL files.

5. Install WordPress

The WordPress Toolkit installs WordPress in a few clicks, creates the database for you, and keeps track of every WordPress site in your account. From the same place you can:

• Update WordPress core, plugins and themes, or let updates run automatically.
• Clone a site to a staging copy, where your plan supports it.
• Apply security hardening with a few checkboxes.
• Reset the admin password if you are locked out.

6. Create mailboxes

In Mail, create an address, set a password and choose a mailbox size within your plan's limit. You can also add aliases (extra addresses that deliver to the same mailbox) and forwarding to another address. Webmail is available in the browser, and the same mailbox works in Outlook, Apple Mail and phone mail apps over IMAP and SMTP.

7. Check SSL

Under SSL/TLS Certificates you can see which certificate a domain uses and issue a free Let's Encrypt certificate. Make sure HTTPS redirects are on so visitors always reach the secure version. If your host manages Cloudflare for your domain, the certificate may already be in place, so check before changing anything.

8. Make and restore backups

The Backup Manager lets you create a backup of your site, databases and mail, and restore from one. Make a manual backup before any big change: a theme switch, a major plugin update or a migration. If your plan includes daily backups, you can restore from those too. If it does not, download your own copies regularly and store them somewhere other than the server.

9. Choose the PHP version and settings

In the domain's PHP Settings you can pick the PHP version and adjust limits such as memory, maximum upload size and execution time. Use a currently supported PHP version: it is faster and receives security fixes. Test your site after changing versions, as very old plugins sometimes break on newer PHP.

10. Schedule tasks

Scheduled Tasks (cron jobs) run a command or fetch a URL at set times. Typical uses are running a shop's queue, sending scheduled emails, or clearing old files. Our guide to cron jobs in Plesk shows the common patterns.

Bonus: check your logs

When something breaks, the Logs screen for a domain shows recent errors and requests. A 500 error on your site usually has a matching line in the error log that points straight at the cause, often a plugin or a typo in a configuration file.

Where to look when you are stuck

Plesk has a search box at the top of the panel that finds settings, domains and mailboxes by name. It is often quicker than clicking through menus. Many screens also have a short help link that explains each option. And because Plesk is so widely used, the exact wording of an error message usually leads straight to an answer.

Tips for staying out of trouble

• Back up before every significant change.
• Do not edit live files without keeping a copy of the original.
• Keep the number of admin users and FTP accounts small, and remove those you no longer need.
• Keep an eye on disk and traffic usage so limits never surprise you.

Get Plesk with every Zebra plan

Every Zebra hosting plan includes the Plesk control panel and Cloudflare, with free SSL. Shared hosting starts at €2.99 a month and WordPress hosting at €3.99 a month, both billed yearly. Your Plesk account is created automatically about two minutes after payment, and you can open it straight from your client area.