Once all preparation steps are done, you can run the transfer process.
Important: Please make sure that nobody accesses subscriptions from the Hosting Panel during the transfer.
1. Copy subscriptions' hosting settings:
ppa-move-subscriptions copy-hosting config.ini
The tool performs the transfer of all hosting data (system users, cron jobs, web content, and so on) to certain service nodes.
2. Configure Apache on service nodes:
ppa-move-subscriptions configure-apache-on-target config.ini 3. Check that the transfer was completed successfully: All subscriptions were
provisioned to certain nodes and all websites are accessible. To perform such a check, add domain names of the transferred sites and IP addresses of the destination nodes to /etc/hosts.
4. Update subscriptions' IP addresses with the new ones:
ppa-move-subscriptions change-subscription-ip config.ini 5. Transfer APS applications.
ppa-move-subscriptions move-aps-applications config.ini 6. Update DNS records for the transferred domains:
ppa-move-subscriptions reconfigure-dns config.ini
7. Ensure that DNS propagation has ended. This means that you should wait for the period of time which is equal to the sum of TTL and SOA refresh interval. After this you can delete the records you put to /etc/hosts and try to access transferred websites one more time.
8. If subscriptions were transferred successfully, you can remove all data from the source nodes:
ppa-move-subscriptions remove-from-source config.ini Note that this operation is irreversible.
Administering PPA 71
Selecting a Node for a Subscription
When a customer subscribes to a plan, PPA picks up the suitable service node and allocates the resources into a newly created hosting account. The main issue for such automatic provisioning is how to let the system know on what node to provision a certain subscription resource. PPA uses the provisioning attributes for that purpose. A provisioning attribute is a tag that links a hosting plan and nodes which can provide plan services. When a customer subscribes to the plan, PPA matches the attributes assigned to plan services with the attributes of registered nodes. Once the node with the same attribute is found, PPA allocates customer's subscription on that node. PPA has a set of default provisioning attributes. When you add a service node to the system, PPA automatically assigns one of the default attributes to that node. For example, if you add the Apache web server node, PPA assigns the Apache attribute to it. Therefore, typically, you can use PPA without any additional configuration of hosting provisioning - it works out of the box. Nevertheless, if for some reason you want to use your own attributes instead of the default ones, follow the instructions below to
configure automatic hosting provisioning.
Next in this section:
Configuring Automatic Node Selection ... 71
Forcing PPA to Provision Web Hosting and Database Services to the Same Node 72
Configuring Automatic Node Selection
To configure automatic node selection for a certain service:
1. Assign the attribute to a desired node in Infrastructure > Service Nodes > select a node > General > Attributes. You can use one of the predefined attributes or create your own in Products > Attributes.
2. Assign the same attribute to a service you provide with a certain plan (service template) in Products > Service Templates > select a template > Resources > select a resource > Provisioning Attributes. Learn more about service templates and resources in the Operations Guide, chapter Setting Up Your Business Offer.
72 Administering PPA
Forcing PPA to Provision Web Hosting and Database
Services to the Same Node
Sometimes, if a customer subscription contains both web hosting (for example, Apache) and database (for example, MySQL) services, it may be necessary to locate these services strictly on one service node with a mixed role (web and database server).
For example, your environment contains two servers: one providing the MySQL service and one providing both Apache and MySQL services. When PPA starts provisioning a subscription that contains both Apache (with the Apache attribute) and MySQL (with the MySQL attribute) services, it acts in the following way:
1. PPA searches for the node with the Apache attribute and provisions the corresponding service.
2. PPA searches for the node with the MySQL attribute and provisions the service. On this step, PPA may select any node in the system that has the MySQL attribute. In our example, we have two such nodes. This means that the MySQL service may be provisioned on any of these nodes.
If for some reason you want the services to be located on the same node, you can force PPA to do this by using the special WebHost attribute. This attribute (assigned to a database service) is simply a tag for PPA that forces the latter to provision the database service on the same node with the web hosting service instead of searching for a separate node.
To force Plesk Automation to provision web hosting and database
services on the same node (for new service templates):
1. Start creating a service template using the Products > Service Templates > Add Shared Hosting Template wizard.
2. Specify services that should be provided with the template (including web hosting and database hosting service) and click Next.
3. In the Attributes group, select the WebHost attribute. 4. Finish creating the template.
To force Plesk Automation to provision web hosting and database
services on the same node (for existing service templates):
1. Open the appropriate service template in Products > Service Templates.
2. On the Resources tab, remove the desired MySQL / PostgreSQL / Microsoft SQL database resource type.
On the Resources tab, add the MySQL / PostgreSQL / Microsoft SQL database at web server resource type to the template. These types already have the WebHost attribute assigned.
Administering PPA 73
Managing Customer Accounts
PPA allows you to perform a number of operations on customer accounts described in this section.
Creating Customer Accounts
For details on how to create customers, refer to the section Creating Customer Accounts (on page 48).
Changing Contact Information
You can do this at Operations > Customers > select a customer> Summary tab > Edit Contacts.
Changing a Customer's Password to the Hosting Panel
You can do this at Operations > Customers > select a customer> General tab > Staff members > select a user > General tab > Edit.
Note: PPA does not automatically notify users when their username or password is changed. You should notify your users of the new account credentials. This is
especially important because users who need to retrieve their passwords specify their usernames and e-mail addresses. If you do not notify users, they will not be able to use PPA.
Suspending Customer Accounts
Access to PPA is blocked for suspended customers and auxiliary users that they created. The subscriptions of suspended customers are suspended too, meaning that their websites, FTP and mail services will no longer be accessible to Internet users. You can suspend a customer account at Operations > Customers > select a customer> Disable account.
Activating Customer Accounts
Once an account is activated, all its subscriptions are activated too, and all the services start working properly.
You can activate a customer account at Operations > Customers > select a customer> Enable account.
74 Administering PPA
Removing Customer Accounts
Once a customer account is removed, all subscriptions and websites of the reseller and their customers are removed as well.
You can do this at Operations > Customers > Delete.
Managing Reseller Accounts
You can perform the following operations on reseller accounts described in this section.
Creating Reseller Accounts
For details on how to create resellers, refer to the section Creating Reseller Accounts (on page 54).
Changing Contact Information
You can do this at Operations > Resellers > select a reseller> Summary tab > Edit Contacts.
Changing a Reseller's Password
You can do this at Operations > Resellers > select a reseller> General tab > Staff members > select a user > General tab > Edit.
Note: PPA does not automatically notify users when their username or password is changed. You should notify your users of the new account credentials. This is
especially important because users who need to retrieve their passwords specify their usernames and e-mail addresses. If you do not notify users, they will not be able to use PPA.
Suspending Reseller Accounts
Access to PPA is blocked for suspended resellers and their customers. The
subscriptions of suspended reseller accounts and their customers are suspended too, meaning that their websites, FTP and mail services will no longer be accessible to Internet users.
Administering PPA 75
Activating Reseller Accounts
Once a reseller account is activated, all its subscriptions are activated too, and all the services start working properly.
You can do this at Operations > Resellers > select a reseller>Enable account.
Removing Reseller Accounts
Once a reseller account is removed, all subscriptions and websites of the reseller and their customers are removed as well.
76 Administering PPA
Managing Staff Members
This section describes the operations on staff member accounts that you can perform in PPA.
Creating Staff Member Accounts for Your Own Needs
1.
Run the wizard in License & Security > Security Manager > Staff Members > Add
New Staff Member.
2.
Specify a username, a password, and contact information.
3.
Click Submit.
By default, your staff members are not granted any permissions. To grant the necessary permissions for operations, do the following:
1.
Go to License & Security > Security Manager > Staff Members > staff member's
name > Hosting Roles tab.
2.
Click Add.
3.
Select a checkbox corresponding to a hosting role.
The Account Administrator role grants all possible permissions.If you want to review and adjust a list of granted permissions for a role, click the role name > Privileges tab > Edit.
4.
Click Submit.
Creating Staff Member Accounts for Resellers
1.
Run the wizard Operations > Resellers > reseller's company name > General
tab > Staff Members > Add New Staff Member in the Administration Panel.
2.
Specify a username, a password, and contact information.
3.
Click Submit.
By default, a reseller's staff member is not granted any permissions. To grant the necessary permissions for operations, do the following:
1.
Go to Operations > Resellers > reseller's company name > General tab > Staff
Members > staff member name > Hosting Roles tab.
2.
Click Add.
3.
Select a checkbox corresponding to a hosting role.
The Account Administrator role grants all possible permissions.If you want to review and adjust a list of granted permissions for a role, click the role name > Privileges tab > Edit.
Administering PPA 77
4.
Click Submit.
Creating Staff Member Accounts for Customers
To create a staff member account for a customer:
1.
Run the wizard Operations > Customers > customer's company name >
General tab > Staff Members > Add New Staff Member in the Administration
Panel.
2.
Select the subscription for which the staff member must be created.
Click Next.
3.
Specify a username, password, contact information. Click Next.
4.
Specify whether you want to restrict management of subscriptions. Click
Next.
5.
If you have chosen to restrict access to certain subscriptions, select the
checkboxes corresponding to the subscriptions that the user is allowed
to manage, and click Next.
6.
Click Finish.
By default, a customer's staff member is not granted any permissions. To grant the necessary permissions for operations, do the following:
1.
Go to Operations > Customers > customer's company name > General tab >
Staff Members > staff member name > Hosting Roles tab.
2.
Click Add.
3.
Select a checkbox corresponding to a hosting role.
The Account Administrator role grants all possible permissions.If you want to review and adjust a list of granted permissions for a role, click the role name > Privileges tab > Edit.
4.
Click Submit.
Changing Contact Information
To change the contact information of a reseller's staff member, go to Operations > Resellers > reseller's company name> General tab> Staff Members > staff member name > Contacts tab > Edit.
To change the contact information of a customer's staff member, go to Operations > Customers > customer's company name> General tab> Staff Members > staff member name> Contacts tab > Edit.
78 Administering PPA
Changing a User's Password to the Hosting Panel
To change the password of a reseller's staff member, go to Operations > Resellers > reseller's company name> General tab> Staff Members > staff member name> Edit. To change the password of a customer's staff member, go to Operations > Customers > customer's company name> General tab> Staff Members > staff member name> Edit. Note: PPA does not automatically notify users when their username or password is changed. You should notify your users of the new account credentials. This is
especially important because users who need to retrieve their passwords specify their usernames and e-mail addresses. If you do not notify users, they will not be able to use PPA.
Removing Staff Member Accounts
To remove a reseller's staff member, go to Operations > Resellers > reseller's company name> General tab> Staff Members, select the checkbox corresponding to the staff member's name, and click Delete.
To remove a customer's staff member, go to Operations > Customers > customer's company name> General tab> Staff Members, select the checkbox corresponding to the staff member's name, and click Delete.
Using Command-Line Utilities
You can run Plesk Automation command-line utilities using only one universal utility called ppa. It can be run from any directory on the management node.
To run a command line utility:
1. Log in to the management node as root. 2. Run the desired utility:ppa.<utility name> [parameters] [options]
For example, to get help for the sn_test utility, you can call ppa.sn_test --help instead of specifying the full path to the utility: /usr/local/ppa/bin/sn_test -- help.
The List of PPA Command-Line Utilities
Name Description
admin_passwd Sets and gets administrator's password
Administering PPA 79
apache_restart_inte
rval Sets Apache restart interval
apsmail Manages APS connector packages used for connecting external mail servers
billing Turns on/off the Billing Panel
sn_test Checks service nodes for compatibility with Plesk Automation
dns_restart_interva
l Sets DNS restart interval
log_converter Converts poa.log to the human-readable format
logs_collector Collect logs from all service nodes
hostname Properly sets the host name of the management node
ip_address Properly sets the IP address of the management node
update Updates or upgrades Plesk Automation to the latest version
services Checks the status of services on service nodes
session_timeout Sets the session timeout for the Plesk Automation UI
firewall Manages firewall rules
sn_list Displays the state of service nodes
performance_setting
80 Administering PPA
Changing Interface Language
The UI language in PPA is managed separately for the Administration and Hosting Panels on the Administration Panel and Hosting Panel tabs at the System > Settings > Internationalization & Localization.
The Language of the Administration Panel
Note: As hosting customers have access only to the Hosting Panel, changing the language of the Administration Panel for customers' staff members will not affect them in any way.
The Administration Panel language is specified during PPA installation. PPA comes with support for 10 languages for the Administration Panel. The default language is English. If you want to add support of a language that is not supported by default, refer to the section Adding and Customizing Administration Panel Locales (on page 82).
After the installation, you can set any of 10 languages as default for your resellers with the Make Default for My Resellers button at the System > Settings > Internationalization & Localization > Administration Panel tab. PPA will set the selected default language for all newly created reseller accounts and their staff members. Changing the default language will not affect already created accounts.
In addition, you (as the PPA administrator) can change the Administration Panel language individually for any staff member in the system. Resellers can change the language only for staff members they own.
To change the Administration Panel language for a certain staff member: 1. Go to License & Security > Security Manager.
2. Select the staff member and change their language on the Regional Settings tab. To change the language for the PPA administrator, choose the one you need at the Personal Info > Regional Settings > Language tab.
The Language of the Hosting Panel
The list of languages available for the Hosting Panel is defined by your PPA main license key.
You can set any of the available languages as default for all Hosting Panel users (staff members) with the Make Default button at the System > Settings > Internationalization & Localization > Hosting Panel tab. PPA will set the selected default language for all staff members including the existing ones (regardless of whether they are owned by a reseller or a customer or the PPA administrator).
Administering PPA 81 Additionally, if the the Hosting Panel does not support the locale you need by default, you can create this locale by yourself or with the help of a third party. To learn how to create a new locale for the Hosting Panel, refer to the Guide to Localizing Parallels Plesk Panel.
There is no direct way to change the language of the Hosting Panel for a certain staff member. You only can enable or disable certain languages on the System > Settings > Internationalization & Localization > Hosting Panel tab. If a language is enabled, staff members can select it for their UI in the Hosting Panel >Account tab > My Profile > Panel language.
Next in this section:
82 Administering PPA