At Plesk, we pride ourselves on our extensive catalog of extensions, ready-made to install directly through your Plesk account. To that end, we regularly update and revamp the available extensions – as well as our core software, Plesk Obsidian – to create the best fit for your business based on your feedback.
That’s why in September 2021 we are releasing a powerful new update to Obsidian which includes significant new default extensions: the SSH Terminal and the Mail Log Browser extensions. On Plesk Obsidian version 18.0.38 (and later), new and existing users will have these two extensions automatically installed!
Let’s take a look at how this Obsidian update improves your experience, and what features to look out for to protect and shield access to root files.
SSH Terminal Extension
Benefits of the SSH Terminal Extension
How is your Plesk experience improved by the SSH Terminal extension?
- Quicker, easier access to the SSH Terminal ; Subscription owners can receive chrooted access to their web-spaces, right from the Plesk GUI! Just make sure you manually enable this in the Web Hosting Access.
- Auto-encrypted access to the server’s console
- Root access to the server, only available to admins
How to disable root access on the SSH Terminal Extension
With this extension enabled on Plesk sites, subscribers get chrooted access, while admins will now have root access to the server.
For some businesses such as service providers who offer managed hosting services, permitting root access to admins is not suitable. So, here’s a handy guide to keeping root access locked. There are three ways of disabling root access for this extension:
- Disable running scheduled tasks on behalf of the ‘root’ user. In this case, the ‘SSH Terminal’ extension respects the setting and does not expose root access.
- Disable root access using the following panel.ini option:
[ext-ssh-terminal]
rootAccessAllowed = false - Add ‘SSH Terminal’ extension to the blacklist – this will prevent installation on the server – using the following panel.ini option:
[extensions]
blacklist = ssh-terminal, panel-ini-editor
For more detailed instructions, take a look at this article.
Mail Log Browser Extension
Benefits of the Mail Log Browser Extension
- Access and keep track on your mail service
- View and manage the status of all emails sent and received through your server
- Filter your mail log to find and resolve issues fast
- Postfix and Qmail support
- Real-time updates
As with the SSH Terminal extension, the Mail Log Browser extension will automatically be installed with the Plesk Obsidian update, so no action is required from the user.
What else is updated?
In every new version of Plesk Obsidian, our community of talented developers continue to expand and improve the platform and services. Here are just a few more of the improvements this time:
- Dynamic lists: the list view has been simplified to make it easier to focus on individual domains, as well as offering WordPress shortcuts to the most popular features.
- SFTP Backups now with increased speed to keep your remote storage even safer.
And much more! Get all the latest news and product updates here!
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Have any doubts about the latest Plesk Obsidian release? Let us know in the comments or get in touch with our team!