Plesk Obsidian is the new generation of the very popular Plesk control panel for website hosts. Plesk Obsidian has numerous advanced features and includes support for the latest tech, including Git, AutoSSL and Docker.
Plesk Hardware Requirements
As any other complex software solution, Plesk Obsidian is dependent on hardware resources.
Plesk Minimum Requirements
- The minimum amount of RAM required for installing and running Plesk on Linux is 512 MB + 1 GB swap. On Windows – 2 GB of RAM.
- The minimum amount of free disk space required for installing and running Plesk is 10 GB on Linux and 30 GB on Windows
Plesk Recommended Requirements
For an ordinary shared hosting environment we recommend that you have at least 1GB of RAM per 40 – 50 websites. So, 200 websites would imply Plesk hardware requirements of a minimum of 4GB. We base this recommendation on the following assumptions:
- On average, shared hosting servers see that about 10% of websites are active, in other words 10% of websites have a persistent level of traffic week in, week out
- 128MB of RAM will handle most websites. For example:
- 64MB for WordPress
- 64MB for Joomla
- 128MB for Drupal
- 128MB for Symfony
- A maximum of 1 to 3 simultaneous visitors for each website, with no more than 500 unique visitors per website on any given day
Websites with higher traffic (for example, 5 to 10 concurrent visitors and a total of 1,000 to 30,000 visitors per day) will require more RAM, in the range of 500MB to 1GB for each website. Also note that Plesk hardware requirements means that you need enough disk space for memory swapping.
| Amount of RAM on the server | Recommended free disk space for swapping |
| Less than 1 GB | 1 GB |
| 1 GB or more | 1/2 * the amount of RAM |
As concerns disk space – we recommend having this much disk space for hosting:
| Type of hosting | Recommended free disk space for websites |
| Typical shared hosting (100-500 websites per server) | Between 2 and 2.5 GB per website |
| Dedicated VPS hosting (1-10 websites per server) | Between 4 and 12 GB per website |
Plesk Software Requirements
Plesk Obsidian is dependent on operating system and its software environment.
Supported Operating Systems
Linux
Plesk Obsidian for Linux can run on the following operating systems:
| Operating system | SNI support | IPv6 support |
| Debian 9 64-bit ** | Yes | Yes |
| Debian 10 64-bit ** | Yes | Yes |
| Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit ** | Yes | Yes |
| Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit ** | Yes | Yes |
| Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit ** | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS 7.x 64-bit | Yes | Yes |
| CentOS 8.x 64-bit *** | Yes | Yes |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x 64-bit * | Yes | Yes |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x 64-bit * | Yes | Yes |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x 64-bit * | Yes | Yes |
| CloudLinux 7.1 and later 64-bit | Yes | Yes |
| Virtuozzo Linux 7 64-bit | Yes | Yes |
* – You need to enable the “Optional” channel to install Plesk Obsidian on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
** – Plesk only supports Debian and Ubuntu servers running the “systemd” init system. Compatibility with “sysvinit” has not been tested nor guaranteed.
Notes:
- Before you start a Plesk installation, ensure that the package manager repositories (apt/yum/zipper) are configured and that these can be accessed from the server
- Currently Plesk supports CloudLinux, CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Plesk supports all available minor versions for these three OSs.
Windows
Plesk Obsidian for Microsoft Windows can run on the following operating systems:
| Operating system | SNI support | IPv6 support |
| Windows Server 2012 (64-bit, Standard, Foundation, Datacenter editions), including Server Core installations | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit, Standard, Foundation, Datacenter editions ), including Server Core installations | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 (64-bit, Standard, Foundation, Datacenter editions ), including Server Core installations | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 (64-bit, Standard, Foundation, Datacenter editions), including Server Core installations | Yes | Yes |
Plesk no longer supports Windows Server 2003, we recommend that you pick a more recent version of Windows Server according to the life cycle policy.
Note that the Plesk life cycle policy states that support for Windows Server 2008 has ceased on January 13, 2017. Also note that some Plesk features are not supported on Windows Server 2008. Plesk currently recommends that you use Windows Server 2012 R2 or later for running Plesk on Windows.
You must configure a static IP address on the OS before you install Plesk for Windows.
Plesk for Windows only supports NTFS and is an essential element of Plesk software requirements for Windows.
Support for ASP (active server pages) and FrontPage Server Extensions requires manual installation – you must install these components yourself.
To install on Windows Server 2008 you must first acquire and install Windows Installer 4.5, available from Microsoft.
Using Microsoft SQL Server in Plesk for Windows requires that Microsoft SQL Server is configured to use either standard security mode or mixed security mode. If Microsoft SQL Server is not already on your machine, install it while you install Plesk for Windows. It will be configured username “sa” and a password which is randomly chosen.
Plesk Installation Requirements
When installing Plesk, pay attention to the following installation requirements:
CloudLinux Support
Note that link traversal protection on CloudLinux can cause many different Plesk issues. To avoid Plesk issues when link traversal protection is enabled, first disable the fs.protected_symlinks_create kernel option.
Active Directory Domain Controllers Support
We recommend that Plesk is not installed on a server that also acts as either a backup or a primary domain controller. If you do so you may find that the server crashes when domains with some names are created.
AppArmor Support
Plesk Obsidian supports AppArmor on Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 only. Before installing Plesk Obsidian on Ubuntu 12.04 or any supported Debian version, disable AppArmor first.
Supported browsers
The following browsers are supported:
Desktop
- Mozilla Firefox (latest) for Windows and Mac OS
- Microsoft Internet Explorer® 11.x for Windows
- Microsoft Edge® for Windows 10
- Apple Safari (latest) for Mac OS
- Google Chrome (latest) for Windows and Mac OS
- Opera (latest) for Windows and Mac OS
Smartphones and Tablets
- Chrome Mobile
- Default browser (Safari) on iOS 8
- Default browser on Android 4.x
- Default browser (IE) on Windows Phone 8
Supported virtualization
The following virtualization platforms are supported:
- VMware
- XEN
- Virtuozzo 7
- OpenVZ
- KVM
- Hyper-V
- LXC
Notes:
- Included in support is ensuring that Plesk functions properly, supports also includes discount licenses for “virtual servers”.
- Note that your license key may restrict you to running Plesk on a specific platform only. Your license key may be considered invalid in a different environment, however some functions such as Plesk repair, installation and others will remain working.
Earlier Versions Supported for Upgrade
Plesk Obsidian supports upgrade from the following earlier versions:
- Plesk Onyx 17.8 for Linux/Windows (x64 only)
- Plesk Onyx 17.5 for Linux/Windows (x64 only)
- Plesk Onyx 17.0 for Linux/Windows (x64 only)
Source Hosting Platforms Supported for Migration
Configuration and content from the following hosting platforms can be imported into Plesk Obsidian:
- Plesk for Linux and Plesk for Windows: 8.6, 9.5, 10.4, 11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, and Plesk Onyx.
- cPanel 11.5
- Confixx 3.3
- Helm 3.2
- Plesk Expand 2.3.2
- Parallels Pro Control Panel for Linux 10.3.6
Plesk Supported Components
Supplied Components
Linux
Plesk Obsidian for Linux distribution packages include the following components:
- Plesk Premium Antivirus 6.0.2
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus 8.5.1.102
- ImunifyAV
- AWStats 7.7
- ProFTPD 1.3.6c
- qmail 1.03
- Courier-IMAP 5.0.8
- Postfix 3.4.8 (for most OSes), 2.11.11 (CentOS 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, and CloudLinux 6)
- Dovecot 2.3.10.1
- Horde IMP 5 (requires PHP 5.3)
- Horde 5.2.23
- IMP 6.2.24.1
- Ingo 3.2.16
- Kronolith 4.2.29
- Nag 4.2.19
- Mnemo 4.2.14
- Passwd 5.0.7
- Turba 4.2.25
- Pear 1.10.9
- Roundcube 1.4.7
- phpMyAdmin 5.0.2
- nginx 1.18.0
- OpenSSL 1.0.2r
- OpenSSL used by nginx 1.1.1g
- TLS 1.3 (in nginx for customers’ websites)
- PHP 5.2.17, 5.3.29, 5.4.45, 5.5.38, 5.6.40, 7.0.33, 7.1.33, 7.2.33, 7.3.21, 7.4.9.
Note: making changes to the/usr/local/psa/admin/conf/php.inifile may result in Plesk failing to operate properly. - Fail2ban 0.10.3.1
- ModSecurity 2.9.3
- ModSecurity Rule Set 2.2.9-30-g520a94b
- Resource Controller (for CentOS 7, Debian 8, and Ubuntu 16 servers)
- Node.js 4.6.1, 6.14.1, 7.0.0, 8.16.0, 9.0.0, 10.0.0, 12.0.0.
Note: on CentOS 6, Debian 7.x, and Ubuntu 12.x, Node.js 12 is not supported. - Phusion Passenger 6.0.2
- Ruby 2.1.10, 2.2.10, 2.3.8, 2.4.6, 2.5.5, 2.6.3.
Note: on Debian 9, only Ruby 2.4.6 and later is supported. - Bundler 1.13.5
- Rootkit Hunter 1.4.4
Windows
Plesk Obsidian for Microsoft Windows distribution packages include the following components:
- Plesk Premium Antivirus 6.0.2
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus 8.6.1.51
- Microsoft SQL Server Express 2012 SP3
- Microsoft SQL Server Express 2014 SP2
- Microsoft SQL Server Express 2016 SP1
- Microsoft SQL 2017 Express
- MariaDB 10.3.23 (for Plesk database)
- MariaDB 10.3.23 (for customer websites)
- BIND DNS Server 9.16.4
- MailEnable Standard 10.27
- PHP 5.2.17, 5.3.29, 5.4.45, 5.5.38, 5.6.40, 7.0.33, 7.1.33, 7.2.33, 7.3.21, 7.4.9
- ASP.NET Core 2.1.20, 3.1.6
- .NET Core 3.1.3, 2.1.17
- Webalizer V2.01-10-RB02 (Windows NT 5.2) English
- Horde 5.2.23 and IMP 6.2.23
- Microsoft Web Deploy 3.5 + WebMatrix 3.0
- Microsoft Web Deploy 3.6
- IIS URL Rewrite Module 7.2.1993
- Node.js 4.6.1, 6.14.1, 8.16.1, 9.0.0, 10.21.0, 12.18.0
- 7zip 18.05
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2017
- ionCube Loader 5.0.21
- SpamAssassin 3.0-3.4.4
- myLittleAdmin 3.8.20
- phpMyAdmin 5.0.2
- AWStats 7.7
Supported Third-Party Components
Linux
Web servers:
- Apache 2.2, 2.4
Mail servers:
- Postfix 2.11.3
DNS servers:
- BIND 9.8–9.11
Web statistics:
- Webalizer 2.x–3.x
Web scripting:
- mod_perl 2.0.8
- mod_python 3.3.1 *
- PHP 5.2–7.3.6 **
Database servers and tools:
- MySQL 5.1–5.7
- MySQL community edition 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
- PostgreSQL 8.4–10
- MariaDB 5.5-10.3.17
- MariaDB Connector 3.0.9
Anti-spam tools:
- SpamAssassin 3.0–3.4
* – mod_python is not supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x, CentOS 7.x, and CloudLinux 7.x.
** – the PHP used by Plesk for its webmail functionality (Roundcube, Horde) will be sourced from the repository supplied by your operating system vendor. Optionally, install PHP from a different repository by following the instructions of the repository vendor. Note that the package name must stay the same. If the package name is different (e.g. Webtatic or IUS) Plesk webmail will not work correctly. You will also risk issues with dependencies under future updates.
Windows
This list of third-part components is shortened. Not included in this list are components which come with the Plesk distribution – these are already stipulated as supported as they are included in the distribution.
Web servers
- Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 10.0
Mail servers
- MailEnable Standard / Professional / Enterprise / Enterprise Premium 6.91–10.27
- SmarterMail 100, 16.3
- IceWarp Mail Server 12.0.3.1
Webmail tools
- MailEnable Web Client
- SmarterMail Web Client
- IceWarp (Merak) Mail Server Web Client
Spam filtering tools
- SmarterMail Spamfilter
- IceWarp (Merak) Mail Server Anti-Spam
Antivirus tools
- SmarterMail Anti-Virus
- IceWarp (Merak) Mail Server Anti-Virus
DNS servers
- Microsoft DNS Server
- Simple DNS Plus 6.0.115
Web statistics
- SmarterStats 11.1
Web scripting
- ASP
- ASP.NET 2.0-4.x
- ASP.NET Core 2.1, 2.2.2
- Python 2.7.17
Database servers
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005–2016
- MySQL community edition 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
- MySQL ODBC connector 5.3.14
Plesk on Cloud Platforms
Plesk Obsidian is available and compatible with the following cloud platforms| Platform | AWS | Azure | Alibaba | Lightsail | DigitalOcean | Linode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CentOS 7 (WebHost) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 17.8.11 | |||
| CentOS 7 (BYOL*) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 17.8.11 | 18.0 | ||
| Ubuntu 16.04 (WebHost) | 17.8.11 | ||||||
| Ubuntu 16.04 (BYOL*) | 17.8.11 | 18.0 | |||||
| Ubuntu 18.04 (WebHost) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ||||
| Ubuntu 18.04 (BYOL*) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | |||
| Windows 2012 R2 (WebHost) | 17.8.11 | ||||||
| Windows 2012 R2 (BYOL*) | 17.8.11 | ||||||
| Windows 2019 (WebHost) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ||||
| Windows 2019 (BYOL*) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ||||
| Plesk WordPress Edition – CentOS 7 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ||||
| Plesk Business & Collaboration Edition – CentOS 7 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | ||||
| Web Admin SE – CentOS 7 | 18.0 | ||||||
| Web Admin SE – Ubuntu** | 18.0 | 17.8.11 | 18.0 | 18.0 |
- * – “BYOL” equals to “Bring Your Own License”. As soon as Plesk is deployed, you can proceed to use it via 14-day trial license OR buy your own Plesk license
- ** – Ubuntu 16.04 for Alibaba and Lightsail; Ubuntu 18.04 for DigitalOcean