3. Choose Plesk Components

Plesk employs a number of interchangeable components for providing its services. For example, mail services on Linux can be provided by either Postfix or Qmail. The decision about what component to choose is made by you during Plesk installation. Also, some components that you may find useful are not installed by default. Before installing Plesk, acquaint yourself with available Plesk components and choose the ones to include in your final Plesk configuration. Next in this section, we will give recommendations on which components to choose under various circumstances. The components from the list below are not installed by default unless explicitly stated.

Note: Some components may be unavailable to you due to the limitations of your Plesk license key.

Web Hosting

Web hosting components are used to enable support for a certain web hosting service. For example, support for a certain scripting language or support for FTP connections.

Apache Web Server Versions (Linux Hosting)

If you use RHEL 5 of CentOS 5, you can choose one of the following options:

Nginx Web Server and Reverse Proxy Support
Plesk Webmail Support

Specify the webmail software that allows Plesk users to access their mail accounts through a browser:

Mail (Linux Hosting)

Select the mail services Plesk should provide:

Choose one of the following mail servers that best suits your needs:

Databases

The default database server in Plesk is MySQL. It is installed by default. However, since version 11.5, on Linux you can replace it with MariaDB or Percona Server. For instructions on replacing MySQL server with these alternatives, refer to the Advanced Administration Guide, section Using MariaDB or Percona Server as the Default Database Server.

Important: If Microsoft SQL Server is already installed on your server, you should exclude this component from your Plesk installation. Otherwise, Plesk will perform a clean installation of SQL Server and data stored in your MS SQL server will be lost. To let Plesk use your SQL Server, connect the SQL Server to Plesk once you complete the installation. To learn how to connect a database server to Plesk, refer to the Administrator's Guide, section Adding and Removing Database Servers.

DNS Server

Important: If you exclude the DNS server from your installation, the DNS service will not work for websites hosted on your server. Excluding the DNS server makes sense only if you are going to use an external DNS server. Learn more in the section Using External DNS Servers of the Administrator's Guide.

System Monitoring
Backup and Migration
Addition Components (Linux Hosting)

You can extend Plesk functionality by installing additional components. Note that these components require post-installation configuration. Learn more in Appendix G. Configuring Additional Plesk Components.