Domain Owner Level Overview 

For this review, Plesk 8.3 was used on a Personal Linux Shared Web Hosting Plan from Cirrus Tech Ltd, a Canadian Web Host. For this particular web hosting plan, clients are given the Domain Owner Level for their control panel system interface. Therefore, this section will cover the domain owner level of the Linux Plesk Control Panel. Future reviews will explore the higher levels of the Plesk Control Panels and different versions.

The Domain Owner Level of Plesk essentially allows the user to fully administer 1 domain. While the domain owner level allows you to have multiple domain aliases, it is suited for users wanting to host a single website with a primary domain. Plesk allows you to have multiple Domain Owner level subscriptions under a single account. This allows you to add additional websites to your account without having to purchase a Client/Reseller Subscription.

If you were looking to host multiple website and wanted to create individual accounts, it would be best to look into the Client/Reseller level of Plesk. Now, onto the Plesk Domain Owner Level System Interface review.

System Interface

When you click on the Systems tab within Plesk, you are presented with a layout similar to your My Account page. There is a navigation menu on the left side, and a main content section.

There is a lot to like about Parallel's Plesk. For starters, the icons displayed are vibrant and friendly. Information about your hosting plan resources are displayed on the main page of the systems pagel. And for the most part, when you click on an item, the content is displayed within the main page section rather than in a pop-up window.

One of the negative aspects of the control panel is the confusing categories and items contained within these categories. For example, in the category "Domain" there are several items related to domains and then there is "MyPlesk.com" and "Buy Pictures". Why a "Buy Pictures" icon is within the domains category is beyond the scope of this review. Mind you, the organization of categories and items within them may be differ among different web hosts.

The main content page of Systems tab displays 4 secions: Domain, Services, Hosting, and Info. The Domains category provides information and options for your particular domain. The services category houses features of your hosting plan such as email, databases, etc. The hosting category is where you'll find the items relating to the basic web host control panel activies. Finally, in the info category, the resources of your web hosting plan is displayed.

On the left hand menu, you'll notice there are 2 addition categories: Current System, and Domain Management. The Current System section gives you the option of upgrading your plan or selecting another system (subcription) if you have more than one subscription. Since you may be the owner or multiple domains, you can easily switch between each subscriptions. Below the Current System category is Domain Management. Here, you can manage all your domains if you have more than one. Below these two categories are the the 3 categories that are displayed on the main content section of the System tab.

Again, it is important to note that the hosting plan that this review was conducted on provides users with the Domain Owner level of administration. Higher levels may have additional categories and options not available in the Domain Owner level.