New Plesk Server - Setup Suggestions

[PTS21]

Next month we are upgrading to a new GoDaddy dedicated server (CentOS 64-Bit/Plesk 11.5) and was wondering if there is a guide or suggested actions list when setting up a new server with Plesk.

After installing Atomic repo, what other courses of action are recommended? Also, Postfix or qmail? We've used qmail forever but it seems Postfix is now preferred. PHP as Apache or FastCGI?

On a side note: While I know they are generally frowned upon for hosting, we've been using a GoDaddy dedicated server for well over five years without any issues. I own a website development company and hosting is only a service we provide for clients that we develop websites for. On average, we host about 30 websites. So GoDaddy's pricing makes sense for our needs.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[scott]

Hey if it works for you, thats all that matters right?

Cool projects to check out from atomic:

* PHP Panda, multiple php version support (5.2-5.6) through fcgi/cgi
* Anti-spam improvements, pyzor, razor-agents, dcc
* Clam antivirus for mail with either qmail-scanner, or clapf

[PTS21]

Thanks Scott.

GoDaddy does not yet support Plesk 11.5 out of the box. It took some trial and error -- and a bunch of server reprovisions -- but here are the steps I took to get Plesk 11.5 up and running on my GoDaddy dedicated server without any errors or issues.

1. Uncomment all baseurl lines in /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
2. Comment out GoDaddy's Plesk installer source in /root/.autoinstallerrc -- This will make sure autoinstaller will use Parallel's official source
3. Run autoinstaller (/usr/local/psa/admin/bin/autoinstaller) and update the current Plesk version
4. Run mysql_upgrade -uadmin -p` cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow` -- Without doing this, upgrading to Plesk 11.5 WILL fail
5. Run autoinstaller and upgrade to Plesk 11.5
6. Run autoinstaller again to add and remove any specific components you need
7. Add Atomic repo (wget -q -O - http://www.atomicorp.com/installers/atomic | sh)
8. Run yum update -- server is now up-to-date on all packages
9. Log into Plesk. Go to Tools and Setings >>> Updates and Upgrades. Change update source from secureserver.net to Parallels Official. This will make sure Plesk will use Parallel's official source.

If you switch from qmail to Postfix, make sure to add "relayhost = [dedrelay.secureserver.net]" to appropriate spot in /etc/postfix/main.cf

EDIT: Forgot to mention, getting SPF to pass is a pain because of the mail relay they have for their dedicated servers (my biggest grip with using GoDaddy). Here's the SPF rule I use that works and, to the best of my knowledge, accounts for all the relays they have:

Code: Select all

v=spf1 mx ip4:208.109.80.0/24 ip4:64.202.189.0/24 ~all

[scott]

This is a fantastic followup!

[PTS21]

This is a fantastic followup!

Thanks Scott.

While GoDaddy's prices work for my company, the support and community leave much to be desired. There simply are not many good resources when dealing with any issues. Because of that I keep a log of every change I make ... even the minor ones. And since I was setting up a new server, the log allows me to do everything I need in the right order. Hopefully this helps anyone else using their dedicated servers.

I do have one issue with DomainKeys which I posted here: http://atomicorp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7620

[scott]

My key must haves are the ability to self help:

1) Remotely powercycle the system through an RPC unit
2) Remotely boot the system into a rescue image (PXE for example)
3) Remote console access over a serial port (this is ideal), or a KVM

If you have to put in a ticket for any of those things then its a no-go.