My blog lives once again! This time without lame GoDaddy hosting. I’m trying out somewhere new, and so far I’m really fond of them. They’ve got 24/7 live chat support that actually works. Two times, I got the answer I needed and went onward with my setup. Also, when first logging in, I was met with a pleasant screen.
Dashboard
Welcome to the Plesk Dashboard where a bunch of tasks are just a click away, and instantly completed (no need to wait 5 minutes for database creation). Although my exposure to it has been short, I’ve already put it to use for creating this subdomain, the wordpress database, and setting up email. All of these task have been simple enough to do quickly, but also are configurable to the point where I don’t feel like I’m stripped of my privileges.
Email
The email configuration is simple as well. It comes with some features like virus scanning (on incoming/outgoing/both), groups, and mailing lists that could be useful in the future. The webmail client itself is a bit ugly, but that’s not specifically Plesk, so there’s no need to bash on it too much.
Secure Shell
When I came across this feature, I was pleasantly surprised. At first it would kick me as soon as I logged in, but with a brief message to customer support, I was back in business. SSH really gives me a feel of control of my site, and I’m definitely going to be playing with this often.
Flaws
The largest flaw I’ve come across with Plesk thus far is the disabling of php safe_mode. The option was unavailable to me, and was giving me quite the hassle when it came to uploading photos via wordpress. But if you notice the photos displaying in this post, I did manage to get the problem taken care of with yet another 3 minutes with support.
Conclusions
With what limited exposure I have with Plesk, I’ve got to say that I like it. It’s far from perfect in all areas, but good enough for many common tasks. If you’re looking for something that simplifies the process of setting up a real website and allows you to worry more about the content, Plesk is worth a look.
