Plesk VPS is a software package that automates commercial web hosting. It was designed in Russia in the part of 2003.  Plesk VPS enables a server administrator to create new websites, reseller accounts, email accounts and DNS entries. All of this is done through a web based interface. The administrator is also able to set up client and site templates, which will pre determine resource allocation specifications for the domains and or clients.

Plesk VPS Hosting will work with Linux to support multiple platforms including Debian, Fedora and RedHat Linux to name just a few. Plesk VPS also works with Windows to support Windows 2003 and 2008 operating systems. Recently renamed Parallels Plesk Panel, Plesk VPS can install custom versions of, or manage some versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, Apache, Tomcat and Java platform servers, and Coldfusion game servers.

Many experts contend that Plesk is not secure enough for multi-hosting security, since all VPS hosts are run under the same Apache user and in addition, share the same configuration. Improvements have been made, in particular for Windows, going forward, that all virtual hosts will run under their own worker process group.  However, in order to shore up security for Linux, the administrator must make manual corrections. Plesk VPS, to date, cannot make these corrections.  Plesk VPS users have the where with all to install web applications with a few simple mouse clicks. The downside of Plesk VPS is that it is not always that easy to install or upgrade applications in this way.  Identified security problems may lead to vulnerability of the servers.

Another identified shortcoming is Plesk VPS’ data back up  and restore functionality. Since backup files tend to be very big, the Plesk VPS mechanism limits the usable server storage space, sometimes forcing system administrators to make a choice between not backing up data or leaving large amounts of storage unused.