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Updated: 01/20/2026
( 7 minutes reading )
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is commonly used to upload, download, and manage files on your hosting server. However, sometimes FTP sessions may remain active longer than expected, become stuck, or appear suspicious. Managing active FTP sessions in Plesk allows you to see which users are currently connected, their activity, and terminate sessions when necessary.
This is very useful for:
In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of viewing and managing active FTP sessions in Plesk.
First and foremost, please ensure you are logged in to your Plesk control panel. To do that, please enter your IP address, hostname, or domain name inside your web browser’s search bar and add “:8443” at the end. It should look something like: “https://yourdomain.com:8443”. By doing so, you will be prompted by a login form that requests your username and password.
After logging in with your username and password, Plesk should automatically display the “Websites & Domains” page, which will serve as the index page from where you can manage everything related to your websites and domains on Plesk.
To view active FTP sessions, please navigate to the “Tools & Settings” section, located on the left-hand menu.
Under the Security section, please locate and click on the Active FTP Sessions functionality.
This page displays all currently active FTP connections to your server.
On the Active FTP Sessions page, you will see a table with details such as:
This information helps you monitor normal activity and identify suspicious or unnecessary connections.
If you see an FTP session that you want to end, whether it appears stuck, idle, or unauthorized, you can terminate it easily.
To do that, locate the FTP session in the list and use the checkbox corresponding to its row to mark it.
Afterward, please click on the “Close” button, located above the table section. Finally, please confirm the action when prompted.
The user will immediately lose their FTP connection to the server.
Recommendation: If you notice repeated unauthorized connections, consider blocking the IP or updating the affected user’s password.
Lastly, to update the FTP session list with the latest established connections, please click on the “Refresh” button, located on the left side of the “Close” button.
As you can see, Plesk makes it easy to monitor and manage active FTP sessions. By viewing current connections, terminating idle or suspicious sessions, and reviewing session logs, you maintain full control over who is accessing your server files.
We hope this tutorial was helpful, and we kindly encourage you to check your active FTP sessions regularly to ensure a secure and efficient hosting environment.
Nikola is an accomplished tech-savvy extraordinaire with over six years of experience in the web hosting field. He started as a customer care representative and quickly rose the ranks to become a support supervisor and, eventually - the head of the technical department in HostArmada. His deep understanding of the client's needs, combined with his technical knowledge, makes him the perfect man to create the ideal harmony between client satisfaction and professional problem-solving. You will often find him creating helpful tutorials, articles, and blog posts that help existing customers get around.
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