Introduction

Domain names are an inseparable part of web hosting, serving as the foundation upon which webmasters, system administrators, and web enthusiasts build their online projects. Every domain added to Plesk comes with a range of hosting settings that allow you to control its core behavior - from setting its document root to configuring the preferred hosting type, enabling SSL, adjusting scripting options, and managing FTP/SSH access.

These settings are essential whether you’re setting up a new website, migrating one, or simply fine-tuning performance and security. Plesk offers a centralized interface that allows you to access and customize all these options quickly and efficiently.

In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through how to access and manage your domain’s hosting settings using the Plesk control panel.

Let’s get started!

Accessing Hosting Settings for Your Domain

First and foremost, make sure you are logged in to your Plesk control panel. To perform 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 will 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.

From the index page, please expand the drop-down menu corresponding to the domain name you want to edit the “Hosting Settings” for.

After performing the action above, and the menu is expanded, please click on the “Hosting & DNS” tab, located in the middle area of your screen.

Click on the “Hosting & DNS” tab to reveal the options under it. Please click on the “Hosting” functionality.

Performing the action above will expand a side menu from the left side of the screen, which will contain all the available hosting settings for your domain.

Let’s go over them one by one and explain what each one does.

Overview of Hosting Settings

The hosting settings page is divided into two sections: domain settings and webspace settings. 

Domain Settings

Under this category, you can modify your domain names, including the actual domain name, its hosting type, document root, and SSL settings.

• Domain name: Shows the current domain name. (This field is usually locked here; to rename a domain, use the “Change Domain” option from the Websites & Domains overview.)
• Type: Using this drop-down menu, you can define how the domain behaves, whether it hosts a website, redirects, or just manages DNS.
• Preferred Domain: Please use this drop-down menu to select whether you prefer the www or non-www version of the domain. Pleks will perform this redirection using SEO SEO-friendly 301 redirect.
• Document root: Please use this text field to define the domain’s root directory.

SSL/TLS Support

• Enabled/Disabled: Please use this checkbox to enable or disable encryption for your website (HTTPS). 

• Redirect visitors from HTTP to HTTPS via a SEO friendly 301 redirect: Please use this checkbox to enable redirection from HTTP to HTTPS via SEO-friendly 301 redirects.

• Certificate: Please use this drop-down menu to select the SSL certificate you would like Pleks to use for your website. All the SSL certificates you generated or uploaded will be displayed here.

Web Statistics & Web Scripting

• Tool: Please use the drop-down menu to select the tool you would like to use for your Web Statistics. The default option is Awstats, however, Pleks supports other, third-party tools that need to be preinstalled before you use them.
• Protect access to your web statistics with your FTP username and password: Please use this checkbox to password-protect your web statistics. Pleks will use your FTP username and password for authentication
• FastCGI: Please use this checkbox to enable/disable FastCGI support for your web hosting account.
• CGI: Please use this checkbox to enable/disable CGI support for your web hosting account.
• SSI:  Please use this checkbox to enable/disable SSI support for your account.
• Custom error document: Please use this checkbox to enable the custom error pages for your website. You can upload the customer error files to your domain’s root, and whenever the website produces these errors, your custom page will be displayed.

Webspace setting

• Username: Please use this text field to modify your web hosting account’s username. The same can be used for the File Manager, FTP, and SSH (if it is enabled).
• Password: Please use this text field to modify your web hosting account’s password. The same can be used for the File Manager, FTP, and SSH (if it is enabled).
• SSH Type: Please use this drop-down menu to set the SSH type for your web hosting account. The default value is Forbidden for security measures, but you can enable any type you want from this drop-down if needed.
• IP Address: Please use this drop-down menu to select an IP for your web hosting account. Please note that this will only be possible if your Plesk account has more than 1 IP address added to it.
• Disk Space Quota: This option will be enabled only if the server’s settings allow it. It will allow you to set a hard limit on how much disk space a specific subscription or domain can use, at the file system level.

Once you are done selecting or typing in all your settings, please click on the blue “Save” button at the bottom left corner of the side menu.

Conclusion

Plesk’s hosting settings give you precise control over how your domain functions, from basic configurations like root folders and HTTPS to advanced settings like scripting support and user permissions.

By using the tools available in the Hosting Settings panel, you can tailor your domain’s behavior to meet your exact requirements, whether for development, production, or testing.

Now that you’re familiar with the interface, managing your domain’s environment has never been easier.