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System Paths

  • Applies to: (dv) 3.5, (dv) 4.0, (gs)

  • Difficulty: Easy

  • Time needed: 10 minutes

  • Tools needed: None

 
  • Applies to: (gs)
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: None
  • Applies to: (dv) 4.0
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: None
  • Applies to: (dv) 3.5
    • Difficulty: Easy
    • Time Needed: 10
    • Tools Required: None

Overview

The following is a list of paths to commonly used directories and applications. These are helpful when writing scripts and uploading web sites. The domain paths shown below refer to your primary domain. The domain exmple.com is used as an example. Replace it with your domain.

System Paths for the (gs) Grid-Service

  • Sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
  • Perl: /usr/bin/perl
  • Python: /usr/bin/python
  • php: /usr/bin/php
  • ImageMagick: /usr/bin/convert
  • php.ini: /home/00000/etc/php.ini
  • Document root: /home/00000/domains/example.com/html/

More (gs) Grid-Service path information can be found in your Server Guide in the AccountCenter.

  1. Log into your AccountCenter.
  2. Click on the "Admin" button.
  3. Click on the "Server Guide" icon.
  4. Click on "System Paths."

Your (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server contains backend files that can help you access data apart from the Plesk interface. You will be able to access:

  • logs
  • data locations, including website document root
  • configuration files
  • software locations

In all cases, example.com should be replaced with your own domain name.

NOTE:

Accessing or making changes to these files is not supported by (mt) Media Temple. Please make a backup before changing any of your configuration files. For further clarification regarding our scope of support, please consult our website.

Logs

Access logs (per domain)

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/access_log
  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/access_log.processed

Plesk logs

  • Access log: /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/httpsd_access_log
  • Backup log: /var/lib/dumps/example.com/backup_restore.log
    /var/lib/dumps/example.com/backup_restore.err_log
  • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
  • Watchdog log: /usr/local/psa/var/modules/watchdog/log
  • Migration log: /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/migration.log
  • Mailman log: /var/log/mailman/error
  • Horde webmail: /var/local/psa-horde/psa-horde.log

FTP (Pro-FTPD)

  • Login attempts and general info: /var/log/messages
  • FTP transaction log: /usr/local/psa/var/log/xferlog

IMAP/POP login attempts, mail retrieval & spam protection

  • Fatal errors and spam scoring: /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Login, transactions and errors: /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog
  • Queued mail: /usr/local/pas/var/log/smtp_pendings.log

Error logs

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/error_log
  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/error_log.processed

Transfer log (ProFTPD / Xinetd)

  • /usr/local/psa/var/log/xferlog

Apache error log

  • /var/log/httpd/error_log

MySQL error log

  • General information and errors: /var/log/mysqld.log

System messages

This shows things like login attempts, restart requests for services, etc.

  • /var/log/messages

Data locations

Website document root

  • (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 4.0
    • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/
    • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/site1/

NOTE:

In Plesk 11 on the (dv) Dedicated-Virtual Server 4.0, domains that are set up in the same webspace/subscription have document roots under the primary domain for that webspace. The primary domain will use httpdocs. Subsequent domains will use different folders, on the same level as the httpdocs folder but with a different name. For example, if the primary domain is example.com, site1.com will have a document root of /var/www/vhosts/example.com/site1/. (The folder name doesn't have to match the domain - it could also be /var/www/vhosts/example.com/foo/.)

Mailboxes

  • /var/qmail/mailnames/example.com/username/Maildir/

For the above, example.com is the domain and username is the first part of the email address (before the @ symbol).

Raw databases

  • /var/lib/mysql/

TIP:

Don't use raw MySQL files for database backups. Create a MySQL backup instead:
Export and import MySQL databases

Configuration files

These are the server-wide configuration files, unless otherwise noted. Many configuration changes can also be made on a per-domain level (vhost.conf) or a per-folder level (.htaccess).

PHP

  • /etc/php.ini 

Apache

  • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Domain-level Apache

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/conf/vhost.conf

NOTE:

You will see a default httpd.include file in the conf directory that has Apache settings. Don't make your changes in this file! They will get overwritten by Plesk. Make your own vhost.conf file instead.

MySQL

  • /etc/my.cnf

nginx

  • /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
  • Note: nginx is only available on (dv) 4.0 servers running Plesk 11 or later.

FTP (Pro-FTPD)

  • /etc/proftpd.conf

Named (BIND)

  • /var/named/run-root/etc/named.conf

Software locations

You can find the location of any piece of software by typing the following command in SSH:

which software

Example:

which perl

Perl

  • /usr/bin/perl

Python

  • /usr/bin/python

PHP

  • /usr/bin/php

Sendmail

  • /usr/sbin/sendmail

End of Life Warning

This service has a pending End of Life. Please move to a current service as soon as possible. For more information, please see: (dv) Dedicated-Virtual 4.0: Migration Information.

Logs

Access logs (per domain)

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/access_log
  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/access_log.processed

Error logs

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/error_log
  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/statistics/logs/error_log.processed

Mail log (Qmail)

  • /usr/local/psa/var/log/maillog

Transfer log (ProFTPD / Xinetd)

  • /usr/local/psa/var/log/xferlog

Apache error log

  • /var/log/httpd/error_log

MySQL error log

  • /var/log/mysqld.log

System messages

This shows things like login attempts, restart requests for services, etc.

  • /var/log/messages

Data locations

Website document root

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs

Mailboxes

  • /var/qmail/mailnames/example.com/username/Maildir/

example.com is the domain, and username is the first part of the email address (before the @ symbol).

Raw databases

  • /var/lib/mysql/

TIP:

Don't use raw MySQL files for database backups. Create a MySQL backup instead:

Configuration files

These are the server-wide configuration files, unless otherwise noted. Many configuration changes can also be made on a per-domain level (vhost.conf) or a per-folder level (.htaccess).

PHP

  • /etc/php.ini

Apache

  • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Domain-level Apache

  • /var/www/vhosts/example.com/conf/vhost.conf

NOTE:

You will see a default httpd.include file in the conf directory that has Apache settings. Don't make your changes in this file! They will get overwritten by Plesk. Make your own vhost.conf file instead.

MySQL

/etc/my.cnf

Software locations

You can find the location of any piece of software by typing the following command in SSH:


which software

Example:


which perl

Perl

  • /usr/bin/perl

Python

  • /usr/bin/python

PHP

  • /usr/bin/php

Sendmail

  • /usr/sbin/sendmail

NOTE:

This is actually a symlink to /var/qmail/bin/sendmail, but will work for CGI scripts that require a sendmail path such as formmail's formmail.pl.

 

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