### Creating Plesk Virtual Node Hosting Plan

The Plesk Virtual Node hosting plan provides the full-featured Plesk server running in Virtuozzo Container. A subscriber gets the Plesk Server Administrator permissions with the ability of creating Plesk Client accounts and Plesk Domains. The number of Plesk clients allowed for creation on the Container-based Plesk server is up to the Plesk Licence certificate installed on the Plesk server.

Note: This type of hosting plan can be sold to resellers only.

The main difference of Plesk Virtual Node from Virtuozzo Container hosting is in post-Container creation actions. For regular Virtuozzo Container Parallels Business Automation - Standard will just create a Container and install all selected application templates into it. In case of Plesk Virtual Node the same initial steps will be taken but after Container is created it will be automatically registered in Parallels Business Automation - Standard as a Virtual Plesk Node under the reseller account. As such reseller will receive a full-managed Plesk node in their Reseller Control Center in just a couple clicks.

Virtual Plesk node registration is not needed for regular customers who just want to get a server with pre-installed Plesk control panel.

Important: The Container created for the Plesk Virtual Node hosting plan is a special one. For a HSP to create the Plesk Virtual Node hosting plans for Linux, the special OS template and applications must be installed and enabled, namely:

- The special OS template compatible with the Plesk Server Administrator (PSA) application.
- The PSA application itself and applications required for PSA:
  - Apache
  - SSL for Apache
  - Secure FrontPage Server Extensions for Apache
  - PHP
  - MySQL server

Note: To create a Plesk Virtual Node hosting plan for Windows no special applications are needed.

In addition, the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Panel applications (System Administrator and Workgroup Administrator ones) are not available for installation inside the Plesk Virtual Node (as design). However, a customer, who subscribed for such a hosting plan, can log in to the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Panel with System, My Account, Upgrade Center, and Help&Support tabs available. In this case, the System tab provides the limited ability of managing the Plesk Virtual Node, namely, view server status, manage DNS, manage IP addresses, and install/uninstall applications included in a subscription. Other tabs provide the full set of tools, similar to the set available for an ordinary Container.

In respect to managing a Plesk Virtual Node as a Plesk physical server, a customer can log in to the PSA Control Panel using the conventional Plesk logging credentials (specific URL, login, and password).

Resellers can manage Plesk Virtual Node both as a dedicated Hardware Node and Container using the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Reseller Control Center and Control Panel. And to perform Plesk administrative tasks, resellers can use PSA Control Panel.

As soon as a customer buys the Plesk Virtual Node hosting plan and pays the order, services provisioning starts in the following order (all phases pass automatically):

1. Container creation.
2. Installation of all the applications. The process lasts until all the applications (and especially, the PSA) will be successfully installed. The subscription is in the pending state.
3. Container registration as a new Hardware Node. On this phase it is very important that the IP address assigned to the Container is resolved correctly, because Parallels Business Automation - Standard needs to establish connection with a Hardware Node to register it.
4. Subscription activation.

Note: It is not possible to delete the Plesk Virtual Node subscription as soon as at least one Plesk domain is created on the Plesk Virtual Node. And such subscription cannot be terminated.

Select the Plesk Virtual Node type of hosting. Enter the hosting plan title and other general settings as this described earlier in this guide, then follow the wizard:

1. Enter the billing rates:
   - Specify the setup fees for all subscription periods in the Setup fee fields. The setup fee is to be once paid by a customer for subscription creation.
   - Type the subscription fees for all subscription periods in the Recurring fee fields. The recurring fee is to be paid by a customer for a subscription period.

     Note: The Plesk Virtual Node hosting plans are intended for sale by Provider only. Thus, there are no options for setting sales periods for Resellers.

2. Specify the configuration of Virtuozzo Container that will run the Plesk server:

   Select the hardware node platform (OS with Virtuozzo-enabled kernel) from the Platform drop-down menu. The platform selection will automatically define the set of OS templates (i.e., the OS installed in Container) available.

   Choose the SLM mode you prefer for the Container under creation in the drop-down menu. You can select one of the three options:

   - SLM only resource management;
   - Old-style UBC resource management;
   - Use both UBC and SLM in parallel.

   At this moment, Virtuozzo SLM manages memory resources, that is the promises of administrators about the amount of memory available to Containers. UBC is another resource managing mechanism implemented in Virtuozzo for Linux versions. In comparison to UBC, SLM is a lot easier to adopt and understand, has less parameters, uses conventional terms and concepts, makes the configuration parameters intuitively clear and close to the notion of RAM size on a stand-alone computer and is more application-friendly in terms of how applications are signalled about memory restrictions and their chances to continue to operate with reduced memory usage or exit gracefully. The Container memory usage computation for SLM uses the same accounting mechanisms as in prior Virtuozzo versions, but combines all types of memory into a single value. The SLM memory limit (slmmemorylimit) parameter fully substitutes the UBC parameters and includes oomguarpages, kmemsize, lockedpages and socket buffer space (tcpsndbuf, tcprcvbuf, othersockbuf).

   Note: Detailed information on the Container resource management can be found in the Virtuozzo Management of System Resources Administrator's Guide (for the old-style UBC parameters administration) and Overview of SLM in Virtuozzo 3.0 for Linux (on the new SLM resources management).

   Select the OS template (the OS the Container will run) from the OS template drop-down menu.

   Only for Virtuozzo Container hosting plans: You can check the Name based hosting box to provide name-based Container.

   Define the availability of root access for the Container (check the Root Access box to allow). This option is only available for IP-based Containers (if the Name based hosting box is unchecked).

   Note: Name-based Containers cannot be used for Plesk Virtual Node type of hosting plans since the Container with Plesk server inside must have an external static IP address.

3. Set the billable resources rates (monthly fees):

   The pre-filled prices for resources are taken from the system-wide default prices. You can set values for each parameter within the allowable range in the Included value textboxes. The included value defines the limit of resource usage included in the hosting plan price. And in the Cost for additional resource allocation textbox you can enter the price for resource overusage or resources upgrade.

   Do not forget to indicate the price for additional units. It is important for correct recalculating of customer account balance in case of Hosting Plan upgrade.

   Important: Please make sure that at least one static IP address is allocated for Container. This is critical for future Plesk Virtual Node network connectivity.

   Number of static IP addresses. You can define only static allocation within each IP pool. Static IP addresses are allocated permanently and can be released only manually.

   Number of backups. The number of server-side node backups a customer is allowed to create.

   Total size of all backups. The maximal total size of all server-side backups a customer can have.

   Number of domains with DNS hosting provided. The number of domains that can have zones in HSP DNS.

   Disk space quota. Disk size allocated for a Plesk virtual node.

   CPU usage. This is a positive integer number that determines the minimal guaranteed share of the CPU time the Virtuozzo Container hosting a Plesk node will receive. The CPU usage for VEs is measured in a special units called cpuunits. Please, refer to the Virtuozzo user documentation for more details regarding VEs CPU share and other Virtuozzo Container specific parameters.

4. Review and if needed, adjust the Container configuration. The default values of Container resource parameters are shown next to the fields where you can key in the new values. The allowable ranges for each parameter is shown in the column to the right. Please refer to the Virtuozzo user documentation for detailed description of each Container parameter.

   Note: We recommend adjusting Container parameters to a configuration that corresponds to hardware requirements for Plesk server.

5. Adjust the DNS settings for the Hosting Plan:
   1. Select the domain registration hosting plan that will define the terms of domain registration for the hosting plan from the Domain Registration Hosting Plan drop-down menu.
   2. And from the DNS Template drop-down menu, please select the DNS template that will define the standard set of resource records to be placed into the zone file for all domains registered in the frame of the Hosting Plan you are creating.
   3. Select name servers set to be used for domains registration within this hosting plan from the Name servers set drop-down menu.
6. You can define one or more Hardware Nodes to host the Plesk Virtual Node created for this Hosting Plan:

   Allow using any node available. To this effect, set the option button to All of the available hardware nodes.

   Allow using the selected Hardware nodes only. To this effect, set the option button to Selected hardware nodes only and click the Add button. The list of all registered Hardware Nodes appears in popup window. Select Hardware Nodes by clicking on their names. In this case, the names of selected Hardware Nodes will appear in the Selected menu. In case you select a wrong Hardware Node, you can cancel the selection. To this effect, click on this Hardware Node name in the Selected menu (its name will be highlighted) and then click the Remove button.

   Allow using all Hardware Nodes except selected. To this effect, set the option button to All of the hardware nodes except the selected ones and select the Hardware Nodes in the same way as described earlier.

   Allow using Hardware Nodes from selected node group(s) only. To this effect, set the option button to Selected node groups only and select node groups in the same way as described earlier.

7. Select applications to be available for installation inside the Container:

   Make an Application available within a Hosting Plan by checking the box next to an Application name (in the Enabled column). In this case, an Application will be offered in the store within the separate Price List, at a special fee, and a customer can buy it or not. In this case, the price for Application(s) selected will be added to Hosting Plan price (fees) in the Order total. And the applications that were not selected by a subscriber will remain available and can be installed by a customer from the Control Panel (after the corresponding invoice is paid).

   Include an Application in a Hosting Plan price by checking both the boxes next to an Application name in the Enabled column and in the Included column. In this case, an Application is included in Hosting Plan and a subscriber cannot refuse from such an Application when buying a Hosting Plan. However, a customer can uninstall an included application from the Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Panel, using the Upgrade Center. In this case, the application remains available and can be re-installed by a customer from the Control Panel at any moment without any additional charges.

   Note that Enabled is the determining setting. If this box is not checked, the relevant box in the Included column is disabled.

   Parallels Business Automation - Standard allows providing the following Container management tools for customers: Parallels Business Automation - Standard Control Panels, Parallels Power Panel.

   Note: For Container to run the Plesk server the Plesk Server Administrator (PSA) application is required. And this application is already selected by default. Moreover, PSA must be both enabled and included, so that a customer could not unintentionally unselect it when subscribing for the hosting plan. And PSA, in its turn requires some other applications (e.g., Apache). All the required applications are selected by default. If you do not select the required applications and try to proceed with hosting plan creation, you will be prompted, which applications are absent.

8. Select licenses to sell within the hosting plan:

   If you sell licenses and have configured a Key Administrator plug-in with one or more license classes available for sale, you are offered to select the license classes and configure license properties of these classes. In this case, to select a license class for sale, check the box next to a License Class name and click the Next button. On the next step, you can see the licenses of the selected classes, each license properties in a separate form, if several licenses are selected, then forms for each of the licenses are shown one-by-one, fill the forms and scroll the screen to configure all licenses. The name of a license class is at the form heading.

   To activate a license in general, check the Active box. To offer a license for sale in the frame of the hosting plan, check the Sell this license in my HSPstore box. To include a license in the hosting package without the ability for a customer to un-select a license and do not buy it, check the Included box, otherwise, leave this box clear and specify the price for a license. If a license properties allow including additional services and/or additional license keys, then to sell them in a license package, check the box(es) next to a service or an additional key name, if it is possible to specify an additional key capacity, then select the capacity and specify the price.

9. You can optionally attach additional services (custom attributes) to a hosting plan as this described earlier in this guide.
10. Set the traffic accounting for the Container:

    To enable traffic accounting by classes for this hosting plan, check the Enable this traffic class for this hosting plan box at a traffic class form.

    Important: Please keep in mind that Containers traffic accounting for Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Windows is possible only by the Class 2.

    The Create an overusage invoice at the end of every billing month instead of limiting traffic with the included value checkbox serves for switching the traffic accounting from the metered mode (the box checked) to the non-metered mode (the box cleared). The metered traffic accounting mode allows using traffic over the Included amount but up to the Maximum amount and paying for the traffic used over the Included amount at the end of month. The non-metered traffic accounting mode allows using traffic only up to the Included amount and in case a customer needs more traffic, he/she must order more at an additional fee, but no greater than the Maximum amount; after an order is paid, traffic will be provided.

    To set the traffic limits and prices, specify the values in the fields next to a traffic type name:

    Select the units to measure traffic from the Units drop-down menu.

    If you do not want to limit traffic for the hosting plan subscribers, check the Unlim box next to the corresponding traffic type. If you want to set limits and prices, clear the Unlim box and enter limits and rates.

    Enter the monthly traffic amount included in the hosting plan price into the Included amount field.

    Enter the monthly traffic limit into the Maximum amount field. This will be the maximal traffic value allowed for customers subscribed for this hosting plan.

    Enter the price per additional traffic unit (selected from the Units drop-down menu) into the Overuse rate/Cost for additional field.

11. Add custom questions to be asked at the HSPstore when a customer subscribes for a hosting plan as this described earlier in this guide.

Review the hosting plan parameters and finish the process.

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