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Laughing Squid Web Hosting

 Laughing Squid Web Hosting

Home » Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) » Control Panel

Control Panel

  1. What kind of control panel is installed on the servers? #

    We are using the Parallels Plesk 8.3 control panel.

  2. How do you access the control panel for a domain? #

    Go to https://squidx.laughingsquid.net:8443 and enter your control panel username and password. Replace squidx with the actual server where your domain is hosted, ie squid8.laughingsquid.net.

    If you do not know which server you are on, just use our Server Name Lookup form. If the form does not work for you, please enter a support ticket through our Help Desk and we will look it up for you.

    Since control panel access is SSL encrypted, you’ll need to make sure that you use https:// instead of http:// at the beginning of your control panel url.

  3. What can be configured using the Plesk control panel? #

  4. Is there a live demo of the Plesk control panel? #

    Yes, here is the access info for the live, online demo: Plesk 8.3 Demo

    username: client

    password: plesk

    NOTE: Some of the features in the Plesk demo may not be enabled for your account or even a service that we offer (e.g. anonymous FTP, Front Page, etc.).

  5. How do you change the password for a control panel username? #

    1. Log in to your control panel
    2. Select “Edit”.
    3. Enter the new password and confirm the new password, then select “OK” (please see our advice on how to create a good password).

    If you forgot or lost your control panel password, please follow these instructions.

    For more information, please see Plesk’s documentation.

  6. How do you change the email address that is associated with a control panel account? #

    1. Log in to your control panel
    2. Select “Edit”.
    3. Change the email address to the one you want to use, then select “OK”.

    This is the email address that your domain reports will be sent to, including any disk or bandwidth quota notices.

    For more information, please see Plesk’s documentation.

  7. How do you change the contact name or username associated with a control panel account? #

    Just enter a support ticket through our Help Desk and let us know what contact name and/or username you want to use and we will change it for you.

  8. When trying to access the control panel, the browser responds that it cannot find the page or it gives me an error message. Do you have any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this? #

    1. Make sure that you are using the correct url for your control panel and that you are using a vaild username and password. Here’s more info on how to access and log into your control panel.
    2. If you are behind a firewall or using a VPN or proxy, it may be preventing you from accessing the control panel which is located on the server’s port 8443. The control panel is assigned to port 8443 for security purposes since many of the control panel functions must be executed as “root”. If you wish to use your control from behind the firewall, VPN or proxy, you’ll need to enable access to port 8443.
    3. Make sure your browser is enabled for SSL connections and that you are trying to access the control panel via https://, instead of http://.
    4. Make sure that javascript is enabled for your browser. The
      control panel uses a combination of javascript and PHP, so if your browser is having problems with javascript, that may be the problem.

    5. If you are using Internet Explorer a Mac, there is a bug in IE which causes it to have problems with the latest version of SSL, which is what is used by Plesk, our control panel.

      In June of 2003, Microsoft announced that they were no longer developing IE for the Mac. Support for IE on Mac ended on December 31, 2005. If you have a Mac and are still using IE as your browser, you should switch to another browser. All other browsers on OS X should work, including Safari, Camino, Firefox, Mozilla, Opera and iCab.

      If you are using OS 9, try downloading iCab.

  9. What is a domain administrator and how can one be created for a domain? #

    Unlike the main control panel username, which has control panel access to all of your domains, a domain administrator has control panel access to a single domain only. Domain administrators are useful when you want to let someone else maintain one of your domains.

    Domain administrator can be created using your control panel.

    1. Log in to your control panel.
    2. Select the domain name.
    3. Select “Domain Administrator”.
    4. Check the box next to “Allow domain administrator access”.
    5. Enter the a password and confirm the password, then select “OK” (please see our advice on how to create a good password).

    Here’s what can be configured by a domain administrator:

    For more information, please see Plesk’s documentation.

  10. How do you change the password for a domain user? #

    A domain users password can be changed using your control panel.

    1. Log in to your control panel.
    2. Select the domain name.
    3. Click on “Domain User”.
    4. Enter the new password and confirm the new password, then select “OK” (please see our advice on how to create a good password).

    For more information, please see Plesk’s documentation.

  11. What are the requirements for user passwords and what can be done to make them difficult to crack? #

    Passwords should be 8-14 characters in length. The most secure type of password includes a combination of upper and lower case letters, along with numbers and symbols. For instance, A$f8T#3!w would be a very difficult password to crack, even with a brute force attack from a very determined hacker.

    Try to avoid using common words in English or other languages, as well as obvious things like your name, a relative’s name or other words that might easily be guessed by an unauthorized user. Here are examples of bad passwords:

    • any person’s name including yourself, partner, children, relatives, friends, etc.
    • your birthday
    • your Social Security Number, telephone number, address, etc.
    • words or combinations of words from a dictionary, English or any other language
    • numeric sequences, e.g. “1234″
    • words spelled backwards

    Finally, never under any circumstance make the password the same as your username or use a password such as “username”, “password”, “admin”, “test”, “guest”, etc.

    The Password Meter is a great tool that you can use to check the strength of your password.

  12. How do you have the control panel password resent or reset? #

    If you know your control panel username and the email address that is associated with your control panel account, then you can use the form on the control panel login screen to have your password emailed to you. Just select “Forgot your password?”.

    If you do not remember your control panel username or the email address that is associated with your control panel account, just enter a support ticket through our Help Desk and we will let you know what they are.

    If all else fails, we can reset your control panel password for you. Just submit a support request through our Help Desk.

    NOTE: As a security measure, we will only send the new password to the primary or backup email address in our billing system or the email address that is associated with your control panel account. If you need to change either of the email addresses in our billing system, please fill out our Account Update Form. If you need to change the email address associated with your control panel acocunt, you can do that using your control panel.

    Once your control panel password is reset, you’ll be able to log in and change the password for your control panel username, FTP username, email accounts, web users or domain users.

  13. Where can you find help using the Plesk control panel? #

    Each page of the control panel has its own Help section, just select “Help” from the left-side menu. Also, when you roll-over an item in the control panel with your mouse, a short description shows up under the Help section.

    There are several Plesk tutorials available for many of the control panel features and Plesk has online documentation for many of these features as well.

  14. Are there any tutorials for the Plesk control panel? #

    Yes, we have several Flash tutorials that will help you with various Plesk control panel functions:

    NOTE: In order to view the tutorials, your browser will need the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. Most modern browsers come with this pre-installed or you can download it for free from Adobe’s website.

    NOTE: All of the tutorials have controls that allow you to pause, play, go forward, go back, start over or go to the end.

  15. Is there any documentation on the Plesk control panel? #

    Yes. You can find more reference for Plesk control panel in their online documentation.

    NOTE: Some of the features covered in the Plesk documentation may not be enabled for your account, or may not be a feature that we offer (e.g. anonymous FTP, Front Page, etc.).



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