Plesk organises hosting in a hierarchy: the administrator owns the server, resellers resell resources, customers own subscriptions, and additional users get limited access inside a customer account. Understanding this structure makes it easy to give the right people the right access.
Before you start
- An administrator or reseller account. Reseller accounts are available on Plesk editions that include reseller management (Web Pro and Web Host).
- Service plans prepared; see create domains, subscriptions and plans.
How the pieces fit
| Account | Owns | Typical user |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Server, resellers, customers | Hosting provider |
| Reseller | Own customers and subscriptions | Agency or reseller business |
| Customer | One or more subscriptions | Website owner |
| Additional user | Access to a customer's subscriptions with a role | Developer, accountant, editor |
Create a reseller (administrator)
- Go to Resellers → Add Reseller.
- Enter contact details, user name and password.
- Choose a Reseller plan with limits on disk, traffic, customers and subscriptions, and whether overselling is allowed.
- Click OK. The reseller can now create customers and use your service plans or their own.
Create a customer
- Go to Customers → Add Customer.
- Enter the contact name, email, user name and password.
- Tick Create a subscription for the customer, enter the domain and choose a service plan.
- Click OK.
You can also create a subscription first and choose its owner later under Subscriptions → Change Subscriber.
Add users with roles (customer level)
- Log in as the customer (or use Log in as Customer from the admin list).
- Go to Users → User Roles and create a role, for example
Developer, allowing Hosting settings, Files, Databases and Scheduled tasks but not Mail or billing. - Go to Users → Create User Account, choose the role, enter the user's email and password, and limit access to specific subscriptions if needed.
- Tick User is active and save.
Mail-only users can also log in to Plesk to change their password or set an auto-reply when you give them the Mail user role.
Suspend and remove accounts
- Suspend: tick a customer or reseller and click Change Status → Suspend. All their subscriptions stop serving websites and mail.
- Activate: Change Status → Activate.
- Remove: deletes the account with all subscriptions and data. Back up first with Backup Manager.
Troubleshooting
- Reseller menu missing: your Plesk licence edition does not include reseller management.
- Customer cannot see a feature: the service plan or subscription permissions disallow it; edit Permissions on the plan or subscription.
- Additional user sees too much: narrow the role or restrict it to one subscription.
