Plesk 8.4 pulled

[HostingGuy]

Why was it pulled?

There is no formal announcement as others have eldued to.
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/plesk/

Could you let us know what problems are being corrected once it is re-released?

Just for those who are curious, here is the "official" statement from SwSoft as to what is new (from a forum post, not an official mailer or statement)

[+] Web application categories - All web applications are now sorted by categories, which makes it easier to choose the right application to install.
[+] Application Packaging Standard (APS) CGI support - Complete support of APS CGI applications.
[+] DomainKeys support - You can use DomainKeys e-mail sender authentication system to reduce the amount of spam and phishing e-mails that are sent to your customers.
[+] Database users prefix - To make managing database users easier, new database users can be created with corresponding client username added to database user name as a prefix.
[+] Forbidding creation of domains in foreign DNS zones - Plesk now has an option to allow or forbid users to create new subdomains and domain aliases in the DNS zones belonging to other users.
[+] Component updates - Updates for multiple built-in third-party components, including:
Horde 3.1.7 and its components
ProFTPD 1.3.1
SPAW 2.0
[+] 4PSA VoipNow integration - Plesk 8.4 provides integration with 4PSA VoipNow
[+] openSuSE 10.3 support - Plesk 8.4 can be installed on openSuSE 10.3
[+] Fedora 8 support - Plesk 8.4 can be installed on Fedora 8
[+] Maximum number of recipients restriction in Qmail - Server administrator can limit maximum number of mail recipients to prevent users from sending mass e-mail.
[+] Adobe Coldfusion 8 support - Plesk now supports Adobe Coldfusion 8
[+] New Plesk Control Panel events - New API events generated upon domain and client template creation, update or removal are available.
[-] Numerous bugs were resolved.

[joeybutterface]

Yes I'd like to know the problems too.

I haven't noticed anything yet on two servers running 8.4.

[HostingGuy]

There were a lot of people who had mail problems after the upgrade - if it even completed successfully for them :s

[laughingbuddha]

I'm interested to know about this too. Only just found out about PSA 8.4 from another thread.

When did it arrive?

I would be interested to know about this version as I'm about to do a new server install, and was going to use ART's auto installer channel.

Matt

[HostingGuy]

it came and went last week, it will be re-released later this week from what I hear inside SwSoft. I would personally stick with 8.3 until all the kinks are worked out.

Those who upgrade in the first week ( or sometimes even two ) are either really brave, or really dumb - not sure which :)

[laughingbuddha]

Yeah you not wrong. I'll think I will hold off for now.

What's new anyway?

Matt

[joeybutterface]

DomainKeys inclusion is the biggie as far as I'm concerned. :)

Although the implementation isn't perfect. Each domain has its own separate key generated, which is overkill, and the key is changed whenever the option is turned off/on again. The public key is automatically added to the DNS entries for each domain when turned on.

Annoying if you use external DNS servers.

I wouldn't normally install a new release until it reaches it's second or third revision. But I was doing some clean installs this weekend so the risks of problems was not very worrying.

I'm very happy with 8.4 and glad I installed it. :)

[wcrigger]

I actually took the plunge this weekend although it was unlike me to jump on it so quickly. I saw it was available and looked here for people's views on the upgrade here before installing it and noticed there wasn't even an 8.4 forum category created yet. ;) More of a reason to stay away huh.

Anyhow, I did it as my upgrade to 8.3 was never really complete and I was in a mixed state between 8.2 - 8.3 as far as my installed packages. I managed to hack it to a point of it running well though, I was just concerned of security and running some older applications.

Good news is, upgrading from almost-8.3 to 8.4 was completely seamless and I've had no complaints, just people showing appreciation for other work and customizations that were also done this weekend during the upgrade as well (my Plesk addons and customizations are all compatible, too). Nobody notices 8.4 differences except the Parallels logo (that didn't go away with my custom winxp.new.reloaded template I through back on there after the upgrade).

Mail has not been an issue either, including Scott @ AtomicRocketTurtle's qmail-scanner, razor/pyzor, and clamd packages. RBL lists seemingly work just fine too. After the upgrade I immediately reconfigured qmail-scanner, which is just a matter of kicking off a script that re compiles it for you with your environment/software. Not sure that was even needed though?

I do see an admin option for Domain Keys (enable/disable), yet, I can't tell where it actually does anything nor do I have any new options within the UI for customers.

I'm really curious as to the reason they published it and so quickly pulled it without an explanation. Seems like any other respectable company would make known the cause and offer to assist/support anyone with any issues it caused them. In the car business for example there's some nice perks involved on recalls, whether or not your tire is catching on fire. ;)

I'm just happy though I'm back on a real, complete release, hopefully they knocked out any security holes that could have been present although I didn't see any blaring out at me the last time I was looking.

Since 8.0, I haven't had a smooth update yet until this one. Figures. Crossing my fingers for the next release....of the same version. Should be interesting.

[Geoff Riley]

Having no reason given for 8.4 being pulled really has me worried that they might have found a security hole that they're keeping quiet about: the old protection by obscurity chestnut.

I hope I'm wrong, and that I'm just being paranoid, but I can't get SpamAssassin running and so have to wonder what other things are not giving the protection that they should. :(

[wcrigger]

Yea, possibly, but really, it's hard to imagine one of their developers noticed a security flaw just after a release like that. It's possible though, or maybe even someone who downloaded it could have caught it.

Personally I would drop psa-spamassassin (PSA UI to spamassassin), drweb/kaperski, and download ART's packages instead. It's really unbelievable how wide open Plesk leaves you and how well ART's work (and very fine tunable if you so wish).

It's normally as easy as:

# yum -y remove psa-spamassassin spamassassin drweb (kaperski?)
# yum -y install qmail-scanner spamassassin clamav clamd razor pyzor

Edit /etc/qmail-scanner.ini (config) and /usr/share/qmail-scanner/qmail-scanner-queue (script) if you so wish but default works well enough.

then:
# qmail-scanner-reconfigure

To use their yum repo, go to atomicrocketturtle.com and follow the instructions for your distro (in my instructions above I was assuming Red Hat or similar flavor).

Like I said, it's really powerful out of the box, but you can fine tune it all you want depending on your desire, patience, and how familiar you are with your system(s).

[bibliopegist]

Having no reason given for 8.4 being pulled really has me worried that they might have found a security hole that they're keeping quiet about: the old protection by obscurity chestnut.

I hope I'm wrong, and that I'm just being paranoid, but I can't get SpamAssassin running and so have to wonder what other things are not giving the protection that they should. :(

check the permissions on /etc/rc.d/init.d/spamassassin it was wrong on my server and SA worked after I changed it

[laughingbuddha]

I would be insterested to play with this new PSA version.

Currently got a naf out-of-date VPS with WebFusion. Plesk 7.5.....nasty. But until my HP server is up I have no choice for the moment.

Could always get another VPS elsewhere, but it's the cost and hassle of moving 35 domains.

Matt

[Geoff Riley]

I am an online game player too.

I was talking about getting rid of spam... not trying to attract it!

Right, I've now got Scotts packages installed, and SA seems to be working... I've found a lot of more elderly messages talking about problems of getting it running on a per user basis, but can't spot anyone saying that they've overcome the problems... anyone know different?

[atomicturtle]

haha!

The trick is all in getting SA to store settings in MySQL, my notes for creating a Project Gamera cluster (this uses qmail-scanner the exact same way plesk does) would apply to how to do this on a Plesk box:

http://www.atomicorp.com/wiki/index.php/Project_Gamera

The only part you'd need to add on is a web front end for your end users to manipulate the settings. A long (long long) time ago I had put something together to do this with squirrelmail. There are a lot of other web based front ends for SA out there, including horde. So Im sure you can find something out there to do the job for you.

[Geoff Riley]

Thanks Scott, I'll go and have a read: I saw Project Gamera mentioned, but also that it was nothing to do with PSA so I didn't follow it through. :)

I got squirrelmail from your repository, but I couldn't find anything in it about SA, so I left that aside too. I think I'm lucky to have any hair left today! :lol:

[atomicturtle]

PG is really based on what I made for Plesk. Just a standalone version of it, the SA configuration would be identical. In fact I wrote that clustering bit for a setup where Plesk servers are controlling the spamassassin settings on PG systems.

[Geoff Riley]

I've given up with trying to get SA running against MySQL: I constantly get "Transactions not supported by database at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.6/i386-linux-thread-multi/DBI.pm line 645." whenever I attempt to use it... I've been fiddling around for hours but getting no-where.

I'll wait for 8.4 to be release properly, because it's always possible that there's something in that that is causing interferrence somewhere along the line.

The 8.4 repository seems to be back on-line, but it's not showing any updates for me, so it's either not been changed after all or the version numbers haven't updated yet.

Ho hum.

[atomicturtle]

Plesk wouldnt effect that, that looks to me like a MySQL version issue. Which one are you running?

[Geoff Riley]

Plesk wouldnt effect that, that looks to me like a MySQL version issue. Which one are you running?

It's your version actually...

Installed Packages
mysql-server.i386 5.0.51-1.fc4.art installed

Attempting to run and update on perl through cpan fails for a load of modules, but I'm too tired to go through it now (it's twenty to midnight here in the UK... don't know where you are :) )

[CSN-Carl]

It's available now according to the website, a few new features too:
http://www.parallels.com/r/pdfs/Plesk/plesk84_whatsnew.pdf

[joeybutterface]

Why is Parallels branding and new logo embedding listed as a key feature in 8.4? :)

I understand why it's key for Parallels. We are effectively paying them to advertise their software to our users.

These guys really are taking the piss and laughing about it in their offices. ;)

[atomicturtle]

Ah CPAN, yeah that is going to happen with it. Whats going on here is youve got a CPAN module in the mix that is making some assumptions about mysql that arent valid, so its breaking the session. Ive seen this happen before a bunch of times, the only solution is to rip it all out and hope re-installing the perl rpms cleans out the changes.

[sergius]

We've released Parallels Plesk Control Panel 8.4

http://www.parallels.com/en/plesk

Release notes
http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/Plesk8.4/Windows/8.4.0/plesk_8.4.0_build080505.00.htm
http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/Plesk8.4/plesk-8.4.0-for-rpm-based-os.html
http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/Plesk8.4/plesk-8.4.0-for-deb-based-os.html
http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk/Plesk8.4/plesk-8.4.0-for-pkg-based-os.html

What's new
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/plesk/new/

[HostingGuy]

Are you not going to respond to our questions about why it was pulled? Ignoring us isnt smart, it starts to make us angry.

[Geoff Riley]

Ah CPAN, yeah that is going to happen with it. Whats going on here is youve got a CPAN module in the mix that is making some assumptions about mysql that arent valid, so its breaking the session. Ive seen this happen before a bunch of times, the only solution is to rip it all out and hope re-installing the perl rpms cleans out the changes.

Thanks Scott, I'll get a fresh set of perl rpms and see what comes of it. I always though CPAN was suppose to be the recommended way to update perl modules though. Ah well. Thanks again.

[sergius]

Are you not going to respond to our questions about why it was pulled? Ignoring us isnt smart, it starts to make us angry.

Hello HostingGuy,

The reason for the delay of release is not affiliated with the quality of the product.

[mgriffin]

This is a little OT but it seems that sergius is following this thread so I will post here.

Whats up with the SMTP daemons that are supposedly included with this release:

19. SmarterMail 5 Support * Use SmarterMail 5 the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
20. CommuniGate Pro 5.2 Support - Use CommuniGate Pro 5.2 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
21. MailEnable 3.14 Support - Use MailEnable 3.14 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
22. Merak 9.2.1 Support - Use Merak 9.2.1 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.


There is nothing in the autoinstaller or repositories:

# cat /etc/redhat-release; tail -3 /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 6)
yum plesk-dist-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/dist-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386/
yum plesk-thirdparty-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/thirdparty-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386
yum product-updates-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/update-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386
# up2date --showall | grep -i 'smart\|commun\|enable\|merak\|smtp'
psa-qmail-rblsmtpd-0.70-rhel4.build84080425.19.i586
#


Was it really easier to half bake four new SMTP daemons than just use postfix like you said you would? Either way something has to be better than qmail.

Comments?
~mg

[Brujo]

@sergius
as Hostingguy mentioned its make us just angry and i have a bad feeling to upgrade any of our Servers to the new Version, so let the cat out of the bag and dont talk just around blahblah..

what was happens and why there are still the known bugs not fixed

Brujo

[ideasmultiples]

[+] Maximum number of recipients restriction in Qmail - Server administrator can limit maximum number of mail recipients to prevent users from sending mass e-mail.

To prevent your users from sending mass e-mail, do the following:
1 Create a file named maxrcpt in the directory $QMAIL_ROOT_D/qmail/control/
where $QMAIL_ROOT_D is the location defined in the file /etc/psa/psa.conf file.
2 Type the number of allowed recipients in this file and save it.
Note that this number also affect sending of messages to mailing list or mail group subscribers. That is, if you set the value to 100, then only 100 subscribers will receive the message sent to the mailing list or mail group. When you no longer need to restrict the number of recipients, delete the maxrcpt file.

[shoggy24]

This is a little OT but it seems that sergius is following this thread so I will post here.

Whats up with the SMTP daemons that are supposedly included with this release:

19. SmarterMail 5 Support * Use SmarterMail 5 the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
20. CommuniGate Pro 5.2 Support - Use CommuniGate Pro 5.2 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
21. MailEnable 3.14 Support - Use MailEnable 3.14 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.
22. Merak 9.2.1 Support - Use Merak 9.2.1 with the Parallels Plesk Control Panel.


There is nothing in the autoinstaller or repositories:

# cat /etc/redhat-release; tail -3 /etc/sysconfig/rhn/sources
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 6)
yum plesk-dist-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/dist-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386/
yum plesk-thirdparty-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/thirdparty-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386
yum product-updates-rpms http://autoinstall.plesk.com/PSA_8.4.0/update-rpm-RedHat-el4-i386
# up2date --showall | grep -i 'smart\|commun\|enable\|merak\|smtp'
psa-qmail-rblsmtpd-0.70-rhel4.build84080425.19.i586
#


Was it really easier to half bake four new SMTP daemons than just use postfix like you said you would? Either way something has to be better than qmail.

Comments?
~mg


I thought those smtp daemon are for the windows platform.