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Plesk for Linux services logs and configuration files

Daniel Yordanov
Updated
DoNotDelete:docref Plesk for Linux kb: tools

Applicable to:

  • Plesk for Linux

Question

Where to find Plesk for Linux services logs and configuration files?

Answer

This article's sole purpose is to provide information regarding the services that Plesk interacts with. Below you will find the configuration and log file locations of the services, which may be useful during a troubleshooting procedure.

For Plesk on Windows see this article.

PLESK_WARN: Plesk company does NOT recommend manually editing or modifying the below-mentioned configuration or system files. If however, you decide to do it, please keep in mind that you do it at your own risk, and the changes may cause unexpected behavior.

Services

Plesk

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log and /var/log/sw-cp-server/sw-engine.log
    • Access log: /var/log/plesk/httpsd_access_log
    • Panel log: /var/log/plesk/panel.log
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop psa
    • Start: systemctl start psa
    • Restart: systemctl restart psa
  • Configuration
    • PHP config on RHEL-based: /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/php.ini
    • PHP config on Debian-based: /opt/psa/admin/conf/php.ini
    • Panel config on RHEL-based: /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/panel.ini
    • Panel config on Debian-based: /opt/psa/admin/conf/panel.ini
    • Web server config: /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/plesk.conf
  • User actions logging:
    • Tools & Settings > Action log

Plesk Installer

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log
    • /tmp/autoinstaller3.log

Plesk System Packages Update Manager (PUM)

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/systemupdatestool.log

Web Presence Builder

  • Logs
    • Error log: /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/sitebuilder.log
    • Install/upgrade logs: /usr/local/sb/tmp/
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service)
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/sb/config
    • /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/plesk.conf
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/php.ini

Backup Manager

  • Logs
    • Backup logs: /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/backup-<datetime> Plesk Onyx; /var/log/plesk/PMM/ Plesk Obsidian
    • Restore log: /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/restore-<datetime> or /usr/local/psa/PMM/rsessions and /var/log/plesk/PMM/restore-TIMESTAMP
  • Functionality is controlled by the Plesk control panel service
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa/psa.conf

Plesk Migrator

  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/panel-migrator/conf/
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/modules/panel-migrator/backend/conf/
  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/panel-migrator/logs/
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/panel-migrator/sessions/

Migration Manager

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/migration-<datetime>
  • Functionality is controlled by the Plesk control panel service.

Website & Mail Import

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/site-import/sessions/

Task Manager

  • Log
    • /var/log/plesk/task-manager.log
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/task-manager.yml

Health Monitor Manager

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/health-alarm.log
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop sw-collectd
    • Start: systemctl start sw-collectd
    • Restart: systemctl restart sw-collectd
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/health-config.xml
    • /usr/local/psa/var/custom-health-config.xml
    • /etc/sw-collectd/collectd.conf

MySQL

  • Logs

    Note: Starting from MariaDB 10.5 packages from MariaDB Foundation (either for RHEL-based, or for Debian-based distributions) have error_log set to empty value. Therefore, log file can be accessed via journalctl.

    Debian 11/Ubuntu 22

    # journalctl -xeu mariadb.service

    Debian 10/Ubuntu 20

    # grep -ri log_error /etc/my* | cut -d ':' -f2
    log_error = /var/log/mysql/error.log

    CentOS/RHEL/Almalinux

    # grep -ri log-error /etc/my* | cut -d ":" -f 2
    log-error=/var/log/mariadb/mariadb.log

  • Services
  • Stop: systemctl stop mysqld
  • Start: systemctl start mysqld
  • Restart: systemctl restart mysqld

Note: Service name differs on different Linux distributives:

  • mysqld on CentOS/RHEL 5 and 6
  • mariadb on CentOS 7/RHEL 7/Almalinux
  • mysql on Debian/Ubuntu
  • Configuration
    • /etc/my.cnf
    • /etc/my.cnf.d/mariadb-server.cnf
    • /etc/mysql/my.cnf (Debian/Ubuntu)
    • /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf (Debian/Ubuntu)

PostgreSQL

  • Logs
    • /var/lib/pgsql/pgstartup.log
    • /var/log/postgresql/postgresql-x.x-main.log
  • Services
    • Stop: service postgresql stop
    • Start: service postgresql start
    • Restart: service postgresql restart
  • Configuration
    • /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
  • CentOS/CloudLinux
    /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
  • Ubuntu/Debian
    /etc/postgresql/x.x/main/pg_hba.conf

Apache

RHEL/CentOS

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/httpd/access_log
      • Error log: /var/log/httpd/error_log
      • Requests to IP addresses: /var/log/httpd/other_vhosts_access_log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_ssl_log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/error_log
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop httpd
    • Start: systemctl start httpd
    • Restart: systemctl restart httpd
  • Configuration
    • /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
    • /etc/httpd/conf.d/zz010_psa_httpd.conf (includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts and the server configuration)
    • /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/

Debian/Ubuntu

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/apache2/access.log
      • Error log: /var/log/apache2/error.log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/access_ssl_log
        • Requests to IP addresses: /var/log/apache2/other_vhosts_access.log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/error_log
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop apache2
    • Start: systemctl start apache2
    • Restart: systemctl restart apache2
  • Configuration
    • /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
    • /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/zz010_psa_httpd.conf(includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts and the server configuration)
    • /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/

nginx

  • Logs
    • Global logs:
      • Access log: /var/log/nginx/access.log
      • Error log: /var/log/nginx/error.log
    • Domain logs:
      • Access logs:
        • HTTP log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/proxy_access_log
        • HTTPS log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/proxy_access_ssl_log
      • Error log: /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/logs/proxy_error_log
  • Services
    • nginx
      • Stop: systemctl stop nginx
      • Start: systemctl start nginx
      • Restart: systemctl restart nginx
    • nginx as a reverse-proxy
      • Stop: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --disable
      • Start: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --enable
      • Status: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/nginxmng --status
  • Configuration
    • /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
    • /etc/nginx/conf.d/zz010_psa_nginx.conf (includes generated configuration files with the rest of the vhosts' and server configuration)
    • /etc/nginx/plesk.conf.d/

Tomcat

  • Logs
    • /var/log/tomcat/*
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop tomcat
    • Start: systemctl start tomcat
    • Restart: systemctl restart tomcat
  • Configuration
    • /etc/tomcat/server.xml
    • /etc/tomcat/tomcat.conf
  • Application configuration
    • /var/lib/tomcat/application_name/

FTP

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/xferlog (or /var/log/xferlog)
    • /var/log/plesk/ftp_tls.log
  • Authentication logs
    • /var/log/secure - CentOS/RHEL-based distributions
    • /var/log/auth.log - Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions
  • No service control (works via the Xinetd service)
    • On RHEL 9: systemctl restart proftpd.socket
  • Configuration
    • /etc/xinetd.d/ftp_psa
    • /etc/proftpd.conf
    • /etc/proftpd.d/

cron

  • Logs
    /var/log/cron
  • Configuration:
    Debian/Ubuntu:
    /etc/crontab
    RHEL/Almalinux:
    /etc/cron.d/dailyjobs
     

xinetd

  • Logs
    • /var/log/messages
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop xinetd
    • Start: systemctl start xinetd
    • Restart: systemctl restart xinetd
  • Configuration
    • /etc/xinetd.conf
    • /etc/xinetd.d/* (files with "." in the name are ignored)

BIND

  • Logs
    • /var/log/messages
    • /var/log/syslog
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop named
    • Start: systemctl start named
    • Restart: systemctl restart named
  • Configuration
    • /etc/named.conf

Note: The service is called bind9 on Debian/Ubuntu and named-chroot on CentOS 7.

Courier-IMAP

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: service courier-imap stop
    • Start: service courier-imap start
    • Restart: service courier-imap restart
  • Configuration
    • /etc/courier-imap/imapd
    • /etc/courier-imap/imapd-ssl
    • /etc/courier-imap/pop3d
    • /etc/courier-imap/pop3d-ssl

Dovecot

  • Logs
    • Logs can be found using the /usr/sbin/dovecot log find command
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop dovecot
    • Start: systemctl start dovecot
    • Restart: systemctl restart dovecot
  • Configuration
    • /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
    • /etc/sysconfig/dovecot (CentOS/RHEL)
    • /etc/dovecot/conf.d/11-plesk-security-ssl.conf

Postfix

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop postfix
    • Start: systemctl start postfix
    • Restart: systemctl restart postfix
  • Configuration
    • /etc/postfix/master.cf
    • /etc/postfix/main.cf

Qmail

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop qmail
    • Start: systemctl start qmail
    • Restart: systemctl restart qmail
  • Configuration
    • Control files in /var/qmail/control/
    • /etc/xinetd.d/smtp_psa
    • /etc/xinetd.d/smtps_psa
    • /etc/xinetd.d/submission_psa

Horde

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/psa-horde/psa-horde.log
  • No service control (works via the Apache web-server)
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa-webmail/horde/horde.conf
    • /etc/psa-webmail/horde/horde/conf.php

Roundcube

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/plesk-roundcube/errors
  • No service control (works via the Apache web-server)
  • Configuration
    • /etc/psa-webmail/roundcube/*
    • /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/defaults.inc.php
    • Customizations: /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php

Mail forwarding

  • Configuration
    • /var/qmail/mailnames/<domain_name>/<user_name>/.qmail

Mailman

  • Logs
    • /var/log/mailman/*
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop mailman
    • Start: systemctl start mailman
    • Restart: systemctl restart mailman
  • Configuration
    • /usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py
    • /etc/mailman/sitelist.cfg
    • /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/server.conf - web config for Mailman on RHEL/CentOS
    • /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/server.conf - web config for Mailman on Debian/Ubuntu

SpamAssassin

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
    • /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog
  • Services
    • Stop: systemctl stop spamassassin
    • Start: systemctl start spamassassin
    • Restart: systemctl restart spamassassin
  • Configuration
    • /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf or /etc/spamassassin/local.cf
    • /var/qmail/mailnames/<domain_name>/<mailbox>/.spamassassin/user_prefs

Premium Antivirus

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
    • /var/drweb/log/*
  • Service control
    • Stop: systemctl stop drwebd
    • Start: systemctl start drwebd
    • Restart: systemctl restart drwebd
  • Configuration
    • /etc/drweb/*

Kaspersky Antivirus

  • Logs
    • /var/log/maillog
  • Service control
    • Stop: systemctl stop kavehost
    • Start: systemctl start kavehost
    • Restart: systemctl restart kavehost
  • Configuration
    • /opt/kav/sdk8l3/etc/kav-handler.cfg
    • /etc/kavehost.xml
  • Anti-virus database directory:
    • /opt/kav/sdk8l3/bases/

phpMyAdmin

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service).
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/htdocs/domains/databases/phpMyAdmin/libraries/config.default.php
    • Starting from Plesk 18.0.30: /usr/local/psa/phpMyAdmin/libraries/vendor_config.php

phpPgAdmin

  • Logs
    • Error log: /var/log/sw-cp-server/error_log
  • No service control (working via the sw-cp-server service).
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/htdocs/domains/databases/phpPgAdmin/conf/config.inc.php

Logrotate

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/logrotate.conf
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/logrotate.d/*
    • /etc/logrotate.conf
    • /etc/logrotate.d/*

Webalizer

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/conf/webalizer.conf

AWstats

  • No service control. Executed by the daily maintenance task: /etc/cron.daily/50plesk-daily
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/etc/awstats/awstats.<domain_name>-*.conf

Watchdog

  • Logs
    • /var/log/plesk/modules/wdcollect.log
    • /var/log/plesk/modules/monit.log
  • Service control
    • Stop: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --stop
    • Start: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --start
    • Restart: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modules/watchdog/wd --restart

Plesk Firewall

  • Service control
    • Stop: systemctl stop psa-firewall
    • Start: systemctl start psa-firewall
    • Restart: systemctl restart psa-firewall
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-active.sh
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-emergency.sh
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/firewall-new.sh

Plesk Firewall (IP forwarding)

  • Service control
    • Stop: systemctl stop psa-firewall-forward
    • Start: systemctl start psa-firewall-forward
    • Restart: systemctl restart psa-firewall-forward
  • Configuration
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/firewall/*

IP Address Banning (Fail2Ban)

  • Logs:
    • /var/log/fail2ban.log
  • Service control
    • Stop: systemctl stop fail2ban
    • Start: systemctl start fail2ban
    • Restart: systemctl restart fail2ban
  • Configuration: A set of IPTables rules. By default:
    • iptables -N fail2ban-plesk-login
    • iptables -A fail2ban-plesk-login -j RETURN
    • iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m multiport --dports 8880,8443 -j fail2ban-plesk-login

ModSecurity

  • Logs
    • /var/log/modsec_audit.log

    • /var/www/vhosts/<domain_name>/logs/error_log

      Note: ModSecurity also has a debug log that can be configured by adding SecDebugLog directive with the specified path for it in the Apache configuration file.

  • Services
    • Disable: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modsecurity_ctl -d
    • Enable: /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/modsecurity_ctl -e

Let's Encrypt

  • Logs
    • /usr/local/psa/admin/logs/panel.log

Plesk-PHP

  • php.ini
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.ini
  • .ini files:
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.d/
  • Modules:
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/lib64/php/modules/
  • Logs:
    • /var/log/plesk-php7x-fpm/

Acronis Backup

  • Service Control
    • acronis_mms: Acronis Managed Machine Service is responsible for backup and recovery operations.
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/python/python -m acronis_backup_srv.app_daemon --config=/usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/srv/config.ini: Extension frontend is implemented with a separate persistent process, running in the background.
    • /opt/plesk/php/7.x/etc/php.ini
  • Logs:
    • /var/log/plesk/panel.log
    • /var/log/trueimage-setup.log
    • /usr/local/psa/var/modules/acronis-backup/srv/log/

Node.js

  • Logs:
    • Global log
      • /var/log/httpd/error_log CentOS/RHEL-based distributions
      • /var/log/apache/error_log Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions
      • /var/log/nginx/error.log On nginx-only hosting
    • Domain's log
      • /var/www/vhosts/system/example.com/logs/

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    Thomas Schleicher
    (Edited )

    Please add SOGo to the list

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