How to disable web statistics in Plesk

Applicable to:

• Plesk 12.0 -17.8 for Linux
• Plesk 12.0 -17.8 for Windows

Question

Web statistics tools operate by processing information from log files, including visitors' IP addresses. A GDPR-related regulation prohibits storing clients' IP address on the server. How to disable the web statistics?

Answer

A long-term solution for making web statistics feature GDPR compliant is being developed.

As a temporary workaround, the web statistics can be disabled using the steps below:

1. Log in to Plesk administration panel

2. Go to Tools & Settings > Updates and upgrades and click Add/Remove components.

3. Find and remove the "Webalizer" and "AWStats" components (they can be found either in the main list in the "Web hosting features" section):

4. Click Continue.

5. Login to Plesk via SSH or RDP

Plesk for Windows

1. (open PowerShell):

   PS del $env:plesk_vhosts\examplesubscription.com\.plesk\statistics\exampledomain.com\webstat\*.*
   del $env:plesk_vhosts\examplesubscription.com\.plesk\statistics\exampledomain.com\ftpstat\*.*
   del $env:plesk_vhosts\examplesubscription.com\.plesk\statistics\exampledomain.com\anon_ftpstat\*.*

2. Disable WebStatistics either for all sites:

   PS plesk db -Ne"select name from domains where htype='vrt_hst'" | % { if ($_) { plesk bin site -u $_ -webstat none}}

   Or for one domain:

   C:\> plesk bin site.exe --update exampledomain.com -webstat none

Additional information

Plesk Onyx 17.5 and Plesk Onyx 17.8 allow to disable the logging of client IP addresses. This way, web statistics may be kept running, although the quality of its reports will decrease. For instructions, please check the article below:

How to disable IP address logging in Plesk