FireStorm updates in the next weeks all webhosting servers at night with a Plesk update from Onyx to Obsidian. This update brings many new features and benefits for our customers and users. To help you make the most of the new possibilities, this short article introduces you to the new features and benefits of Plesk Obsidian. – We hope you enjoy reading and learning!

What exactly is Plesk Obsidian?

But before we get to the new possibilities and advantages of Plesk Obsidian, let us first explain what Plesk Obsidian is exactly. At FireStorm we used Plesk Onyx, the previous version of Plesk Obsidian. Plesk is an innovative administration platform for modern web hosting. You can easily create and manage domains using the features of the Plesk platform.

So Plesk is the simple user interface that is directly related to our web hosting services at FireStorm. Therefore the change from Plesk Onyx to Plesk Obsidian has a direct effect on our customers. For this reason, it is very important to us that you can get to know the new possibilities and advantages that the update offers in a compact article.

Plesk is an innovative administration platform with which you can easily create and manage your domains. The new Obsidian version extends the previous offer with some functions and possibilities.

What are the advantages of the Plesk Obsidian Update?

First and foremost, Plesk Obsidian convinces with its improved user-friendliness, but also with its new possibilities in the field of security. In addition, the Web Stack, i.e. the software collection, has been optimized so that you can use your web projects better and longer. In order to show you the new functions as clearly as possible, the following is an overview with the respective functions as well as a short explanation:

Improve usability

The Obsidian Update has improved the user interface both visually and in terms of handling. It looks more professional, clearer and more comfortable than Plesk Onyx. Now you can manage your website much better and use the new File Manager UX. You also get personalized HTML notifications that give you the best overview and maximum control even after you log out. Not only agencies, but also developers and private customers who want to implement their own web projects benefit from the improvements in user-friendliness.

Obsidian Webhosting

Increased control and flexibility

As a user of Plesk Obsidian, you have more control than ever because the new features are all very easy to find and use. For example, you benefit from the Advanced Monitoring and Grafana extensions. Obsidian’s new limited mode allows you to control the execution of server-side operations. Furthermore, the flexible and easy switching between subscriptions is now possible not only via the Obsidian interface, but also via the command line (CLI).

Strengthening security and surveillance

In addition, the Obsidian Update has massively strengthened the security of the platform. The new version is not only more robust, but also more effective when it comes to failure prevention and loss of revenue. In addition to the Mod Security and Fail2ban security enhancements, the Obsidian Update also adds SSL it! server security. Also in the mail service area the security was increased by SNI. This ensures that all calls via SMTP, IMAP and POP connections remain private.

Obsidian Server

Maximize productivity and value creation

The fourth major area affected by the Obsidian Update enhancements is productivity and value creation. Crashed systems are automatically restarted and you benefit from an SEO-friendly automatic HTTP>HTTPS redirection for new locations. Of course, the platform is not only immediately ready for use, but also has an optimized web stack with countless deployment tools. These include Git, Redis Memcached, Node.js and optimized Docker Services. This high feature density lets you get the most out of your web projects. Other new possibilities in this area are Composer (PHP Dependency Manager) support v2.0, optimized backups (less disk space required) and the PageSpeed module (precompiled with NGINX).

The benefits of the Plesk Obsidian Update include increased security, productivity, control and ease of use.

How can a reseller install Obsidian?

In Plesk under Tools & Settings then on Update and Upgrade Settings and under Plesk Version Levels you can select ‘Early Adopter Version’.