We give every customer on our servers the ability to manage the limits and settings for their domains and the various parts of each domain (e.g. individual mail accounts and web space). In order to do this, Plesk currently uses three levels of limit settings - Client Level, Domain Level and Component Level.

• Client Level
  This is the top-most level and is set by us. It defines what the total limits are for your account and is based on the package you have purchased from us. You can view your limits at any time by logging onto Plesk (using your Client Level log-in details) and clicking on the Resource Usage icon;


• Domain Level
  These are the limits that you (or Plesk) set for each individual domain within your account. The sum of the limits across all domains in your account may sometimes be greater than that of your Client Level limit (i.e. if you have an account with 1Gb of web space and up to 3 domains, all 3 domains together may be assigned a total of more than 1Gb, but you cannot use more than 1Gb on the server at any time);


• Component Level
  This level covers the settings you can apply to various parts of the domain, e.g. setting mailbox limits or web space usage. This level isn't covered in this article, but depending on which setting you are working with it can total more than the space available (e.g. you can set a mailbox size to Unlimited), but at all times is must be under the relevant limit (e.g. the whole domain, including mailboxes, cannot be more than the limit assigned to the domain).

How limits are assigned

Unless you create a domain manually using a template (not covered in this article), Plesk will fall-back to the default way of assigned limits to a domain. This is done by taking the limits still unaccounted for on your account and dividing them up according to the number of domains left to add.

It doesn't assign all available limits to a domain as it doesn't know how many domains you may want to use (only how many you can have). If you only ever host one domain on your account, you will only be assigned a share of the limits - it is up to you to change the limits and assign all remaining limits to it.

So, for example, you have just purchased a package with 1Gb of space, 7.5Gb bandwidth, 5 sub-domains and can host 2 domains. As you can have up to 2 domains, each of the values will essentially be divided by 2 in order to get the limits of the domain.

For your first domain, example.com, the limits will be 512Mb (1024Mb divided by 2) of space, and 3.75Gb (3840Mb) of bandwidth. However, 5 sub-domains doesn't divide evenly by 2. Plesk therefore takes the amount available (5), divides it by the number of domains left (2) and rounds it down to the nearest number (5 divide by 2 is 2.5): 2.

With the next domain, we still have 512Mb (1024Mb-512Mb) of space left, 3.75Gb (7.5Gb-3.75Gb) of bandwidth and 3 (5-2) sub-domains left. As only one domain is left, all the available limits will be assigned to it.

Also, even though you have two domains on your account, you don't have to have the limits split (approx) 50-50. If you have a domain that uses, or at least requires, more space or more bandwidth, you can take it off one or more domains and assign it to the other instead.

Controlling Limits

Plesk is by default configured to allow all domains and accounts to go past their limits and continue operating the site regardless of any overage. This may be undesirable for some customers who want more control over their accounts and charges with no sudden surprises.

In this configuration, Plesk will simply e-mail you when a domain or whole account goes over the limits set. Note: we will only charge you overage fees should you whole account go over it's limit. If one or more domains exceed the levels configured, you will be e-mailed but not charged.

Another option available (for both Domain- and Client-Level settings) is to tell the server that any domain or account should not go over it's limits. If one or more of the limits is exceeded, that domain or whole account will be suspended until you request us to un-suspend it (please Submit a Ticket for assistance here).

In this case, there is an option for a warning level which will tell the server to e-mail you each day a limit is over a certain level, but not yet at the limit. For example, if you have 10Gb of Bandwidth each month, you can set the level to 7.5Gb for your warning - each day over 7.5Gb, you will be e-mailed and when it passes 10Gb, the account will be suspended.

You can set this following the steps in the next section for any domain in your account. If you want it to be configured for your Client-Level limits, you must contact us to set it on your account. Please Submit a Ticket telling us to enable it along with the levels you want the warnings set at for your Space and Bandwidth limits.

How to change the limits

Just as the limits for your Client-Level account are under the Resource Usage icon, the limits for each domain are found by clicking on the Resource Usage icon for the relevant domain. From there you can change the values in each text box as you wish, clicking OK at the bottom to save the changes.

If you enter too much into any box and there isn't enough available on your Client-Level account to set it to that value, you will see a warning with the maximum value you can put in.

At the top of the page is the Overuse Policy - be default all domains are selected with Overuse is allowed, which will continue to run the domain is it is using too much. To disable this and suspend the domain on excess, select Overuse is not allowed. You will then see to boxes to the left of the Limits for Space and Bandwidth. In each of these, enter the warning level you would like to receive an e-mail above.

Again, click OK at the bottom to save the changes.