How to use Plesk™ to build an email server

Last modified date: 2017-07-05

This tutorial assists users in setting up and using Plesk as an email server on a Windows Server virtual machine running in Virtualization Station.

What is Plesk™?

Plesk™ is a commercial web hosting platform that provides a control panel for server administrators to manage websites, email servers, databases, DNS and more through a web-based UI interface. Plesk™ also supports installing extensions such as WordPress, Docker®, Git and frameworks such as Node.js, PHP, and Python.

Prerequisites:

A virtual machine running Windows Server (2008 R2 or later)
A domain name
Download the Plesk for Windows installer
Note: A license is required to use Plesk™. A free trial is also available from their website.

Launch the Windows Server remote desktop and run plesk-installer.exe. Enter the Windows Server Login name and Password and click “Log in”.
Click “Install or Upgrade Product” and select the latest install version (as of publishing this document, “Plesk Onyx 17.5.3” is the latest version). Click “Continue”.
Confirm the installation directory and enter a password. Click “Continue” to install Plesk™.
Once Plesk™ has been installed, click “OK”.
Use Plesk™ administrator or Windows Server Username and Password to log in.
Select “Individual /Personal Use” and “Power User view”. Click “OK”.
This will customize your web interface configuration. For more information regarding the Plesk™ GUI, consult the Plesk documentation.
Enter a domain name for the Windows Server and a change the password for the Plesk administrator. Click “OK”.
Enter the administrator information and click “OK”.
Enter the domain name, IP address, and the log in credentials to create a web space. Click “OK”.
Click “Install Key” and enter the Plesk activation code. Click “OK”.
If you do not have a Plesk activation code, you can apply for a free trial license for testing purposes.
Enter the Plesk™ web interface. You can manage the websites and domains of Windows Server.
Click “Mail” on the left menu. Click “Create Email Address”.
Specify an email address. You can also set a limit for the mailbox space. Click “OK”.
Open a new web browser tab and go to “webmail.yourdomain.com”. A webmail page will be opened. Log in with the account details you created.

Other configurations (optional)

Email client services in Windows Server only support Horde IMP H5. Linux-based servers support Horde IMP H5 and Roundcube.
If you need to modify the data storage location, go to Windows Server and launch “Plesk Reconfigurator” > “Change Plesk Backup Data location”. Click “Browse…” to specify a new location and click “Next”.
You can mount NAS shared folders or use iSCSI initiator to leverage NAS storage capacity. Click here for more information on using an iSCSI initiator
If you already have a DNS management service, you can assign your Windows Server IP address to “ns1.yourdomain.com” and “ns2.yourdomain.com”. It will save the time to reconfigure original DNS settings.