REVISION 1.0
Parallels
®
Helm
Parallels Helm 4.2.2 User Guide
Legal and Copyright Notice
ISBN: N/A
Parallels
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Street
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Phone: +1 (425) 282 6400
Fax: +1 (425) 282 6444
© Copyright 2012,
Parallels, Inc.
All rights reserved
Distribution of this work or derivative of this work in any form is prohibited unless prior
written permission is obtained from the copyright holder.
Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Contents
Preface 5
Typographical Conventions ........................................................................................................... 5
Feedback ....................................................................................................................................... 6
About Parallels Helm 7
About This Guide 8
Logging Into Parallels Helm 9
Home: Main Menu 10
Helm System 11
IP Addresses ............................................................................................................................... 12
Creating an IP Address ..................................................................................................... 12
Editing IP Addresses ......................................................................................................... 13
Diagnostics .................................................................................................................................. 14
Security ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Scheduled Tasks ......................................................................................................................... 15
Adding a Scheduled Task ................................................................................................. 16
Editing Scheduled Tasks ................................................................................................... 16
Control Panel Settings ................................................................................................................. 17
Geographical Settings ................................................................................................................. 18
Configuring County Details ................................................................................................ 19
Creating a New County ..................................................................................................... 19
Editing County Details ....................................................................................................... 19
Servers ........................................................................................................................................ 20
Add Server ......................................................................................................................... 21
Server Configuration ......................................................................................................... 22
Modules ............................................................................................................................. 23
Logs ................................................................................................................................... 24
System Info ........................................................................................................................ 24
Windows Services ............................................................................................................. 25
Terminal Services .............................................................................................................. 25
Windows Firewall............................................................................................................... 26
Windows Reboot ............................................................................................................... 26
Windows Processes .......................................................................................................... 27
Services ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Add Service ....................................................................................................................... 29
Edit Service ....................................................................................................................... 29
Resources .................................................................................................................................... 30
Billing 32
Shopping Cart .............................................................................................................................. 33
Preface 4
Account Statements..................................................................................................................... 33
Recurring Transactions ............................................................................................................... 34
Deferred Statements.................................................................................................................... 34
Make Payment ............................................................................................................................. 34
Manage Credit Cards................................................................................................................... 35
Wizards 36
Account Settings 37
Changing Your Password ............................................................................................................ 37
Changing Your Account Details ................................................................................................... 37
Packages 38
Adding a Package ........................................................................................................................ 39
Viewing Resource Usage ............................................................................................................ 40
Adding Extra Features to Your Package ..................................................................................... 40
Domain Registration 41
Domains 42
In this chapter:
Typographical Conventions ............................................................................... 5
Feedback .......................................................................................................... 6
Typographical Conventions
Before you start using this guide, it is important to understand the documentation
conventions used in it.
The following kinds of formatting in the text identify special information.
Formatting convention
Type of Information
Example
Special Bold
Items you must select,
such as menu options,
command buttons, or
items in a list.
Go to the System tab.
Titles of chapters,
sections, and
subsections.
Read the Basic
Administration chapter.
Italics
Used to emphasize the
importance of a point, to
introduce a term or to
designate a command
line placeholder, which is
to be replaced with a real
name or value.
The system supports the
so called wildcard
character search.
Monospace
The names of
commands, files,
directories, and domain
names.
The license file is located
in the
http://docs/common/
licenses directory.
C H A P T E R 1
Preface
6 Preface
Preformatted
On-screen computer
output in your command-
line sessions; source
code in XML, C++, or
other programming
languages.
# ls –al /files
total 14470
Preformatted
Bold
What you type,
contrasted with on-screen
computer output.
# cd /root/rpms/php
CAPITALS
Names of keys on the
keyboard.
SHIFT, CTRL, ALT
KEY+KEY
Key combinations for
which the user must
press and hold down one
key and then press
another.
CTRL+P, ALT+F4
Feedback
If you have found a mistake in this guide, or if you have suggestions or ideas on how to
improve this guide, please send your feedback using the online form at
http://www.parallels.com/en/support/usersdoc/. Please include in your report the
guide’s title, chapter and section titles, and the fragment of text in which you have found
an error.
The Parallels Helm Web Hosting Control System is an extremely powerful hosting
automation solution for Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 servers. Parallels Helm is
owned by Parallels, a global leader in virtualization and automation software. Web site:
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/helm/
C H A P T E R 2
About Parallels Helm
Because of the unique unlimited user model that Parallels Helm employs starting with
version 4, there is no longer a strict tier system as in earlier versions of Helm.
Therefore, separate layouts for administrator, reseller and user are no longer exist.
As well as this, the addition of Account roles and Login roles means that there are no
longer strict permissions attributable to a specific user. Effectively, if a user has the
correct permissions, they can see and/or do anything in Helm, even if they are not an
administrator.
Because of these changes, the Parallels Helm User Guide will encompass all major
aspects of Parallels Helm user interface that are not covered by other Parallels Helm
guides. Depending on the permissions your Account role or Login role has, you may
not be able to see or use certain parts of Parallels Helm. However, you can still use this
guide to find out more about the areas of Helm that are available to you.
C H A P T E R 3
About This Guide
When you first get to the Parallels Helm Control Panel login screen, you will be
prompted to enter your Account Name, Login Name and Login Password. These will
have been given to you by your web host; depending on the login method your webhost
uses, there may only be two fields needed to be completed to log in. If you haven’t
been provided with the relevant details, please refer to your web host.
The default login page for Parallels Helm contains the following fields:
Account Name: Enter the name of your Account here.
Login Name: Enter your Login name here.
Login Password: Enter your Login password here.
Remember Me: If you want Helm to remember your login details to save you
having to type them again, check this box.
Forgot Password: If you cannot remember your login details, click this link. You
will be taken to the Forgot Password screen where you can enter your e-mail
address and get sent your login details.
Login Page Skin: If you want to change the skin of Helm, then choose a different
skin from the drop-down box.
C H A P T E R 4
Logging Into Parallels Helm
Upon logging into Parallels Helm, the first screen you will see is Main Menu. It contains
the icons to quickly access all major menu items. Other interface areas are highlighted
below:
Quick Search: On the top left, there is a quick search area, where you can search
for either customers or domains within your account. Enter all or part of a name,
choose whether you are searching for a domain or a customer, and click Search.
Quick Help: On every page, you have the ability to access the Quick Help for that
particular page, or log off from your Parallels Helm session.
Helm Navigation: In the left hand panel, you can see the Parallels Helm tree menu
which allows you to easily navigate to a particular page in Parallels Helm. You can
any time access the Main Menu by clicking Home on the top of the menu panel.
Account Notes: If there are any notes associated with this page, they will be
displayed here.
Messages: Here you can see any new messages that have been sent to you by
your web host.
C H A P T E R 5
Home: Main Menu
Clicking the Helm System item on the menu will lead you to the page where you can
configure your servers, services, IP addresses, resources, and other global system
settings. Click an icon to get taken to the relevant screen.
Note: Servers and Resources are covered in separate chapters in more details.
In this chapter:
IP Addresses ..................................................................................................... 12
Diagnostics ........................................................................................................ 14
Security ............................................................................................................. 14
Scheduled Tasks ............................................................................................... 15
Control Panel Settings ....................................................................................... 17
Geographical Settings ....................................................................................... 18
Servers .............................................................................................................. 20
Services ............................................................................................................ 28
Resources ......................................................................................................... 30
C H A P T E R 6
Helm System
12 Helm System
IP Addresses
On this page you can add, delete and manage the IPs you will be using for your servers
and domains in Parallels Helm.
External IP Address: Click an IP in the list to get taken to the Edit IP Address screen
where you can alter the properties of that IP address.
Assigned Server: Click an assigned server in the list to get taken to the Server
properties screen for that server.
Add: Click this button to get taken to the Add IP Address screen.
Delete Selected: You can see a check box to the left of each IP. If you check the
boxes next to the IPs you want to delete and click Delete Selected, you will remove all
of the selected IPs from Parallels Helm. Alternatively to delete all of the IPs, check
the very top box and then click Delete Selected.
In this section:
Creating an IP Address ..................................................................................... 12
Editing IP Addresses ......................................................................................... 13
Creating an IP Address
On this page you can add an IP address that is assigned to your network card into
Parallels Helm, for use in services and domains. Once you complete the form, click
Save to save the IP Address.
External IP Address: Enter your External IP Address here. If you have a range of IPs
that you want to enter, you can enter the range here using the last “to” box. For
example entering: 123.123.123.123 to 156 would enter all IPs in this range
inclusive.
NAT Address: If you are on a NAT-based network or internal network, and your IP is
masked by another internal IP, you can enter it here.
Assigned Server: Choose a server to assign this IP to, or choose Unassigned to leave
the IP unassigned to a server until a later time.
Static IP Address: Check this box to make the IP static (dedicated). Doing this will
allow you to assign a dedicated IP to a domain or a service.
Helm System 13
Editing IP Addresses
On this page you can edit an IP Address’s assigned server, and whether it is static or
not. You can also delete the IP from Parallels Helm.
Assigned Server: If you want to change the server that the IP is assigned to, you can
choose a new server from the dropdown list.
Static IP Address: If you want to change the IP Address to make it static, check this
box. To make the IP dynamic, uncheck the box.
Delete: If you want to delete the IP, simply click the Delete button, then on the next
screen click OK to confirm the deletion.
14 Helm System
Diagnostics
On this page you can run Parallels Helm’s Diagnostics tool against your servers to
ensure that they are online, and that their services are working.
Server: Select the server from the drop-down list that you want to run a diagnostic
against, and click Check.
You will be taken to a results screen where you can see the results of the tests for your
server and services. These results will usually be specific to the provider that is being
tested, so may vary.
Security
On this page you can specify a number of security options in Parallels Helm. New
features include the ability to specify which Parallels Helm pages you want to be
secured (that is, changed to https when you visit them in Parallels Helm).
Minimum Password Length: Enter a number here which will be the minimum length of
all passwords that are created in Parallels Helm. If a user attempts to create a
password that does not meet this minimum length, they will be prompted to correct
this before continuing. If you don’t want a restriction on the length, check the No
Restriction box in order to let users specify passwords of any length.
Secure URL: If you want Parallels Helm to use an SSL site that you have set up in
IIS, specify the SSL URL here. The site needs to match exactly the name of the site
in IIS.
For example, if the secure sites in IIS were either www.mysecurecontrolpanel.com or
securedpanel.com, then you would enter either of these “as is” into the Secure URL
field into Parallels Helm.
Secure Pages: Choose the specific pages that you want Parallels Helm to change to
https:// when a user visits them. You can enter one page per line, which starts
after the first part of your Parallels Helm URL.
Examples:
If the URL of two pages you wanted to secure were:
http://control.controlpanelsite.com/Interface/Security/Secu
rity.aspx
http://control.controlpanelsite.com/Interface/IPAddress/IPA
ddresses.aspx
then you would enter the following into the text field:
/Interface/Security/Security.aspx
/Interface/IPAddress/IPAddresses.aspx
Banned IP Addresses: Enter IP addresses here which you wish to ban from accessing
Parallels Helm. You can enter one IP per line, or one IP range per line.
Examples:
Helm System 15
202.50.30.44
86.12.1.10-86.12.1.50
192.168.1.20
Scheduled Tasks
On this page you can add, delete and manage the Scheduled Tasks that you have set
up in Parallels Helm. Parallels Helm includes a whole host of scheduling features. Not
only can you set up tasks to occur on any day and at any time, but you can set different
task types too, such as billing, system and server tasks.
Name: Click on the task name in the list to get taken to the Edit Scheduled Task
screen, where you can alter the properties of that task.
Add: Click this button to get taken to the Add Scheduled Task screen.
Delete Selected: You can see a check box to the left of each Scheduled Task. If you
check the boxes next to the tasks you want to delete and click Delete Selected, you
will remove all of the selected tasks from Parallels Helm. Alternatively to delete all of
the tasks in the list, check the very top box and then click Delete Selected.
In this section:
Adding a Scheduled Task ................................................................................. 16
Editing Scheduled Tasks................................................................................... 16
16 Helm System
Adding a Scheduled Task
On this page you can create a new Scheduled Task to be executed by Parallels Helm.
Task Start Date: Choose the date that you wish the Scheduled Task to start on by
using the calendar button. To remove the date, use the “clear date” button.
Start Time: Choose the time that you wish the Scheduled Task to start on.
Task End Date: Choose the date that you wish the Scheduled Task to end on by
using the calendar button. To remove the date, use the “clear date” button.
End Time: Choose the time that you wish the Scheduled Task to end on.
Run Every: If you want this task to run at regular intervals, specify a number in the
first field, and then choose the recurring time period from the drop down box.
Name: Choose a suitable name for the Scheduled Task.
Enabled: If you want to enable the Scheduled Task, check this box. Unchecking it
will stop the task from running until you recheck it.
Type: Choose whether the Scheduled Task is a Server-, System- or Domain-related
task from this drop-down box.
System Tasks are specific to the overall Parallels Helm system, such as retrieving
bandwidth and disk space.
Server Tasks are specific to a server that you have added into Parallels Helm. For
instance, you may want to schedule a backup of all server data on one specific
server.
Billing Tasks allow you to schedule billing-related processes, such as the
processing of recurring transactions at the times you specify.
Item: Choose the Item related to the Type. For instance, if you pick a type of
“Server”, then in the Item drop-down box you can specify which particular server the
Scheduled Task is related to.
Task: Choose the nature of the Scheduled Task from this drop-down box.
Editing Scheduled Tasks
On this page you can edit a Scheduled Task that you have already created in Helm.
Task Start Date: Edit the date that you wish the Scheduled Task to start on by using
the calendar button. To remove the date, use the clear date button
Start Time: Edit the time that you wish the Scheduled Task to start on.
Task End Date: Edit the date that you wish the Scheduled Task to end on by using the
calendar button. To remove the date, use the clear date button
End Time: Edit the time that you wish the Scheduled Task to end on.
Run Every: If you want this task to run at regular intervals, specify a number in the
first field, and then choose the recurring time period from the drop down box.
Name: Edit the name of the Scheduled Task.
Enabled: If you want to enable the Scheduled Task, check this box. Unchecking it
will stop the task from running until you recheck it.
Helm System 17
Control Panel Settings
On this page you can choose options specific to the control panel itself, such as
method of logging in, and snap-ins that are displayed by default.
Bandwidth Period: Choose the period that you want Parallels Helm’s bandwidth to
take into account. You can select either the last 30 days (a rolling period of
bandwidth collection that takes into account the 30 days prior to today), or the last
calendar month.
Default Snap-Ins: Select the snap-ins that you want to be displayed by default when a
customer logs into Parallels Helm. These snap-ins can be found on the My Login
section of Parallels Helm.
Login Mode: Choose the type of login that you want to use in Parallels Helm. There
are 3 choices:
Standard: This is the default Parallels Helm login mode. You login with Account,
User and Password. Each account can have multiple users. It is also possible to
have the same User, as long as they are associated with different accounts. For
example, you can set up an Account called Webhost and assign it a User called
Admin, and you can set up a second Account called NewWebHost, and also
assign it a User called Admin.
Unique Logins: With this mode, you login with User and Password. This mode
allows you to create unique Users in Parallels Helm that are associated with an
Account, which means that no two Users can have the same name. Therefore,
in an account called Webhost, you can have a user called Admin, but in a second
Account called NewWebHost, you cannot have a user called Admin. Because the
user names are unique, when logging in as a User, Parallels Helm will know
which Account that User is associated with - hence there is no need to login with
an Account name.
Examples (User / Password):
Webhost_admin / password123
Webhost_reseller / password123
NewHost_admin / password123
NewHost_reseller / password123
Account Only: With this mode, you login with Account and Password. This is the
mode that is similar to the login for Parallels Helm 3. There are no Users in this
mode, you simply use the Account name to log in. This means that there is only
login per Account, which is less flexible than other login modes, but will be more
familiar to previous Parallels Helm users.
Examples (Account / Password):
Webhost / password123
NewHost / password123
18 Helm System
Geographical Settings
On this page you can specify Country and County settings in Parallels Helm. The
country list is used throughout Parallels Helm, such as in the billing section where you
can create different tax bands based on the country or even the county that an item is
being purchased from. You can add as many counties to a country as you wish.
Country Name (field): Enter all or part of a country name here, and click Apply Filter to
search for countries that meet your criteria. For example, if you type “au” then
Parallels Helm would search for all countries with “au” anywhere in their name.
Country Code: Enter a country code here, and click Apply Filter to search for the
country that meets your criteria.
Country Name (field): Click on a country to get taken to the County Details page, where
you can see the counties associated with that country.
In this section:
Configuring County Details ............................................................................... 19
Creating a New County ..................................................................................... 19
Editing County Details ....................................................................................... 19
Helm System 19
Configuring County Details
On the County Details page you can add, delete and manage the Counties you have set
up in Parallels Helm.
County Name: Click on a County in the list to get taken to the Edit County Details
screen where you can alter the properties of that County.
Add: Click this button to get taken to the Create County screen.
Delete Selected: You can see a check box to the left of each County. If you check the
boxes next to the Counties you want to delete and click Delete Selected, you will
remove all of the selected Counties from Parallels Helm. Alternatively to delete all of
the Counties in the list, check the very top box and then click Delete Selected.
Creating a New County
On the Create County page you can add a new County (province or state) or multiple
Counties to a Country in Parallels Helm.
Add County: If you only want to add a single County, choose this radio button. You
then need to enter a County Code (for example, TX) and County Name (for example,
Texas), then click Save to save your settings.
Add Multiple Counties: If you want to add more than one County at a time, choose this
radio button. You then need to enter a County Name and County Code separated
by a comma, then click Save to save your settings.
Example:
Shropshire, SY
Bristol, BS
Texas, TX
Editing County Details
On the Edit County Details page you can edit a County’s name or delete the County from
Parallels Helm.
County Name: If you want to change the County Name, edit it in this field then click
Save to save the change.
Delete: If you want to delete the County, simply click the Delete button, then on the
next screen click OK to confirm the deletion (or Cancel to go back to the Edit County
Details screen)
20 Helm System
Servers
Server and service management in Parallels Helm is now even easier and more
intuitive than before. Servers can now communicate with Parallels Helm by using just
an IP, port, and authentication password – unlike previous versions of Parallels Helm,
the File and Print Sharing and Remote Registry services are no longer required.
To get to the Servers screen, either navigate to it through the side tree menu, or go to
Home > Helm System > Servers.
On this page you can add, delete and manage the servers you are controlling in
Parallels Helm. You can see the IP Address and port they are listening on, and also the
Services that are currently being controlled by that Server.
Server Name: Click on a Server Name to get taken to the Server Configuration page for
that particular Server.
Add: Click this button to get taken to the Add Server screen.
Delete Selected: You can see a check box to the left of each Server. If you check the
boxes next to the Servers you want to delete and click Delete Selected, Parallels
Helm will attempt to remove all of the selected Servers. However, if the servers
have services that are in use, then it may not be possible to remove them until the
services are deleted. To delete all of the Servers, check the very top box and then
click Delete Selected.
In this section:
Add Server ........................................................................................................ 21
Server Configuration ......................................................................................... 22
Modules ............................................................................................................ 23
Logs .................................................................................................................. 24
System Info ....................................................................................................... 24
Windows Services............................................................................................. 25
Terminal Services ............................................................................................. 25
Windows Firewall .............................................................................................. 26
Windows Reboot ............................................................................................... 26
Windows Processes .......................................................................................... 27
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