Parallels Helm 4.2.2 User guide

Brand: Parallels

Model: Helm 4.2.2

Category: Software manuals

Type: User guide

REVISION 1.0

Parallels

Helm

Parallels Helm 4.2.2 User Guide

Legal and Copyright Notice

ISBN: N/A

Parallels

660 SW 39

Street

Suite 205

Renton, Washington 98057

USA

Phone: +1 (425) 282 6400

Fax: +1 (425) 282 6444

Parallels, Inc.

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

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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Parallels Helm 4.2.2 User guide

Brand: Parallels

Model: Helm 4.2.2

Category: Software manuals

Type: User guide

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