Since the release of Plesk Onyx back on 11 October 2016 – with the edition label as Plesk v17.8, Plesk Onyx introduced a break through of functionality changes with the major focus to improve the user experience.
For example, the Plesk Advisor extension helps you make sure that everything, from the server itself to the hosted web apps, always stays secure, while the simplified on-boarding process helps newcomers to quickly set up and run their websites. Automatic securing of websites with free SSL/TLS certificates improves the security aspect even further, making the lives of existing users much easier.
With the constant evolve of the market demand and evolve on the technology, every software release have its own life cycle. An example would be the famous Centos Linux Operating System which the Centos6 will be coming to the end of support by 30 Nov, 2020. Other example will be PHP7.2 which will also have an end of support by 30 Nov 2020.
Plesk announced the end of support of Plesk Onyx by 20 April 2021. With around 7th month behind before Plesk Onyx reaches its end of support, is a good time to plan ahead for the upgrade of your existing Plesk server installation to the latest Plesk Obsidian by stage.
The new Plesk Obsidian was launched back on 4 June 2019 with an uplift of a new Plesk UI interfae that modernize and address the UX with the feedback collected from Plesk customers together with other new major functionalities.
Upgrading your Plesk Onyx to Plesk Obsidian will gives you an instant access of improvement in terms of Usability, Security, Productivity and Updates.
To execute the updates from Plesk Onyx to Plesk Obsidian:
- Login to your Plesk GUI as the default admin
- On your left menu, click on Tools & Settings.
- Under the Plesk section, click Updates.
- A new Window will show up and you will see the section on “Install or Update Product” will be indicating the latest Plesk Obsidian for you to update.
- Click on it and follow the screen instruction to complete your Plesk Onyx to Plesk Obsidian upgrade.
It’s important to also plan this upgrades outside of your peak hours as some of the services will be restarted which will interrupt your websites/email services.
Consider also configuring your Plesk to have the Auto Updates set so you will enjoy the following benefits:
Essential benefits of auto-updates are the following:
- No need to upgrade or migrate to a new major version each year.
- Immediate access to new features or improve existing ones.
- Constantly patching potential security vulnerabilities.
- Boosted speed and performance.
- Protection of user’s data.
The risk of not upgrading your Plesk Onyx before 20 Apri 2021 includes that you will lost the ability to reach out Plesk support for any technical assistance. Other than that would be any bugs or errors happen on your Plesk server will not receive any further updates or support from Plesk.
All original Plesk License will receive the privileges to receive any major and minor updates from Plesk server (aside from the EOL life cycle) including the official Plesk technical support for any assistant.