StackRegent features for Windows hosting on IIS

Windows hosting control panel features by area#

StackRegent covers what a Windows hosting server runs, from the IIS site to the license check. The features fall into seven areas, and each area below links to the pages that describe it in detail, with the exact menu names you will find in the panel. Nothing on these pages is an extra: every plan, including the free trial, has all of it. Plans differ only in the number of subscriptions the server may host; see pricing.

Websites and applications on IIS#

A subscription in StackRegent is a webspace with one main domain plus the extra domains, subdomains and aliases its plan allows. Each one is an IIS site the customer manages through tiles for Hosting Settings, IIS Settings, SSL/TLS Certificates, Virtual Directories, Logs and more, without needing Remote Desktop. Let's Encrypt certificates are issued and renewed per site, and Website Preview opens a moved site from the new server before its DNS changes. The websites and IIS page walks through each tool.

Applications get the runtime they were written for. PHP versions from windows.php.net run side by side and each website picks one. ASP.NET 4.x settings are written to the site's web.config from a form, the ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle can be installed in several versions, and Node.js runs under IIS through iisnode. Developers deploy with Web Deploy from Visual Studio, with Git from GitHub, GitLab or a repository on the server, or with Composer and the Laravel toolkit. The PHP and ASP.NET page has the details.

For WordPress, the WordPress Toolkit installs sites, applies updates with a restore point, hardens installations and makes staging copies. Joomla, Drupal, phpBB and DNN install in one click from the website's Applications tool.

Mail, DNS and FTP services#

Mail runs on MailEnable Standard, which StackRegent installs and configures. Customers create mailboxes, aliases, forwarders, auto-replies and mailing lists themselves, and webmail answers on webmail.<domain> with Roundcube or MailEnable WebMail. Server-wide, the administrator sets the spam filter, hourly sending limits, a smarthost and DKIM, and Microsoft Defender scans mail as it arrives. See email hosting.

DNS is served by Microsoft DNS Server with recursion off, built from a zone template that already contains the MX, SPF and DMARC records mail needs. FTP uses the Microsoft FTP Service with user isolation and FTPS, plus extra FTP accounts locked to one folder. See DNS and FTP.

Databases for ASP.NET and PHP#

Windows hosting customers usually need both SQL Server and a MySQL-compatible database. StackRegent manages SQL Server Express and MariaDB, on the same machine or on remote servers. Customers create databases and users, run queries in the browser, export and import dumps or .bak files, and open phpMyAdmin without typing a password. For SQL Server, the panel can make each customer see only their own databases in SQL Server Management Studio. See databases.

Security, isolation and limits#

Two pages cover how StackRegent protects a shared server. Resource limits and isolation explains how each subscription runs as its own Windows user in its own application pool, how Windows job objects cap CPU, memory, disk I/O and processes, and how the Account Isolation page tests and repairs each account. Security covers Windows Defender Firewall management with automatic rollback, the brute-force guard, ModSecurity with the OWASP Core Rule Set, the TLS policy, two-factor sign-in for administrators and Microsoft Defender.

Backups and migration#

The Backup Manager works at three levels: the whole server, one customer or reseller, or a single subscription. Each backup holds configuration, files, databases and mail; you schedule it, keep a set number of copies, and send it to FTP, SFTP or S3-compatible storage. A backup protected with a password can be restored on a different server. See backups.

The Migration & Transfer Manager moves subscriptions from Plesk for Windows or another StackRegent server over HTTPS, one subscription at a time, and can repeat the transfer just before the DNS switch. Plesk backup files restore too. The migration page explains the process.

Running a hosting business on the panel#

For providers, the reseller level is part of every plan. Resellers have their own customers, service plans, branding and API keys, inside totals the administrator sets. Customers in turn add panel users with roles such as WebMaster, Accountant or Mail User. See resellers and branding.

Everything you click in the panel is also available through the REST API, described in OpenAPI 3, with keys at administrator, reseller and customer level. A billing system provisions and manages accounts through it, and the stackregent command line covers jobs on the server itself. See API and automation.

Operating the server#

The administrator's tools for day-to-day running are on the monitoring page: the Home dashboard, graphs recorded every minute, email alerts when a value stays high or a service stops, the Advisor's server rating with one-click fixes, and Diagnose & Repair for services, IIS, mail, DNS, databases and permissions. Server Components installs and updates the software websites depend on, checking each download against a published checksum or a Microsoft signature.

The licensing and updates page explains how a key is bound to one server, what the grace period and restricted mode do, and how signed updates are checked before they install.

Supported platform#

The fastest way to judge the features is on your own server: the 10-day trial has every feature for 3 subscriptions, and the installation guide gets it running in one PowerShell command.