Plesk Obsidian 18.0.80 Is Here: MCP Support, AI Support Assistant, and DNS Diagnostics

Plesk Obsidian 18.0.80 is here, and the focus of this release is AI-assisted server management.

Plesk now supports MCP – Model Context Protocol, which makes it possible to manage a Plesk server through an AI agent. The AI Support Assistant, introduced in beta earlier this year, is now enabled by default on new servers.

Beyond that, this release adds a DNS diagnostic tool for troubleshooting mail configuration, brings MariaDB 12.3 support to Linux and Windows, and delivers a range of security, compatibility and usability improvements across both platforms.

MCP Support in Plesk

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is a standard that allows large language models and AI agents to discover and use the capabilities of an external system. With 18.0.80, your Plesk server can make its management capabilities available through it.

In practice, this means work can be handed to an AI agent rather than carried out step by step. Provisioning a new subscription, looking into a mail delivery issue, tracing the cause of a 500 error, or passing a website bug to an AI coding agent are all possible through a single connection.

To get started, add your Plesk server to the WebPros Dashboard. This enables management access for the server and its subscriptions over MCP.

Access You Can Scope and Review

Because an agent is acting on your server, MCP support comes with controls over what it is able to reach.

• Access tokens can be scoped to a single subscription, so an end user’s AI agent works only within their own subscription. A token can also be scoped to full server administration, for managing a fleet through one LLM connection.

• Individual MCP tools can be enabled or disabled, and each one can be set to read-only or read-write.

• Every MCP tool call is logged and available to you, including which tool was used and when.

To support read-only keys, endpoints in the Plesk REST API OpenAPI specification now carry an x-readonly extension.

• It is set to true for endpoints that only read data and have no side effects

• false for those that create, modify or delete.

• Endpoints without the extension are treated as false.

Setup details for creating a WebPros Dashboard MCP key are available here.

AI Support Assistant Now Enabled by Default

The AI Support Assistant, available in beta since Plesk Obsidian 18.0.78, is now enabled by default on new Plesk servers with a retail licence deployed after 4 August 2026.

The assistant answers questions about Plesk features, configuration and troubleshooting, such as how to set up a service, where to find a particular setting, or how to resolve a common configuration issue. Answers are based on the Plesk knowledge base and official documentation.

It is currently available to server administrator accounts only. Servers created before 18.0.80, or that do not meet the criteria above, can enable it throughpanel.ini:

We are continuing to develop the assistant, and its capabilities will grow in future releases.

Troubleshooting DNS resolution and mail authentication usually means checking several things in turn. This release introduces a diagnostic tool that brings those checks together, covering DNS resolution alongside SPF, DKIM and DMARC configuration in a single pass.

It is available through the CLI: plesk repair dns [-n -j] -check-resolution <domain_name>

And through the REST API: GET /domains/{id}/dns/resolution

Note: The tool is currently in beta.

MariaDB 12.3 Support

Plesk now supports MariaDB 12.3 for user databases.

On Plesk for Linux it is available on any supported operating system other than Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04, Debian 10, CentOS 7 and ELS operating systems. On servers upgraded to 18.0.80 from an earlier obsidian version MariaDB is not updated automatically, but can be updated via the Plesk UI.

On Plesk for Windows it is available on Windows Server 2019 and later, where MariaDB 12.3.2 is installed by default on fresh installations of 18.0.80.

On CloudLinux servers, MariaDB 12 instances need to be updated using regular system tools rather than through the Plesk interface.

Feature Improvements

v18.0.80 also introduces a number of security, platform and usability enhancements.

1. DNSSEC Algorithm Cleanup

• A number of deprecated and insecure key generation algorithms have been removed from the DNSSEC extension: RSAMD5, DSA, NSEC3DSA, ECCGOST, RSASHA1 and NSEC3RSASHA1.

• ED25519 is now the default algorithm in Plesk for Linux

• ECDSAP256SHA256 in Plesk for Windows.

• If you manage DNSSEC-signed zones, it is worth reviewing your keys after updating.

2. TLS Versions and Ciphers

• SSL It! now supports configuring TLS versions and cipher suites based on the latest Mozilla recommendations – version 5.8.

• The TLS versions and ciphers management screen is now available by default under Tools & Settings.

3. SFTP for Additional FTP Accounts

• In Plesk for Linux, SFTP access can now be enabled for additional FTP accounts through a separate ProFTPD instance listening on its own port.

• You will find the “Allow SFTP for FTP accounts” checkbox under Tools & Settings > Security Policy, where the port number can also be set.

4. Other Improvements

• When a CLI command called through POST /cli/{id}/call or POST /domains/{id}/exec fails, the specific error is now returned.

• Mail with a spoofed “from” address, sent from one mailbox on a Plesk server to another on the same server, no longer receives a valid DKIM signature.

• The Laravel extension supports multiple named queues and multi-process execution, with the number of worker processes set per queue.

• Domains and domain aliases can be created with the “No web hosting” type under subscriptions set to the same hosting type.

• The Docker extension is now supported on CloudLinux 8 and later.

• Plesk for Windows images across all cloud platforms have been updated to run on Windows Server 2025.

• A script is now available to automate the distribution upgrade from Ubuntu 22 to Ubuntu 24.

Deprecated and Removed Items

1. Debian 11 Approaching End of Life

• Debian 11 reaches vendor end of life on 31 August 2026, and Plesk Obsidian 18.0.81 will be the last release to support it. No ELS support is planned.

• If you still run Debian 11 servers, we recommend either performing a dist-upgrade to Debian 12 using the Plesk dist-upgrade tool, or migrating hosted domains to servers running a supported operating system.

2. Older XML-RPC Protocol Versions

• We plan to deprecate and remove support for XML-RPC protocol versions earlier than 1.6.9.1 in Plesk Obsidian 18.0.82.

• If you have integrations built on the older specification, we recommend updating them to comply with 1.6.9.1.

Important Fixes and Stability Improvements

v18.0.80 includes a number of fixes across the REST API, Code Editor, File Manager, Monitoring, Watchdog, Slave DNS Manager, Log Browser, Joomla! Toolkit and Backup Manager, on both Linux and Windows.

For the full list, see the release notes.

Updated Third-Party Components

This release updates a number of third-party components and dependencies across Linux and Windows environments, including ModSecurity, the OWASP Core Rule Set, ProFTPD, .NET, Node.js, MariaDB, MailEnable, Git for Windows, libcurl and OpenSSL, among others. Micro-update 2 also updates Roundcube on Linux.

For the full list of updated versions, see the release notes.

A Treasure Hunt in the Plesk Interface

To mark the version number reaching 18.0.80, collectible 1980s pixel-art stickers have been hidden across the Plesk interface, with a Sticker Collection page showing what you have found so far.

It is disabled by default. To turn it on, add the following to panel.ini:

Update Recommended

Keeping your servers up to date ensures the highest levels of security, stability and performance available.

Plesk Obsidian v18.0.80 is available now through the Plesk Installer. Unsure of how to update? Steps are available in our update guide.

To learn more about this release and review all of the details, visit the release notes.