Restarting (recycling) your IIS application pool restarts your Windows-hosted application without affecting other websites. In Plesk you can do it yourself if your plan gives your subscription a dedicated application pool; if it doesn't, you can still restart your application by saving web.config, or ask support to recycle the pool for you.
If your Plesk shows it, open your domain in Websites & Domains, go to Dedicated IIS Application Pool and click Recycle. The pool controls appear only when your plan includes a dedicated pool (ASP Enterprise lists one). Without them, re-save web.config or use app_offline.htm to restart your app, or ask support. Customers can't restart IIS itself on shared hosting.
This is the quick version. For what a pool is, which settings matter and how to fix a pool that keeps stopping, read the IIS application pools guide.
1. When a restart helps
- You uploaded new DLLs or changed settings and the site still behaves the old way.
- The site has slowed down over hours or days and memory use has grown.
- Requests hang without returning an error.
A restart doesn't fix a code error. If the site shows a 500 error, or a 503 that comes back after every restart, read the logs first: see checking Plesk logs.
2. Recycle the pool in Plesk (if available in your Plesk)
- Open Plesk.In the client area, open your hosting services, pick the Windows service and click the Plesk button.
- Pick your domain.Go to Websites & Domains and open the domain.
- Find the pool page.Look for Dedicated IIS Application Pool. The name varies slightly between Plesk versions; the search box at the top of Plesk finds it.
- Click Recycle.Use Recycle rather than Stop and Start: it lets requests in progress finish first.
- Test the site.The first page load after a recycle is slower while the application starts.
If there is no pool page, your subscription uses a shared pool and the controls aren't available to you. Use section 3 instead.
3. Without pool controls
| Method | How | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Re-save web.config | Open web.config in the Plesk File Manager and save it, or upload it again | A quick restart of one application |
| app_offline.htm | Upload app_offline.htm into httpdocs, then delete it | Updating DLLs that FTP says are in use |
| Ask support | Live chat or a ticket with your domain and the problem | A shared pool, or a pool that won't stay up |
IIS and other Windows services on the shared server serve every customer on it, so only Domain India restarts them. If you think the server itself has a problem, contact support and say what you see and since when.
4. If the site still fails after a restart
If a 503 comes back within minutes, the pool is probably crashing and IIS is stopping it (rapid-fail protection). Restarting again won't help; find the crash in the logs. See resolving 503 errors on IIS.
How do I restart my application pool in Plesk?
If your plan includes a dedicated application pool, open your domain in Websites and Domains, go to the Dedicated IIS Application Pool page and click Recycle. If that page isn't there, your subscription uses a shared pool; ask support to recycle it.
Is recycling the same as restarting?
For your application, yes: it restarts. Recycling starts a new worker process and lets the old one finish its current requests, so it is gentler than stopping and starting the pool.
Can I restart IIS on Domain India Windows hosting?
No. IIS and other Windows services on the shared server are restarted only by Domain India, because a restart affects every site on that server.
How can I restart my app without pool controls?
Save a change to web.config, which makes IIS restart the application, or upload app_offline.htm to httpdocs and delete it again.
Which plan includes a dedicated application pool?
Among the Domain India Windows plans, ASP Enterprise lists a dedicated app pool. Check the Windows hosting page for the current plan features.
Need a hand? Use live chat or open a support ticket; tickets get a first response within 15 minutes. To compare plans, see Windows hosting.
Tell us your domain and what the site shows, and we'll check the application pool for you.
Open a ticket