Installing Moodle-I can't add a directory to root

[samlf3rd]

I am using plesk 10.4.4 on a Godaddy Virtual Dedicated server.

I am installing Moodle, and one of the requirements is that you have a hidden directory away from the public.
I have launched plesk control panel for one of my clients, went to Web Sites & Domains/File Manager, and clicked on add new directory only to get this response: Error: Unable to create directory //mood: filemng: Error occurred during /bin/mkdir command.

My Moodle installation asks for this criteria for the data folder:
Data directory
You need a place where Moodle can save uploaded files. This directory should be readable AND WRITEABLE by the web server user (usually 'nobody' or 'apache'), but it must not be accessible directly via the web. The installer will try to create it if doesn't exist.

I tried using ssh to create the folder like this: mkdir /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxx.com/moodledata
but it says: mkdir: cannot create directory `/var/www/vhosts/xxxxxx.com/moodledata': Permission denied

So, am I doing something wrong to create a new folder in the main directory where etc, private, and http docs are?
Am I using the wrong ssh commands? Is there a different way to create a new root directory?

 

[samlf3rd]

I created new directory but now need to change user

Okay I figured out that I needed to su first to make a directory, I did change the group using chown, but now I need to change the user from root to my user. Anybody?

 

[samlf3rd]

open_basedir restriction in effect

Okay I have figured out how to create a new directory, but now I am getting this error:
Warning: file_exists() [function.file-exists]: open_basedir restriction in effect

I read I have to create a vhost.conf file and upload into the "conf" directory. The problem is that I can't access the directory through plesk, or ftp. Do I need to change the directory permissions, upload the file, and change the permission back?

 

[LuisGR]

Same problem

Hi there samlf3rd,

Did you figured out how to create the moodledata directory in Parallels? I'm also having the same problem here as I need to install this Moodledata diectory in an level upper than httdocs.

Many thanks in advance.

Luis