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WordPress

The OpenLiteSpeed WordPress One-Click app is based on a standard WordPress image, but includes several great performance enhancements, including LiteSpeed's popular LSCache optimization plugin. This Wordpress + OpenLiteSpeed + LSCache image tends to be more than 300 times faster than a regular WordPress image!

OpenLiteSpeed WordPress One-Click automatically installs OpenLiteSpeed, LSCache, WordPress and any dependences. It also automates initial setup for components like Object Cache and PHP OPCache to reduce the time it takes to optimize a web server.

Quick Start

Step 1.

Use the "OpenLiteSpeed WordPress Marketplace Image" to create a ECS with any plan you want.

Step 2.

From a terminal on your local computer, connect to the server as root, like so:

ssh root@192.0.2.0

Be sure to substitute the server’s public IP address for 192.0.2.0.

Note

If you try to visit the server's IP address before you SSH to the server, you’ll see a LiteSpeed landing page.

Step 3.

An interactive script that runs will prompt you for your domain or subdomain:

Please input a valid domain:
Please verify it is correct. [y/N]

Enter your root domain only. The system will automatically add the www subdomain as well.

Note

You can press CTRL+C and continue to SSH, but the prompt will open again the next time you log in. It will continue to do so until you finish the whole setup.

If your domain is already pointed to this server, you will have the option of automatically applying Let's Encrypt SSL. Enter y and your email address to complete the process:

Do you wish to issue a Let's encrypt certificate for this domain? [y/N]
Please enter your E-mail:
Please verify it is correct: [y/N]

Once finished, you should see Certificate has been successfully installed...

You can force HTTPS rules to be applied:

Do you wish to force HTTPS rewrite rule for this domain? [y/N]

Complete the process by pressing Y:

Do you wish to update the system which include the web server? [Y/n]

You should not be prompted to initiate this setup again.

Step 4.

Visit the Server’s IP or Domain in your browser to finish the wordpress installation

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Your system is installed and ready to use!

Tip

OpenLiteSpeed and LSCache are a powerful combination for your WordPress site, right out of the box. In addition, LSCache offers a variety of optimization features that can contribute to a superior PageSpeed score for your site. These features are disabled by default, but we encourage you to explore and experiment! Learn more about the LSCache plugin's settings.

Components

The OpenLiteSpeed Cloud Image installs several packages and performs other actions on your system.

Package Installation

Component Version
Linux Ubuntu 18.04.1
OpenLiteSpeed Latest from LiteSpeedtech Repo
MariaDB Latest from APT
PHP Latest from LiteSpeedtech Repo
phpMyAdmin Latest from phpMyAdmin
LiteSpeed Cache Latest from WordPress.org
memcached Latest from APT
redis Latest from APT
Certbot Latest from Certbot’s PPA
Postfix Latest from APT

Other Actions

  • Enables the UFW firewall to allow only SSH (port 22, rate limited), HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) access.
  • Sets the Unix Socket to Object Cache for better performance.
  • Sets the MySQL root password, runs mysql_secure_installation, and creates a WordPress user with the necessary permissions.
  • Sets up the debian-sys-maint user in MySQL so the system’s init scripts for MySQL will work without requiring the MySQL root user password.
  • Creates the initial WordPress configuration file to set up salt keys and allow the WordPress instance to connect to the database.
  • Modifies some PHP settings to increase the maximum filesize and execution time.
  • Enables the OpenLitespeed context to rewrite the .htaccess file so the WordPress permalink feature will work.
  • Tunes OpenLiteSpeed Web Server for better connectivity
Item Before After
Max SSL Connections 5000 10000
lsphp Max Connections 35 100
PHP_LSAPI_CHILDREN 35 100

How to Access the Installed Software

phpMyAdmin Access

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Connect to phpMyAdmin at the following URL:

https://example.com/phpmyadmin

Get the MySQL root password:

sudo sed -n 1p .db_password
Get the MySQL WordPress user password:
sudo sed -n 2p .db_password

Web Server Control Panel Access

Get the WebAdmin admin password:

cat .litespeed_password

Visit https://use_your_droplet_ip:7080 to access WebAdmin in a browser.

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By default, WebAdmin uses port 7080. To allow access to 7080 from your IP(e.g. 192.0.2.0):

ufw allow from 192.0.2.0 to any port 7080
You can also allow all IPs access to port 7080:
ufw allow 7080
We suggest turning this port off once you've finished setup:
ufw delete allow 7080

Optional Setup

Enable HTTPS

Setting up an SSL certificate enables HTTPS on the web server, which secures the traffic between the server and the clients connecting to it. Certbot is a free and automated way to set up SSL certificates on a server.

Step 1. Register Domain

To use Certbot, you’ll need a registered domain name and DNS records:

  • An A record from the domain (e.g., example.com) to the server’s IP address

  • An A record from the domain prefaced with www (e.g., www.example.com) to the server’s IP address.

Step 2. Add Domain to Listener

Navigate to OpenLiteSpeed WebAdmin Console > Listeners, and add Your Domain to HTTP/HTTPS. !listener 1

Step 3. Certbot

Once the DNS records are set up, you can generate the SSL certificate. Be sure to substitute the correct domain name in the following command:

certbot certonly --webroot -w /var/www/html/ -d example.com -d www.example.com
If certificate verification is a success, you should find your certificate files stored in /etc/letsencrypt/

Step 4. Set SSL for HTTPS

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Navigate to OpenLiteSpeed WebAdmin Console > Listeners > SSL, and edit the following three items:

  • Private Key File = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/privkey.pem
  • Certificate File = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/fullchain.pem
  • Chained Certificate = Yes

Save and perform a Graceful Restart.

Now your server should support TLS1.1, TLS 1.2, and TLS 1.3.

Step 5. Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

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HTTPS traffic on port 443 is already allowed through the firewall. After you set up HTTPS, you can optionally rewrite all HTTP traffic to HTTPS.

Add the following rules to OpenLiteSpeed WebAdmin Console > Virtual Hosts > Rewrite > Rewrite Rules

RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://example.com/$1 [R,L]

Method for Uploading Files

You can serve files from the web server by adding them to the web root using SFTP or other tools.

Methods for Migrating Wordpress

If you already have a WordPress site elsewhere, you can migrate it using one of the following methods.

Single-Site by Duplicator Plugin

  1. Install and activate the Duplicator plugin on the WordPress site you’re copying from.
  2. Navigate to Duplicator > Packages, then click the Create New button.
  3. Go through the wizard. When you see "Package Completed," click the One-Click Download link to download two files.
  4. Move the two files (installer.php and a zip file) into the folder you’ll want the WordPress site in.
  5. Visit installer.php in a web browser and you should see a wizard screen.
  6. Click I have read and accept all terms & notices and Next
  7. You’ll need to have a database ready. Enter the database name, user, and password.
  8. Click the Site Login button and log in to your WordPress site using the same username and password as you have on the remote site.

Multi-Site by Duplicator Plugin

  1. Install plugin.
  2. Network activate plugin.
  3. On site 1, perform the backup. That will capture the entire site into a package.
  4. Restore the site in the new location just as in the Single Site procedure.

Manually by WordPress

  1. Back up WordPress
  2. Back up the database
  3. Move the directories

Install LSCache After Migration

This step is only necessary if you have migrated a WordPress installation or it's a fresh WordPress installation.

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To benefit from high performance and a nice page score, don't forget to install the LSCache Plugin

Improve Your Page Score

Switch Object Cache Method

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By default we have Memcached enabled. To swich to Redis is easy. Just copy the Redis socket path to LSCache Plugin > Settings > Advanced > Object Cache and save:

  • Memcached: /var/www/memcached.sock
  • Redis: /var/run/redis/redis-server.sock

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I Reset my Web Server WebAdmin Password?

If you forget your password, you may run the following command to reset it:

/usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/admpass.sh

It will ask for the WebAdmin username, which should be admin. Then, enter your new password.

How do I Create Additional Virtual Hosts?

How do I Verify if Cache is Working?

Visit your website using Chrome. Navigate to Chrome menu > More tools > Developer tools > Network, or simply use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+I to bring it up. The test page may contain many requests, but you can just click your main domain to check the header. You might see X-LiteSpeed-Cache: miss or X-LiteSpeed-Cache: hit. Normally the first visit to a page is a miss, but subsequent visits should be a hit.

How Certbot's Auto Renew Script Works?

Image comes with cert auto renew by default in /etc/cron.d/certbot. This cron job would get triggered twice every day to renew certificate. Line certbot -q renew will check if certificate is getting expired in next 30 days or not. If it is getting expired then it will auto renew it quietly without generating output and auto restart web server by hook. If certificate is not getting expired then it will not perform any action. While renewing certificate it will use same information provided during certificate creation such as email address, domain name, web server root path etc.

How do I fix Object Cache test fail issue?

Sometimes system upgrade may cause config file being updated. So first thing you can do is to check user permission For Memcached:

vi /etc/memcached.conf  
Make sure -u www-data

For Redis:

vi /lib/systemd/system/redis-server.service
Make sure Group=www-data

How Do I Set Up the PageSpeed Module?

You should not need to install the PageSpeed Module if the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for WordPress is already in use. Enabling both may degrade performance by 10% or more.

To install the module, please see the OpenLiteSpeed PageSpeed Module knowledgebase article.

How do I Create Additional Databases?

Method 1: Through phpMyAdmin

See Installing WordPress Using phpMyAdmin

Method2 : Through SSH

Log into MySQL as root:

mysql -u root -p
Add a new database wordpress2 and user newuser with password password:
create database wordpress2;
grant all privileges on wordpress2.* to 'newuser'@'localhost' identified by "password";
Flush priveleges;
exit

How do I Install Postfix?

For Ubuntu (non interactive mode)
DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt -y \
-o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confdef' \
-o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confold' install postfix
For CentOS
yum -y install postfix

How do I Reconfigure Postfix?

Run the following command:

dpkg-reconfigure postfix 

Configure the settings as follows:

  • General type of mail configuration? Internet Site

  • System mail name: example.com (not mail.example.com)

  • Root and postmaster mail recipient: ubuntu (your user name)

  • Other destinations to accept mail for: <OK> (to use default value)

  • Force synchronous updates on mail queue? No

  • Local networks: 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128

  • Mailbox size limit: 0

  • Local address extension character: +

  • Internet protocols to use: all

Configure Postfix to Send Mail Using Gmail

How do I secure phpMyAdmin?

Method 1. Change your phpMyAdmin URL
  • Navigate to WebAdmin > Virtual Hosts > Context
  • Change URI from /phpmyadmin to (for example) /secure
Method 2. Require a Password
  • Log into SSH console and create a password file:

    touch /usr/local/lsws/conf/PASS
    chown lsadm:lsadm /usr/local/lsws/conf/PASS
    
  • Navigate to WebAdmin > Security

  • Set Realm Name = example, and User DB Location = /usr/local/lsws/conf/PASS

  • Click /usr/local/lsws/conf/PASS to create a user/password

  • Navigate to WebAdmin > Virtual Hosts > Context > phpmyadmin

  • Set Realm to example

How do I Update phpMyAdmin?

The image comes with the latest phpMyAdmin version already, so you shouldn't need to update it. If you do need to update it, you can run the following commands:

cd /var/www/; mv phpmyadmin phpmyadmin.bak
wget https://www.phpmyadmin.net/downloads/phpMyAdmin-latest-all-languages.zip
unzip phpMyAdmin-*.zip; rm -f phpMyAdmin-*.zip
mv phpMyAdmin-* phpmyadmin
cp phpmyadmin.bak/config.inc.php phpmyadmin
chown -R www-data:www-data phpmyadmin

How do I Change PHP Parameters?

Edit the following file to configure PHP parameters:

vi /usr/local/lsws/lsphp73/etc/php/7.3/litespeed/php.ini

NOTE: We are using LSPHP 7.3 as example. If you are using a different version, please adjust the number in the URL accordingly. To increase the allowed file size, for example, you would make the following edits:

upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M

Other parameters in the file may also be changed, if needed.

How do I Fix a Too Many Open Files Issue?

The default system value is 1024. To increase the value to e.g. 65535, please append following content to the /etc/security/limits.conf file:

* soft     nproc          65535    
* hard     nproc          65535   
* soft     nofile         65535   
* hard     nofile         65535
root soft     nproc          65535    
root hard     nproc          65535   
root soft     nofile         65535   
root hard     nofile         65535
Then, add the following to the /etc/pam.d/common-session file:
session required pam_limits.so
To verify, run the ulimit -n command. Output should read 65535.

NOTE: 65535 is an example. Feel free to use a different value.

How do I use lsphp81?

Install PHP 8.1 and commonly used PHP extensions:

apt install lsphp81 lsphp81-common lsphp81-mysql lsphp81-memcached lsphp81-redis lsphp81-opcache lsphp81-curl lsphp81-imagick -y

Navigate to WebAdmin Console > Server Configuration > External App > lsphp, then update the following value:

  • Command: lsphp81/bin/lsphp

OpenLiteSpeed comes with PHP detached mode enabled by default. Restart PHP with command killall -9 lsphp to make these settings take effect.

How do I Set Up Virtual-Host-Specific PHP?

By default virtual hosts inherit the version of PHP that is set at the server level. You may wish to use a different PHP version for certain virtual hosts. Follow the steps below to set up virtual-host-level PHP. Here we will use the PHP version 7.4 as an example.

Install PHP 7.4 and commonly used PHP extensions:

apt install lsphp74 lsphp74-common lsphp74-curl lsphp74-imagick lsphp74-imap lsphp74-json lsphp74-memcached lsphp74-mysql lsphp74-opcache lsphp74-redis -y

Navigate to WebAdmin console > Server Configuration > External App > Add > Type > LiteSpeed SAPI App to set up a server-level external application. Set the following values:

  • Name: lsphp74
  • Address: uds://tmp/lshttpd/lsphp74.sock
  • Max Connections: 35
  • Environment: LSAPI_AVOID_FORK=200M
  • Initial Request Timeout (secs): 60
  • Retry Timeout (secs): 0
  • Command: /usr/local/lsws/lsphp74/bin/lsphp
  • Instances: 1

Navigate to WebAdmin console > Virtual Hosts > your vhost > Script Handler > Add to add a virtual-host-level PHP handler. Set the following values:

  • Suffixes: php
  • Handler Type: LiteSpeed SAPI
  • Handler Name: [Server Level]:lsphp74

OpenLiteSpeed comes with PHP detached mode enabled by default. Restart PHP with command killall -9 lsphp to make these settings take effect.