WordPress on AWS¶

The WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache(Powered OpenLiteSpeed) AMI is based on a standard WordPress image, but includes several great performance enhancements. This Wordpress + OLS image is up to 200+ times faster than a regular WordPress image.

OpenLiteSpeed WP 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. Launch "WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache" instance

Step 2. Visit the instance’s IP address in your browser	Step 3. Input site information to finish the WordPress installation

Optional but recommended: Update system software

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Components¶

The OpenLiteSpeed WP instance installs several packages and performs other actions on your system.

Package Installation¶

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

How to Access the Installed Software¶

SSH Access¶

From a terminal on your local computer, connect to the instance as ubuntu, like so:

ssh ubuntu@192.0.2.0

phpMyAdmin Access¶

Connect to phpMyAdmin at the following URL:

https://example.com/phpmyadmin

Get the MySQL root password:

sudo sed -n 1p .db_password

sudo sed -n 2p .db_password

Web Server Control Panel Access¶

Get the WebAdmin admin password:

cat .litespeed_password

cat /home/ubuntu/.litespeed_password

cat /home/ubuntu/.litespeed_password

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

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

ufw allow 7080

We suggest turning this port off once you've finished setup:

ufw delete allow 7080

Benchmark Comparison¶

Use the following command to test from a t2.micro server(ab) to a t2.micro plan server(DOMAIN)

ab -n 10000 -k -H "Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate" -c 10 http://DOMAIN/

Requests per Second (The larger the number, the better)

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.

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

Step 4. Set SSL for HTTPS¶

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¶

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 previous WordPress installation. Otherwise, the instance installs LSCache for you.

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

Improve Your Page Score¶

• CSS/JS/HTML Optimization
• Image Optimize

Switch Object Cache Method¶

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

FAQ¶

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?¶

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/litespeedtech/ls-cloud-image/master/Setup/vhsetup.sh
chmod +x vhsetup.sh
bash vhsetup.sh

/bin/bash <( curl -sk https://raw.githubusercontent.com/litespeedtech/ls-cloud-image/master/Setup/vhsetup.sh )

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/litespeedtech/ls-cloud-image/master/Setup/vhsetup.sh
chmod +x vhsetup.sh
bash vhsetup.sh -d www.example.com -le admin@example.com -f -w

/bin/bash <( curl -sk https://raw.githubusercontent.com/litespeedtech/ls-cloud-image/master/Setup/vhsetup.sh ) -d www.example.com -le admin@example.com -f -w

How do I upgrade OpenLiteSpeed to latest stable version?¶

OpenLiteSpeed was installed from the LiteSpeed repository, so you can simply use the system update to update OpenLiteSpeed to the latest stable version.

$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade openlitespeed -y

How do I Create Additional Databases?¶

How do I Install Postfix?¶

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt -y \
-o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confdef' \
-o Dpkg::Options::='--force-confold' install postfix

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 Rename the Database from phpMyAdmin?¶

1. Log into phpMyAdmin
2. Click the Operations tab
3. Under the field Rename database to: enter the new database name.
4. Click the Go button and press OK.

How do I secure phpMyAdmin?¶

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 Update MariaDB?¶

The only reliable way to update MariaDB to a new version is to make a full backup, restore from that backup, and start the new version of MariaDB.

Back up the DB:

mysqldump -u root -p --all-databases > databasedump.sql

Update /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mariadb_repo.list with the version you want to install.

Reinstall MariaDB:

apt update && apt upgrade
apt remove mariadb-server
apt install mariadb-server -y

How do I Change PHP Parameters?¶

Edit the following file to configure PHP parameters:

vi /usr/local/lsws/lsphp74/etc/php/7.4/litespeed/php.ini

NOTE: We are using LSPHP 7.4 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.

OpenLiteSpeed come with php detached mode by default, so need to restart php with command killall -9 lsphp to make settings take effect

How do I Apply a Wildcard Certificate?¶

Please refer to this guide, click the Wildcard tab, and start from the 5. Install correct DNS plugin section.

You cannot simply get a wildcard certificate (with *.domain.com) by simply typing commands. It requires DNS verification no matter where your DNS nameserver is.

How do I Apply an ECC certificate?¶

Download the script to the /opt folder:

cd /opt/; wget -q  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/litespeedtech/ls-cloud-image/master/scripts/generate_ecc.sh
chmod +x generate_ecc.sh

Run the script with parameters. Once the DNS records are set up, you can generate the SSL certificate. Be sure to substitute the correct domain name, email and document root in the following command:

bash generate_ecc.sh -d 'example.com' -e 'john@email.com' -w '/var/www/html/'

Add the certificate to the virtual host. Navigate to OpenLiteSpeed WebAdmin Console > VirtualHost > SSL, and edit the following three items:

• Private Key File = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/ecc.key
• Certificate File = /etc/letsencrypt/live/example.com/0001_chain.pem
• Chained Certificate = Yes

Save and perform a Graceful Restart.

Add a cronjob to run/renew the certificate automatically:

0 0 1 */2 * bash /opt/generate_ecc.sh -d 'example.com' -e 'john@email.com' -w '/var/www/html/'