October 17, 2026 · by Alex M.
OpenLiteSpeed is a high-performance, open-source web server developed by LiteSpeed Technologies. It handles significantly more concurrent requests than Apache or Nginx on equivalent hardware. Paired with the LSCache module and a fast SSD VPS, it creates an ideal platform for demanding WordPress sites.
In this guide you will learn how to install OpenLiteSpeed, LSPHP, MariaDB, and WordPress on a VPS running Ubuntu 22.04 — step by step, with real shell commands.
Before jumping into installation, let's understand the key advantages:
On an NVMe VPS running multiple WordPress sites, OpenLiteSpeed can dramatically reduce response times compared to the classic LAMP stack.
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Before installing anything, update existing packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
If kernel updates were applied, reboot the server:
sudo reboot
Add the official LiteSpeed repository and install OpenLiteSpeed:
wget -O - https://repo.litespeed.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt install openlitespeed -y
Start and enable the service:
sudo systemctl start lsws
sudo systemctl enable lsws
Check the status:
sudo systemctl status lsws
The admin panel is available at http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:7080. Set the admin password:
sudo /usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/admpass.sh
Enter a username and a strong password when prompted.
Security tip: Restrict access to port 7080 via firewall — allow only your IP:
sudo ufw allow from YOUR_IP to any port 7080.
OpenLiteSpeed uses LSPHP, an optimised PHP build. Install LSPHP 8.2 (recommended for WordPress):
sudo apt install lsphp82 lsphp82-common lsphp82-mysql lsphp82-curl \
lsphp82-json lsphp82-xml lsphp82-zip lsphp82-mbstring \
lsphp82-gd lsphp82-imagick lsphp82-intl -y
Verify the installed version:
/usr/local/lsws/lsphp82/bin/php8.2 -v
From the admin panel (:7080):
lsphp and update the path to: /usr/local/lsws/lsphp82/bin/lsphpOr edit the config file directly:
sudo nano /usr/local/lsws/conf/httpd_config.conf
Find the extProcessor lsphp section and update the binary path.
WordPress requires a database. MariaDB is the recommended choice for Linux VPS servers:
sudo apt install mariadb-server -y
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb
Run the security script:
sudo mysql_secure_installation
Answer the prompts:
sudo mysql -u root -p
In the MariaDB console:
CREATE DATABASE wordpress_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress_db.* TO 'wp_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;
Create the site directories:
sudo mkdir -p /var/www/mydomain.com/{html,logs,conf}
sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /var/www/mydomain.com/html
:7080, navigate to Virtual Hosts → Addmydomain/var/www/mydomain.com//var/www/mydomain.com/conf/vhconf.confsudo nano /var/www/mydomain.com/conf/vhconf.conf
Add the base configuration:
docRoot $VH_ROOT/html
index {
useServer 0
indexFiles index.php, index.html
}
rewrite {
enable 1
autoLoadHtaccess 1
}
In the OpenLiteSpeed panel:
80, IP: ANYDownload and extract WordPress into the document root:
cd /tmp
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar -xzf latest.tar.gz
sudo mv wordpress/* /var/www/mydomain.com/html/
sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /var/www/mydomain.com/html/
sudo find /var/www/mydomain.com/html/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/mydomain.com/html/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
cd /var/www/mydomain.com/html/
sudo cp wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php
sudo nano wp-config.php
Update these lines:
define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress_db' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'wp_user' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'StrongPassword123!' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );
define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4' );
Generate unique security keys from https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ and paste them into the file.
Restart OpenLiteSpeed:
sudo systemctl restart lsws
Navigate to http://mydomain.com and complete the WordPress graphical installer.
SSL is essential for any production WordPress site. Install Certbot:
sudo apt install certbot -y
Obtain the certificate in standalone mode:
sudo systemctl stop lsws
sudo certbot certonly --standalone -d mydomain.com -d www.mydomain.com
sudo systemctl start lsws
Certificates are saved to /etc/letsencrypt/live/mydomain.com/.
In the OpenLiteSpeed panel, add a Listener on port 443 and configure:
/etc/letsencrypt/live/mydomain.com/privkey.pem/etc/letsencrypt/live/mydomain.com/fullchain.pemLearn more about managing SSL certificates on our SSL certificates page.
LSCache is the primary performance advantage of OpenLiteSpeed. To activate:
Verify cache headers are working:
curl -I http://mydomain.com | grep -i 'x-litespeed'
You should see:
X-LiteSpeed-Cache: hit
sudo nano /usr/local/lsws/lsphp82/etc/php/8.2/litespeed/php.ini
Update these values:
memory_limit = 256M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300
max_input_vars = 3000
In the OpenLiteSpeed panel:
sudo crontab -e
Add this line:
0 3 * * * certbot renew --quiet --pre-hook "systemctl stop lsws" --post-hook "systemctl start lsws"
If you'd prefer to hand off server management entirely, CLIQHOST offers professional server management services to handle your infrastructure.
After configuration, benchmark your site with:
Run a quick load test with ab (Apache Benchmark):
sudo apt install apache2-utils -y
ab -n 1000 -c 50 http://mydomain.com/
On a CLIQHOST NVMe VPS with LSCache active, cached page TTFB should be under 100 ms.
Add this to wp-config.php before /* That's all, stop editing! */:
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);
if (strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'], 'https') !== false) {
$_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on';
}
.htaccess Files Are Not Being ReadEnsure your virtual host configuration has autoLoadHtaccess 1 in the rewrite section.
Check the number of running LSPHP processes:
ps aux | grep lsphp
Increase Max Connections under Server Configuration → External App → lsphp in the admin panel.
OpenLiteSpeed with WordPress is one of the most performant combinations available today for Linux-hosted sites. Compared to the classic LAMP stack, you get native LSCache, HTTP/3 support, minimal resource consumption, and an intuitive admin panel — all at zero licensing cost.
For the best results, this stack shines on fast storage. Explore SSD VPS or NVMe VPS plans from CLIQHOST, designed for demanding web workloads. If you'd rather focus on your site than on the server, our server management team can take care of the entire infrastructure.
Have questions or need assistance? Contact us — we're here to help.
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