FAQ
Table of Contents
Is LiteSpeed web server free? What are the differences between Standard and Enterprise editions? What kinds of support are available? How is the performance comparing to other web servers? Why is LiteSpeed server so fast? Does LiteSpeed server support URL rewrite? Does LiteSpeed server support Microsoft FrontPage Server What server APIs are available for third party products? Can I change the server string in the response header? Does LiteSpeed server support PHP? Does PHP Accelerators works with Litespeed web server? Can LiteSpeed server run PHP FastCGI process in suEXEC mode? How is LiteSpeed's PHP performance comparing to that of Apache's mod_php? Can PHP configuration settings be changed in LiteSpeed Does LiteSpeed web server support JSP/Servlet? Does LiteSpeed web server support ASP? Does LiteSpeed web server support ASP.NET? Does LiteSpeed server support ISAPI and NSAPI? Can I use LiteSpeed server as a proxy server? Can LiteSpeed server act as a cache proxy? Can I use LiteSpeed server as a static content accelerator? Is there a mod_perl equivalent for LiteSpeed server? Are Apache modules supported? Are Server Side Includes (SSI) supported? Does LiteSpeed server support virtual hosting? Can I run multiple copies of LiteSpeed server on one machine? Will the processing power of my SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessor) Is LiteSpeed server open-source? Is LiteSpeed server based on any existing web server? I would like to help, is there anything I can do?
• Is LiteSpeed web server free? top
There are 2 editions: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard Edition is free for both personal and commercial use.
• What are the differences between Standard and Enterprise editions? top
They are based on the same LiteSpeed Network Core. Standard Edition is a limited feature version and does not scale with MP servers. Enterprise Edition is fine-tuned for optimal performance and is linearly scalable to N-Multi-CPU/Core servers.
• What kinds of support are available? top
Various levels Enterprise Support Contracts are available at our online site: LiteSpeed Support Services. Stand Edition users can get free community based support at the Support Forum.
• How is the performance comparing to other web servers? top
For static content, LiteSpeed Standard Edition is up to 2 times faster than Apache, Enterprise Edition is up to 6 times faster than Apache and matching the performance of RedHat's Content Accelerator TUX, a web server built into the Linux kernel. For dynamic content, PHP scripting is up to 50% faster than Apache's mod_php. For more information, please take a look at our Benchmark page. If you are interested in comparing them yourself, please read "How to measure web server performance?".
• Why is LiteSpeed server so fast? top
Clean and optimal network processing architecture designed from the ground up for low-latency and scalability.
• Does LiteSpeed server support URL rewrite? top
Yes. Since release 2.0, a high performance Apache mod_rewirte compatible rewrite engine is implemented in within LiteSpeed server. Your existing rewrite rules should work properly without any modification.
• Does LiteSpeed server support Microsoft FrontPage Server top
Yes. Since release 2.0, Microsoft FrontPage Server Extension 2002 is supported, installation and configuration is much easier when comparing to Apache's mod_frontpage. For more detail about how to setup FrontPage Server Extension, please read "How to install Microsoft FrontPage Server Extension 2002 with LiteSpeed web server?"
• What server APIs are available for third party products? top
CGI, FastCGI, HTTP Proxy, AJP 1.3 (Apache JServ Protocol), and the most optimized of them all, LiteSpeed Server API (LSAPI).
• Can I change the server string in the response header? top
Yes. You can hide the detail version number through the web administration console. For enterprise version, you can hide the server string completely.
• Does LiteSpeed server support PHP? top
Yes. PHP is supported via PHP CGI/FCGI SAPI or LiteSpeed SAPI (LSAPI). PHP support is automatically configured during the installation of LiteSpeed server.
• Does PHP Accelerators works with Litespeed web server? top
Yes. All third party PHP Accelerators should work very well with Litespeed web server. You can turn on pre-built "Turck MMCache" or "Alterntive PHP Cache (APC)" with our installer during installation, or just run [lsws_home]/admin/misc/enable_phpa.sh to modify it post installation.
• Can LiteSpeed server run PHP FastCGI process in suEXEC mode? top
Yes. LiteSpeed server supports FastCGI suEXEC for improved security in a shared hosting environment when used properly.
• How is LiteSpeed's PHP performance comparing to that of Apache's mod_php? top
With PHP CGI/FCGI SAPI, LiteSpeed's PHP performance is upto 50% better than Apache's mod_php. With PHP LiteSpeed SAPI, LiteSpeed's PHP performance is upto 100% better than Apache's mod_php. For more detail, please visit our benchmark page.
• Can PHP configuration settings be changed in LiteSpeed top
Yes. With PHP LiteSpeed SAPI, PHP configuration settings can be changed from the web admin console as well as .htaccess files. LiteSpeed uses the same exact directives as those in Apache mod_php.
• Does LiteSpeed web server support JSP/Servlet? top
Yes. JSP and Servlet functionality is supported through the AJP 1.3 interface. You need to run a compatible servlet engine like Apache Tomcat or Jetty to take advantage of these features.
• Does LiteSpeed web server support ASP? top
Yes through third party software. Like Instant ASP.
• Does LiteSpeed web server support ASP.NET? top
Yes with FastCGI binding to Mono.
• Does LiteSpeed server support ISAPI and NSAPI? top
No. We recommend FastCGI or LiteSpeed SAPI (LSAPI).
• Can I use LiteSpeed server as a proxy server? top
Yes. You can use LiteSpeed as a transparent reverse proxy server running in front of clusters of application servers such as Apache or WebLogic.
• Can LiteSpeed server act as a cache proxy? top
No but it is on our to-do list.
• Can I use LiteSpeed server as a static content accelerator? top
Yes. LiteSpeed server is faster than static content accelerators like thttpd, boa and TUX when serving static contents. However, it is highly recommended to have LiteSpeed server serve both static and dynamic content when possible as it is much more efficient and easier to manage than the competition.
• Is there a mod_perl equivalent for LiteSpeed server? top
LiteSpeed server does not and will never embed Perl into its server process. If you are looking to access server internal through Perl script, the answer is No. However, if you are looking for a high performance Perl CGI environment, the answer is Yes. A persistent Perl daemon using FastCGI interface is available at lsws/fcgi-bin/lsperld. The Perl FastCGI daemon is equivalent to Apache::Registry module within Apache's mod_perl. Alternatively, you can utilize the reverse proxy interface of LiteSpeed to forward perl requests to a back-end Apache server with mod_perl.
• Are Apache modules supported? top
No. LiteSpeed uses completely different architecture and does not support modules written for Apache. However, you may find that features of most commonly used Apache modules have already been implemented by LiteSpeed.
• Are Server Side Includes (SSI) supported? top
Yes. Since release 4.0, SSI is supported.
• Does LiteSpeed server support virtual hosting? top
Yes. LiteSpeed server support an unlimited number of virtual hosts.
• Can I run multiple copies of LiteSpeed server on one machine? top
No. Only one instance of LiteSpeed server can exist at the same time.
• Will the processing power of my SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessor) top
Yes. Our Enterprise Edition server is fully optimized to linearly scale to any N number of Processors/Cores.
• Is LiteSpeed server open-source? top
No. LiteSpeed Technologies embraces the open-source community but our product is not open-source.
• Is LiteSpeed server based on any existing web server? top
No. LiteSpeed server was built from scratch in C++. Some open source or free libraries were used such as OpenSSL, OpenLDAP, expat, PCRE and zlib. All trademarks and copyrights of third party libraries belong to their respective owners.
• I would like to help, is there anything I can do? top
Even though LiteSpeed server is not open-source, LiteSpeed embraces the community spirit and all our users can contribute in many ways: feature testing, bug reporting, new feature suggestions, helping others to move to LiteSpeed, and much more. We have a public forum and wiki setup on our online site at LiteSpeed Technologies.
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