Tag: updates

LiteSpeed Technologies is pleased to introduce LiteSpeed Web Server Enterprise, version 5.4.

This update is bursting with improvements such as:

• A massive HTTP/2 HTTPS performance boost.
• Anti-DDoS with reCAPTCHA integration to stop any Layer7 attack, easily.
• Experimental HTTP/3 support
• Mass Hosting support with Redis or with rewrite rules.
• SO_REUSEPORT to handle HIGH traffic efficiently in a large multi-worker deployment.

LiteSpeed Web Server Enterprise, version 5.4 gives you massive performance increases without price inflation!

Read on to learn about everything LSWS v5.4 has to offer!

HTTP/2 and HTTPS Improvements

The performance improvements we’ve made to our HTTP/2 implementation are significant. We’ve taken several steps to minimize overhead and maximize efficiency in this version.

This newly-optimized HTTP/2 implementation beats Nginx’s HTTP/2 implementation by a wide margin: by 2X when serving large dynamic files, by 4X when serving small static files, and by 10X when serving WordPress!

These are verifiable, repeatable results.  Try it yourself.

Take a look at the ways in which we’ve improved LiteSpeed HTTP/2:

TLS Record Direct

Rather than relying on third-party SSL libraries with their heavy, inflexible and bloated code path, LSWS builds the TLS record directly. This minimizes data-copies, and allows LiteSpeed to directly control TLS record size in the process.

TLS sendfile()

By implementing an efficient sendfile()-like API, and loading file data directly into the TLS record buffer, LiteSpeed minimizes deep copies and beats kernel TLS (kTLS) efficiency. In a comparison with rival web servers Apache and nginx, LSWS’s throughput of file stream over TLS almost doubled!

Dynamic TLS Record Size

LSWS dynamically adjust TLS record size to deliver data in an optimal way under a variety of conditions. When it’s necessary to improve time to first byte, a small TLS record is used to deliver data quickly. When improving throughput is the goal, maximum sized TLS records are used to reduce TLS protocol overhead.

TLS Record Buffering

In order to reduce system-call overhead and network-packet-level fragmentation, LSWS combines multiple TLS records together and sends them over one system call.

SSL Handshake Offloading

The SSL handshake is the most expensive operation in SSL. Event driven servers usually do the SSL handshake in the main event loop thread, But when there is a large number of incoming SSL connections, this method may cause the event loop to become heavily clogged. To utilize multi-core processors in a modern server, LSWS 5.4 offloads the handshake operation to separate worker threads. By avoiding blockage of the main event-loop, we improve SSL handshake performance.

TLS Certificate Compression

While the IETF is working on the TLS Certificate Compression standard, Google Chrome already supports it. LSWS 5.4 adds certificate compression, which reduces the amount of data that server and client exchange during the handshake.

HPACK Performance Optimization

We’ve heavily optimized both HPACK compression/decompression speed and compression ratio.

HTTP/2 Stream Priority Tuning

With light SSL data buffering, LSWS 5.4 is able to implement HTTP/2 stream priority effectively and efficiently.

Learn more about what makes HTTP/2 with LiteSpeed so special.

Built-in reCAPTCHA Integration

You’re undoubtedly familiar with the application-level reCAPTCHA model, which traditionally protects login screens, form submissions, and the like. LiteSpeed’s new reCAPTCHA implementation, however, provides server-level protection: the best available weapon against Layer-7 DDoS attacks.

When implemented on the server, reCAPTCHA provides more control than most other popular DDoS protection solutions. Legitimate visitors will be able to access the site, while suspicious bots and relentless attackers will be stopped, providing a powerful tool to mitigate resource usage before it can become a problem.

Best of all, LiteSpeed reCAPTCHA is flexible, so you can protect the entire server, or you can enable protection at the Virtual Host level. You can even control coverage by URL via rewrite rules. And by specifying an appropriate trigger sensitivity, you can configure reCAPTCHA to engage only when the server is under heavy load, if you wish.

Learn more about LiteSpeed’s server-level reCAPTCHA, and see why it’s a much better solution than traditional application-level implementations.

HTTP/3 Support

The Internet is abuzz over the new HTTP/3 protocol currently under development. HTTP/3 (formerly known as HTTP-over-QUIC) was originally a Google effort to improve HTTP/2 by transporting it encrypted over UDP.

The IETF is still defining the HTTP/3 standard, but LiteSpeed intends to be the first production-ready server to support the new protocol once they adopt a standard. We’re keeping a close eye on the IETF’s progress. LiteSpeed Web Server v5.4 supports HTTP/3 (IETF-QUIC) Draft 20.

Mass Hosting

With v5.4, LiteSpeed introduces support for two types of Mass Hosting setups:

1. High-Availability Redis-Controlled Dynamic Virtual Hosting
2. Dynamic Virtual Hosting via Rewrite Mapping.

With Redis

Best for large-scale generic hosting with hundreds of nodes, Redis-based mass hosting with LSWS boasts the following features:

• Powerful virtual host template via the main Apache configuration file.
• Most flexible vhost configuration via custom Apache configuration.
• Custom SSL certificate for each domain, dynamically loaded.
• High scalability with cloud infrastructure.
• Account migration with a simple Redis record update.

Our friend Aurimas at Hostinger was instrumental in helping us develop this feature. In fact, prior to LSWS v5.4’s public release, Hostinger has already been successfully running it on all of their production servers.

On their blog, Aurimas writes about Hostinger’s experience switching from an OpenResty+Apache solution to LiteSpeed-powered mass hosting. It’s worth a read!

With Rewrite Rules

For those providing shared hosting with minimal customization, LSWS 5.4 allows you to manage virtual hosts via rewrite rules. Benefits include:

• Virtual host template based on Apache configuration.
• High scalability with cloud infrastructure.

Learn more about Mass Hosting with LiteSpeed.

SO_REUSEPORT support

In large multi-worker deployments, SO_REUSEPORT allows multiple sockets on the same host to bind to the same port. By hashing the TCP socket and UDP packets by source IP:port, LSWS can shard the data into smaller chunks. Processes/threads may more easily digest these smaller chunks.

Using SO_REUSEPORT with TCP lets you avoid the thundering herd issue that accept() system calls are susceptible to in multi-worker mode.

With UDP, the same worker process handles packets from the same source. This is great for the QUIC protocol, as it avoids passing packets between processes.

SO_REUSEPORT is enabled automatically when multiple workers are used.

Upgrade Today

Now that you’ve seen the highlights, take a look at the full release log for a list of all of the changes that have gone into LiteSpeed Web Server v5.4.

If you’re already a LiteSpeed customer, you can upgrade immediately to 5.4 with this command:

/usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/lsup.sh -f -v  5.4

If you’re not yet experiencing LiteSpeed for yourself, why not sign up for a free trial?

Have you heard about the new version of LiteSpeed Web Server?

LiteSpeed Enterprise Web Server v5.3 dropped last month, bringing with it a collection of new features that we think you’ll really like. Let’s take a look!

PHP Detached Mode

This is the big enhancement that everybody is talking about. PHP Detached Mode is new to LSWS 5.3, and changes the relationship between LSWS and PHP processes.

In previous versions (LSWS 5.2.x and earlier), all PHP processes were attached to the LiteSpeed Web Server process. As such, when LiteSpeed Web Server restarted, so would the PHP processes. By contrast, PHP Detached Mode dictates that the PHP processes will continue running independently, even when LiteSpeed Web Server restarts.

PHP Detached Mode doesn’t mean that PHP will run forever. It will still follow the Max Idle Time setting. If you want to make PHP live longer, just increase Max Idle Time.

Benefits of PHP Detached Mode

Sysadmins often need to restart the server, and in certain situations, it’s beneficial to leave the PHP processes alone and let them continue to serve their purposes.

For example, when hundreds of accounts are hosted on the same shared hosting server, and new accounts are being added rapidly, the server may be restarted many times, but the PHP process don’t have to be.

Or, if a user is relying heavily on opcode cache to reduce the server load, PHP Detached Mode avoids having to reset the opcode cache during a server restart.

Restart Detached PHP Processes

It works the other way, too. Maybe you want to restart the PHP processes without interfering with the server process.

In the past, if there were any php.ini changes, you would probably want to restart LSWS to apply the changes (since restarting LSWS would also restart all PHP processes). But now, since PHP can run detached from the server, you can make php.ini changes effective immediately simply by restarting the PHP processes.

See our wiki to learn how to configure Detached Mode, and how to stop and restart detached processes.

Support for CloudLinux Node.js Selector

JavaScript has become one of the most popular programming languages. As it’s usage has increased, more and more customers have demanded Node.js hosting. The CloudLinux Node.js Selector was introduced to facilitate the performance and functionality related to Node.js, and now it is supported by LiteSpeed Web Server.

There is virtually no downside to using this method. All of your existing Node.js packages which can include any homegrown software, will run with virtually no changes through the LiteSpeed port. LiteSpeed continues to serve all of your non-Node.js traffic and it will now additionally serve the Node.js traffic.

Node.js Selector from CloudLinux is supported by LiteSpeed Web Server out of the box. Refer to the official CloudLinux documentation for Selector usage instructions. For testing and troubleshooting tips as they pertain to LSWS support, see our wiki.

PHP CRIU Support in CloudLinux Environments

Checkpoint/Restore In Userspace, or CRIU, freezes a process and saves a snapshot of it. Then, process may be restored and run from the point of the snapshot. LSWS 5.3 supports CRIU for CloudLinux. CRIU improves performance for transactions which are commonly used, and reduces the memory overhead on the server.

Learn how to configure CRIU on our wiki.

Maxmind database support for GeoIP2 lookup

As of LSWS v5.3, the MaxMind GeoIP2 format database, .mmdb, is supported. (Previous versions of LSWS only supported the MaxMind Legacy Database.) Please see our wiki for installation instructions.

Brotli compression for dynamic responses

LiteSpeed Web Server has included Brotli compression support for a while, but it was only for static files. Now, as of v5.3, Brotli compression has been added for dynamic responses. Learn more on our wiki.

Automatic gzip and brotli conversion for cached pages

LSWS 5.3 can cache a gzip-compressed page, convert it to Brotli, and cache the converted result. Or, vice-versa. The converted result, however, is not saved immediately. There is a hit limit, in order to save disk space.

Example: If the Brotli version is cached, and the client requests gzip, LSWS will dynamically decompress the Brotli version, re-compress as gzip, serve the request, and discard the result. If this request is repeated more than 10 times, the gzip version will be cached, and the next request will be served directly from cache. You can get more details about how this works on our wiki.

TLS v1.3 Support on cPanel

LiteSpeed Web Server now supports TLS v1.3 on cPanel. See our wiki for more details.

Smarter Cache Engine Knows What You Were Thinking

No, LiteSpeed Web Server is not really a mind-reader, but, as of v5.3, it has an improved cache engine that can fix badly-configured cache storage directories and file permissions. That’s almost mind reading.

Normally in a control panel environment, server-level and virtual-host-level cache roots are set in the Apache configuration, or in include files. Once these are set and LSWS is restarted, the web server will create the required directories automatically, and with correct ownership and permissions.

However, a user may have manually created a cache folder with the wrong ownership or permissions. This will cause a lot of problems later when creating cache entries, or when looking them up. LSWS 5.3 addresses this problem by knowing what the user intended, and automatically fixing the issue.

You can learn more about this feature on our wiki.

Also…

As if all of the aforementioned enhancements weren’t enough, with LSWS v5.3, we are now supporting QUIC 43. Additionally, we have an opportunity to introduce some exciting new licensing options! You can learn more about that here.

Have you already tried 5.3? What’s your favorite feature?