After installing LiteSpeed on a cPanel server, a few server-level settings decide whether LSCache works for your users and how the server behaves under load. They live in the LiteSpeed WebAdmin console.
On MdmHost reseller and master reseller plans this is already done for you. This guide is for administrators of their own cPanel VPS or dedicated server with root access.
Before you start
- LiteSpeed installed and active (see installing LiteSpeed on cPanel).
- The WebAdmin password, set from WHM → Plugins → LiteSpeed Web Server.
- Port 7080 allowed from your IP only.
Open the WebAdmin console
Browse to https://your-server-hostname:7080 and log in. You can also reach it from the WHM plugin.
Enable the server cache
- Go to Configuration → Server → Cache.
- Set Storage Path to a fast disk with space, for example
/home/lscache/. Each user's cache is stored in a separate directory. - Under Cache Policy, set Enable Cache to No and Check Private Cache/Check Public Cache to Yes. This lets LSCache plugins and
.htaccessrules enable caching per site, which is the recommended setup. - Save and perform a Graceful Restart.
Note: Turning "Enable Cache" on server-wide caches every site whether or not it is safe to do so. Leave the decision to plugins and site rules (see the guide on LSCache with .htaccess rules).
Users then enable caching themselves (see LiteSpeed Web Cache Manager and LSCache with .htaccess).
Connection and security tuning
- Configuration → Server → Tuning: Max Connections and Max SSL Connections; defaults suit most servers, raise them on large machines.
- Configuration → Server → Security → Per Client Throttling: limits connections and requests per IP to blunt floods. Keep defaults unless legitimate clients are throttled.
- Enable QUIC (HTTP/3) under General or Listeners, and open UDP 443 in the firewall (see HTTP/3 explained).
PHP (LSAPI) limits
In the WHM LiteSpeed plugin or Configuration → Server → External App, the lsphp entries control PHP processes: Max Connections per user, Memory Soft/Hard Limit and Process Limit. On CloudLinux servers, LVE limits take precedence, so keep these generous and manage limits in CloudLinux Manager (see CloudLinux Manager settings). Details on the handler are in LSAPI explained.
Warning: Always use Graceful Restart, not a full stop and start, so active connections finish cleanly.
Troubleshooting
Plugins report "LSCache not available"
Check Public/Private cache are set to "Yes" in Cache Policy and the storage path exists and is writable.
Cache fills the disk
Put the storage path on a partition with room, and let the LiteSpeed cache cleaner run. Users can purge their own caches.
Changes are lost
Some settings are managed by the WHM plugin. Change them there, or they may be overwritten when the configuration is rebuilt.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the LiteSpeed logs?
In /usr/local/lsws/logs/: error.log for server errors and stderr.log for PHP-related problems.
Can resellers access WebAdmin?
No. WebAdmin is root-only. Resellers and users manage caching through cPanel and the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.