FAQ
 
Table of Contents
 
• Is LiteSpeed web server free?Go to top
There are three editions: Standard, Professional and Enterprise. The Standard Edition is free.
 
• What are the differences among Standard, Professional and Enterprise editions?Go to top
They are based on the same code base. Standard Edition is a stripped down Professional Edition with some features turned off or limited. Enterprise Edition provides the ultimate performance by utilizing the latest System APIs.
 
• What kinds of support are available?Go to top
The Standard Edition is supported through our online forum. Commercial support is available only for paid customers. Please check here for more details.
 
• How is the performance comparing to other web servers?Go to top
For static content, LiteSpeed Standard Edition is up to 2 times faster than Apache, Profesional Edition is up to 5 times faster than Apache, matches 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 LiteSpeed web server is so fast?Go to top
Good architecture and heavily optimized code.
 
• What server APIs are available for third party products?Go to top
CGI, Fast CGI, HTTP Proxy and AJP(Apache JServ Protocol).
 
• Can I change the server string in the response header?Go to top
Yes, you can hide the detail version number through the web administration interface, only "LiteSpeed" is shown. This feature has been included since 1.3.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support PHP?Go to top
Yes, the PHP engine runs as a Fast CGI application. PHP can be automatically installed during the LiteSpeed installation proccess
 
• Does PHP Accelerators works with Litespeed web server?Go to 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 enable, disable or change it later.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support JSP/Servlet?Go to top
Yes, JSP and servlet functionality is supported through the AJP interface. You need to run a compatible servlet engine like Tomcat or Jetty to take advantage of these features.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support ASP?Go to top
Yes, though third party software. Like Instant ASP.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support .NET?Go to top
We are looking into providing .NET support for future versions of LiteSpeed. Please check http://www.go-mono.org. Need to build a fast CGI interface if it is not available yet.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support ISAPI and NSAPI?Go to top
No, not at this point. It may be available in future releases. You can always build a Fast CGI container if needed.
 
• Can I use LiteSpeed web server as a proxy server?Go to top
Yes, you can use it as a transparent reverse proxy server running in front of any web servers and/or application servers like Apache or WebLogic, However, it is not intended to be a proxy server that can be used to access other web sites.
 
• Can I use LiteSpeed web server as a static content accelerator?Go to top
Yes, LiteSpeed web server can serve static content and forward requests for dynamic content to a backend web server like Apache through its proxy interface. However, it is highly recommended to let LiteSpeed web server serve dynamic content if possible, as it is much more efficient, allowing the maximum use of server hardware.
 
• Is there a mod_perl equivalent for LiteSpeed web server?Go to top
No, not at this point. However, you can either run the Perl script as CGI, or let LiteSpeed's proxy ability forward the requests to a backend Apache server with mod_perl.
 
• Are Apache modules supported?Go to top
No. Although we will continue to add features present in Apache modules to our future releases
 
• Are Server Side Includes(SSI) supported?Go to top
No. We suggest you use PHP or JSP instead, or let LiteSpeed's proxy ability forward the requsts to a backend Apache server with mod_include.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support virtual hosting?Go to top
Yes. Standard Edition supports 10 virtual hosts. Professional Edition supports 100 virtual hosts. Enterprise supports unlimited number of virtual hosts.
 
• Can I run multiple copies of LiteSpeed web server on one machine?Go to top
No, only one copy can run on one machine at a time.
 
• Does LiteSpeed web server support SMP(Symmetric MultiProcessor)?Go to top
Standard and Professional Editions do not take advantage of multiple CPUs in SMP machine itself, however, fast CGI processes (for example, PHP script engine) and backend DB server (for example, MySQL) will utilize unused processing power. Unless your web site is comprised of pure static content, the power of a SMP machine will be used efficiently. Enterprise Edition will be able to take the advantage of SMP by spawning multiple web server processes.
 
• Where is the Enterprise Edition?Go to top
It is still under development, Please check back later at litespeedtech.com.
 
• Is LiteSpeed web server open-source?Go to top
No.
 
• Is LiteSpeed web server based on any other web servers?Go to top
No. LiteSpeed web server was built from scratch in C++. Some open source or free libraries were used such as OpenSSL, expat, zlib, etc..
 
• I'd like to help, is there anything I can do?Go to top
Even LiteSpeed web server is not open-source, you can still help a lot in a number of ways.    You can join the group of Beta tester to help testing pre-releases.
   You can put the little "powered by" icon on your web site.
   You can publish your reviews on Internet (if you like it ;-)
   You can tell your friends and colleagues about this web server.
   You can purchase our commercial products or support services.
Your support and help is greatly appreciated.