LiteSpeed Web Server
{{Short description|Proprietary web server software}}
{{redirect|LiteSpeed|other uses|Litespeed (disambiguation)}}
{{primary sources|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox software
| name = LiteSpeed Web Server
| logo = LiteSpeed_Web_Server_Logo.png
| logo size = 200px
| screenshot =
| caption =
| author = George Wang
| developer = LiteSpeed Technologies
| released = {{Start date and age|July 1, 2003}}{{cite web |url=https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/release-log-archive |title=LiteSpeed Web Server Release Log Archive |publisher=LiteSpeed |accessdate=1 September 2017}}
| latest release version = 5.4.12
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2021|3|22|df=yes}}{{cite web |url=https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/release-log |title=LiteSpeed Web Server Release Log |publisher=LiteSpeed |accessdate=11 August 2020}}
| programming language = C, C++
| operating system = CloudLinux OS, AlmaLinux/Centos/Red Hat/Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu, FreeBSD
| genre = Web server
| license = Non-free proprietary or GPL3
| website = {{URL|https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server}}
}}
LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS) is proprietary web server software. It is the 4th most popular web server, estimated to be used by 13.9% of websites as of September 2024.{{cite web |title=Usage of web servers for websites |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/web_server |accessdate=26 September 2024 |website=W3Techs}} LSWS is developed by privately held LiteSpeed Technologies. The software uses the same configuration format as Apache HTTP Server and is compatible with most Apache features.{{cite web |url=https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2015/08/13/august-2015-web-server-survey.html |title=August 2015 Web Server Survey |website=Netcraft |accessdate=1 September 2017 |date=13 August 2015}}{{Cite book|title=Linux system administration|first1=Tom|last1=Adelstein|date=2007|publisher=O'Reilly|last2=Lubanovic|first2=Bill|isbn=9780596009526|edition=1st|location=Sebastopol, CA|oclc=71808193|page=162}} An open source variant{{Cite web |title=How to install OpenLiteSpeed on Rocky Linux 9 {{!}} CentLinux |url=https://www.centlinux.com/2023/04/install-openlitespeed-on-rocky-linux-9.html |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=www.centlinux.com|date=18 April 2023 }} is also available.{{cite web|url=https://openlitespeed.org/|title=Get OpenLiteSpeed!|date=28 October 2019|accessdate=28 October 2019}}
LSWS was released in 2003, and in August 2008 it became the 16th most popular web server.{{cite web |url=https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2008/08/29/august_2008_web_server_survey.html |title=August 2008 Web Server Survey |website=Netcraft |accessdate=1 September 2017 |date=29 August 2008}} In November 2016, LiteSpeed's market share grew from 0.39% to 3.29%, increasing its position from 10th to 4th most popular web server according to Netcraft.{{cite web |url=https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2016/11/22/november-2016-web-server-survey.html|title=November 2016 Web Server Survey |website=Netcraft |accessdate=1 September 2017 |date=22 November 2016}} In 2017, a team from Hong Kong Polytechnic University found it to be one of the six most popular web servers,{{Cite book|last1=Jiang|first1=M.|last2=Luo|first2=X.|last3=Miu|first3=T.|last4=Hu|first4=S.|last5=Rao|first5=W.|title=2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) |chapter=Are HTTP/2 Servers Ready Yet? |date=June 2017|pages=1661–1671|doi=10.1109/icdcs.2017.279|isbn=978-1-5386-1792-2|s2cid=4700093 }} and it was estimated by a team at RWTH Aachen University to be running 9.2% of all HTTP/2-enabled websites.{{Cite journal|url=http://dl.ifip.org/db/conf/networking/networking2017/1570332989.pdf|title=How HTTP/2 Pushes the Web: An Empirical Study of HTTP/2 Server Push|first1=Torsten |last1=Zimmermann |first2=Jan |last2=Rüth |first3=Benedikt |last3=Wolters |first4=Oliver |last4=Hohlfeld |date=2017 |journal=IFIP Networking Conference}} As of September 2024, LSWS was used by 36.3% of websites using HTTP/3.{{cite web |date=26 September 2024 |title=Distribution of Web Servers among websites that use HTTP/3 |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/segmentation/ce-http3/web_server |accessdate=26 September 2024 |publisher=W3techs.com}}
According to a Netcraft web server survey, LiteSpeed had 6% of global market share of active sites as of September 2024.{{cite web |date=17 September 2024 |title=Netcraft web server survey |url=https://www.netcraft.com/blog/september-2024-web-server-survey/ |access-date=26 September 2024 |website=Netcraft}}
LiteSpeed Cache, a cache and performance module also known as LSCache, is built into LiteSpeed Web Server. LSCache can be managed via rewrite rules, or via plugins developed specifically for particular content management systems, including WordPress.
Features
LSWS is compatible with commonly-used Apache features, including mod_rewrite, .htaccess, and mod_security. LSWS can load Apache configuration files directly and works as a drop-in replacement for Apache while fully integrating with popular control panels. LSWS replaces all Apache functions, but uses an event driven approach to handle requests.{{cite web |url=https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/features/event-driven-architecture |title=Event-Driven vs. Process-Based Web Servers |publisher=LiteSpeed |accessdate=1 September 2017}}
History
LiteSpeed Technologies was founded in early 2002 by a team of engineers led by George Wang. On July 1, 2003, LiteSpeed Web Server was officially released as a full-featured web server. In 2007, LiteSpeed Web Server became LiteSpeed Web Server Enterprise and was configured to be an Apache drop-in replacement. In that same year, the web server integrated with cPanel, DirectAdmin, and Plesk. LiteSpeed Web Server officially began supporting HTTP/2 in 2015 with version 5.0, and also released LSCache (cache plugin for WordPress) with ESI in version 5.0.10. In 2017, LSWS released QUIC support.{{cite web |url=https://blog.litespeedtech.com/2017/07/11/litespeed-announces-quic-support/ |title=LiteSpeed Announces QUIC Support |date=11 July 2017 |accessdate=7 September 2017}} In July 2019, LSWS announced support for HTTP/3.{{cite web |url=https://www.litespeedtech.com/products/litespeed-web-server/release-log |title=LiteSpeed Web Server Release Log}}