How to Tune OpenLiteSpeed for High Traffic

OpenLiteSpeed handles high traffic exceptionally well but requires proper tuning to reach its performance ceiling. This guide covers every parameter that matters for production deployments.

Server Configuration Tuning

WebAdmin → Server Configuration → Tuning:

Max Connections:        10000
Max SSL Connections:    10000
Connection Timeout:     300
Max Keep-Alive Req:     10000
Smart Keep-Alive:       1
Keep-Alive Timeout:     5
Send Buffer Size:       0 (auto)
Receive Buffer Size:    0 (auto)

LSPHP Process Tuning

WebAdmin → Server Configuration → External App → lsphp:
Max Connections:        2000
Environment:            PHP_LSAPI_CHILDREN=100
Init Timeout:           60
Retry Timeout:          0
Persistent Connection:  1

Kernel Parameter Tuning

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/99-litespeed.conf

# Increase connection limits
net.core.somaxconn = 65535
net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 65535

# TCP tuning
net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout = 10
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time = 300
net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse = 1

# File descriptor limits
fs.file-max = 1000000

sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-litespeed.conf

System File Limits

sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf

* soft nofile 1000000
* hard nofile 1000000
nobody soft nofile 1000000
nobody hard nofile 1000000

Cache Configuration for High Traffic

WebAdmin → Server Configuration → Cache:
Storage Path:     /dev/shm/lscache  # Use RAM disk
Default Policy:   Public cache enabled
Max Cache Size:   2000 (MB)
Max Stale Age:    200

Monitor Performance

# Real-time stats
curl http://localhost:7080/status

# Or via WebAdmin → Dashboard
# Monitor: Requests/sec, Active Connections, Cache hit rate

Conclusion

Properly tuned OpenLiteSpeed handles millions of requests per day on modest hardware. Our team provides server performance tuning including OpenLiteSpeed optimisation.