/usr/local/lsws — The Install Root

This is the single most important path on an OpenLiteSpeed server. Every operational task — configuring, reloading, debugging, backing up — starts here.

Yazi Navigation

If you use yazi as your file manager, navigate directly with:

yazi /usr/local/lsws

Use hjkl to move, Enter to open dirs, q to quit. Much faster than ls -la for visual exploration.

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Full Directory Tree

/usr/local/lsws/
├── bin/                    # Server control binaries
│   ├── lshttpd             # Main server daemon
│   └── lswsctrl            # Service control script (start/stop/restart/status)
│
├── admin/                  # WebAdmin console app
│   ├── bin/                # Admin process binaries
│   ├── conf/               # Admin SSL cert + admin credentials
│   │   ├── admin_config.conf
│   │   └── htpasswd        # Admin password (hashed)
│   ├── misc/
│   │   └── admpass.sh      # Password reset script
│   └── html/               # WebAdmin UI static files
│
├── conf/                   # ALL server configuration lives here
│   ├── httpd_config.conf   # Main server config (listeners, vhosts, global settings)
│   └── vhosts/             # Per-site configs
│       └── <vhostname>/
│           └── vhconf.conf # Per-site virtual host config
│
├── logs/                   # Server log files
│   ├── error.log           # Main error log — check this first on any problem
│   ├── access.log          # Access log (if enabled at server level)
│   ├── lsrestart.log       # Restart history
│   └── stderr.log          # PHP/worker stderr output
│
├── lsphp84/                # PHP 8.4 runtime (one dir per installed version)
│   ├── bin/
│   │   └── lsphp           # PHP binary used by OLS via LSAPI
│   └── etc/php/8.4/        # php.ini and conf.d
│
├── Example/                # Default example virtual host (safe to delete in prod)
├── docs/                   # Local documentation (basic)
├── lib/                    # Shared libraries
└── tmp/                    # Runtime PIDs and sockets
    └── lshttpd/
        ├── lshttpd.pid     # Main process PID
        └── PLAT            # Platform info

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CLI Exploration Commands

# Quick overview of the install root
ls -la /usr/local/lsws/

# Show entire tree (requires: apt install tree)
tree -L 3 /usr/local/lsws/

# What PHP versions are installed?
ls -d /usr/local/lsws/lsphp*/

# Find ALL config files
find /usr/local/lsws/conf -name "*.conf" | sort

# Find all virtual host configs
find /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts -name "vhconf.conf"

# Check what is in the logs directory right now
ls -lht /usr/local/lsws/logs/

# Where is the running PID stored?
cat /tmp/lshttpd/lshttpd.pid

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Key Paths — Quick Reference

Path	What It Is	When You Touch It
/usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl	Service controller	Every restart/reload
/usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd	Main daemon binary	Checking version, debugging
/usr/local/lsws/conf/httpd_config.conf	Master config	Adding listeners, vhosts, global settings
/usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/<name>/vhconf.conf	Per-site config	Site-specific rules, PHP handlers
/usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log	Error log	Debugging — always check this first
/usr/local/lsws/admin/conf/htpasswd	WebAdmin password	If locked out
/usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/admpass.sh	Password reset helper	Admin lockout recovery
/usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/bin/lsphp	PHP binary	Checking version, LSAPI path config

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Reading Config Files Directly

The config files use a structured text format. You can read and edit them directly — no GUI required.

# View the main server config
sudo cat /usr/local/lsws/conf/httpd_config.conf

# View a virtual host config
sudo cat /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/example/vhconf.conf

# Search config for listener definitions
grep -n "listener" /usr/local/lsws/conf/httpd_config.conf

# Search for PHP handler references across all vhost configs
grep -rn "lsphp" /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/

# Live-tail the error log while testing
sudo tail -f /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log

Direct Config Editing

OpenLiteSpeed reads config files on graceful restart. You can edit httpd_config.conf or vhconf.conf directly in vim/nano, then run lswsctrl restart — no WebAdmin needed.

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Checking Installed lsphp Versions

# List all installed lsphp versions
ls /usr/local/lsws/ | grep lsphp

# Check each version's binary
for v in /usr/local/lsws/lsphp*/bin/lsphp; do echo "$v:"; $v -v; done

# Check PHP ini path for a specific version
/usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/bin/lsphp --ini | grep "Loaded Configuration"

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What's Next

• conf — Deep dive into the configuration directory
• logs — Understanding log files and how to tail them
• Admin Interface Files — What the admin directory contains