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CLI Management

OpenLiteSpeed is fully manageable from the command line. You do not need the WebAdmin GUI for day-to-day operations. This page covers every CLI operation you will use regularly.

tmux Workflow

In tmux, keep your error log tailing in one pane and your command input in another:

# Pane 1: live error log
sudo tail -f /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log

# Pane 2: run your commands here

Split: Ctrl+b % (vertical) or Ctrl+b " (horizontal)

Service Control​

These are the commands you will run most often.

# --- GRACEFUL RELOAD (preferred for config changes) ---
# Applies new config without dropping active connections
sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl restart

# --- FULL STOP / START ---
sudo systemctl stop lsws
sudo systemctl start lsws
sudo systemctl restart lsws    # stop + start (drops connections)

# --- STATUS ---
sudo systemctl status lsws
sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl status

# --- ENABLE AUTO-START ON BOOT ---
sudo systemctl enable lsws
sudo systemctl disable lsws   # remove from boot

# --- SEND RELOAD SIGNAL DIRECTLY (alternative) ---
sudo kill -USR1 $(cat /tmp/lshttpd/lshttpd.pid)

When to Use Which​

SituationCommand
Config file edited (vhost, listener, handler)lswsctrl restart
Binary upgraded (apt upgrade openlitespeed)systemctl restart lsws
PHP ini changed (php.ini, opcache)lswsctrl restart
Worker process appears stucksystemctl restart lsws
Testing graceful reload with no disruptionlswsctrl restart

Version and Build Info​

# Full version string
/usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -v

# Short version check
/usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -v 2>&1 | head -1

# Check installed OLS package version (Debian/Ubuntu)
dpkg -l openlitespeed

# Check on RHEL-family
rpm -q openlitespeed

Process Inspection​

# Is lshttpd running?
ps aux | grep lshttpd | grep -v grep

# How many worker processes?
ps aux | grep lshttpd | grep -v grep | wc -l

# What ports is OLS listening on?
sudo ss -tlnp | grep lshttpd

# What files does the main process have open?
sudo lsof -p $(cat /tmp/lshttpd/lshttpd.pid) | head -30

# How long has OLS been running (uptime)?
ps -p $(cat /tmp/lshttpd/lshttpd.pid) -o etime=

# PID file location
cat /tmp/lshttpd/lshttpd.pid

Log Access​

# Live tail error log (most important)
sudo tail -f /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log

# Last 50 lines of error log
sudo tail -50 /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log

# Search error log for specific issues
sudo grep -i "error\|warn\|fail" /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log | tail -30

# Search for a specific domain's errors
sudo grep "example.com" /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log | tail -20

# Check restart history
sudo tail -20 /usr/local/lsws/logs/lsrestart.log

# Check access log (if enabled at server level)
sudo tail -f /usr/local/lsws/logs/access.log

# Virtual host specific logs (if configured per-vhost)
sudo tail -f /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/example/logs/error.log

Config Management (No WebAdmin)​

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

# Edit main server config directly
sudo vim /usr/local/lsws/conf/httpd_config.conf

# Edit a virtual host config
sudo vim /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/example/vhconf.conf

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

# Search for a specific directive across all configs
sudo grep -rn "docRoot\|phpIniOverride\|scriptHandler" /usr/local/lsws/conf/

# Validate config syntax (check error log after running)
sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -t
After Editing Config Directly

Always run sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl restart after direct config edits. Check the error log immediately: sudo tail -20 /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log

PHP / lsphp Management​

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

# Check PHP version
/usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/bin/lsphp -v

# How many lsphp workers are running?
ps aux | grep lsphp | grep -v grep | wc -l

# Which php.ini is loaded?
/usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/bin/lsphp --ini | grep "Loaded Configuration"

# Edit PHP ini
sudo vim /usr/local/lsws/lsphp84/etc/php/8.4/litespeed/php.ini

# Install a new lsphp version (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt install lsphp83 lsphp83-common lsphp83-mysql

# Install additional PHP extensions
sudo apt install lsphp84-redis lsphp84-imagick lsphp84-mbstring

WebAdmin Password Reset​

# Reset WebAdmin admin password (interactive prompt)
sudo /usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/admpass.sh

# View hashed password file
sudo cat /usr/local/lsws/admin/conf/htpasswd

Connection and Network Diagnostics​

# Active connections by port
sudo ss -s

# Connections to port 443
sudo ss -tn state established '( dport = :443 or sport = :443 )' | wc -l

# Test your site from localhost
curl -I http://localhost
curl -I https://localhost --insecure
curl -H "Host: example.com" http://localhost/

# Test with full response timing
curl -w "\n--- Timing ---\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nTTFB: %{time_starttransfer}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n" \
  -o /dev/null -s http://localhost/

# Check SSL certificate from CLI
openssl s_client -connect localhost:443 -servername example.com 2>/dev/null | \
  openssl x509 -noout -dates -subject

Quick Health Check One-Liner​

echo "=== OLS Health ===" && \
  /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -v 2>&1 | head -1 && \
  echo "Service: $(systemctl is-active lsws)" && \
  echo "Workers: $(ps aux | grep lshttpd | grep -v grep | wc -l) lshttpd" && \
  echo "PHP workers: $(ps aux | grep lsphp | grep -v grep | wc -l) lsphp" && \
  echo "Ports: $(sudo ss -tlnp | grep lshttpd | awk '{print $4}' | tr '\n' ' ')" && \
  echo "Last error: $(sudo tail -1 /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log)"

AI-Assisted Debugging with opencode​

If you use opencode at the server level, you can pipe logs directly into it for analysis:

# Pipe last 100 error log lines into opencode for analysis
sudo tail -100 /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log | opencode "analyze these OpenLiteSpeed errors and suggest fixes"

# Ask opencode to help write a vhost config
opencode "write an OpenLiteSpeed vhconf.conf for a WordPress site at /var/www/example.com/public with lsphp84"

# Get opencode to review your config file
cat /usr/local/lsws/conf/vhosts/example/vhconf.conf | opencode "review this OLS vhost config for issues"
opencode + tmux Workflow
  1. Open your config in vim in pane 1
  2. In pane 2, run opencode and ask questions about the config
  3. Apply changes, then do lswsctrl restart and check the log in pane 3

What's Next​