HTTP 2 Implementation Guide on LiteSpeed Web Server

The Web is changing and it should. HTTP 2.0 or HTTP/2 was released on 14^th May 2015 with many great features, which helps business and ultimately enhances the user experience.

A Little bit of background…

So as you can see HTTP/2.0 is a second major version of the HTTP protocol history. Some of the goals for HTTP 2 are: –

• Data compression of HTTP headers
• Server pushes technologies
• Loading page elements in parallel over a single TCP connection

All above made me think of two things – Security & Optimization

So are you ready to implement HTTP 2?

Well, if you are using Apache or Nginx then you got to little wait as a supported version is yet to be released.

LiteSpeed is a first web server to support HTTP 2, which I will explain how to install, enable & test it.

LiteSpeed is the fourth largest web server and powering over 98% of HTTP/2 websites as I write.

OpenLiteSpeed is open source version of Lite Speed web server. HTTP/2 is supported in 1.3.11 and 1.48+ versions.

So in this guide, I will install 1.4.10 on Linux. There are two ways we can install – one by compiling the source code and second by their repository. I will walk you through both procedures.

Download OpenLiteSpeed 1.4.10

• Downloadable is available on the download page
• Transfer the downloaded file to the server where you wish to install

Pre-requisite

• OpenSSL 1.0.1+
• OpenSSL-devel
• gcc
• gcc-c++
• pcre
• geoip
• zlib
• expat
• autoconf

You can install them by using following commands

# yum install openssl openssl-devel gcc gcc-c++ pcre pcre-devel gcc autoconf expat-devel geoip-devel zlib-devel

Install OpenLiteSpeed – Using Source Code

• Go to folder where you have openlitespeed-1.4.10.tgz
• Extract it by using the following command

# gunzip -c openlitespeed-1.4.10.tgz | tar xvf –

• It will create another folder in present working directory – openlitespeed-1.4.10
• Go to openlitespeed-1.4.10

# cd openlitespeed-1.4.10

• Compile it using following commands

# ./configure –enable-http2
# make
# make install

It will take few minutes, and at the end, you will have confirmation on successfully installed.

[OK] The startup script has been successfully installed!
Installation finished, Enjoy!

Woho! You have installed LiteSpeed web server, and it’s time to enable HTTP/2.0.

Exciting? Let’s do it.

You need to enable HTTP/2.0 with WebAdmin Console, which is accessible using hostname:7080

Before we login into WebAdmin, need to change the credential. So here is how you can do it.

• Go to /usr/lcoal/lsws/admin/misc

# cd /usr/lcoal/lsws/admin/misc

• Execute admpass.sh

# ./admpass.sh

• It will prompt to enter user/password and once done, will give you confirmation that it’s updated successfully.

Administrator's username/password is updated successfully!

Install OpenLiteSpeed – Using Repository

• Add the repository in Linux/CentOS 6

# rpm -ivh http://rpms.litespeedtech.com/centos/litespeed-repo-1.1-1.el6.noarch.rpm

• Install OpenLite using yum command

# yum install openlitespeed

• It will take few seconds and will be installed under /usr/local/lsws

Enable HTTP/2.0

• Login into WebAdmin
• Go to Listeners >> SSL
• Click on Edit for “Security & Features”

• Select HTTP/2 and click on Save

• Restart LiteSpeed. You can use a startup script to do so.

# /etc/init.d/lsws restart

Note: if SSL is not configured, then you need to configure it first.

So now, HTTP 2.0 is enabled and ready to test it.

Test if HTTP/2.0 is enabled

• Go to HTTP/2 Test

• Enter the URL and test it

So you can see, it supports HTTP/2.0

I hope above guide helps you to install and enable HTTP/2.0 in LiteSpeed web server.