Virtual Host General
 
Table of Contents
General Document Root   Enable GZIP   Enable IP Geolocation   Administrator Email   
Virtual Host Log Use Server Log   File Name   Log Level   Rolling Size   
Access Log Log Control   File Name   Piped Logger   Log Format   Log Headers   Rolling Size   Keep Days   Bytes Log   Compress Archive   
Index Files Use Server Index Files   Index Files   Auto Index   Auto Index URI   
Customized Error Pages Error Code   URL   Action   
Script Handler Settings Suffix   Type   Handler Name   
HT Access Allow Override   Access File Name   
Expire Settings Enable Expires   Expires Default   Expires By Type   
Apache Style Configuration Apache Style Configurations   
 
Document RootGo to top
Description: Specifies the document root for this virtual host. $VH_ROOT/html is recommended. This directory is referred as $DOC_ROOT in contexts.
Syntax: A path which can be absolute, or relative to $SERVER_ROOT, or relative to $VH_ROOT.
Enable GZIPGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to enable GZIP compression for this virtual host. This setting is effective only when server level GZIP compression is enabled, i.e. virtual host can only turn off compression enabled at server level. Compression settings are configured at server level (Tuning-GZIP).
Syntax: Select from radio box
See Also: Enable Compression, Compression Level (Static Content), Enable Dynamic Compression, Compression Level (Dynamic Content)
Enable IP GeolocationGo to top
Description: [Enterprise Edition Only] Specifies whether to enable IP to Geolocation lookup. It can be set at server, virtual host or context level.
Syntax: Select from radio box
See Also: Use Client IP in Header, DB File Path, DB Cache Type
Administrator EmailGo to top
Description: Specifies email address of administrators of this virtual host.
Use Server LogGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to put log messages from this virtual host into server log file instead of creating its own log file.
Syntax: Select from radio box
File NameGo to top
Description: Specifies the server log file.
Syntax: File name which can be an absolute path or relative to $SERVER_ROOT.
Tips: [Performance] Place log file on a separate disk.
Log LevelGo to top
Description: Specifies the level of logging. Available levels are ERROR, WARNING, NOTICE, INFO and DEBUG from high to low. Only messages with higher level than current setting will be logged. If you want to set it to DEBUG, you must set server log level to be DEBUG as well. The level of debugging is solely controlled by Debug Level.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
Tips: [Performance] Unless Debug Level is set to a level other than NONE, DEBUG log level does not have any performance impact and is recommended.
See Also: Debug Level
Rolling SizeGo to top
Description: Specifies when the current log file needs to be rolled over, also known as log rotation. When the file size is over the rollover limit, the active log file will be renamed to log_name.mm_dd_yyyy(.sequence) in the same directory and a new active log file will be created. The actual size of the rotated log file could be a little bigger. Set to 0 to disable log rotation.
Syntax: Integer number
Tips: Append "K", "M", "G" to the number for kilo-, mega- and giga- bytes
Log ControlGo to top
Description: Specifies where to write access log. There are three options: 1. write to server's access log; 2. create its own access log; 3. disable access logging.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
File NameGo to top
Description: Specifies the file name of the access log file.
Syntax: File name which can be an absolute path or relative to $SERVER_ROOT.
Tips: [Performance] Put access log file on a separate disk.
Piped LoggerGo to top
Description: Specifies the external application that will receive the access log data sent by LiteSpeed through a pipe on its STDIN stream (file handle 0). When specified, access log will be sent only to the logger application but not the access log file specified in previous entry.
Logger process is spawned in the same way as other external (CGI/FastCGI/LSAPI) processes, which means it will execute as the uid according to the virtual host's configuration of ExtApp Set UID Mode, and will never run on behalf of a privileged user.
The logger application must be defined in External Application section first. Server level access logging can only use external logger application defined at server level, while virtual host level access log can only use logger application defined at virtual host level.

The LiteSpeed server performs simple load balancing among multiple logger applications if more than one instance of logger application is configured. LiteSpeed server always attempts to keep the number of logger application as low as possible. Only when one logger application failed to process access log entries in time will the server attempt to spawn another instance of logger application.
If a logger crashes, the web server will start another instance but the log data in the stream buffer will be lost.
It is possible to lose log data if external loggers cannot keep up with the speed and volume of the log stream.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
Log FormatGo to top
Description: [Enterprise Edition Only] Specifies the log format for access log. When log format is set, it will override Log Level setting. The syntax of log format is compatible with Apache 2.0's custom log format.
Syntax: string
Log HeadersGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to log HTTP request headers: Referer, UserAgent, and Host.
Syntax: Select from checkbox
Tips: [Performance] Turn it off if you do not need these headers in the access log.
Keep DaysGo to top
Description: Specifies how many days the access log file will be kept on disk. Only rotated log file older than specified days will be deleted and the active current log file will not be touched regardless how many days' data it contains. If you do not want to auto-delete stale and very old log files, set this value to 0.
Syntax: Integer number
Bytes LogGo to top
Description: Specifies the path to the bandwidth bytes log file. When specified, a CPanel compatible bandwidth log will be created. Will log the total bytes transfered for a request including both request and reply body.
Syntax: File name which can be an absolute path or relative to $SERVER_ROOT.
Tips: [Performance] Put the log file on a separate disk.
Compress ArchiveGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to compress rotated log files in order to save disk space.
Syntax: Select from radio box
Tips: Log files are highly compressible and this is recommended to reduce disk usage for old logs.
Use Server Index FilesGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to use server's index file setting. If set to Yes, only server's setting will be used. If set to No, server's setting will not be used. If set to Addition, additional index files can be added to server's index file list for this virtual host. If you want to disable index files for this virtual host, you can set value to No and leave the index files field empty.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
Index FilesGo to top
Description: Specifies names of index files that will be searched sequentially when a URL is mapped to a directory. You can customize it at server, virtual host and context level.
Syntax: comma-separated list of name of index files
Tips: [Performance] Only set index files that you need.
Auto IndexGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to generate directory index on the fly when index files listed in Index Files are not available in a directory. This option is customizable under virtual host and context level, and is inherited along the directory tree until it is explicitly overridden. You can customize the generated index page, please read How to customize auto index script?
Syntax: Select from radio box
Tips: [Security] It is recommended to turn off Auto Index wherever possible to prevent revealing confidential data.
See Also: Index Files, Auto Index URI
Auto Index URIGo to top
Description: Specifies the URI that will be used to generate the index page when index files listed in Index Files are not available in a directory. LiteSpeed server uses an external script to generate the index page providing the maximum customization flexibility. The default script produces an index page with same look as Apache's. To customize the generated index page, please read How to customize auto index script? The directory to be indexed is passed to the script via an environment variable "LS_AI_PATH".
Syntax: URI
See Also: Index Files, Auto Index
Customized Error PagesGo to top
Description: Whenever the server has a problem in processing a request, the server will return an error code and an html page as the error message to web client. Error codes are defined in the HTTP protocol (see RFC 2616). LiteSpeed server has a built-in default error page for each error code. A customized page can be configured for each error code. In LiteSpeed server, error pages can be further customized to be unique for each virtual host.
Error CodeGo to top
Description: Specifies the HTTP status code for the error page. Only selected HTTP status code can have customized error page.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
URLGo to top
Description: Specifies the URL of the customized error page. Server will forward request to this URL when the corresponding HTTP status code has returned. If this URL refers to a non-existing resource, the built-in error page will be used. URL can be a static file, a dynamically generated page or a page on another web site (URL starting with "http(s)://"). When referring to a page on another web site, the client will receive a redirect status code instead of the original status code.
Syntax: URL
ActionGo to top
Description: To change the error page setting click "Edit". To remove this customized error page, click "Delete".
SuffixGo to top
Description: Specifies the suffixes of script files. Suffix must be unique.
Syntax: Comma separated list with period "." character prohibited
Tips: [Performance & Security] Only specifies the suffixes you really needed.
TypeGo to top
Description: Specifies the type of external application that processes these script files which can be CGI, FastCGI, Web Server, LSAPI app, Load balancer or Servlet Engine. For FastCGI, Web Server and Servlet Engine, the handler name need to be specified which is the external application name predefined in External Application section.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
Handler NameGo to top
Description: Specifies the name of the external application that processes the script files when the handler type is FastCGI, Web Server, LSAPI, Load Balancer or Servlet Engine.
Syntax: Select from drop down list
HT AccessGo to top
Description: The following directives are supported in a directory level access control file.
  • Authentication
    • AuthType
    • AuthName
    • AuthUserFile
    • AuthGroupFile
    • Require
  • Access Control
    • Allow from
    • Deny from
    • Order
  • File Info
    • AddDefaultCharset
    • AddType
    • DefaultType
    • ExpiresActive
    • ExpiresDefault
    • ExpiresByType
    • ForceType
    • Redirect
    • RedirectTemp
    • RedirectPermanent
    • RewriteEngine
    • RewriteOptions
    • RewriteBase
    • RewriteCond
    • RewriteRule
    • Satisfy
  • Other
    • <Limit>
    • <LimitExcept>
    • DirectoryIndex
    • Options
Allow OverrideGo to top
Description: Specifies what directives in an access control file are allowed. An access control file can be placed in a directory to control the accessibility to files under that directory.
  • When nothing is checked, inherited default settings will be used.
  • When None is checked, access control file will be ignored.
  • When Limit is checked, directives "Order", "Allow from" and "Deny from" are allowed.
  • When Auth is checked, directives "AuthGroupFile", "AuthName", "AuthType", "AuthUserFile", "Require" are allowed.
  • When FileInfo is checked, directives "Satisfy", AddDefaultCharset", "AddType", "DefaultType", "ForceType", "ExpiresActive", "ExpiresDefault", "ExpiresByType", "Redirect", "RedirectTemp", "RedirectPermanent", "RewriteEngine", "RewriteOptions", "RewriteBase", "RewriteCond" and "RewriteRule" are allowed
  • When Indexes is checked, directive "DirectoryIndex" is allowed
  • When Options is checked, directive "Options" is allowed
Allow Override configuration is available at three levels: server, virtual host and context. If server level configuration is not checked, the controlled directives will be disabled for the whole server no matter if it is enabled or not at lower levels. If server level is enabled, virtual host will inherit same settings by default, similarly context level will inherit virtual host settings. In other words, lower level can disable a setting that is enabled by upper level, but cannot enable a setting that is disabled by upper level.
Syntax: Select from checkbox
Tips: [Performance] If there is no need for directory level configuration customization, check None.
Access File NameGo to top
Description: Specifies the name of the access control file. The file will be used only if Allow Override is enabled. Default name is .htaccess.
Syntax: file name with leading "."
Enable ExpiresGo to top
Description: Specifies whether to generate Expires header for static files. If enabled, Expires header will be generated based on Expires Default and Expires By Type. This can be set at server, virtual host and context level. Lower level settings will override higher level ones, i.e. context settings will override the virtual host settings and virtual host settings will override the server settings.
Syntax: Select from radio box
Expires DefaultGo to top
Description: Specifies default settings for Expires header generation. This setting is effective when Enable Expires is set. It can be overridden by Expires By Type. Do not set this default at server or virtual host level unless you have to, since it will generate Expires header for all pages. Most of time this is set at context level for certain directories that do not change often. If there is no default setting, no Expires header will be generated for types not specified in Expires By Type.
Syntax: A|Mseconds
After base time(A|M) plus specified seconds, it will expire. Base time "A" means the client's access time and "M" means the file's last modified time.
Expires By TypeGo to top
Description: Specifies Expires settings for individual MIME types.
Syntax: Comma delimited list of "MIME-type=A|Mseconds". After base time(A|M) plus specified seconds, it will expire. Base time "A" means the client's access time and "M" means the file's last modified time. MIME-type can accept wildcard "*", like image/*.
Apache Style ConfigurationsGo to top
Description: Specifies Apache configuration directives that are supported by LiteSpeed. For example, default PHP configuration, php.ini entries, can be overridden by the server with 4 directives: "php_value", "php_flag", "php_admin_value" and "php_admin_flag".
Syntax: Same as Apache configuration file