Ultimate Guide: Installing WordPress on LiteSpeed Web Server (Step-by-Step)

LiteSpeed is a high-performance web server optimized for speed, scalability, and efficient resource usage—making it ideal for hosting WordPress sites. This guide provides a streamlined walkthrough to install WordPress on a LiteSpeed server, covering everything from setting up the database and configuring wp-config.php with secure salts to applying proper file permissions and securing your environment. With LiteSpeed’s built-in caching and Apache compatibility, you’ll ensure a fast, reliable, and secure WordPress deployment.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Web Root

Ensure you’re in the correct directory where your site files will be stored. For example:

cd /usr/local/lsws/example.com/html

This is the document root for your domain configured in LiteSpeed.

Step 2: Generate Secure Random Strings

You’ll need strong passwords and keys. Generate secure values using:

cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 10 | head -n 3

Use these as passwords or part of your wp-config.php keys later.

Step 3: Create a MySQL Database and User

mysql -u root -p

Then run:

CREATE DATABASE example_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'example_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPass#123';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON example_db.* TO 'example_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

💡 Replace example_db, example_user, and StrongPass#123 with your own.

🧹 (Optional) Commands to Delete a Database or User

DROP DATABASE database_name;
DROP USER 'username'@'localhost';
DROP USER 'username'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

📏 Check MySQL Database Size

You can monitor DB usage with:

SELECT table_schema AS "Database",
       ROUND(SUM(data_length + index_length) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS "Size (MB)"
FROM information_schema.tables
GROUP BY table_schema;

Step 4: Set Correct File Permissions

To avoid permission issues and ensure secure file access:

sudo chown -R nobody:nogroup /usr/local/lsws/example.com/html

Step 5: Download and Extract WordPress

Navigate to the root directory and fetch WordPress:

cd /
wget https://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar xzf latest.tar.gz

Move the extracted files to your web directory and prepare the config:

cp -r wordpress/* /usr/local/lsws/example.com/html/
cd /usr/local/lsws/example.com/html
mv wp-config-sample.php wp-config.php

Step 6: Generate and Add WordPress Secret Keys

Get fresh salts from WordPress API:

curl -s https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/

Copy the output and replace the existing define() salt lines in wp-config.php.

Example snippet:

define('AUTH_KEY',         'your-salt-here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'your-salt-here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'your-salt-here');
define('NONCE_KEY',        'your-salt-here');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'your-salt-here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'your-salt-here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'your-salt-here');
define('NONCE_SALT',       'your-salt-here');

Final Step: Complete Installation via Browser

Visit your domain (e.g., http://example.com) and follow the WordPress installation wizard:

Select your language.
Enter DB name, username, and password.
Set your site title, admin account, and email.

Table of Contents