Table of Contents

How to Enable the PageSpeed Module on LSWS

IMPORTANT!! Disabling PageSpeed module in full is now recommended. We have seen that the PageSpeed module can be a little buggy where it may cause stability issues and this won't be addressed since it hasn't been maintained for years. Also there is not enough performance benefits we can see to make up for it consuming a lot of server resources. It may possibly break some of the LiteSpeed cache solutions, such as LiteMage etc. as explained below.

Mod_pagespeed is a web server module that was developed by Google. It automatically applies chosen filters to pages and associated assets (stylesheets, JavaScript, and HTML files), as well as to images and website cache requirements. It does not require modifications to existing content or workflow, meaning that all internal optimizations and changes to files are made on the server side, presenting modified files directly to the user.

Since version 5.2, LSWS provides PageSpeed support. It is possible to enable both PageSpeed and LSCache together in theory, but we don't recommend it.

PageSpeed and LSCache (including LiteMage and all other full page caches) should never be used together in a real production environment. LSCache is recommended to boost your site performance. When a page is cached, it can no longer be run through PageSpeed for HTML improvements, though the PageSpeed optimizations to CSS, JS, and image files will be in effect. Most importantly, when PageSpeed is used, it generates different output for different browsers, which means that the output is not cache friendly.

Requirements

Notes

How PageSpeed and LSCache Work Together

PageSpeed and LSCache can be enabled at the same time. One thing to note: PageSpeed can do in-place optimization (no URL change) for images, CSS, JS ,etc (these are static files and won't be cached by LSCache), but the cached HTML pages won't go through the PageSpeed filter to be optimized. PageSpeed optimization for HTML is based on browser signature and applies different filters to different browsers. PageSpeed is anti-caching and the optimized result cannot be easily cached.

In other words, when a page is loaded, you will see HTML improvements due to the full-page caching of LSCache, and you will see CSS, JS, image and other static file optimization due to PageSpeed. Together these will reduce the page load time. The catch is that PageSpeed is very resource intensive.

Using a Control Panel in a Shared Hosting Environment

For a control-panel server, PageSpeed must be enabled on LiteSpeed Admin console first since it is master switch to turn this feature on. Then you will also need to write a directive ModPageSpeed On in Apache configuration.

To enable PageSpeed, loadModule and FileCachePath are required at the server level. ModPagespeedFileCachePath should not be set at the virtual host level. Enabling independent PageSpeed file cache for each vhost is very costly. It takes a lot of resources and should be avoided in shared hosting environments. ModPageSpeed On at the server level will turn on PageSpeed server wide. This is not recommended for shared servers, as PageSpeed can be resource heavy and may negatively impact performance.

We recommend setting ModPageSpeed unplugged|off at the server level, and ModPageSpeed on for the vhosts or directories which need it.

You can set ModPagespeed off in the Apache main configuration and you can use ModPageSpeed On to turn it on via virtual host configuration or a .htaccess file.

Enabling PageSpeed for LSWS Using cPanel

Install PageSpeed Through Existing cPanel RPM Package

Installing the cPanel EA4 package ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed will enable PageSpeed for Apache and LiteSpeed at the same time. ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed package is in EA4 Experimental repo at the time of this writing so you will need to enable EA4 Experimental repo firstly. Some server may not have EA4-experimental.repo installed on the server, you can create one.

cd /etc/yum.repos.d
vi EA4-experimental.repo
[EA4-experimental]
name=EA4 Experimental ( EasyApache 4 )
mirrorlist=http://httpupdate.cpanel.net/ea4-experimental-c$releasever-$basearch-mirrorlist
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/cPanelPublicRPMKey.asc
enabled=1
cost=50
yum install ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed

Install PageSpeed Through ''rpm-build''

For CentOS:

yum install rpm-build cpio ea-apache24-mod_version
wget https://github.com/pagespeed/cpanel/raw/master/EA4/ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed-latest-stable.src.rpm
rpmbuild --rebuild ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed-latest-stable.src.rpm
rpm -ivh /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ea-apache24-mod_pagespeed*.rpm

If you get an error on rpmbuild step, then run this command and then run rpmbuild command again.

cat <<EOF>/etc/rpm/macros.apache2
%_httpd_mmn 20120211x8664
%_httpd_apxs /usr/bin/apxs
%_httpd_dir /etc/apache2
%_httpd_bindir %{_httpd_dir}/bin
%_httpd_modconfdir %{_httpd_dir}/conf.modules.d
%_httpd_confdir %{_httpd_dir}/conf.d
%_httpd_contentdir /usr/share/apache2
%_httpd_moddir /usr/lib64/apache2/modules
EOF

Check the PageSpeed File

The package includes the PageSpeed binary for Apache modules/mod_pagespeed.so and conf files such as conf.modules.d/456_pagespeed.conf

vi /etc/apache2/conf.modules.d/456_pagespeed.conf

Make sure pagespeed_module is loaded and On and also ModPagespeedFileCachePath is set.

LoadModule pagespeed_module modules/mod_pagespeed_ap24.so
ModPagespeed on
ModPagespeedFileCachePath  "/var/mod_pagespeed/cache/"

Restart LSWS

service lsws restart

Note: Turning on PageSpeed through 456_pagespeed.conf will turn on PageSpeed globally, which is not recommended for a shared hosting environment. We recommend turning off PageSpeed on a global level and only enabling it for the virtual hosts that need it.

Enabling PageSpeed for LSWS Using Plesk

Method1: Install PageSpeed Through LSWS build-in module

For server level PATH: Access to /etc/httpd/conf.d/
For single vhost PATH: Access to /var/www/vhosts/system/<domain_name>/conf/
Create pagespeed.conf with following command:

<IfModule Litespeed>
 LoadModule pagespeed_module /usr/local/lsws/modules/modpagespeed.so
 ModPagespeedFileCachePath  /var/pagespeed/cache/
 ModPagespeed on
</IfModule>

Restart LSWS

service lsws restart

Method2: Install PageSpeed Through Existing RPM Package

Install the module by pulling the pre-built packages via yum from Google.

cat <<EOF>/etc/yum.repos.d/google-mod-pagespeed.repo
[google-mod-pagespeed]
name=google-mod-pagespeed
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/mod-pagespeed/rpm/stable/$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
EOF

yum install mod-pagespeed

Restart LSWS

service lsws restart

Default PageSpeed module settings are enabled.

Enabling PageSpeed for LSWS Through Apache's Configuration on Plesk

If you use this method, you don't need to install any packages, and it will work on LSWS.

Set Server Level PageSpeed File

Create a file named pagespeed.conf in the following directory depending upon your system:

This pagespeed.conf file should contain the following:

<IfModule Litespeed>
 LoadModule pagespeed_module /usr/local/lsws/modules/modpagespeed.so
 ModPagespeedFileCachePath  /var/pagespeed/cache/
 ModPagespeed on
</IfModule>

Enabling PageSpeed on LSWS Using DirectAdmin

There is no PageSpeed module available in the DirectAdmin repo at the time of this writing, but you can enable PageSpeed for LSWS through Apache's configuration

Set Server-Level PageSpeed File

You can set the server-level PageSpeed setting at /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-includes.conf .

<IfModule Litespeed>
 LoadModule pagespeed_module /usr/local/lsws/modules/modpagespeed.so
 ModPagespeedFileCachePath  /home/pagespeed/
 ModPagespeed on
</IfModule>

Set Virtual-Host-Level PageSpeed File for all Virtual Hosts

Create a /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates/custom/cust_httpd.CUSTOM.2.pre file with: link here.

<IfModule Litespeed>
   ModPagespeedFileCachePath lspagespeed
   ModPagespeed on
</IfModule>

This is done to set each virtual host's PageSpeed directory to its user home directory (/home/<user>/lspagespeed).

Apply these changes to all virtual hosts by running the following command:

cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild
./build rewrite_confs

Note: It is recommended that you set the server-level PageSpeed directory to /home/lspagespeed/ or to a disk partition with enough space.

Restart LSWS

service lsws restart

Enabling PageSpeed Module Without a Control Panel Environment

Activate PageSpeed at Server Level & Set PageSpeed File Path

Enable PageSpeed at Virtual Host Level

Verify PageSpeed is Enabled

Once you have enabled mod_pagespeed optimization, we can verify it works by either browser developer tools, page source, or third party tools.

Method 1: Dev Tool

After enabling the PageSpeed module, you can verify that it is enabled by reviewing the response headers though your browser's developer tools:

You can also check headers by curl command:

curl -s --head http://example.com | grep -i pagespeed
>>> X-LS-Pagespeed: 2.1-1.11.33.4
curl -s --insecure --head https://example.com | grep -i pagespeed
>>> X-LS-Pagespeed: 2.1-1.11.33.4

Method 2: Page source

View page source by opening the browser and then pressing “Ctrl+U”

  1. Without PageSpeed, an image in HTML will look like this:
    wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/hero.jpg
  2. With PageSpeed, an image in HTML will look like this:
    wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/hero.jpg.pagespeed.ce.xzcpK71Gsf.jpg

Method 3: 3rd party tool

Perform some testing by a 3rd party data-testing online tool such as GTmetrix. It will give you insight into how well your site loads and will provide actionable recommendations.

How to check where the pagespeed configuration file?

You may see pagespeed header and want to locate where the pagespeed was enabled. You may try the case-insensitive grep from apache configuration.

For example, under cpanel EA 3 or EA 4 envirnment, go to /usr/local/apache (EA3) or /etc/apache2/ (EA4):

grep -r -i --exclude-dir=logs pagespeed *

root@uniform [/usr/local/apache/conf]# grep -r -i pagespeed *
httpd.conf:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.bak:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-make-install,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.ea-orig:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf.easyapache_save:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
httpd.conf,v:Include "/usr/local/apache/conf/pagespeed.conf"
pagespeed.conf:  LoadModule pagespeed_module modules/mod_pagespeed.so
pagespeed.conf:  LoadModule pagespeed_module modules/mod_pagespeed_ap24.so
pagespeed.conf:<IfModule pagespeed_module>
pagespeed.conf:  # Turn on mod_pagespeed. To completely disable mod_pagespeed, you
pagespeed.conf:  ModPagespeed off
pagespeed.conf:  # Direct Apache to send all HTML output to the mod_pagespeed
pagespeed.conf:  AddOutputFilterByType MOD_PAGESPEED_OUTPUT_FILTER text/html
pagespeed.conf:  # The ModPagespeedFileCachePath and
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedGeneratedFilePrefix directories must exist and be
pagespeed.conf:  ModPagespeedFileCachePath            "/var/mod_pagespeed/cache/"
pagespeed.conf:  # Override the mod_pagespeed 'rewrite level'. The default level
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedDisableFilters and ModPagespeedEnableFilters
pagespeed.conf:  # directives, below. Valid values for ModPagespeedRewriteLevel are
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedRewriteLevel PassThrough
pagespeed.conf:  # conjuction with ModPagespeedRewriteLevel. For instance, if one
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedDisableFilters. This directive contains a
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedDisableFilters rewrite_images
pagespeed.conf:  # conjuction with ModPagespeedRewriteLevel. For instance, filters
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedEnableFilters rewrite_javascript,rewrite_css
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedEnableFilters collapse_whitespace,elide_attributes
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedDomain
pagespeed.conf:  #   ModPagespeedDomain cdn.myhost.com
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedFileCacheSizeKb          102400
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedFileCacheCleanIntervalMs 3600000
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedLRUCacheKbPerProcess     1024
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedLRUCacheByteLimit        16384
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedCssInlineMaxBytes        2048
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedImgInlineMaxBytes        2048
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedJsInlineMaxBytes         2048
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedCssOutlineMinBytes       3000
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedJsOutlineMinBytes        3000
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedImgMaxRewritesAtOnce        8
pagespeed.conf:  # When Apache is set up as a browser proxy, mod_pagespeed can record
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedSlurpDirectory ...
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedSlurpReadOnly on
pagespeed.conf:  # mod_pagespeed circumvents this limitation, but if you employ
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedMaxSegmentLength 250
pagespeed.conf:  # Uncomment this if you want to prevent mod_pagespeed from combining files
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedCombineAcrossPaths off
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedLogRewriteTiming on
pagespeed.conf:  # added that sends latency beacons to /mod_pagespeed_beacon.  These
pagespeed.conf:  # statistics can be accessed at /mod_pagespeed_statistics.  You must also
pagespeed.conf:  # enable the mod_pagespeed_statistics and mod_pagespeed_beacon handlers
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedEnableFilters add_instrumentation
pagespeed.conf:  # You can use a different location by adding the ModPagespeedBeaconUrl
pagespeed.conf:  <Location /mod_pagespeed_beacon>
pagespeed.conf:        SetHandler mod_pagespeed_beacon
pagespeed.conf:  # ModPagespeedStatistics off
pagespeed.conf:  # This page lets you view statistics about the mod_pagespeed module.
pagespeed.conf:  <Location /mod_pagespeed_statistics>
pagespeed.conf:      SetHandler mod_pagespeed_statistics

the you can locate /usr/local/apache/pagespeed.conf.