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Installation

Installation must be performed in a command line terminal. For testing purposes, LiteSpeed Web ADC can be installed into your home directory as a non-privileged user. For production use, it must be installed into a system directory.

Download

Navigate to the root directory of the machine you will be using to run the load balancer application. Download the latest version of LiteSpeed Web ADC and decompress the downloaded file into a convenient location.

Example

For ADC v2.7, you would do the following:

#cd /root
#wget https://www.litespeedtech.com/packages/lslb/lslb-2.7-x86_64-linux.tar.gz
#tar -zxvf lslb-2.7-x86_64-linux.tar.gz

Get a License

You need a license in order to use LiteSpeed Web ADC.

Trial License

A trial license is for evaluation purposes and is only good for 15 days after download. A trial license can be requested from our website.

A trial license key will be sent to you as an attachment in a confirmation email. Please save the attachment as trial.key and copy it to the installation directory.

When you switch from a trial license to a production license, you can simply run the install script again after following the Production License steps below to update your license.

Production License

Licenses can be leased or purchased at the LiteSpeed store.

A serial number will be sent to you in the confirmation email after you order has been successfully processed. Each serial number allows for one server installation.

Save the serial number as serial.no in the installation directory (where install.sh is located). The LiteSpeed products registration server will use this file to retrieve your license key during the installation process.

Install

  1. Navigate to the installation directory, and run the install command (Be sure to replace lslb-xxxx with the actual name of the directory.):
    cd lslb-xxxx
    ./install.sh
    
  2. Read the End User License Agreement and type Yes to confirm your agreement.
  3. Specify the directory where you would like to install LiteSpeed Web ADC. For the root user, the default is /usr/local/lslb. For non-privileged users, the default is their home directory. Remember, non-privileged users will not be able to install the server into a system directory.
  4. If the Installer only finds a serial number but no valid license key, it will prompt you to generate a license request:
    • The installer will talk to LiteSpeed's product registration server and obtain a valid license key automatically.
    • If the installer is unable to obtain a valid license key, it will exit and leave a license request file. (In this case, you can create a ticket with License Department from the online store client area for help.)
    • If a license key is obtained successfully, installation will proceed with the next step.
  5. You will be asked a series of questions in order to complete the installation process. (These are the questions asked for a root installation. They may differ from basic user installation questions.)
    • WebAdmin user name, default admin:
      Please specify the user name of the administrator.
      This is the user name required to log into the web administration console.
      
    • WebAdmin password:
      Please specify the administrator's password.
      This is the password required to log into the web administration console.
      
    • User and Group, default nobody:nobody:
      As you are the root user, you must choose the user and group whom the load 
      balancer will be running as. For security reason, you should choose a 
      non-system user who does not have login shell and home directory such 
      as 'nobody'.
      
    • HTTP Port, default 80 for root or 8090 for non-root user:
      Please specify the port for normal Load Balancer service.
      Port 80 is the standard HTTP port, only 'root' user is allowed to use 
      port 80, if you have another server running on port 80, you need to
      specify another port or stop the other server before starting LiteSpeed
      Load Balancer.
      
    • Admin HTTP Port, default 7090:
      Please specify the HTTP port for the web administration console,
      which can be accessed through http://<YOUR_HOST>:<ADMIN_PORT>/
      
    • Enable chroot, default N:
      LiteSpeed Load Balancer can run in chroot environment.
      It is impossible for the chrooted process and its children processes to 
      access files outside the new root directory. This will provide an extra
      layer of protection.
      
      This installation script will try to setup the initial chroot environment 
      automatically.
      
    • Automatic start, default Y:
      Would you like to have LiteSpeed Load Balancer started automatically when the machine restarts [Y/n]?
      
    • Start now, default Y:
      Would you like to start it right now [Y/n]?
      

Test

To start LiteSpeed Web ADC, run the following command:

[your_install_dir]/bin/lslbctrl start.

Test Whether the ADC is Working

If the default port for the WebAdmin interface was not changed during installation, point your browser to http://[address]:7090. Otherwise replace 7090 with the actual port used. [address] should be the IP address or domain name of the Web ADC machine. Use localhost if it is accessed from the same machine.

The welcome page of the WebAdmin interface should be loaded. Click the Log on link, and use the administrator's username and password specified during installation to log on.

Tip

For detailed information regarding configuration, you can click the help link on the top of each page.

Tip

If your server uses a firewall, please make sure that localhost is trusted. For instance, Linux with IPTables should include a rule ALLOW INPUT from LO.

If WebAdmin is not accessible, please take a look at the error log, found in [your_install_dir]/logs/error.log. Possible problems include:

  • TCP Port Conflict. If there is a TCP port conflict with other server applications, the load balancer should be reinstalled with an available port. The following command can be used to determine if port XXXX is available (if it is, no output will be produced): netstat -an | grep XXXX
  • Swapping Directory Not Writable. If the swapping directory is not writable, you can either grant write permission to the user running the server, or change the swapping directory manually. The swapping directory is configured in the server's XML configuration file located at [your_install_dir]/conf/lslbd_config.xml. The default value is /tmp/lslbd/swap. Search for <swappingDir>.

Test the Default Backend Configuration

The ADC's default configuration is set up to proxy requests to a default server installation on localhost, port 8080.

If the default port for normal web service was not changed during installation, point your browser to http://[address]:8090. Otherwise replace 8090 with the actual port used. [address] should be the IP address or domain name of the Web ADC machine. Use localhost if it is accessed from the same machine.

If you get an HTTP error of some kind (i.e. 500, 503, 404, etc.) this means that the ADC is listening to the port as it should be, but there is no installed server on the port for it to proxy.

If you are met with an Unable to connect error, then the ADC has failed to start up.

If you have installation problems not covered here, please contact support for help.

Upgrade

There are a few scenarios where you may need to upgrade your software or license, including these:

  • A new Web ADC release is available
  • You wish to upgrade from a trial license to a production license
  • You wish to change the number of workers available with your production license.

The built-in update agent will check for new releases periodically. If one is available, the update agent will automatically download the new package and send an email notification about the new release. The ADC upgrade can be performed via the WebAdmin Console by clicking the Upgrade link on the version management page.

For a license upgrade (or downgrade), you can manually copy the new serial.no and license.key files to the [your_install_dir]/conf/ directory, then restart the ADC.

Tip

We recommend backing up your old license key before copying over the new one.

Manage Versions

Multiple versions of LiteSpeed Web ADC may be installed, allowing you to easily switch between them with the version management utility provided: [your_install_dir]/admin/misc/mgr_ver.sh.

Examples

Switch to version 1.0:

[your_install_dir_current_version]/admin/misc/mgr_ver.sh 1.0
Remove previously installed files for v1.0:
[your_install_dir_current_version]/admin/misc/mgr_ver.sh -d 1.0

Version management is also available from the WebAdmin interface. Navigate to Service Manager > Server > Version Management. It will list all of the installed versions and available new releases. You can install new release or switch between different versions with just a click.

Uninstall

A utility is provided at [your_install_dir]/admin/misc/uninstall.sh to uninstall Web ADC.

When you run the utility, it will ask you if you wish to keep the following:

  • the log directory
  • the configuration directory

The Uninstaller will only touch directories that were originally created by the Installer. Any extra directories created by you will not be touched by the Uninstaller, even if they are under [your_install_dir]. All of the files created by the Installer will be removed.

[your_install_dir] will be removed as well, but only if it is empty.


Last update: October 5, 2023