Three licences act at three different levels: LiteSpeed replaces the web server, CloudLinux isolates each account and KernelCare+ removes reboots caused by kernel patches. Together they speed up a hosting server and make it more stable.
Where performance is won
Response time depends on the web server (compression, cache, PHP execution), on how resources are shared between accounts and on how current the kernel is. A slow website is not always badly coded: a noisy neighbour or a badly tuned web server is enough to degrade the whole machine.
LiteSpeed: web server and cache
LiteSpeed is an Apache-compatible web server: .htaccess rules and the usual extensions keep working, and LSCache is added on the server side. The licence is chosen by the number of workers, meaning simultaneous connections handled: 2 workers for a VPS with a few sites, 4 or 8 for a server hosting more of them, X workers for heavy shared hosting.
CloudLinux: isolating accounts
CloudLinux turns the system into a hosting platform: each account is isolated in an LVE container with CPU, memory and process limits, plus a PHP version selector per website. An account that consumes too much is slowed down without penalising the others. It is also the foundation some Imunify360 protections rely on.
KernelCare+: patching without rebooting
KernelCare+ applies kernel security patches live: vulnerabilities are fixed without a reboot or service interruption. Check the agent status with kcarectl --info and force an update with kcarectl --update. It is the logical complement of a server that must stay online.
Combining the three in the right order
- CloudLinux first: system conversion and LVE limit configuration.
- LiteSpeed next: web server replacement and cache activation.
- KernelCare+ last: kernel patches with no interruption.
Check your panel compatibility (cPanel or Plesk) before switching, and test on a staging server: changing the web server modifies configuration files.
Measure before and after
Record response time and load before the migration, then compare. Run the same measurement twice, at the same time of day, to keep the comparison fair. Monitor system load with uptime, available memory with free -m and the cache hit ratio. A clear gain shows on dynamic page response times and on the average load at peak hours.
