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Install mod-pagespeed on WHM/Cpanel Server

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How to install mod pagespeed on WHM/Cpanel server

Mod_pagespeed is an opensource module created by Google to speed up the loading of web pages by applying several necessary optimizations. It rewrites webpages to reduce latency and bandwidth.

This module is available for both Apache and Nginx servers. However, the process of installation and packages differ for the two web servers. When you install the pagespeed module in apache, it is automatically enabled. In the case of NGINX, however, you will need to make changes to the NGINX configuration file located at NGINX.conf. In case of NGINX, you will need to build the module from sources, while packages are available for Apache servers, if you would like to use the terminal to install pagespeed. You can install either stable or beta from the downloads page. These packages are available for Centos, Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu platforms.

Here, we are discussing the Apache pagespeed module and its benefits as well as how to install it on a WHM/cpanel server. Once you install mod_pagespeed on an Apache server, it automatically applies the performance best practices to your web pages and related assets like css, js, and images, without the need to modify your content or workflow.

The pagespeed module is built on pagespeed optimization libraries and deployed across a very large number of websites. Most popular hosting and CDN providers offer mod_pagespeed. However, that is not all about mod_pagespeed. You can further optimize it to suit your website’s needs as there are more than 40 optimization filters available including :

  • Image optimization, compression, and resizing
  • CSS & JavaScript concatenation, minification, and inlining
  • Cache extension, domain sharding, and domain rewriting
  • Deferred loading of JavaScript and image resources
  • and many others…

Install mod_pagespeed on a WHM/Cpanel server via EasyApache4

You can install mod_pagespeed on a WHM/Cpanel server without even running any code. The EasyApache 4 interface makes it easier for the WHM users to install all the necessary modules by just toggling a few buttons.

Login to WHM as a root user and search for Easy in the search box. You will see EasyApache 4 listed in the software section.  Click on EasyApache4 to open the interface.

Inside the interface, you will see the available packages listed. The currently installed package (the one you need to customize) is listed at the top.

EasyApache 4 interface makes it easier to install modules and also provides updates for the various modules, MPMs or PHP extensions whenever there are updates available. You can update all of them by just a single click.

To install mod_pagespeed click on customize on the currently installed package.

It will open a new interface for customization. You will see various options listed on the left including Apache MPM, Apache modules, PHP versions, PHP extensions and additional packages.

Now, you need to click on Apache modules. A small search box will appear on the right above the listed modules. Type pages in it and the mod_pagespeed will come up. Toggle the button next to mod_pagespeed to install it. Check the image below:

Now, click on review on the left and then review the changes. Installing mod_pagespeed will also install a few other necessary modules if they are not installed already.

Click on provision at the bottom and wait till the provision process lasts. Provisioning does not take more than a few minutes, after which mod_pagespeed will be installed and active on your server.

To find out if the module has been installed, you can go to the terminal and run the following command:

$ httpd -M

It will bring up a list of the available modules and you will see pagespeed_module (shared) included in the list.

$ Loaded Modules: core_module (static) so_module (static) watchdog_module (static) http_module (static) log_config_module (static) logio_module (static) version_module (static) unixd_module (static) access_compat_module (shared) alias_module (shared) auth_basic_module (shared) authn_core_module (shared) authn_file_module (shared) authz_core_module (shared) authz_host_module (shared) authz_user_module (shared) autoindex_module (shared) brotli_module (shared) deflate_module (shared) dir_module (shared) env_module (shared) filter_module (shared) mime_module (shared) mpm_event_module (shared) negotiation_module (shared) pagespeed_module (shared) reqtimeout_module (shared) rewrite_module (shared) setenvif_module (shared) socache_shmcb_module (shared) ssl_module (shared)

Now, you have successfully installed and enabled mod-pagespeed on your WHM/Cpanel server.

You also have the option to make changes to the module’s configurations to suit your website’s needs. As I have already mention, there are more than 40 optimization filters available.

The configurations related to mod_pagespeed are available in the pagespeed.conf file.

Centos/Fedora: sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/pagespeed.confDebian/Ubuntu: sudo nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/pagespeed.conf

If you do not find the file at the regular location, you can try this:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/conf.modules.d/510_pagespeed.conf

Otherwise just run the following command to find its location:

find / -name *pagespeed*.conf

The contents of the pagespeed configuration file (pagespeed.conf) look like this: —

<IfModule pagespeed_module>   
 # Turn on mod_pagespeed. To completely disable mod_pagespeed, you    
# can set this to "off".    ModPagespeed on   
 # Direct Apache to send all HTML output to the mod_pagespeed   
 # output handler.    AddOutputFilterByType MOD_PAGESPEED_OUTPUT_FILTER text/html   
 # If you want mod_pagespeed process XHTML as well, please uncomment this    
# line.    
# AddOutputFilterByType MOD_PAGESPEED_OUTPUT_FILTER application/xhtml+xml    ModPagespeedRespectVary on    
# The ModPagespeedFileCachePath directory must exist and be writable    
# by the apache user (as specified by the User directive).    ModPagespeedFileCachePath            "/var/cache/mod_pagespeed/"    
# LogDir is needed to store various logs, including the statistics log    # required for the console.    ModPagespeedLogDir "/var/log/pagespeed"   
 # The locations of SSL Certificates is distribution-dependent.    ModPagespeedSslCertDirectory "/etc/ssl/certs"    
# If you want, you can use one or more memcached servers as the store for   
 # the mod_pagespeed cache.     ModPagespeedMemcachedServers localhost:11211   
 # A portion of the cache can be kept in memory only, to reduce load on disk    
# (or memcached) from many small files.    
# ModPagespeedCreateSharedMemoryMetadataCache "/var/cache/mod_pagespeed/" 51200# Override the mod_pagespeed 'rewrite level'. The default level   
 # "CoreFilters" uses a set of rewrite filters that are generally   
 # safe for most web pages. Most sites should not need to change    
# this value and can instead fine-tune the configuration using the  
  # ModPagespeedDisableFilters and ModPagespeedEnableFilters  
  # directives, below. Valid values for ModPagespeedRewriteLevel are   
 # PassThrough, CoreFilters and TestingCoreFilters.   
 #    # ModPagespeedRewriteLevel PassThrough    
# Explicitly disables specific filters. This is useful in    
# conjuction with ModPagespeedRewriteLevel. For instance, if one   
 # of the filters in the CoreFilters needs to be disabled for a    
# site, that filter can be added to    
# ModPagespeedDisableFilters. This directive contains a    
# comma-separated list of filter names, and can be repeated.    
#    # ModPagespeedDisableFilters rewrite_images    # Explicitly enables specific filters. This is useful in    # conjuction with ModPagespeedRewriteLevel. For instance, filters    # not included in the CoreFilters may be enabled using this    # directive. This directive contains a comma-separated list of    # filter names, and can be repeated.    #    # ModPagespeedEnableFilters rewrite_javascript,rewrite_css    # ModPagespeedEnableFilters collapse_whitespace,elide_attributes    # Explicitly forbids the enabling of specific filters using either query    # parameters or request headers. This is useful, for example, when we do    # not want the filter to run for performance or security reasons. This   # directive contains a comma-separated list of filter names, and can be    # repeated.    #    # ModPagespeedForbidFilters rewrite_images    # How long mod_pagespeed will wait to return an optimized resource    # (per flush window) on first request before giving up and returning the    # original (unoptimized) resource. After this deadline is exceeded the    # original resource is returned and the optimization is pushed to the    # background to be completed for future requests. Increasing this value will    # increase page latency, but might reduce load time (for instance on a    # bandwidth-constrained link where it's worth waiting for image    # compression to complete). If the value is less than or equal to zero    # mod_pagespeed will wait indefinitely for the rewrite to complete before    # returning.    #    # ModPagespeedRewriteDeadlinePerFlushMs 10    # ModPagespeedDomain    # authorizes rewriting of JS, CSS, and Image files found in this    # domain. By default only resources with the same origin as the    # HTML file are rewritten. For example:    #    #   ModPagespeedDomain cdn.myhost.com    #    # This will allow resources found on  to be    # rewritten in addition to those in the same domain as the HTML.    #    # Other domain-related directives (like ModPagespeedMapRewriteDomain    # and ModPagespeedMapOriginDomain) can also authorize domains.    #    # Wildcards (* and ?) are allowed in the domain specification. Be    # careful when using them as if you rewrite domains that do not    # send you traffic, then the site receiving the traffic will not    # know how to serve the rewritten content.    # If you use downstream caches such as varnish or proxy_cache for caching    # HTML, you can configure pagespeed to work with these caches correctly    # using the following directives. Note that the values for    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCachePurgeLocationPrefix and    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCacheRebeaconingKey are deliberately left empty here    # in order to force the webmaster to choose appropriate value for these.    #    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCachePurgeLocationPrefix    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCachePurgeMethod PURGE    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCacheRewrittenPercentageThreshold 95    # ModPagespeedDownstreamCacheRebeaconingKey    # Other defaults (cache sizes and thresholds):    #    # ModPagespeedFileCacheSizeKb          102400    # ModPagespeedFileCacheCleanIntervalMs 3600000    # ModPagespeedLRUCacheKbPerProcess     1024    # ModPagespeedLRUCacheByteLimit        16384    # ModPagespeedCssFlattenMaxBytes       102400    # ModPagespeedCssInlineMaxBytes        2048    # ModPagespeedCssImageInlineMaxBytes   0    # ModPagespeedImageInlineMaxBytes      3072    # ModPagespeedJsInlineMaxBytes         2048# ModPagespeedCssImageInlineMaxBytes   0    # ModPagespeedImageInlineMaxBytes      3072    # ModPagespeedJsInlineMaxBytes         2048    # ModPagespeedCssOutlineMinBytes       3000    # ModPagespeedJsOutlineMinBytes        3000    # ModPagespeedMaxCombinedCssBytes      -1    # ModPagespeedMaxCombinedJsBytes       92160# Limit the number of inodes in the file cache. Set to 0 for no limit.    # The default value if this paramater is not specified is 0 (no limit).    ModPagespeedFileCacheInodeLimit        500000    # Bound the number of images that can be rewritten at any one time; this    # avoids overloading the CPU.  Set this to -1 to remove the bound.    #    # ModPagespeedImageMaxRewritesAtOnce      8    # You can also customize the number of threads per Apache process    # mod_pagespeed will use to do resource optimization. Plain    # "rewrite threads" are used to do short, latency-sensitive work,    # while "expensive rewrite threads" are used for actual optimization    # work that's more computationally expensive. If you live these unset,    # or use values <= 0 the defaults will be used, which is 1 for both    # values when using non-threaded MPMs (e.g. prefork) and 4 for both    # on threaded MPMs (e.g. worker and event). These settings can only    # be changed globally, and not per virtual host.    #    # ModPagespeedNumRewriteThreads 4    # ModPagespeedNumExpensiveRewriteThreads 4    # Randomly drop rewrites (*) to increase the chance of optimizing    # frequently fetched resources and decrease the chance of optimizing    # infrequently fetched resources. This can reduce CPU load. The default    # value of this parameter is 0 (no drops).  90 means that a resourced    # fetched once has a 10% probability of being optimized while a resource    # that is fetched 50 times has a 99.65% probability of being optimized.    #    # Randomly drop rewrites (*) to increase the chance of optimizing    # frequently fetched resources and decrease the chance of optimizing    # infrequently fetched resources. This can reduce CPU load. The default    # value of this parameter is 0 (no drops).  90 means that a resourced    # fetched once has a 10% probability of being optimized while a resource    # that is fetched 50 times has a 99.65% probability of being optimized.    #    # (*) Currently only CSS files and images are randomly dropped.  Images    # within CSS files are not randomly dropped.    #    # ModPagespeedRewriteRandomDropPercentage 90    # Many filters modify the URLs of resources in HTML files. This is typically    # harmless but pages whose Javascript expects to read or modify the original    # URLs may break. The following parameters prevent filters from modifying    # URLs of their respective types.    #    # ModPagespeedJsPreserveURLs on    # ModPagespeedImagePreserveURLs on    # ModPagespeedCssPreserveURLs on    # When PreserveURLs is on, it is still possible to enable browser-specific    # optimizations (for example, webp images can be served to browsers that    # will accept them).  They'll be served with Vary: Accept or Vary:    # User-Agent headers as appropriate.  Note that this may require configuring    # reverse proxy caches such as varnish to handle these headers properly.    #    ModPagespeedEnableFilters in_place_optimize_for_browser    # Internet Explorer has difficulty caching resources with Vary: headers.# They will either be uncached (older IE) or require revalidation.  See:    # http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ieinternals/archive/2009/06/17/vary-header-prevents-caching-in-ie.aspx    # As a result we serve them as Cache-Control: private instead by default.    # If you are using a reverse proxy or CDN configured to cache content with    # the Vary: Accept header you should turn this setting off.    #    # ModPagespeedPrivateNotVaryForIE on    # Settings for image optimization:    #    # Lossy image recompression quality (0 to 100, -1 just strips metadata):    # ModPagespeedImageRecompressionQuality 85    #    # Jpeg recompression quality (0 to 100, -1 uses ImageRecompressionQuality):    # ModPagespeedJpegRecompressionQuality -1    # ModPagespeedJpegRecompressionQualityForSmallScreens 70    #    # WebP recompression quality (0 to 100, -1 uses ImageRecompressionQuality):    # ModPagespeedWebpRecompressionQuality 80    # ModPagespeedWebpRecompressionQualityForSmallScreens 70    #    # Timeout for conversions to WebP format, in    # milliseconds. Negative values mean no timeout is applied. The    # default value is -1:    # ModPagespeedWebpTimeoutMs 5000    #    # Percent of original image size below which optimized images are retained:    # ModPagespeedImageLimitOptimizedPercent 100# Percent of original image area below which image resizing will be    # attempted:    # ModPagespeedImageLimitResizeAreaPercent 100    # Settings for inline preview images    #    # Setting this to n restricts preview images to the first n images found on    # the page.  The default of -1 means preview images can appear anywhere on    # the page (if those images appear above the fold).    # ModPagespeedMaxInlinedPreviewImagesIndex -1    # Sets the minimum size in bytes of any image for which a low quality image    # is generated.    # ModPagespeedMinImageSizeLowResolutionBytes 3072    # The maximum URL size is generally limited to about 2k characters    # due to IE: See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/208427/EN-US.    # Apache servers by default impose a further limitation of about    # 250 characters per URL segment (text between slashes).    # mod_pagespeed circumvents this limitation, but if you employ    # proxy servers in your path you may need to re-impose it by    # overriding the setting here.  The default setting is 1024    # characters.    #    # ModPagespeedMaxSegmentLength 250    # Uncomment this if you want to prevent mod_pagespeed from combining files    # (e.g. CSS files) across paths    #    # ModPagespeedCombineAcrossPaths off    # Renaming JavaScript URLs can sometimes break them.  With this    # option enabled, mod_pagespeed uses a simple heuristic to decide    # not to rename JavaScript that it thinks is introspective.    #    # You can uncomment this to let mod_pagespeed rename all JS files.    #    # ModPagespeedAvoidRenamingIntrospectiveJavascript off    # Certain common JavaScript libraries are available from Google, which acts    # as a CDN and allows you to benefit from browser caching if a new visitor    # to your site previously visited another site that makes use of the same    # libraries as you do.  Enable the following filter to turn on this feature.    #    # ModPagespeedEnableFilters canonicalize_javascript_libraries    # The following line configures a library that is recognized by    # canonicalize_javascript_libraries.  This will have no effect unless you    # enable this filter (generally by uncommenting the last line in the    # previous stanza).  The format is:    #    ModPagespeedLibrary bytes md5 canonical_url    # Where bytes and md5 are with respect to the *minified* JS; use    # js_minify --print_size_and_hash to obtain this data.    # Note that we can register multiple hashes for the same canonical url;    # we do this if there are versions available that have already been minified    # with more sophisticated tools.    #    # Additional library configuration can be found in    # pagespeed_libraries.conf included in the distribution.  You should add    # new entries here, though, so that file can be automatically upgraded.    # ModPagespeedLibrary 43 1o978_K0_LNE5_ystNklf http://www.modpagespeed.com/rewrite_javascript.js    # Explicitly tell mod_pagespeed to load some resources from disk.    # This will speed up load time and update frequency.    #    # This should only be used for static resources which do not need    # specific headers set or other processing by Apache.    #    # Both URL and filesystem path should specify directories and    # filesystem path must be absolute (for now).    #    # ModPagespeedLoadFromFile "http://example.com/static/" "/var/www/static/"    # Enables server-side instrumentation and statistics.  If this rewriter is    # enabled, then each rewritten HTML page will have instrumentation javacript    # added that sends latency beacons to /mod_pagespeed_beacon.  These    # statistics can be accessed at /mod_pagespeed_statistics.  You must also    # enable the mod_pagespeed_statistics and mod_pagespeed_beacon handlers    # below.    #    # ModPagespeedEnableFilters add_instrumentation    # The add_instrumentation filter sends a beacon after the page onload    # handler is called. The user might navigate to a new URL before this. If    # you enable the following directive, the beacon is sent as part of an    # onbeforeunload handler, for pages where navigation happens before the    # onload event.    #    # ModPagespeedReportUnloadTime on    # Uncomment the following line so that ModPagespeed will not cache or    # rewrite resources with Vary: in the header, e.g. Vary: User-Agent.    # Note that ModPagespeed always respects Vary: headers on html content.    # ModPagespeedRespectVary on    # Uncomment the following line if you want to disable statistics entirely.    #    # ModPagespeedStatistics off    # These handlers are central entry-points into the admin pages.    # By default, pagespeed_admin and pagespeed_global_admin present    # the same data, and differ only when    # ModPagespeedUsePerVHostStatistics is enabled.  In that case,    # /pagespeed_global_admin sees aggregated data across all vhosts,    # and the /pagespeed_admin sees data only for a particular vhost.    #    # You may insert other "Allow from" lines to add hosts you want to    # allow to look at generated statistics.  Another possibility is    # to comment out the "Order" and "Allow" options from the config    # file, to allow any client that can reach your server to access    # and change server state, such as statistics, caches, and    # messages.  This might be appropriate in an experimental setup.    <Location /pagespeed_admin>        Order allow,deny        Allow from localhost            Allow from 127.0.0.1        SetHandler pagespeed_admin    </Location>    <Location /pagespeed_global_admin>        Order allow,deny        Allow from localhost        Allow from 127.0.0.1        SetHandler pagespeed_global_admin    </Location>    # Enable logging of mod_pagespeed statistics, needed for the console.    ModPagespeedStatisticsLogging on    # Page /mod_pagespeed_message lets you view the latest messages from    # mod_pagespeed, regardless of log-level in your httpd.conf    # ModPagespeedMessageBufferSize is the maximum number of bytes you would    # like to dump to your /mod_pagespeed_message page at one time,    # its default value is 100k bytes.    # Set it to 0 if you want to disable this feature.    ModPagespeedMessageBufferSize 100000</IfModule>

Most of the configurations are well explained in the file and you can easily understand them and make changes per your needs. On an Apache server, here are some common directives that can be changed inside the pagespeed.conf file while using the module:

 to turn the module on: ModPagespeed On
to turn the module off: ModPagespeed off
to keep the module on standby: ModPagespeed standby
Totally unplug or fully switch off the module: ModPagespeed unplugged

 When you enable mod_pagespeed, it also automatically enables the mod_deflate if it is not enabled already for compression. Follow this link to learn more about mod_pagespeed configurations.

Note: If you are using WP Rocket on your website, you may receive a warning after enabling the pagespeed module. It is because WP Rocket applies nearly all the optimizations provided by the pagespeed module. That’s why, it advises you to disable the module so that you can avoid any conflicts. So, if you are using WP Rocket on your blog, you will not need the pagespeed module and you can keep it off.