No, it is not. It is just a Ubuntu VPS I am using ssh to get into.
OK, I haven't done it in that context. For Ubuntu servers, I really don't do Litespeed or custom PHP versions or Let's Encrypt stuff at all. All of those will factor in here. I only do basic LAMP stack from the default repos when it comes to Ubuntu.
Do you have a signed SSL or a means of getting one for both the Litespeed admin panel and for your Xenforo site? If not, you'll need them if you don't want this setup to get hacked. If you plan on using a graphical tool to muck around in the database, you'll probably need an SSL for that, too (the simplest may be to install phpMyAdmin and have a cert cover that, in addition to the Litespeed admin panel and the Xenforo site). If you plan on using Let's Encrypt, you're going to have to make sure that ties into everything you're going to be using. If you have only one domain, and you can get by with having different subdomains for each, a traditional, paid wildcard cert might be easier (though you'll need to renew and update it every year). Then it's just putting the cert files in place and making sure the config files point to them.
Are you using OpenLitespeed, or the Enterprise version? I only have experience with the Enterprise version, which has some niceties that OpenLitespeed apparently doesn't:
OpenLiteSpeed vs. LiteSpeed Enterprise - LiteSpeed Technologies. If your goal is to mimic a production site, I'd recommend going with the version of Litespeed they have to reduce differences and subsequent surprises which can occur when going from one environment to another. Surprises can be anything from inconvenient to backbreaking. The more differences there are, the more you have to account for when going between environments.
Once you have MySQL or MariaDB, and PHP, and Litespeed, and ModSecurity (with rules!), and those SSLs set up (and phpMyAdmin if you will be using it), for Xenforo it will likely be:
- Unpacking it in the site docroot that you defined in Litespeed
- Creating a blank database, database user, and password (jot those 3 down)
- Assigning that user to the database with the grants (privileges) it needs
- Running Xenforo's installer
- Giving the Xenforo installer the database information during the setup.
That's the rough outline, anyway.
