Apache

Apache Feather.  Image courtesy Apache Software Foundation

When you're working on editing the Apache httpd.conf file or another configuration file (like adding a new virtual host), you will need to restart Apache so that your changes will take effect. Luckily, this is very easy to do.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 1 minute
To restart your Linux Apache web server, the best way is to use the init.d command. This command is available on many distributions of Linux including Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Gentoo.

1. Login to your web server using SSH or telnet and make sure that your system includes the init.d command. It is usually found in the /etc directory, so list that directory:

   ls /etc/i*

2. If your server uses init.d you will get a listing of the initialization files in that folder. Look for apache or apache2 in that folder. If you have init.d but do not have an Apache initialization file, go to the next section “Restarting Your Server Without Init.d”
3. If you have init.d and an Apache initialization file then you can restart Apache using this command:

   /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

   You may need to sudo in as the root user to run this command.

Using the reload option is the best way to restart your Apache server, as it keeps the server running (the process isn't killed and restarted). Instead it just reloads the httpd.conf file. Which is usually all you want.
If that doesn't work, you can also use the following commands instead:

• /etc/init.d/apache2 restart kills the server process and then restarts it
• /etc/init.d/apache2 stop kills the server process

• /etc/init.d/apache2 start starts the server (and will throw an error message if the server is already running)

Restarting Your Server Without Init.d

If your server doesn't have init.d, don't despair, you can still restart your server. You just have to do it manually with the command apachectl.

1. Login to your web server machine using SSH or telnet
2. Run the apache control program:

   apachectl graceful

   You may need to sudo in as the root user to run this command

The apachectl graceful command tells Apache that you want to restart the server gracefully without aborting any open connections. It automatically checks the configuration files before initiating the restart to make sure Apache doesn't die.
If apachectl graceful doesn't restart your server, there are a few other things you can try.

• apachectl restart to restart the server. If the server is not running it is started. This command also runs a configuration test to make sure Apache won't die when it restarts.
• apachectl stop to stop the Apache server
• apachectl start to start the Apache server (will throw an error message if Apache is running)
• apachectl configtest to test the configuration file syntax.

Tips for Restarting Your Apache Server:

• init.d reload and apachectl graceful both reload the configuration files and gracefully restart the web server. Any current connections are allowed to complete.
• init.d restart and apachectl restart reloads the configuration files and restarts. Any current connections are terminated immediately.
• If the server isn't running, these commands will start it up.
• If neither of these commands work, you should turn off your Apache server (taking it down for a short time) with the init.d stop or apachectl stop command, wait at least 10 seconds and then run the init.d start start apachectl start
• If that doesn't work, you should run a check on your configuration files to make sure there isn't a problem with them by running apachectl graceful