Star / Stop / Restart Apache 2 Web Server

How do I restart Apache 2 Web Server under Debian / Ubuntu Linux or UNIX operating systems?

Apache is primarily used to serve both static content and dynamic Web pages on the World Wide Web. Many web applications are designed expecting the environment and features that Apache provides.

First, login to server using ssh, if server is not in local data center:
ssh root@your.server.com
Once logged in type the following commands

Restart Apache 2 web server, enter:

# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

If you are using Ubuntu use sudo:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

To stop Apache 2 web server, enter:

# /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop

To start Apache 2 web server, enter:

# /etc/init.d/apache2 start
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

Featured Articles:

Share this with other sys admins!
Facebook it - Tweet it - Print it -

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 test November 5, 2009

or try this: invoke-rc.d apache2 restart

2 sudhakara.alva January 1, 2010

reset apache.404 not found

3 Anonymous June 17, 2010

Sorry, this doesn’t work on Red Hat:
/etc/init.d/apache2: command not found

4 Vivek Gite June 17, 2010

For Redhat use:

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

5 tipster February 9, 2011

If you want to stop,start, restart apache2 in Debian give this a try after su’ing

/etc/init.d/apache2ctl stop
or start restart what ever

6 Hasnat April 11, 2011

Sorry, this doesn’t work on Debian:
/etc/init.d/apache2: command not found

7 alex September 28, 2011: remove the leading $ sign

8 ob1 May 8, 2011

service httpd start|stop|restart|status

9 pc-moon August 1, 2011

okey what is mean when this message coming to u : No apache MPM package installed

10 Hemant Thorat January 3, 2012

sudo service apache2 restart