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

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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

1 test November 5, 2009 at 7:45 pm

or try this: invoke-rc.d apache2 restart

2 sudhakara.alva January 1, 2010 at 6:11 am

reset apache.404 not found

3 Anonymous June 17, 2010 at 9:39 pm

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

4 Vivek Gite June 17, 2010 at 10:08 pm

For Redhat use:

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

5 tipster February 9, 2011 at 1:50 am

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 at 9:09 am

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

7 alex September 28, 2011 at 4:54 pm: remove the leading $ sign

8 ob1 May 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm

service httpd start|stop|restart|status

9 pc-moon August 1, 2011 at 11:38 pm

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

10 Hemant Thorat January 3, 2012 at 6:04 am

sudo service apache2 restart

11 emmanuel March 22, 2012 at 3:45 am

hello there,

can someone help me out with how i can stop my apache from running.?

12 ivan March 25, 2012 at 11:52 am

run

/etc/init.d/apache2 stop

13 Fabio Tropia February 4, 2013 at 10:10 am

# service httpd restart
…is better!