Apache: Make Changes In a Config File Take Effect Without Restarting Server

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: January 6, 2009 2 comments

Q. How do I make changes in a Apache server config file to take effect without restarting the Apache server itself w/o interrupting users’ current session?

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A. You can use httpd service or apachectl to reload configuration without interrupting users’ sessions as follows:

Login as root and type the following command
# /etc/init.d/httpd reload
OR
# apachectl -k graceful
This is also known as gracefully restarting the Apache httpd daemon. If the daemon is not running, it is started. This differs from a normal restart in that currently open connections are not aborted. A side effect is that old log files will not be closed immediately. This means that if used in a log rotation script, a substantial delay may be necessary to ensure that the old log files are closed before processing them.

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