Linux Restart Nginx WebServer Command

How do I restart nginx web server under Linux or Unix operating systems using command line options?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Linux and Nginx
Est. reading time	1m

Nginx is a free and open source web server that runs on Linux and Unix-like systems. This page explains various Linux commands to restart the Nginx web server running on Linux operating systems.

Linux Restart Nginx Webserver

To restart the nginx web server use any one of the following command as a root user as per your Linux distro. Open a terminal or login to the remote server using ssh. For instance:
ssh vivek@server1.cyberciti.biz
sudo systemctl nginx [command]

Debian/Ubuntu/RHEL/CentOS Linux

Linux restart Nginx webserver, run:
# /etc/init.d/nginx restart
OR
# /etc/init.d/nginx reload
One can use the service command for sysv init based systems:
# service nginx restart
OR
# service nginx reload
If you are using systemd based Linux distro:
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
OR
$ sudo systemctl reload nginx
To view status:
# service nginx status
OR
$ sudo systemctl status nginx
Sample outputs:

Using nginx command

Nginx has in built option to send signal to a master process. This should work with any Linux distributions or Unix-like operating systems. The syntax is as follows:
nginx - s signal

Reload Nginx Webserver

# nginx -s reload
OR
# /path/to/full/nginx -s reload

Stop Nginx Webserver

# nginx -s stop
OR
# /path/to/full/nginx -s stop

Exit or Quit Nginx Webserver

# nginx -s quit
OR
# /path/to/full/nginx -s quit

If nginx compiled and installed from the source code

If nginx binary is installed at /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx, enter:
# /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload

How to Start, Stop, or Restart Nginx Server

Here is the summary of all commands that you can pass either to the systemctl command OR service command

Option	Description	Examples
start	Start the Nginx web server	sudo systemctl start nginx sudo service nginx start
stop	Stop the Nginx on Linux	sudo systemctl stop nginx sudo service nginx stop
restart	Stops and then starts the Nginx web server service	sudo systemctl restart nginx sudo service nginx restart
reload	Gracefully restarts the Nginx service after config changes	sudo systemctl reload nginx sudo service nginx reload
status	Get the service or server status in Linux	sudo systemctl status nginx sudo service nginx status

How to check nginx server config errors

You need to pass the -t to the nginx command to test configuration and exit. For example:
nginx -t
Pass the -T to test configuration, dump it on screen and exit, run:
nginx -T

How to send signal to a Nginx

The syntax is as follows for Linux and Unix users:
nginx -s signal
Signal can be stop, quit, reopen and reload. For instance, we can send reload signal as follows as the root user:
# nginx -t
# nginx -s reload
See nginx docs here for more info.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to start, stop, and restart the Nginx web server on Linux systems using command line options.

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