Start / Stop and Restart Apache 2 Web Server Command

How do I restart an Apache 2 Web Server under a Debian / Ubuntu / CentOS / RHEL / Fedora Linux or UNIX-like operating systems? Can you tell me command to start or stop Apache 2 web server running on Linux?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	Apache 2 on Linux / Unix
Est. reading time	3 mintues

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. Apache can be started or restarted using any one of the following methods on Linux or Unix-like systems.

First, login to your web-server using ssh client, if server is not in your local data center:
ssh root@your.server.com
Once logged in type the following commands as per your Linux or Unix variant.

Debian/Ubuntu Linux Specific Commands to Start/Stop/Restart Apache

You can either use service or /etc/init.d/ command as follows on Debian Linux version 7.x or Ubuntu Linux version Ubuntu 14.10 or older:

Restart Apache 2 web server, enter:

# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
OR
$ sudo service apache2 restart

To stop Apache 2 web server, enter:

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

To start Apache 2 web server, enter:

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

A note about Debian/Ubuntu Linux systemd users

Use the following systemctl command on Debian Linux version 8.x+ or Ubuntu Linux version Ubuntu 15.04+ or above:
## Start command ##
systemctl start apache2.service
## Stop command ##
systemctl stop apache2.service
## Restart command ##
systemctl restart apache2.service
We can view status using the following command:
$ sudo systemctl status apache2.service

● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-02-24 20:39:39 UTC; 5 days ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 115 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 15247 ExecReload=/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 128 (apache2)
      Tasks: 6 (limit: 4672)
     Memory: 16.4M
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─  128 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─15254 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─15255 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─15256 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─15257 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─15258 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Feb 27 00:00:23 ubuntu-db-mgmnt systemd[1]: Reloaded The Apache HTTP Server.
Feb 28 00:00:23 ubuntu-db-mgmnt systemd[1]: Reloading The Apache HTTP Server.

CentOS/RHEL (Red Hat) Linux version 4.x/5.x/6.x or older specific commands

## Start ##
service httpd start
## Stop ##
service httpd stop
## Restart ##
service httpd restart


CentOS/RHEL (Red Hat) Linux version 7.x or newer specific commands

Most modern distro now using systemd, so you need to use the following systemctl command:
## Start command ##
systemctl start httpd.service
## Stop command ##
systemctl stop httpd.service
## Restart command ##
systemctl restart httpd.service

Alpine Linux start / stop / restart Apache 2 using openrc

We need to use the service command as root user:
# service apache2 start
# service apache2 stop
# service apache2 status
# service apache2 restart
Session:

 * Stopping apache2 ...
 * Starting apache2

FreeBSD Unix users

FreeBSD user can restart Apache as follows:
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22 restart
# service restart apache22
# service stop apache22
# service start apache22

Generic method to start/stop/restart Apache on a Linux/Unix

The syntax is as follows (must be run as root user):
## stop it ##
apachectl -k stop
## restart it ##
apachectl -k restart
## graceful restart it ##
apachectl -k graceful
## Start it ##
apachectl -f /path/to/your/httpd.conf
apachectl -f /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22 restart

Summing up

You learned how to start, stop or restart the Apache 2 web server using command-line over ssh-based session.

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