Start / Stop and Restart Apache 2 Web Server Command

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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?

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.
How to start/stop/restart Apache 2 server on Linux/Unix?
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

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 command:
## Start command ##
systemctl start httpd.service
## Stop command ##
systemctl stop httpd.service
## Restart command ##
systemctl restart httpd.service

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

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

Start the discussion at www.nixcraft.com

Historical Comment Archive

21 comment

  4. 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

  11. Can some one help me..
    When apache server restart then apache service will not working it shows…

    Not Found
    The requested URL / was not found on this server.
    Apache/2.2.22 (Debian) Server at 192.168.1.39 Port 80

  13. Hi
    ?
    root@dermaproflin:/home/jakub# /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
    [….] Stopping web server: apache2apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName
    [ ok waiting .

  14. Bonjour,
    en utilisant la commande suivante :
    service httpd restart
    j’obtient le resultat suivant :
    Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start httpd.service
    Job for httpd.service failed. See “systemctl status httpd.service” and “journalctl -xe” for details.

    j’ai pas bien comprit ce resultat
    Pouvez vous m’aider svp
    merci

  15. Hi All,

    I am running three sites under /var/www/html.

    i want to restart a single site

    can you advice

  18. Any one can help me for solve this problem occurred on centos vps(cpanel):

    Stopping httpd: [FAILED]
    Starting httpd: AH00526: Syntax error on line 12 of /etc/apache2/conf.d/modsec2.conf:
    ModSecurity: Failed to open the audit log file: /etc/apache2/logs/modsec_audit.log
    [FAILED]

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