apache2ctl - Apache HTTP server control interface

apache2ctl command [...]

apache2ctl is a front end to the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to help the administrator control the functioning of the Apache apache2 daemon.

NOTE: If your Apache installation uses non-standard paths, you will need to edit the apache2ctl script to set the appropriate paths to your PID file and your apache2 binary. See the comments in the script for details.

The apache2ctl script returns a 0 exit value on success, and >0 if an error occurs. For more details, view the comments in the script.

Full documentation for Apache is available at http://httpd.apache.org/

The command can be any one or more of the following options:

start

Start the Apache daemon. Gives an error if it is already running.

stop

Stops the Apache daemon.

restart

Restarts the Apache daemon by sending it a SIGHUP. If the daemon is not running, it is started. This command automatically checks the configuration files via configtest before initiating the restart to make sure Apache doesn't die.

fullstatus

Displays a full status report from mod_status. For this to work, you need to have mod_status enabled on your server and a text-based browser such as lynx available on your system. The URL used to access the status report can be set by editing the STATUSURL variable in the script.

status

Displays a brief status report. Similar to the fullstatus option, except that the list of requests currently being served is omitted.

graceful

Gracefully restarts the Apache daemon by sending it a SIGUSR1. 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. This command automatically checks the configuration files via configtest before initiating the restart to make sure Apache doesn't die. On certain platforms that do not allow SIGUSR1 to be used for a graceful restart, an alternative signal may be used (such as SIGWINCH). graceful will send the right signal for your platform.

configtest

Run a configuration file syntax test. It parses the configuration files and either reports Syntax Ok or detailed information about the particular syntax error.

help

Displays a short help message.

apache2(8)