apachectl - Apache HTTP Server Control Interface
apachectl 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 httpd daemon.
The apachectl script can operate in two modes. First, it can act as a simple front-end to the httpd command that simply sets any necessary environment variables and then invokes httpd, passing through any command line arguments. Second, apachectl can act as a SysV init script, taking simple one-word arguments like start, restart, and stop, and translating them into appropriate signals to httpd.
If your Apache installation uses non-standard paths, you will need to edit the apachectl script to set the appropriate paths to the httpd binary. You can also specify any necessary httpd command line arguments. See the comments in the script for details.
The apachectl script returns a 0 exit value on success, and >0 if an error occurs. For more details, view the comments in the script.
Synopsis
When acting in pass-through mode, apachectl can takeall the arguments available for the httpdbinary.
apachectl [ httpd-argument ]
When acting in SysV init mode, apachectl takes simple,one-word commands, defined below.
apachectl command
Options
Only the SysV init-style options are defined here. Other argumentsare defined on the httpd manual page.
start- Start the Apache
httpd daemon. Gives an error if itis already running. This is equivalent to apachectl -kstart. stop- Stops the Apache
httpd daemon. This is equivalent toapachectl -k stop. restart- Restarts the Apache
httpd daemon. If the daemon isnot running, it is started. This command automatically checks theconfiguration files as in configtest before initiatingthe restart to make sure the daemon doesn't die. This is equivalentto apachectl -k restart. fullstatus- Displays a full status report from
mod_status.For this to work, you need to have mod_status enabledon your server and a text-based browser such as lynxavailable on your system. The URL used to access the status reportcan be set by editing the STATUSURL variable in thescript. status- Displays a brief status report. Similar to the
fullstatus option, except that the list of requestscurrently being served is omitted. graceful- Gracefully restarts the Apache
httpd daemon. If thedaemon is not running, it is started. This differs from a normalrestart in that currently open connections are not aborted. A sideeffect is that old log files will not be closed immediately. Thismeans that if used in a log rotation script, a substantial delay maybe necessary to ensure that the old log files are closed beforeprocessing them. This command automatically checks the configurationfiles as in configtest before initiating therestart to make sure Apache doesn't die. This is equivalent toapachectl -k graceful. graceful-stop- Gracefully stops the Apache
httpd daemon. This differs from a normal stop in that currently open connections are not aborted. A side effect is that old log files will not be closed immediately. This is equivalent to apachectl -k graceful-stop. configtest- Run a configuration file syntax test. It parses the configurationfiles and either reports
Syntax Okor detailed information about the particular syntax error. This isequivalent to apachectl -t.
The following option was available in earlier versions but has been removed.
startssl- To start
httpd with SSL support, you should edityour configuration file to include the relevant directives and thenuse the normal apachectl start.
