APACHECTL(8)                                                apachectl                                               APACHECTL(8)



NAME
       apachectl - Apache HTTP Server Control Interface


SYNOPSIS
       When acting in pass-through mode, apachectl can take all the arguments available for the httpd binary.


       apachectl [ httpd-argument ]


       When acting in SysV init mode, apachectl takes simple, one-word commands, defined below.


       apachectl command



SUMMARY
       apachectl  is a front end to the Apache HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server. It is designed to help the administra-
       tor 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.



OPTIONS
       Only the SysV init-style options are defined here. Other arguments are defined on the httpd manual page.



       start  Start the Apache httpd daemon. Gives an error if it is already running. This is equivalent to apachectl -k start.

       stop   Stops the Apache httpd daemon. This is equivalent to apachectl -k stop.

       restart
              Restarts the Apache httpd daemon. If the daemon is not running, it is started. This command  automatically  checks
              the  configuration  files as in configtest before initiating the restart to make sure the daemon doesn't die. This
              is equivalent to apachectl -k restart.

       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 httpd daemon. If the daemon is not running, it is started. This differs from a nor-
              mal 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  configura-
              tion  files  as in configtest before initiating the restart to make sure Apache doesn't die. This is equivalent to
              apachectl -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 configuration files and either reports Syntax Ok  or  detailed
              information about the particular syntax error. This is equivalent to apachectl -t.


       The following option was available in earlier versions but has been removed.



       startssl
              To  start  httpd  with SSL support, you should edit your configuration file to include the relevant directives and
              then use the normal apachectl start.




Apache HTTP Server                                         2005-09-20                                               APACHECTL(8)