How to start, restart and stop Apache service

Apache service can be restarted (or started and stopped) using Apache's binary, though the binary name itself differs between distribution.

Most Unix-based distributions will then even come up with scripts and tools to manage services running on their platform (Apache included), and the most common ones are System V. Init scripts and systemd.

Managing Apache such as to start, restart or stop the service will then depend on the platform that your Apache service is running, and your personal preference (as some platform for example comes with both System V. Init scripts and systemd while of course come with the Apache binary for you to directly manage the service). You can also use the same methods to view the current running status of the Apache service.

Commands to manage Apache from command line:

Below are example commands to manage Apache service on Ubuntu from the terminal.

1. Stop Apache service using Apache binary.

   $ sudo apache2ctl stop
   AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message

2. Start Apache service using System V. Init scripts.

   $ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start
   [ ok ] Starting apache2 (via systemctl): apache2.service.

3. Restart Apache service using systemd.

   $ sudo systemctl restart apache2

4. View Apache running status using systemd.

   $ sudo systemctl status apache2
   ● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset:
      Active: active (running) since Mon 2020-01-06 05:26:10 UTC; 14s ago
        Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
     Process: 1846 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCE
    Main PID: 1874 (apache2)
       Tasks: 55 (limit: 4591)
      Memory: 5.7M
      CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
              ├─1874 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
              ├─1875 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
              └─1876 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
   
   Jan 06 05:26:10 host systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
   Jan 06 05:26:10 host apachectl[1846]: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably deter
   Jan 06 05:26:10 host systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.