How to manage the Apache web server service

Service-level control of Apache keeps deployments predictable during configuration edits, certificate renewals, and module changes. Fast start, stop, reload, and restart operations reduce downtime and make rollback less dramatic when a bad change reaches production.

On modern Linux distributions, systemd manages Apache as a unit (commonly apache2.service or httpd.service) and exposes lifecycle operations through systemctl, including reloads that re-read configuration without a full stop. Legacy environments may still provide the service wrapper or /etc/init.d scripts, which act as compatibility interfaces for the same service operations.

Commands below assume a systemd host with the service name apache2, which is typical on Ubuntu and Debian. Substitute httpd on Red Hat-family systems and adjust the control binary to apachectl where applicable. Use reload for routine configuration edits, run a config test first, and reserve restart for changes that require a full process reinitialization.

1. Test the Apache configuration syntax.

   $ sudo apache2ctl configtest
   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
   Syntax OK

   The AH00558 message is a warning; set a global ServerName in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf to silence it.

2. Reload the Apache service to apply configuration changes.

   $ sudo systemctl reload apache2

   Legacy systems can use sudo service apache2 reload or sudo apache2ctl graceful.

3. Restart the Apache service for a full process reinitialization.

   $ sudo systemctl restart apache2

   A restart can reset active connections and abort in-flight requests.

4. Stop the Apache service.

   $ sudo systemctl stop apache2

   Legacy systems can use sudo service apache2 stop or sudo apache2ctl stop.

5. Start the Apache service.

   $ sudo systemctl start apache2

   Legacy systems can use sudo service apache2 start or sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start.

6. Check the Apache service status.

   $ sudo systemctl status apache2
   ● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
        Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
        Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-12-13 09:41:02 UTC; 12s ago
          Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
      Main PID: 1874 (apache2)
         Tasks: 55 (limit: 4591)
        Memory: 6.1M
           CPU: 120ms
        CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
                ├─1874 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                ├─1875 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
                └─1876 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
   ##### snipped #####

7. Disable Apache from starting on boot.

   $ sudo systemctl disable --now apache2
   Synchronizing state of apache2.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
   Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install disable apache2
   Removed /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/apache2.service.

   The --now option stops the service immediately.

8. Enable Apache to start on boot.

   $ sudo systemctl enable --now apache2
   Synchronizing state of apache2.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
   Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable apache2
   Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/apache2.service → /lib/systemd/system/apache2.service.

   The --now option starts the service immediately.

9. Verify the local HTTP response.

   $ curl --head http://127.0.0.1/
   HTTP/1.1 200 OK
   Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 09:41:15 GMT
   Server: Apache/2.4.58 (Ubuntu)
   Last-Modified: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 10:03:22 GMT
   ETag: "2aa6-620f0b4b2ab80"
   Accept-Ranges: bytes
   Content-Length: 10918
   Vary: Accept-Encoding
   Content-Type: text/html