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  com
       mands, defined below.


       apachectl command



SUMMARY
       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 com
       mand 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  argu
       ments. 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  configura
	      tion  files  as  in  configtest before initiating the restart to
	      make  sure  the  daemon  doesnt  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  STA
	      TUSURL 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  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 as in configtest before  initiating  the
	      restart  to  make sure Apache doesnt 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  immedi
	      ately. This is equivalent to apachectl -k graceful-stop.

       configtest
	      Run  a  configuration file syntax test. It parses the configura
	      tion 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 configura
	      tion file to include the relevant directives and	then  use  the
	      normal apachectl start.




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