# Manual Page: apachectl

    NAME
         apachectl - Apache HTTP server control interface

    SYNOPSIS
         apachectl command [...]

    DESCRIPTION
         apachectl is a front end to the  Apache  HyperText  Transfer
         Protocol (HTTP) server.  It is designed to help the adminis-
         trator control the functioning of the Apache httpd daemon.

         NOTE: If your Apache installation uses  non-standard  paths,
         you  will  need  to  edit  the  apachectl  script to set the
         appropriate paths to your PID file and  your  httpd  binary.
         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.

         Full   documentation   for   Apache    is    available    at
         http://httpd.apache.org/

    OPTIONS
         The command can be any one or more of the following options:

         start       Start the Apache daemon.  Gives an error  if  it
                     is already running.

         stop        Stops the Apache daemon.

         restart     Restarts the  Apache  daemon  by  sending  it  a
                     SIGHUP.   If  the  daemon  is not running, it is
                     started.  This command automatically checks  the
                     configuration  files  via configtest before ini-
                     tiating the restart to make sure Apache  doesn't
                     die.

         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 daemon by sending
                     it a SIGWINCH.  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 configura-
                     tion files via configtest before initiating  the
                     restart to make sure Apache doesn't die.

         configtest  Run a configuration file syntax test. It  parses
                     the  configuration files and either reports Syn-
                     tax Ok or detailed information about the partic-
                     ular syntax error.

         help        Displays a short help message.

    SEE ALSO
         httpd(8)