Start, Stop, and Restart Apache on Linux

Hi there!
If you're using XAMPP, you can skip this post.

This is a quick reference for users who have installed Apache directly on their Linux system and place their web projects under /var/www/html/.

There are several ways to start, stop, or restart Apache, and below I’ll summarize the most common methods:

• systemctl
• /etc/init.d/apache2
• service
• upstart
• apache2ctl

These commands work across various Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and others.

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1. Using systemctl

This is the standard method on Ubuntu 16+ and most modern distros:

sudo systemctl start apache2.service
sudo systemctl stop apache2.service
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

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2. Using /etc/init.d/apache2

This works on Debian-based systems and older Ubuntu versions:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

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3. Using service

A classic approach that works on most Linux distributions:

sudo service apache2 start
sudo service apache2 stop
sudo service apache2 restart
sudo service apache2 reload

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4. Using upstart (Only on some Ubuntu versions)

sudo start apache2
sudo stop apache2
sudo restart apache2

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5. Using apache2ctl

This tool works on almost every Unix-like system:

sudo apache2ctl start
sudo apache2ctl stop
sudo apache2ctl restart
sudo apache2ctl graceful

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Final Thoughts

This post is a personal reference I revisit whenever I need to restart, stop, or start Apache due to configuration changes or other adjustments. It’s quick and straight to the point.

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See you next time!