Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Apache 2.4 on Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9
The Apache service is called apache2 on Ubuntu and Debian and httpd on AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux and other RHEL-based systems.
systemctl start apache2 # start systemctl stop apache2 # stop systemctl restart apache2 # stop and start (drops connections) systemctl reload apache2 # re-read the configuration without dropping connections systemctl status apache2 # is it running? last log lines
Replace apache2 with httpd on RHEL-based systems. Always check the configuration first with apachectl configtest.
On cPanel servers use /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_httpd.
