We often need to start, stop or restart apache web server on Linux system such as Debian and Ubuntu. 

This post uses examples to show how to Start, Restart, or Stop apache web server by using service, systemctl or apache2ctl commands.

service command

This method works in most Linux distributions including Debian and Ubuntu.

To start Apache 2, run:
$ sudo service apache2 start

To restart Apache 2, run:
$ sudo service apache2 restart

To stop Apache 2, run:
$ sudo service apache2 stop

To gracefully reload Apache 2, run:
$ sudo service apache2 reload

systemctl command 

We need to use systemctl to start Apache 2 on Ubuntu Linux LTS 16.04 LTS or the latest system based Ubuntu Linux. 

Start apache command: 
$ sudo systemctl start apache2.service

stop apache command :
$ sudo systemctl stop apache2.service

restart apache command:
$ sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

To find out whether Apache 2 running or not, run:
$ sudo systemctl status apache2.service

apache2ctl command 

apache2ctl command  can be used to stop or start apache web server under any Linux distribution or UNIX.
To start Apache 2 , run
$ sudo apache2ctl start

To stop Apache 2,  run:
$ sudo apache2ctl stop

To restart Apache 2, run:
$ sudo apache2ctl restart

To gracefully reload Apache 2, run:
$ sudo apache2ctl graceful

Ubuntu Linux LTS 12.04 and 14.04

On Ubuntu Linux LTS 12.04 and 14.04, we can use the following command to start, restart or stop apache web server. 

To start Apache 2 on Ubuntu 14.04, run the following command:
$ sudo start apache2

To stop Apache 2 onUbuntu 14.04, run the following command:
$ sudo stop apache2

To restart Apache 2 onUbuntu 14.04, run the following command:
$ sudo restart apache2

To gracefully reload Apache 2 onUbuntu 14.04, run the following command:
$ sudo restart apache2