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7 Copyright 2002-2006 The Apache Software Foundation or its licensors, as
10 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
11 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
12 You may obtain a copy of the License at
14 http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
16 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
17 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
18 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
19 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
20 limitations under the License.
23 <manualpage metafile="invoking.xml.meta">
25 <title>Starting Apache</title>
28 <p>On Windows, Apache is normally run as a service on Windows
29 NT, 2000 and XP, or as a console application on Windows 9x and
30 ME. For details, see <a
31 href="platform/windows.html#winsvc">Running Apache as a Service</a>
32 and <a href="platform/windows.html#wincons">Running Apache as a
33 Console Application</a>.</p>
35 <p>On Unix, the <program>httpd</program> program
36 is run as a daemon that executes continuously in the
37 background to handle requests. This document describes how
38 to invoke <program>httpd</program>.</p>
41 <seealso><a href="stopping.html">Stopping and Restarting</a></seealso>
42 <seealso><program>httpd</program></seealso>
43 <seealso><program>apachectl</program></seealso>
45 <section id="startup"><title>How Apache Starts</title>
47 <p>If the <directive module="mpm_common">Listen</directive>
48 specified in the configuration file is default of 80 (or any other
49 port below 1024), then it is necessary to have root privileges in
50 order to start apache, so that it can bind to this privileged
51 port. Once the server has started and performed a few preliminary
52 activities such as opening its log files, it will launch several
53 <em>child</em> processes which do the work of listening for and
54 answering requests from clients. The main <code>httpd</code>
55 process continues to run as the root user, but the child processes
56 run as a less privileged user. This is controlled by the selected
57 <a href="mpm.html">Multi-Processing Module</a>.</p>
59 <p>The recommended method of invoking the <program>httpd</program>
60 executable is to use the <program>apachectl</program> control script. This
61 script sets certain environment variables that are necessary for
62 <program>httpd</program> to function correctly under some operating
63 systems, and then invokes the <program>httpd</program> binary.
64 <program>apachectl</program> will pass through any command line
65 arguments, so any <program>httpd</program> options may also be used with
66 <program>apachectl</program>. You may also directly edit the
67 <program>apachectl</program> script by changing the <code>HTTPD</code>
68 variable near the top to specify the correct location of the
69 <program>httpd</program> binary and any command-line arguments that you
70 wish to be <em>always</em> present.</p>
72 <p>The first thing that <code>httpd</code> does when it is
73 invoked is to locate and read the <a
74 href="configuring.html">configuration file</a>
75 <code>httpd.conf</code>. The location of this file is set at
76 compile-time, but it is possible to specify its location at run
77 time using the <code>-f</code> command-line option as in</p>
79 <example>/usr/local/apache2/bin/apachectl -f
80 /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf</example>
82 <p>If all goes well during startup, the server will detach from
83 the terminal and the command prompt will return almost
84 immediately. This indicates that the server is up and running.
85 You can then use your browser to connect to the server and view
86 the test page in the <directive
87 module="core">DocumentRoot</directive> directory
88 and the local copy of the documentation linked from that
92 <section id="errors"><title>Errors During Start-up</title>
94 <p>If Apache suffers a fatal problem during startup, it will
95 write a message describing the problem either to the console or
96 to the <directive module="core">ErrorLog</directive> before
97 exiting. One of the most common error messages is "<code>Unable
98 to bind to Port ...</code>". This message is usually caused by
102 <li>Trying to start the server on a privileged port when not
103 logged in as the root user; or</li>
105 <li>Trying to start the server when there is another instance
106 of Apache or some other web server already bound to the same
110 <p>For further trouble-shooting instructions, consult the
111 Apache <a href="faq/">FAQ</a>.</p>
114 <section id="boot"><title>Starting at Boot-Time</title>
116 <p>If you want your server to continue running after a system
117 reboot, you should add a call to <program>apachectl</program> to your
118 system startup files (typically <code>rc.local</code> or a file in
119 an <code>rc.N</code> directory). This will start Apache as
120 root. Before doing this ensure that your server is properly
121 configured for security and access restrictions.</p>
123 <p>The <program>apachectl</program> script is designed to act like a
124 standard SysV init script; it can take the arguments
125 <code>start</code>, <code>restart</code>, and <code>stop</code>
126 and translate them into the appropriate signals to
127 <program>httpd</program>. So you can often simply link
128 <program>apachectl</program> into the appropriate init directory. But be
129 sure to check the exact requirements of your system.</p>
132 <section id="info"><title>Additional Information</title>
134 <p>Additional information about the command-line options of <program>
135 httpd</program> and <program>apachectl</program> as well as other support
136 programs included with the server is available on the
137 <a href="programs/">Server and Supporting Programs</a> page.
138 There is also documentation on all the <a
139 href="mod/">modules</a> included with the Apache distribution
140 and the <a href="mod/directives.html">directives</a> that they