invoking.html.en revision 57d0156f7bbd9ea3a72342cf9912aba61d118702
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Starting Apache</title>
</head>
<!-- Background white, links blue (unvisited), navy (visited), red (active) -->
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF"
vlink="#000080" alink="#FF0000">
<!--#include virtual="header.html" -->
<h1 align="CENTER">Starting Apache</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#windows">Starting Apache on Windows</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#unix">Starting Apache on Unix</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#errors">Errors During Start-up</a></li>
<li><a href="#boot">Starting at Boot-Time</a></li>
<li><a href="#info">Additional Information</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<h2><a id="windows" name="windows">Starting Apache On
Windows</a></h2>
<p>On Windows, Apache is normally run as a service on Windows
NT, or as a console application on Windows 95. For details, see
<a href="platform/windows.html#run">running Apache for
Windows</a>.</p>
<h2><a id="unix" name="unix">Starting Apache on Unix</a></h2>
is run as a daemon which executes continuously in the
background to handle requests.</p>
the configuration file is the default of 80 (or any other port
below 1024), then it is necessary to have root privileges in
order to start apache, so that it can bind to this privileged
port. Once the server has started and performed a few
preliminary activities such as opening its log files, it will
launch several <em>child</em> processes which do the work of
listening for and answering requests from clients. The main
<code>httpd</code> process continues to run as the root user,
but the child processes run as a less privileged user. This is
controlled by the selected <a href="mpm.html">Multi-Processing
Module</a>.</p>
<p>The first thing that <code>httpd</code> does when it is
invoked is to locate and read the <a
href="configuring.html">configuration file</a>
compile-time, but it is possible to specify its location at run
time using the <code>-f</code> command-line option as in</p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p>As an alternative to invoking the <code>httpd</code> binary
directly, a shell script called <a
href="programs/apachectl.html">apachectl</a> is provided which
can be used to control the daemon process with simple commands
such as <code>apachectl start</code> and <code>apachectl
stop</code>.</p>
<p>If all goes well during startup, the server will detach from
the terminal and the command prompt will return almost
immediately. This indicates that the server is up and running.
You can then use your browser to connect to the server and view
the test page in the <a
and the local copy of the documentation linked from that
page.</p>
<h3><a id="errors" name="errors">Errors During
Start-up</a></h3>
<p>If Apache suffers a fatal problem during startup, it will
write a message describing the problem either to the console or
exiting. One of the most common error messages is "<code>Unable
to bind to Port ...</code>". This message is usually caused by
either:</p>
<ul>
<li>Trying to start the server on a privileged port when not
logged in as the root user; or</li>
<li>Trying to start the server when there is another instance
of Apache or some other web server already bound to the same
Port.</li>
</ul>
<p>For further trouble-shooting instructions, consult the
Apache <a href="faq/">FAQ</a>.</p>
<h3><a id="boot" name="boot">Starting at Boot-Time</a></h3>
<p>If you want your server to continue running after a system
reboot, you should add a call to <code>httpd</code> or
<code>apachectl</code> to your system startup files (typically
directory). This will start Apache as root. Before doing this
ensure that your server is properly configured for security and
access restrictions. The <code>apachectl</code> script is
designed so that it can often be linked directly as an init
script, but be sure to check the exact requirements of your
system.</p>
<h3><a id="info" name="info">Additional Information</a></h3>
<p>Additional information about the command-line options of <a
href="programs/apachectl.html">apachectl</a> as well as other
support programs included with the server is available on the
<a href="programs/">Server and Supporting Programs</a> page.
There is also documentation on all the <a
href="mod/">modules</a> included with the Apache distribution
provide.</p>
<!--#include virtual="footer.html" -->
</body>
</html>