Most Useful Web Server Commands That Sysadmins Must Know

Mastering useful web server commands is important for system administrators in order to efficiently handle and manage server platforms. This informative guide focuses on the most commonly used commands that sysadmins must be familiar with.

System administrators can simplify server management using these commands for configuration, monitoring, and fault detection, thus assuring excellent performance and safety. Knowing these commands will not only improve operational performance but also facilitate admins to efficiently and precisely resolve issues.

Ultimately, it’ll contribute to improving the overall trustworthiness and integrity of the server platform. 

Key Commands for Efficient Administration of Apache Web Server in Linux

Apache is the most extensively used free, open-source web server application around the world, specifically in Unix-like OSs but can also be compatible with Windows OSs. As a system admin or website developer, it’ll be beneficial for you to get familiarized with these Apache web servers. 

It comes with various noteworthy features; among them, virtual hosting is an outstanding feature that enables a single Apache web server to cater to a varying number of websites. In this section, we’ll explore a few of the most prominent commands required for managing Apache web servers. Sometimes these are also referred to as httpd on several other Linux-based distros. These commands can only be executed as a root or sudo user:

1. Install Apache Server

The following command is used for installing Apache servers on various Linux distros, like Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt install apache2 

2. Find Out the Apache Version

The following command is used to find out the installed version of the Apache web server on Linux:

sudo apache2 -v

3. Show Apache Compile Settings

The following command is used to show the Apache compile settings: 

apache2 -V

4. Checking for Syntax Errors in the Apache Configuration File

To find out any syntax errors in the Apache configuration files on Debian-based systems, run the following command before restarting the service:

sudo apache2ctl -t

5. Checking for Errors in the Apache Virtual Host

With the help of the following command, errors in the Apache virtual host can be found: 

apache2ctl -S

Useful Apache2 Service Commands

All the following commands will be suitable for both Debian and Ubuntu Linux:

1. To Start the Apache Service

To kick off the Apache service, use the following command:

sudo service apache2 start

2. To Restart the Apache Service

For rebooting the Apache service, use the following command:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

3. Check the Status of the Apache Service

For checking the status of the Apache service, execute the following command:

sudo systemctl status apache2 

4. Reloading Apache Service

If you’ve made any modifications to the Apache configuration file, then the following command will be useful for reloading it:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

5. Stop Apache Service

For stopping the Apache service, the following command is used:

sudo systemctl stop apache2 

6. Get Apache Command Help

For receiving help with the Apache service, run the following command: 

sudo apache2 -h 

Other Crucial Web Server Commands

1. ip https certificate

For setting up the active HTTPS certificate, you can execute the ip https certificate Global Configuration mode command. Whereas, if you want to restore the default configuration, run the no form of this command.

• Syntax
  • ip https certificate number
  • no ip https certificate

• Parameters
  • Number—indicates the certificate number. Ranges between: 1–2

• Default Configuration
  • The default value for the certificate number is 1.

• Command Mode Used
  • Global Configuration Mode

2. ip https logging

To activate/deactivate, or enable/disable the HTTPS session intiation and termination, you can execute the ip https logging command in Global Configuration mode. In order to restore the default configuration, you can use the no form of this command. 

• Syntax
  • ip https logging {enable| disable}
  • no ip https logging

• Parameters
  • enable —  for enabling HTTPS session logging on the device.
  • disable — for disabling HTTPS session logging on the device.

• Default Configuration
  • By default, the HTTPS session logging is disabled.

• Command Mode Used
  • Global Configuration mode.

• User Instructions
  • The ip https session logging command activates https logging on the device, which means monitoring the stages of HTTPS session initiation and termination with the help of SYSLOG messages that are created at the time of the process. If you disable the HTTPS session logging, then SYSLOG messages won’t be generated during the course of the SSH configuration or termination process.

3. ip http port

To configure the TCP port utilized by the web browser interface, use the ip http port Global Configuration mode command. For restoring its default settings, use its no-form command.

• Syntax
  • ip http port port-number
  • no ip http port

• Parameters
  • port port-number—utilized by the HTTP server. Ranges between: 1–59999.

• Default Configuration
  • 80 is the default port number.

• Command Mode
  • Global Configuration Mode