How to start Apache by specifying httpd.conf with systemd (CentOS7, CentOS8)

I will show you how to start * Apache * with * httpd.conf * in * systemd * of * CentOS7 * or * CentOS8 *.

Operation check environment

• CentOS Linux release 7.7.1908
• CentOS Linux release 8.0.1905

Start with myhttpd.conf instead of httpd.conf

It is assumed that the configuration file myhttpd.conf that you want to use when starting * Apache * exists under the / etc / httpd / conf directory.

1. Modify httpd.service

Modify the * Apache * * systemd * unit definition file /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.

The httpd.service before modification is as follows.

/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service (before modification)

[Unit]
Description=The Apache HTTP Server
After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target
Documentation=man:httpd(8)
Documentation=man:apachectl(8)

[Service]
Type=notify
EnvironmentFile=/etc/sysconfig/httpd
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND
ExecReload=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -k graceful
ExecStop=/bin/kill -WINCH ${MAINPID}
# We want systemd to give httpd some time to finish gracefully, but still want
# it to kill httpd after TimeoutStopSec if something went wrong during the
# graceful stop. Normally, Systemd sends SIGTERM signal right after the
# ExecStop, which would kill httpd. We are sending useless SIGCONT here to give
# httpd time to finish.
KillSignal=SIGCONT
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service (after modification)

[Unit]
Description=The Apache HTTP Server
After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target
Documentation=man:httpd(8)
Documentation=man:apachectl(8)

[Service]
Type=notify
EnvironmentFile=/etc/sysconfig/httpd
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND
ExecReload=/usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf $OPTIONS -k graceful
ExecStop=/bin/kill -WINCH ${MAINPID}
# We want systemd to give httpd some time to finish gracefully, but still want
# it to kill httpd after TimeoutStopSec if something went wrong during the
# graceful stop. Normally, Systemd sends SIGTERM signal right after the
# ExecStop, which would kill httpd. We are sending useless SIGCONT here to give
# httpd time to finish.
KillSignal=SIGCONT
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service (difference)

-ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND
-ExecReload=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -k graceful
+ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND
+ExecReload=/usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf $OPTIONS -k graceful

2. Start Apache

Start * Apache * with the unit definition file (httpd.service) modified by the following command. systemctl start httpd

Execution result

[root@CENTOS7 ~]# systemctl start httpd
[root@CENTOS7 ~]#

Check the * Apache (httpd) * process with the following command and make sure it is started in /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf. ps -ef | grep httpd

Execution result

[root@CENTOS7 ~]# ps -ef | grep httpd
root      1332     1  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
apache    1333  1332  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
apache    1334  1332  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
apache    1335  1332  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
apache    1336  1332  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
apache    1337  1332  0 22:20 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf -DFOREGROUND
root      1341  1295  0 22:21 pts/0    00:00:00 grep --color=auto httpd
[root@CENTOS7 ~]#

Other

This time, I added -f /etc/httpd/conf/myhttpd.conf directly to ʻExecStart and ʻExecReload of /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service, but make it a variable. You can also. Refer to the following for how to use variables in the unit definition file.

How to use variables in systemd Unit definition file

that's all