Restarting Phabricator

Phabricator User Documentation (Field Manuals)

Instructions on how to restart HTTP and PHP servers to reload configuration changes in Phabricator.

Overview

Phabricator's setup and configuration instructions sometimes require you to restart your server processes, particularly after making configuration changes. This document explains how to restart them properly.

In general, you need to restart both whatever is serving HTTP requests and whatever is serving PHP requests. In some cases, these will be the same process and handled with one restart command. In other cases, they will be two different processes and handled with two different restart commands.

If you have two different processes (for example, nginx and PHP-FPM), you need to issue two different restart commands.

It's important to restart both your HTTP server and PHP server because each server caches different configuration and settings. Restarting both servers after making changes ensures you're running up-to-date configuration.

To restart properly:

• Identify which HTTP server you are running (for example, Apache or nginx).
• Identify which PHP server you are running (for example, mod_php or PHP-FPM).
• For each server, follow the instructions below to restart it.
• If the instructions tell you to do so, make sure you restart both servers!

Quick Start

Apache: If you use Apache with mod_php, you can just restart Apache. You do not need to restart mod_php separately. See below for instructions on how to do this if you aren't sure. This is a very common configuration.

nginx: If you use nginx with PHP-FPM, you need to restart both nginx and PHP-FPM. See below for instructions on how to do this if you aren't sure. This is also a very common configuration.

It's possible to use Apache or nginx in other configurations, or a different webserver. Consult the documentation for your system or webserver if you aren't sure how things are set up.

Universal Restart

If you are having trouble properly restarting processes on your server, try turning it off and on again. This is effective on every known system and under all configurations.

HTTP Server: Apache

If you are using Apache with mod_php, you only need to restart Apache.

If you are using Apache in FastCGI mode, you need to restart both Apache and the FCGI server (usually PHP-FPM). This is very unusual.

The correct method for restarting Apache depends on what system you are running. Consult your system documentation for details. You might use a command like one of these on your system, or a different command:

$ sudo apachectl restart
$ sudo /etc/init.d/httpd restart
$ sudo service apache2 restart

HTTP Server: Nginx

If you're using Nginx with PHP-FPM, you need to restart both of them. This is the most common Nginx configuration.

The correct method for restarting Nginx depends on what system you are running. Consult your system documentation for details. You might use a command like one of these on your system, or a different command:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
$ sudo service nginx restart

PHP Server: mod_php

This is a builtin PHP server that runs within Apache. Restarting Apache (see above) is sufficient to restart it. There is no separate restart command for mod_php, so you don't need to do anything else.

PHP Server: PHP-FPM

If you're using FastCGI mode, PHP-FPM is the most common PHP FastCGI server. You'll need to restart it if you're running it.

The correct method for restarting PHP-FPM depends on what system you are running. Consult your system documentation for details. You might use a command like one of these on your system, or a different command:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/php-fpm restart
$ sudo service php5-fpm reload