5.3

Table Of Contents
30 vFabric Web Server
30
Creating and Using vFabric Web
Server Instances
Unix: Start and Stop vFabric Web Server Instances
You interactively start, stop, or restart a vFabric Web Server instance on Unix with the httpdctl shell script in the bin
directory of the instance.
Warning: You always use the start script in the bin of the instance directory, such as /opt/vwmare/vfabric-web-
server/myserver/bin. Do not use the start script in the httpd-2.2/bin sub-directory of the main installation directory.
You can also install a vFabric Web Server instance as a Unix service so it automatically starts and stops when the operating
system itself is started and stopped. If you install it as a service, you can also start and stop the service by using the /etc/
init.d/service-name script. For more information, see Installing vFabric Web Server Instances as Unix Services.
Prerequisites
Complete the appropriate procedure in Create vFabric Web Server Instances.
Procedure
1. Log in to your Unix computer as the root user.
2. Start a terminal window and change to the bin sub-directory of your vFabric Web Server instance's root directory. For
example, if you created an instance called myserver that lives in the installation directory /opt/vmware/vfabric-
web-server:
prompt# cd /opt/vmware/vfabric-web-server/myserver/bin
3. Start the instance using the ./httpdctl start command:
prompt# ./httpdctl start
You should see a message as follows:
Starting Apache:
Server started OK
4. To test that the vFabric Web Server instance actually started, navigate to the http://host:port URL in your browser,
where host refers to the host computer (you can use localhost if your browser is on the same computer) and port
refers to the HTTP listen port number you provided when you created the instance. The default value is 80
For example, if you are using the default ports on your local computer, you can use this URL:
http://localhost:80
If the instance started successfully, you should see the Welcome page.
5. To get status about the instance:
prompt# ./httpctl status
6. To stop the instance immediately, even if there are current connections in use:
prompt# cd /opt/vmware/vfabric-web-server/myserver/bin
prompt$ ./httpdctl stop
To stop the instance gracefully:
prompt$ ./httpdctl gracefulstop
See httpdctl Reference for the full list of available httpdctl commands.