How to restart a service on Linux

In Linux, a service (or daemon) is a program that runs in the background and provides various functions or services. They work in the background and constantly perform their task without interacting with users. Services in Linux are started when the system boots and remain active until it is turned off or until a special command is executed to shut down the service

When do I need to restart the service in Linux?

Restarting the service on Linux may be necessary in the following cases:

1. Updating or changing settings: After making changes to the configuration files of the service, you can restart it so that the changes take effect without restarting the entire system.
2. Troubleshooting: If the service has stopped working properly or errors have occurred, restarting can help restore normal functioning.
3. Resource Cleanup: Periodically restarting can help free up system resources that may accumulate over time.
4. Updating software versions: When upgrading to a new version, you may need to restart it for the changes to take effect and for the new version to boot successfully.
5. Restarting after a failure: If a service crashes or has been suspended due to errors, restarting can help restore its operation.

Restarting a service allows you to update and restart it to fix problems, apply changes, or simply update features.

Restarting the service

To restart the service on Linux, you can use the systemctl command.

Open a terminal on your Linux computer.

Enter the following command to restart the service (replace "service_name" with the name of the service you want to restart):

For example, if you want to restart the Apache service, the command will look like this:

3. Enter your sudo account password if prompted to do so.

4. The system will execute the command and restart the specified service.

If you don't have root rights, you can use the sudo command to execute a command with administrator privileges. Also keep in mind that service names may vary across Linux distributions, so make sure you use the correct service name for your system.