How to Prevent Apache graceful restart

Introduction

If we check the Apache error logs, we could see httpd getting restarted gracefully every two hours. During this time some users experinces a slight slowness of their website. The reason the restarts occur is that Apache must be restarted to grab the new logs file handles. If Apache were not restarted, bandwidth/stats would fail to log and that data be lost.

# grep Graceful /usr/local/apache/logs/error_log

[Tue Aug 25 14:14:22 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

[Tue Aug 25 19:15:03 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

[Wed Aug 26 00:57:45 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

[Wed Aug 26 01:47:50 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

[Wed Aug 26 02:37:54 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

[Wed Aug 26 11:07:03 2015] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart

This can be fixed by enabling piped Apache logs. Piped Apache logs reduce the number of open file handles on a server and eliminate the need for Apache to be restarted during stats/bandwidth logging

Requirment

We require root access to the server in order to implement piped logging.

Steps.

There are two possibel methods to enable piped logging. This can be done either by command line terminal or from WHM interface.

Step1: Command line

Login as root via SSH

Make a backup of the Apache configuration file

cp -rp /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf_backpiped

Edit /var/cpanel/cpanel.config:

vi /var/cpanel/cpanel.config

Make effect the changes in cpanel configuration. Run following command

/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/bin/whostmgr2 --updatetweaksettings

Rebuild the Apache config:

/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf

Stop and Start Apache:

/etc/init.d/httpd stop

/etc/init.d/httpd start

Step2: From WHM interface

Make a backup of the Apache configuration file

cp -rp /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf_backpiped

Login to WHM

Go to WHM » Service Configuration » Apache Configuration » Piped Log Configuration

Check the box labeled Enable piped Apache logs.

Thats all!!