Can I execute a shell script when restarting (starting) apache webserver

Question

I have an application with some cacheing backend and I want to clear the cacheing whenever the webserver is been restarted.

Is there a apache configuration directive or any other way to execute a shell script upon webserver (re)start?

Thanks, Phil

Adding some more information, as asked by some answers already:

Base system is ofc linux based, in this exact situation: CentOs
Modifying the startup script is unfortunately no option as pointed out by one of the comments already, due to it beeing not configuration file within the respective RPM packages and therefor beeing replaced by updates. Also I think modifying the startup script would be a bad thing in general
I see, that actually linking both "restarting the webserver" and "clearing my app cache" is not exactly what should be tied together. I will consider other alternatives
My situation is as follows: I can define how the virtual host config looks like, but I can not define how the rest of the servers configuration looks like.
The application is actually PHP based (and runs on the symfony framework). Symfony pre-compiles alot of stuff into dynamic php files from what it finds in the static configuration files. We deploy our apps via RPM and after deployment, an webserver restart is actually initiated already, so I thought it might make sense to tie the cache-cleanup to it. But I think after getting all your feedback, it looks like it is better to put the cache cleanup process into the installation process itself.

muffinista · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-20 15:35:54Z

1

You haven't provided a lot of detail here, so it's hard to give a concrete answer, but I would suggest that your best option is to write a script which handles restarting apache, and clearing your cache. It would look something like this:

#!/bin/sh

# restart apache
/etc/init.d/httpd graceful

# whatever needs to be done to clear cache
rm -rf /my/cache/dir

Ramy suggests modifying the system startup script for Apache -- this is a bad idea! If and when you update Apache on your server, there is a good chance that your change will be lost.

Dirk suggests that what you are trying to do is probably misguided, and I think he's right. You haven't told us what platform you are running, but I can think of few situations where restarting your webserver and clearing a cache actually need to happen together.

answered Jan 20, 2012 at 15:35

muffinista

6,7562 gold badges32 silver badges23 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Linuxstartway · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-24 10:57:28Z

1

You can modify Startup script for the Apache Web Server in /etc/init.d/httpd and write your own syntax inside it.

chattr +i /etc/init.d/httpd

edited Jan 24, 2012 at 10:57

answered Jan 20, 2012 at 15:13

Linuxstartway

1964 silver badges13 bronze badges

Comments

Dirk Leuther · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-20 14:22:19Z

0

If you have (root) access to the server you could do this by shell scripts but I would consider if it is the best way of cache management to rely on apache restarts.

answered Jan 20, 2012 at 14:22

Dirk Leuther

1036 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Can I execute a shell script when restarting (starting) apache webserver

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related