Apache Graceful restart requested in log file

[davidallen39]

Hi All,

The following lines appear in our appache log files:
[Wed Apr 14 13:01:30 2010] [notice] Graceful estart requested, doing restart
[Wed Apr 14 13:01:30 2010] [notice] Apache/2.2.15 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.15 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4 PHP/5.2.9 configured -- resuming normal operations


They appear about 5 times a day. We never request the restart.

Is there any way we can find out which software is requesting this restart. I have seen other posts that suggest that it is cpanel.

Please help as it is happening on a high traffic site.

[ne0shell]

Check your settings in the tweak section of WHM for the process limit setting.

Basically if your application is using more than x amount of RAM or the process load is over x the application is automatically restarted.

It's not a bad thing, it could be an indication of a poorly coded script on your website, that you need to set the process limits a bit higher or even that your server has been attacked / hacked.

Check your performance metrics (RAM, CPU Load, etc) and see what kind of resource load httpd is pulling vs available resources. You may find you need to optimize applications or upgrade your hosting.

[LeGastronome]

I have the same issue.

[Fri Nov 26 07:00:58 2010] [notice] Graceful restart requested, doing restart
[Fri Nov 26 07:00:59 2010] [notice] Apache/2.2.17 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.17 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4 configured -- resuming normal operations

Any infos ?

[cPanelJared]

A graceful restart is done any time cPanel makes an update to the Apache configuration. For example, this will happen if you create or terminate an account, or add or remove an addon domain, subdomain or parked domain. A graceful restart is also called when stats are processed.

A graceful restart is not the same as a full Apache restart. After a graceful restart, the uptime reported by /usr/local/apache/bin/apachectl status stays the same. A graceful restart is really a reloading of the configuration values, and should not affect the functioning of your sites.

Unless this is happening very often, i.e. every few minutes, or seems to be affecting the functioning of your sites, a graceful restart can be disregarded, because it is not normally an indication of anything wrong. If, however, your sites are becoming unavailable, and this seems to coincide with graceful restarts, please submit a ticket so we may investigate further for you.