How to terminate a process(httpd) when its PID keeps on changing in CENTOS 7

Question

When I tried to restart my httpd service using systemctl restart httpd

Checking the status, I found that process is dead and another process is running. so I removed it using yum erase httpd

As a precaution, I checked if the process is still running using ps aux | grep httpd# and found it was but this time the PID was different. and after subsequent queries, the PID kept on changing. If I try to kill using any PID, it would say NO Such Process

Check the screenshot:

enter image description here

Hence the question. How do I stop this process so that I can install the service from scratch and configure it?

This PID isn't http process. This PID is grep proccess. Try "systemctl status httpd" for check httpd status. But if you erase httpd package, you haven't any process of httpd — Andrés Sánchez García, Jun 11 '15 at 12:10
Exactly my question. When i have already erased the httpd package, how am I getting httpd (pid 22595) already running . — Anup Sharma, Jun 11 '15 at 12:17
You also grep for `httpd#` including the `#`. Remove the `#` to actually properly match for httpd. — faker, Jun 11 '15 at 12:38

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '15 at 12:11

2

You have to understand that when you grep httpd you'll not just get back any apache processes but the grep process as well. You're seeing your own command reflected back at you.

# ps ax | grep httpd
1818 ? Ss 0:53 /usr/sbin/httpd
38729 ? S 4:38 /usr/sbin/httpd
38730 ? S 4:49 /usr/sbin/httpd
54915 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep httpd

answered Jun 11 '15 at 12:11

Machavity

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Unserstood. But still if I try systemctl status httpd , I get the same error as httpd (pid 22595) already running and Failed to start The Apache HTTP Server. – Anup Sharma Jun 11 '15 at 12:15
Try this instead `service httpd status` – Machavity Jun 11 '15 at 12:17
Same Error. Also when I try to kill 22595, it says NO such process – Anup Sharma Jun 11 '15 at 12:19
3

My best guess then is that the [httpd.pid file](http://superuser.com/questions/422850/why-does-apache-write-its-own-process-id-in-httpd-pid) still exists and the system is returning that. Since your `grep` is empty you might want to make sure that file was deleted – Machavity Jun 11 '15 at 12:22
Can't really find file anywhere. can you please tell me its possible location apart from var/run? – Anup Sharma Jun 11 '15 at 12:34
Mine lives at `/var/run/httpd/httpd.pid` – Machavity Jun 11 '15 at 12:38
Hmmm, no such folder as httpd in run. So could it be any other error? – Anup Sharma Jun 11 '15 at 12:39
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Beyond rebooting I don't have any other suggestions – Machavity Jun 11 '15 at 12:39
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hmmm, tried everything, but ultimately had to reboot. now its working fine – Anup Sharma Jun 11 '15 at 12:59

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 12:42

Try:

find / -name "httpd.pid"
Then delete the pid file, if it exists.

Also, just in case:

systemctl stop httpd
systemctl disable httpd

Machavity is right too, whenever you grep from the output of ps you're going to see your grep command too. It's something you'll get used to.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '15 at 23:32

0

Another approach is you could do killall httpd as a way to kill all processes named httpd.

answered Jun 11 '15 at 23:32

sa289

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Tried that but didn't work. @Machavity 's suggestion of restart worked. – Anup Sharma Jun 12 '15 at 07:27

How to terminate a process(httpd) when its PID keeps on changing in CENTOS 7

3 Answers3