[NTLUG:Discuss] restart or reload?

[rob apodaca]

On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:38:00 +0000
"m m" <llliiilll at hotmail.com> wrote:

> All:
> 
> I always confused with restart, reload and kill -HUP pid.
> when I look/run at the rc files, there always are several options, some of 
> them is clear, like stop, start... but I am confused on the different on 
> restart and reload.
One thing you could do is open the init file, they are nothing more than shell scripts.
Then you could see what goes on when you execute them.

> 
> does reload and restart do the same thing ---update/reload configure files
> reload without stop the service and restart does?
> 
> is "reload" = "kill -HUP service/pid"?

"reload" typically causes the service to re-read it's configuration - without stopping.
"restart" typically is the same as "stop" and then "start".
> 
> 
> whare Do I find information about update process with new modified configure 
> file with stop process/service?
I do not know of one single place to look, but typically man pages and the docs.
My rule of thumb is, if you change a '.conf' file, the service will usually need
to be restarted or at least reloaded, otherwise it usually does not have to be.
Of course this is not always the case.

> for example I modified /etc/hosts files, and what the system take effect 
> base on new modifiy information without reboot or stop networking service, 
> what do I do?
> restart or reload rc script (files in /etc/rc.d/init.d/) file? which rc 
> script files?

In the given example, changes to the /etc/hosts file does not require restarting
or reloading anything.

Again, the best thing might be to read each of the various init scripts on your
system and see what it is they do. Most will do some checking for existance of
variouse config files...there's where you can see which ones are used.
Once they have checked for the config files, they usually invoke the service...
you can read the manpage for that service.

Hope it helps,
-rob