Is Apache running?

I've just taken over webmastery for my company's site, and I'm preparing a report for my partner about the LAMP stack. But I'm a new CS graduate, and the only thing I know really well is Java coding, so I need some help!

I'm trying to find out a) if Apache is installed and b) what version is running.

My Linux version is "Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS \n \l", as reported by /etc/issue.

From serverfault isme

• /sbin/service httpd status
  

  Will say that you don't have it | it's OK | it's OFF

  isme : `/sbin/service httpd status` produces `-bash: /sbin/service: No such file or directory`
  From Novikov

• To check for Apache 1.X see below, for Apache 2.X see wzzrd's answer.

  The apache web server process is called httpd so a quick way to start with confirming apache is installed and running is:

  ps -A | grep 'httpd'

  ps -A lists all the running processes grep 'httpd' filters only lines containing 'httpd'

  If you don't get any results, apache is not running.

  regarding version, try:

  apachectl status

  in the output there should be a line like:
  Apache/1.3.41 Server at www.xyz.com Port 80

  If it cannot find apachectl, it may not be in your execution path, try:
  whereis apachectl
  to see where it is located

  These are distribution agnostic ways so no matter how apache was installed on the system, you should find it with these.

  isme : "ps -A | grep 'httpd'" produces no output.

  isme : "apachectl status" produces "-bash: apachectl: command not found"

  isme : "whereis apachectl" produces "apachectl:"

  isme : However, `ps -A | grep apache2` produces ` 2691 ? 00:00:01 apache2` and 10 other `apache2` processes.

  isme : I appreciate the amount of effort you put into your answer, but I have to mark you down because these are not "distribution agnostic" ways to determinte how apache was installed. Apparently on Ubuntu the process is called `apache2`. See wzzrd's answer: http://serverfault.com/questions/177915/is-apache-running/177930#177930

  ManiacZX : @isme, actually, that isn't a distribution issue but an apache major version issue. I was referencing a box with apache 1.x on it. The instructions would have worked on Ubuntu with apache 1.x and the other answer would have not produced a result.
  From ManiacZX

• Have you tried talking to it?

  telnet localhost 80
  HEAD / HTTP/1.0
  <extra carriage return>
  

  isme : `telnet localhost 80` produces `-bash: telnet: command not found`

  Gerald Combs : You should consider installing it or something with similar functionality such as ncat (part of nmap 5). Talking directly to your web (or SMTP or POP or IMAP or SIP or FTP or …) server can be indispensable for troubleshooting.
  From Gerald Combs

• Is it running?

  pgrep apache
  

  Any output is good, nothing means it isn't running.

  What version:

  aptitude show apache2
  

  isme : `pgrep apache` produces 11 lines of output.

  isme : `aptitude show apache2` produces lots of output, including the line `Version: 2.2.8-1ubuntu0.15`.

  isme : Thank you, this seems to answer my question!

  Marc B : `apache2 -version` in a shell would also work.
  From wzzrd

• Click here: http://localhost If you don't get an error 404, it's running.

  isme : My server instance is a VPS, so I can't just click a link on my local machine to check whether it's running.

  halp : You could run some ncurses web browser like links or lynx directly on the server.
  From Fernando