# Restart Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL and other server services

> See whether Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, Redis, Supervisor and other services run on your server, restart, reload, stop or start them, or reboot the server.

The **Services** page of a server shows the system services Vimonto Deploy installed on it, such as Nginx, PHP-FPM, your database and Redis, with their live status. From the same page you can restart, reload, stop or start each service, and restart the whole server.

Use it when a service hangs, after you changed a configuration file by hand, or to check quickly that everything is running. You find it in the server's sidebar under **Services**, or through **Restart services** in the **Actions** menu of the server header.

![The Services page of a server: a summary line saying all services are running, then Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, Redis and other services grouped under Web, Data and System, each with a Running status, a Restart button and a menu](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs-media/en/server-services.webp?v=161e760d "The services of a server and their status")

## Which services are listed?

The list depends on the [server type](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/server-types): Vimonto Deploy lists the services it installs for that type, plus one PHP-FPM row for each [PHP version](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/php) installed on the server.

The page groups them under **Web** (Nginx and PHP-FPM), **Data** (the database, Redis, Memcached and Meilisearch) and **System** (Supervisor, Cron, Fail2ban and SSH). Each row shows the service's name, its status, a short explanation of what it does and its systemd unit. A line above the groups tells you at a glance whether everything runs, for example **All 9 services are running.**, or which services are not running.

| Service | systemd unit | Shown on | Actions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Nginx | `nginx` | App, web and load balancer servers | Restart, Reload, Stop, Start |
| PHP *x.y* FPM | `php8.4-fpm` (one per version) | Servers with PHP, for each installed [PHP version](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/php) | Restart, Reload, Stop, Start |
| MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL | `mysql`, `mariadb` or `postgresql` | Servers with a database | Restart, Stop, Start |
| Redis | `redis-server` | App and cache servers | Restart, Stop, Start |
| Memcached | `memcached` | App and cache servers | Restart, Stop, Start |
| Meilisearch | `meilisearch` | Meilisearch servers | Restart, Stop, Start |
| Supervisor | `supervisor` | App, web and worker servers | Restart, Stop, Start |
| Cron | `cron` | Every server | Restart |
| Fail2ban | `fail2ban` | Every server | Restart |
| SSH | `ssh` | Every server | Reload |

The newest PHP version is listed first. The database row is labelled with the engine and version the server was created with, for example MySQL 8.4.

> [!NOTE]
> SSH can only be reloaded, not stopped or restarted: stopping it would cut off Vimonto Deploy's own access to the server. Cron and Fail2ban can only be restarted.

## How is the status checked?

When you open the page, Vimonto Deploy connects to the server over SSH and runs `systemctl is-active` for every service in the list. Until the answer arrives, each row shows **Fetching…**. Then each service gets one of these statuses:

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Running** | The service is active. |
| **Stopped** | The service is not running (systemd reports `inactive`). |
| **Failed** | The service crashed or could not start. |
| **Starting** | The service is starting (`activating`). |
| **Stopping** | The service is shutting down (`deactivating`). |
| **Reloading** | The service is reading its configuration again (`reloading`). |
| **Refreshing** | systemd is refreshing the service's mounts or other resources (`refreshing`). |
| **Unknown** | systemd reported a state Vimonto Deploy does not know, or none at all. |

**Starting**, **Stopping**, **Reloading** and **Refreshing** are passing states, shown in the accent colour with a pulsing dot rather than as an error: click **Refresh status** after a moment to see where the service ended up. **Unknown** is shown in grey; only **Failed** and **Stopped** are red.

The status is read once when the page opens and again after each action. Click **Refresh status** to read it again at any moment. If the server cannot be reached, an error message appears above the list instead.

## Restart, reload, stop or start a service

1. Open the server and choose **Services** in the sidebar.
2. Find the service and click the button in its row: **Restart** for a running service (**Reload** for SSH), **Start** for one that is stopped or has failed.
3. For the other actions, open the menu (⋯) next to that button and choose **Reload**, **Stop**, **Start** or **Restart**. The menu only offers what fits the service's state: a running service has no **Start**, and a stopped one no **Stop** or **Reload**. Until the status is known, every action is there.

The action runs as a background task, for example *Restart Nginx on web-1*, and a notification confirms that the service is restarting. While it runs, the button and menu of that service are disabled. You can follow the task, and read its output, in the server's activity and on the [activity page](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/organization/activity).

After the command, the task waits one second and prints the service's new state, so the task output tells you whether the service came back.

### Restart or reload: which one?

- **Reload** asks the service to read its configuration again without stopping. Open connections stay open. Use it after a configuration change for Nginx, PHP-FPM or SSH.
- **Restart** stops the service and starts it again. Use it when a service hangs or a reload is not enough.

If a service cannot reload, Vimonto Deploy restarts it instead.

> [!WARNING]
> Stopping Nginx, PHP-FPM or the database takes the sites on that server offline until you start the service again. Stopping Supervisor stops every queue worker and [process](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/processes) on the server.

## Restart the whole server

Click **Restart server** at the top of the page and confirm. The server reboots: it is unreachable for a minute or two, and sites and processes start again by themselves afterwards. The reboot is recorded as a task named *Restart* followed by the server's name.

A restart is useful after kernel or system updates, or when a server no longer responds properly. It does not change anything on the server.

## Who can manage services?

Every member of the organization can see the Services page and the status of each service. Restarting, reloading, stopping or starting a service and restarting the server need the permission to manage servers, which the owner, administrator, manager and developer roles have. Viewers only see the status. See [members and roles](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/organization/members-and-roles).

The buttons only appear while the server is active. During provisioning, or when the server is disconnected, you cannot change services.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I need to restart PHP-FPM after a deploy?

No. When a deploy makes a new release live, Vimonto Deploy reloads the site's PHP-FPM version for you, so the new code is served straight away and OPcache is refreshed. See [deployments](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/sites/deployments). Use **Reload** here only when you changed PHP settings by hand.

### A service shows Failed. What now?

Click **Restart** for that service and read the task output. If it fails again, look at the logs: open the [terminal](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/terminal) and run `journalctl -u nginx -n 50` (with the unit name from the list), or check the [site logs](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/sites/logs) for Nginx and PHP-FPM errors.

### Why is a service I installed myself not listed?

The page only lists the services Vimonto Deploy installs and manages. Manage other services with `systemctl` in the [terminal](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/terminal), or run your own programs as [processes](https://ops.vimonto.com/docs/servers/processes).

### Why are there no buttons next to the services?

The buttons only appear when your role may manage servers and the server is active. Viewers see only the status, and so does everyone while a server is being provisioned or is disconnected.