Getting Started

After you have installed Traffic Server on your system, you can do any of the following:

• Start Traffic Server
• Start Traffic Line
• Start Traffic Shell
• Stop Traffic Server

Start Traffic Server

To start Traffic Server manually, issue the trafficserver command, passing in the attribute start. This command starts all the processes that work together to process Traffic Server requests as well as manage, control, and monitor the health of the Traffic Server system.

To run the trafficserver start command:

1. Log on to the Traffic Server node as the Traffic Server administrator and navigate to the Traffic Server bin directory.
2. Enter the following command:
   ./start_traffic_server
./trafficserver start

Start Traffic Line

Traffic Line provides a quick way of viewing Traffic Server statistics and configuring the Traffic Server system via command-line interface. To execute individual commands or script multiple commands, refer to Traffic Line Commands.

To start a Traffic Line session:

1. Log on to a Traffic Server node as the Traffic Server administrator and navigate to the Traffic Server bin directory.
   Traffic Line commands take the following form:
   traffic_line -command argument
2. For a list of traffic_line commands, enter:
   traffic_line -h
   If the Traffic Server bin directory is not in your path, then prepend the Traffic Line command with ./ (for example, ./traffic_line -h).

Start Traffic Shell

Traffic Shell is a command-line tool that enables you to monitor and configure Traffic Server; it can be used instead of Traffic Line. Traffic Server provides documentation for Traffic Shell in the form of manual (man) pages.

To start Traffic Shell and read an overview man page:

1. Log on to a Traffic Server node as the Traffic Server administrator and navigate to the Traffic Server bin directory.
2. Enter the following command:
   ./start_traffic_shell
3. Enter the following command to display the traffic_shell overview man page:
   man traffic_shell
   
   The man page describes how to use Traffic Shell, how to obtain a list of available commands, and how to obtain documentation about each command.

Stop Traffic Server

To stop Traffic Server, always use the trafficserver command, passing in the attribute stop. This command stops all the Traffic Server processes (traffic_manager, traffic_server, and traffic_cop). Do not manually stop processes, as this can lead to unpredictable results.

To run the trafficserver stop command:

1. Log on to the node as the Traffic Server administrator and navigate to the Traffic Server bin directory.
2. Enter the following command:
   ./trafficserver stop