Linux: process into a service - linux

Question

I am trying to make a linux executable as a service
I execute my program like this below
java -jar mytestprogram.jar
creates a process that runs continuously and serves REST requests. But I want to run it as a service where I can do
service mytestprogram start
service mytestprogram stop
service mytestprogram status
chkconfig mytestprogram on
etc. What is the most simple way of doing it?

Answer 1

That depends on your system manager
the most common way to do that on debian/ubuntu is to build an initscript and place it in /etc/init.d or /etc/rc/init.d and place a script named mytestprogram in that.
this is an example initscript:
#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: testone
# Required-Start: $local_fs
# Required-Stop: $local_fs
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# X-Interactive: false
# Short-Description: Example init script
# Description: Start/stop an example script
### END INIT INFO
DESC="test script"
NAME=testone
#DAEMON=
do_start()
{
echo "starting!";
}
do_stop()
{
echo "stopping!"
}
case "$1" in
start)
do_start
;;
stop)
do_stop
;;
esac
exit 0
I suggest you to look some scripts in that directory, It's simple if you know bash a little ;)

Answer 2

Here is a sample shell script (make sure you replace the MAT name with the name of the your application):
I create one GitHubGist with the latest version of my script and a brief explanation to help those who need it. GitHub Gist link
#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: MATH
# Required-Start: $java
# Required-Stop: $java
# Short-Description: Start and stop MATH service.
# Description: -
# Date-Creation: -
# Date-Last-Modification: -
# Author: -
### END INIT INFO
# Variables
PGREP=/usr/bin/pgrep
JAVA=/usr/bin/java
ZERO=0
# Start the MATH
start() {
echo "Starting MATH..."
#Verify if the service is running
$PGREP -f MATH > /dev/null
VERIFIER=$?
if [ $ZERO = $VERIFIER ]
then
echo "The service is already running"
else
#Run the jar file MATH service
$JAVA -jar /opt/MATH/MATH.jar > /dev/null 2>&1 &
#sleep time before the service verification
sleep 10
#Verify if the service is running
$PGREP -f MATH > /dev/null
VERIFIER=$?
if [ $ZERO = $VERIFIER ]
then
echo "Service was successfully started"
else
echo "Failed to start service"
fi
fi
echo
}
# Stop the MATH
stop() {
echo "Stopping MATH..."
#Verify if the service is running
$PGREP -f MATH > /dev/null
VERIFIER=$?
if [ $ZERO = $VERIFIER ]
then
#Kill the pid of java with the service name
kill -9 $($PGREP -f MATH)
#Sleep time before the service verification
sleep 10
#Verify if the service is running
$PGREP -f MATH > /dev/null
VERIFIER=$?
if [ $ZERO = $VERIFIER ]
then
echo "Failed to stop service"
else
echo "Service was successfully stopped"
fi
else
echo "The service is already stopped"
fi
echo
}
# Verify the status of MATH
status() {
echo "Checking status of MATH..."
#Verify if the service is running
$PGREP -f MATH > /dev/null
VERIFIER=$?
if [ $ZERO = $VERIFIER ]
then
echo "Service is running"
else
echo "Service is stopped"
fi
echo
}
# Main logic
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
status)
status
;;
restart|reload)
stop
start
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart|reload}"
exit 1
esac
exit 0

Answer 3

In Ubuntu you can create the file as explained above with few lines, play around and see if it works for you.
description "My prog"
start on (net-device-up
and local-filesystems
and runlevel [2345])
stop on runlevel [!2345]
respawn
respawn limit 10 5
setuid root
setgid shnmon
script
/usr/local/bin/my_script -config.path /etc/myprog/yourconfig.xyz -children false >> /var/log/myprog.log 2>&1
end script
The "-config.path /etc/myprog/yourconfig.xyz" is optional incase you have a config file.
You can just edit the script part and test it and keep others default and edit the rest along the way