Linux: process into a service

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