Upstart script for node.js app

Question

I\'m having trouble starting an Upstart script.

Here\'s the script (app.conf in /etc/init/)

description \"node.js server\"
author      \"kvz\"

start on          


        

Answer 1

After a few attempts I implemented working .conf file for upstart which works as a service with automatic start after reboot and restart (respawn) in case of crash. Also it can start my app with unprivileged user permissions. The name of the file is /etc/init/my-app.conf.

To start / stop service please use

sudo start my-app / sudo stop my-app

If you have an error like

start: Unknown job: my-app

exec the following command

sudo initctl reload-configuration

My /etc/init/my-app.conf file:

#my-app                                                                           
description "node.js my-app website"                                                  
env FULL_PATH="/home/myuser/app.prod/app"                                              
env NODE_PATH="/usr/bin/node"                                                     


start on filesystem or runlevel [2345]                                            
stop on [!2345]                                                                   

script                                                                            
    export HOME="/root"                                                           
    export NODE_ENV=production                                                    
    echo $$ > /var/run/my-app.pid                                                 
    cd $FULL_PATH        
    #Use exec below if you want to launch it under myuser, 
    #don't forget to create /var/log/my-app.sys.log with appropriate permissions
    #exec sudo -u myuser sh -c "$NODE_PATH server.js >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log 2>&1" 
    exec $NODE_PATH server.js >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log 2>&1                     
end script                                                                        

pre-start script                                                                  
    echo "[`date`] (sys) Starting" >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log                     
end script                                                                        

pre-stop script                                                                   
    rm /var/run/my-app.pid                                                        
    echo "[`date`] (sys) Stopping" >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log                     
end script                                                                        

#uncomment respawn if you want to restart your service in case of crash
#respawn                                                                          
#respawn limit 50 30   

I do recommend to uncomment respawn after you will make sure that everything works ok.

UPDATE

I improved my script (please keep in mind that it works not under root but under regular user zn ):

#znapi.conf                                                                    
description "node.js zn api"                                        

env FULL_PATH="/home/zn/app.prod"                          
env NODE_PATH="/usr/bin/node"                                  
env LOG="/var/log/znapi.log"
env PIDFILE="/var/run/znapi.pid"

# Start up when the system hits any normal runlevel, and 
#start on filesystem or runlevel [2345]     
#start when mongod started
start on started mongod

# shuts down when the system goes to shutdown or reboot.
stop on runlevel [06]                                                              

respawn
respawn limit 50 5

pre-start script                                                    
    # check that log file exist or create it
    test -f $LOG || { touch $LOG; chown zn:zn $LOG; }

    # Date format same as (new Date()).toISOString() for consistency
    echo "[`date`] (sys) Starting" >> $LOG            
end script                                                          

script                                                                       
    export NODE_ENV=production
    exec start-stop-daemon --start -m -p $PIDFILE -c zn -d $FULL_PATH -x server.js >> $LOG 2>&1
end script                                                                   

pre-stop script                                                              
    rm $PIDFILE                                                   
    echo "[`date`] (sys) Stopping" >> $LOG                    
end script