You need to create a shell script in the /etc/init.d folder for that. It's sort of complicated if you never have done it but there is plenty of information on the web on init.d scripts.
Here is a sample a script that I created to run a CoffeeScript site with forever:
#!/bin/bash
#
# initd-example Node init.d
#
# chkconfig: 345
# description: Script to start a coffee script application through forever
# processname: forever/coffeescript/node
# pidfile: /var/run/forever-initd-hectorcorrea.pid
# logfile: /var/run/forever-initd-hectorcorrea.log
#
# Based on a script posted by https://gist.github.com/jinze at https://gist.github.com/3748766
#
# Source function library.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
pidFile=/var/run/forever-initd-hectorcorrea.pid
logFile=/var/run/forever-initd-hectorcorrea.log
sourceDir=/home/hectorlinux/website
coffeeFile=app.coffee
scriptId=$sourceDir/$coffeeFile
start() {
echo "Starting $scriptId"
# This is found in the library referenced at the top of the script
start_daemon
# Start our CoffeeScript app through forever
# Notice that we change the PATH because on reboot
# the PATH does not include the path to node.
# Launching forever or coffee with a full path
# does not work unless we set the PATH.
cd $sourceDir
PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
NODE_ENV=production PORT=80 forever start --pidFile $pidFile -l $logFile -a -d --sourceDir $sourceDir/ -c coffee $coffeeFile
RETVAL=$?
}
restart() {
echo -n "Restarting $scriptId"
/usr/local/bin/forever restart $scriptId
RETVAL=$?
}
stop() {
echo -n "Shutting down $scriptId"
/usr/local/bin/forever stop $scriptId
RETVAL=$?
}
status() {
echo -n "Status $scriptId"
/usr/local/bin/forever list
RETVAL=$?
}
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
status)
status
;;
restart)
restart
;;
*)
echo "Usage: {start|stop|status|restart}"
exit 1
;;
esac
exit $RETVAL
I had to make sure the folder and PATHs were explicitly set or available to the root user since init.d scripts are ran as root.
To start editing run the following replacing the "testuser" with your desired runtime user for the node process. If you choose a different user other than yourself, you will have to run this with sudo.
$ crontab -u testuser -e
If you have never done this before, it will ask you which editor you wish to edit with. I like vim, but will recommend nano for ease of use.
Save the file. You should get some feedback that the cron has been installed.
For further confirmation of the installation of the cron, execute the following (again replacing "testuser" with your target username) to list the currently installed crons:
$ crontab -u testuser -l
Note that in my opinion, you should always use full paths when executing binaries in cron.
Also, if the path to your forever script is not correct, run which forever to get the full path.
Given that forever calls node, you may also want to provide the full path to node:
Forever was not made to get node applications running as services. The right approach is to either create an /etc/inittab entry (old linux systems) or an upstart (newer linux systems).
crontab does not work for me on CentOS x86 6.5. @reboot seems to be not working.
Finally I got this solution:
Edit:/etc/rc.local
sudo vi /etc/rc.local
Add this line to the end of the file. Change USER_NAME and PATH_TO_PROJECT to your own. NODE_ENV=production means the app runs in production mode. You can add more lines if you need to run more than one node.js app.
su - USER_NAME -c "NODE_ENV=production /usr/local/bin/forever start /PATH_TO_PROJECT/app.js"
Don't set NODE_ENV in a separate line, your app will still run in development mode, because forever does not get NODE_ENV.
# WRONG!
su - USER_NAME -c "export NODE_ENV=production"
Save and quit vi (press ESC : w q return). You can try rebooting your server. After your server reboots, your node.js app should run automatically, even if you don't log into any account remotely via ssh.
You'd better set NODE_ENV environment in your shell. NODE_ENV will be set automatically when your account USER_NAME logs in.
npm install -g forever-service
forever-service install test
This will provision app.js in the current directory as a service via forever. The service will automatically restart every time system is restarted. Also when stopped it will attempt a graceful stop. This script provisions the logrotate script as well.
I tried lots of the above answers. None of them worked for me. My app is installed in /home and as user, not as root. This probably means that when the above mentioned start scripts run, /home is not mounted yet, so the app is not started.
Which is the best option to run the server production server
What are the advantages of running your application this way?
PM2 will automatically restart your application if it crashes.
PM2 will keep a log of your unhandled exceptions - in this case, in a file at /home/safeuser/.pm2/logs/app-err.log.
With one command, PM2 can ensure that any applications it manages restart when the server reboots. Basically, your node application will start as a service.
complete example crontab (located at /etc/crontab) ..
#!/bin/bash
# edit this file with .. crontab -u root -e
# view this file with .. crontab -u root -l
# put your path here if it differs
PATH=/root/bin:/root/.local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/snap/bin
# * * * * * echo "executes once every minute" > /root/deleteme
@reboot cd /root/bible-api-dbt-server; npm run forever;
@reboot cd /root/database-api-server; npm run forever;
@reboot cd /root/mailer-api-server; npm run forever;
The problem with rc.local is that the commands are accessed as root which is different than logging to as a user and using sudo.
I solved this problem by adding a .sh script with the startup commands i want to etc/profile.d. Any .sh file in profile.d will load automatically and any command will be treated as if you used the regular sudo.
The only downside to this is the specified user needs to loggin for things to start which in my situation was always the case.
NOTE: pm2 startup is for startting the PM2 when the system reboots. PM2 once started, restarts all the processes it had been managing before the system went down.
In case you want to disable the automatic startup, simply use pm2 unstartup
If you want the startup script to be executed under another user, just use the -u <username> option and the --hp <user_home>: