Ubuntu – How to start program on boot in Ubuntu 14.04

bootcronrootstartupUbuntu

Is the root crontab the only way? I'm starting up a MC server and don't want it to need me to manually restart it each time the server reboots for whatever reason. I don't want any login required for these programs to initialise.

I'm using ssh to get into this server, it's a VPS, nothing local.

Best Answer

There are more than one way to accomplish this.

You can put your startup script in /etc/init.d and make it resemble to one of the existing scripts over there. But depending on your Linux comfort level, this may be a little daunting.
You can make this a service and make the service start at the boot time. Just do a google search on "how to make my program a service" and you will come across a lot of pages. More than what you can shake a stick at.
If your app is startin g with one single command and is not dependent on anything else, you can add the start-up command at the end of /etc/rc.local file.

You can also put it in the cron to execute at the startup but this is not the way it should be done, in my opinion

Related Solutions

How to ensure a program is always running but without root access

I posted this on a similar question

If you have a cron daemon, one of the predefined cron time hooks is @reboot, which naturally runs when the system starts. Run crontab -e to edit your crontab file, and add a line:

@reboot /your/command/here

I'm told this isn't defined for all cron daemons, so you'll have to check to see if it works on your particular one

Startup – How to Start a Script File on Boot

I run a minecraft server from a debian terminal, and this is probably the wrong way to do it, but it works. First, sudo apt-get install screen, then save the following script as /etc/init.d/minecraft:

#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
  start)
    screen -S minecraft /home/mc/server/craftbukkit.sh
    echo "Server started on screen minecraft"
    ;;
  stop)
    screen -X -S minecraft kill
    echo "Server shutting down"
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/minecraft {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

Now, run the following commands as root:

update-rc.d -f minecraft defaults

This will make the minecraft server run in the background when the system boots. To view the console, run screen -x minecraft in a terminal. To quit the console, press Ctrl+A and then D.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to ensure a program is always running but without root access

Startup – How to Start a Script File on Boot

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