Start NodeBB on system boot

[markkus]

Hey,

How do you guys start NodeBB automatically on system boot? I found this Upstart script over here: https://www.exratione.com/2013/02/nodejs-and-forever-as-a-service-simple-upstart-and-init-scripts-for-ubuntu/. However, after I edited this to match my Node & NodeBB paths etc., it gives me an error.
root@domain:/etc/init# start nodebb
start: Job failed to start
Here is the script I'm using. http://pastebin.com/M1uNFkPi

[Marco]

There are different possibilities. Unfortunately, I don't know much about Ubuntu. But I guess, it should be the same as on Debian.
In /etc/init.d there are scripts which are run on system startup with start as parameter and stop on system shutdown. All you have to do is make such a little script which takes 1 parameter and either starts nodebb if the parameter is start or stop nodebb if the parameter is stop.

#! /bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/nodebb

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting NodeBB..."
    /srv/www/community/nodebb start
    ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping NodeBB..."
    /srv/www/community/nodebb start
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/nodebb {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

[a_5mith]

Have a look into forever or supervisor. They're in the nodebb documentation.

[Marco]

@a_5mith I don't think forever or supervisor start nodebb after system start. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[markkus]

@Marco The Debian script you provided uses the built-in NodeBB start function(?), which is okay, but I need the script to start a forever instance. How can do that?

[Marco]

@markkus Sorry, I did not get that from your first post. If you want to run a script forever, use forever. If you want it to start after system boot, all you have to do is change the script I posted a little bit to use forever instead of nodebb.

[Guiri]

@Marco I use @reboot /usr/local/bin/forever /my/nodebb/app.js start in my crontab. That seems to do the trick.

[Marco]

@Guiri Yep. There are many ways. I prefer having a nice script which can do start/stop tasks when I call it in one place with all the other start/stop scripts. You prefer a solution which is more behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, both will work The OP will have to choose what he wants to do

[julian]

... there was an article on using Upstart in the wiki, but I cleared out the wiki and didn't notice it wasn't migrated to the documentation...

In any case, this is the upstart config I use in running this forum:

start on startup
stop on runlevel [016]

respawn

setuid julian
setgid julian

script
    cd /path/to/my/nodebb
    ./nodebb start
end script

Edit: I think you might need a --no-daemon tacked on to the end of the ./nodebb start...

[eEight]

@julian Not working for me. I'm using ubuntu. I tried your Upstart script with and without the --no-daemon, I can see the process listed but the forum is not started. With --no-daemon it minified in infite loop.

I am using nginx and user www-data setuid www-data is that a problem?

su - www-data -c '/srv/www/mywebsite/nodebb/nodebb start'
No directory, logging in with HOME=/
This account is currently not available.

well I created an user for nodebb, but the problem persist. I am not able to boot nodebb at startup.

i am wondering about the other proposed script, they will start nodebb with root!? is that ok?

it would be very nice to have a better documentation for this part on https://docs.nodebb.org/en/latest/running/index.html

[julian]

@eEight Who owns the files in /src/www/mywebsite/nodebb? The user starting nodebb should be a user that has write access to that folder (at the very least).

If you're calling setuid www-data, there's no need to prefix the ./nodebb start command with su - www-data

[eEight]

@julian Looks like it's impossible to run nodebb with www-data (nginx user), because www-data doesn't have a "real" account. So I created an user nodebb and use your script in /etc/init/nodebb.conf

start on startup
stop on runlevel [016]

respawn

setuid nodebb
setgid nodebb

script
    cd /srv/www/mywebsite/nodebb
    ./nodebb start
end script

When booting my server = nodebb is not started. I have to do manually service nodebb start then it works.

[markkus]

@eEight Why would you want to start NodeBB with www-data? I'm pretty sure that running NodeBB with root won't rise a security risk.

Anyway, try adding this script as a init.d service in /etc/init.d/nodebb/. I'm pretty sure it will boot your NodeBB instance flawlessly, as I'm using basically the same script.
(Ubuntu)

#! /bin/bash
# /etc/init.d/nodebb

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo "Starting NodeBB..."
    cd /srv/www/community/nodebb
    ./nodebb start
    ;;
  stop)
    echo "Stopping NodeBB..."
    cd /srv/www/community/nodebb
    ./nodebb stop
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/nodebb {start|stop}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

[julian]

Re: starting NodeBB as root user:

Conventionally, this is not encouraged as it breaks the "rule of least privilege". Processes should have as restrictive a set of privileges as possible so that in the event that a malicious user is able to "break out" of the app and into a command line environment, they are only able to do a limited amount of damage.

If a malicious user broke out and was automatically a root user, there is no limit to what he/she could do.

[eEight]

Not sure why but the UpStart script from @julian is not launched at boot. I have to manually log and type service nodebb start then it works (launching nodebb with the right user & group).

[erlgo]

Found this sample for startup node app's shell:
https://github.com/chovy/node-startup.git

Easy to use & Save times.

[Peter-Zoltan Keresztes]

just put in cronjob something like this:

@reboot cd <path>/<to>/<nodebb> && ./nodebb start

that would do the startup trick.
Until the latest version pm2 was doing a good job.

[Shaun]

start on startup
stop on runlevel [016]

respawn

setuid nodebb
setgid nodebb

script
    cd /srv/www/mywebsite/nodebb
    node loader.js --no-silent --no-daemon
end script

This script (from https://docs.nodebb.org/en/latest/running/index.html) has been working for me forever on 0.6.x but is no longer starting NodeBB on startup. /var/log/upstart/nodebb.log contains this, repeated over and over again:

events.js:85
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
            ^
Error: EROFS, open '/opt/nodebb/logs/output.log'
    at Error (native)
events.js:85
      throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
            ^
Error: EROFS, open '/opt/nodebb/logs/output.log'
    at Error (native)

Anyone have a clue what might be broken?
sudo start nodebb works as expected, as does ./nodebb start and node loader.js --no-silent --no-daemon works when I log in to the console. I replaced that line with ./nodebb start and it seems to work. Is this just a case of the docs being out of date or is this something I should be concerned about?

[chrismccoy]

Here is what my startup script looks like on ubuntu 14.10 (my nodebb is run under my username)

[julian]

@Shaun, the EROFS error points to /opt/nodebb not being a writable file system... as far as I know, that upstart script still works, as I am using it myself.