auto start user(not root user) process on fedora boot

Question

I have a VM running under Fedora OS. That VM has four users lets say(A, B, C, D). That VM has one process running under each user. So when that VM is rebooted, what should I do so that those process auto starts under respective user.

Provided that

a is the custom command to start a process under A user

b is the custom command to start a process under B user

c is the custom command to start a process under C user

d is the custom command to start a process under D user

a,b,c,d are the commands that are not available to root user. They are only available to respective users.

Thanks

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 31 '13 at 07:43

2

Create a separate Systemd init script for the processes. For process A create the file /etc/systemd/system/A.service and add something like this to it:

[Unit]
Description=Process A
After=network.target

[Service]
User=userA
Type=forking
ExecStart=/some/command/to/run --arg1 --arg2
Restart=on-failure
StartLimitInterval=5min
StartLimitBurst=4

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Customize this as you like (Restart, StartLimitInterval, StartLimitBurst, etc...)

Then enable it with

systemctl enable A.service

and start

systemctl start A.service

answered Jul 31 '13 at 07:43

Stone

6,941
1
19
33

I must spin up a fedora vm and start learning systemd, it's heading my way in a future EL release. – user9517 Jul 31 '13 at 07:47
Systemd is a great thing, I use it everywhere since Arch switched to it. – Stone Jul 31 '13 at 07:50
@stone: Do I need to make separate service file for four users? – Gagan Jul 31 '13 at 07:54
Yes, this is the cleanest way to do this. – Stone Jul 31 '13 at 08:06
@stone: Fedora 18 says systemctl: command not found. Have I forgot something to install so that systemctl command can be found. – Gagan Jul 31 '13 at 08:11
It should be there somewhere, on Arch it is in /usr/bin/systemctl but on Fedora don't know. – Stone Jul 31 '13 at 09:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '13 at 07:41

1

Can you use the /etc/crontab and the @reboot time. The format of the /etc/crontab takes a username after the time specification and the process is run as that user.

@reboot A /path/to/a
@reboot B /path/tob

and so on.

answered Jul 31 '13 at 07:41

user9517

114,104
20
206
289

All I want is that the process must be started whenever the server boots. Will it be possible with your answer? – Gagan Jul 31 '13 at 07:45
@Gagan: Why not test it and see ? – user9517 Jul 31 '13 at 07:45
@lain: What should I replace reboot with? Is reboot some kind of special variable that crontab recognize? – Gagan Jul 31 '13 at 07:53
@lain: I have added reboot to crontab file but after reboot it didn't start the process. reboot has at sign infront of it. – Gagan Jul 31 '13 at 08:07
Its a special variable, you don't need to replace it. – Stone Jul 31 '13 at 08:07

auto start user(not root user) process on fedora boot

2 Answers2