cloudxtreme/servator

Service creation tool for linux/unix and mac.

Servator

A service creator based on the state of the running system. The idea is to inspect a running system and create start scripts based on what is found running. It is so simple to create server scripts this way, example

$ erl -sname foo -s foo -config foo.config
> servator:make_soft_release(foo).
> ...
> halt().

$ mv etc/erlang/foo /etc/erlang/foo
$ mv var/erlang/foo /var/erlang/foo
$ # maybe edit /etc/erlang/foo.config to reflect the new home

The soft release create a release structure but will use symbolic links to refer to the libraries used.

$ erl -sname foo -s foo -config foo.config
> servator:make_release(foo, "1.0").
> ...
> halt().

$ mv etc/erlang/foo /etc/erlang/foo
$ mv var/erlang/foo /var/erlang/foo
$ # maybe edit /etc/erlang/foo.config to reflect the new home

When creating a release all data is copied into a release structure that can be use standalone.

More info about the release structure is found in RELEASE.md

Commands

Starting the service is as simple as

/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run start

To stop then

/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run stop

Attach to the running node and get a shell

/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run attach

ctrl-C will only kill the client node.

To get current status

/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run status

will report 'down', 'up' or custom status if the function :status() is implemented and generate some status output ( safest is to use erlang:display to get some output )

Start in interactive mode

/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run interactive

To start a node in "normal" mode can be nice when debuging.

Linux init.d

$ sudo cp etc/init.d/foo /etc/init.d/
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/foo
$ sudo update-rc.d foo defaults

Linux rc.local

To start an erlang service on most linux system when system starts add the following line to /etc/rc.local ( before any exit 0 )

# start <app> erlang service
/etc/erlang/<app>/<app>.run start

Mac OS X

On 10.10 ( and later ? )

sudo cp /etc/erlang/<app>/org.erlang.<app>.plist /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl bootstrap system /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.erlang.<app>.plist
sudo launchctl kickstart system/org.erlang.<app>.plist
sudo launchctl enable system/org.erlang.<app>.plist

On 10.x before 10.10 ( still works in 10.10! )

sudo cp /etc/erlang/<app>/org.erlang.<app>.plist /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.erlang.<app>.plist

Print current status (10.10 ?)

launchctl print system/org.erlang.xylan

10.11 (El Capitan)

In 10.11 it is no longer possible to install stuff under /System/Library/LaunchDaemons so instead /Library/LaunchDaemons is used

sudo cp /etc/erlang/<app>/org.erlang.<app>.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.erlang.<app>.plist