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This page summarizes how to setup OFBiz to run as a service started automatically when your machine starts. It assumes a reasonable familiarity with:

installing and running ofbiz at the command-line
using the filesystem and permissions system on your chosen operating system

The exact steps to follow depend very much on your operating system:

Windows

See this specific guide: How to Run OFBiz as Windows Service with Java Service Wrapper

Linux

Assuming your Linux distro uses some variant of the System V Init framework to run its services, you can use the rc.ofbiz script inside the "tools" folder of the home folder of OFBiz (or in the home folder itself for releases older than 12.04). I HAVE NOT TESTED THIS SCRIPT. In my own firm, we use our own custom-written script for various reasons. But the rc.ofbiz script was written by David E. Jones so it is probably reasonable! You may need to perform some of the commands below as root or via sudo, if you don't know what that means, please find out BEFORE you start hosting OFBiz on Linux!

1. Create a linux user dedicated to run OFBiz (should NOT be root, for many good reasons that I will not go into here). This user should have full permissions over OFBiz installation dir and its subdir (for simplicity, in fact you could tune this). Your commands will be SOMETHING LIKE...

Code Block
useradd -m ofbiz chown -R ofbiz /opt/ofbiz chmod 700 /opt/ofbiz

2. Copy the rc.ofbiz script to the /etc/init.d directory, with the name ofbiz, so you end up with: /etc/init.d/ofbiz . For instance:

Code Block
cp /opt/ofbiz/tools/rc.ofbiz /etc/init.d/ofbiz

3. Edit the various variables at the top of the script to reflect your environment, for instance where OFBiz is installed, where your JVM is installed, etc.
For Debian based distrib replace all "echo_" by "echo "
We may rather use the following snippet. But, as I'm not a Linux specialist, I let it here as an example for now...

Code Block

# detect the distribution:
if [ -f /etc/redhat-release -o -f /etc/fedora-release ] ; then
    DISTRIBUTION="redhat"
elif [ -f /etc/SuSE-release ] ; then
    DISTRIBUTION="suse"
elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ] ; then
    DISTRIBUTION="debian"
else
    DISTRIBUTION="debian"
fi

# Source function library.
[ "$DISTRIBUTION" = "redhat" ] && . /etc/init.d/functions
[ "$DISTRIBUTION" = "suse" ] && . /etc/rc.status

if [ "$DISTRIBUTION" = "suse" ] ; then
    echo_success() {
        rc_status -v
    }
    echo_failure() {
        rc_status -v
    }
    success() {
        echo_success
    }
    failure() {
        echo_success
    }
elif [ "$DISTRIBUTION" = "debian" ] ; then
    echo_success() {
        echo ok
    }
    echo_failure() {
        echo failed
    }
    success() {
        echo_success
    }
    failure() {
        echo_success
    }
fi

4. Give this script the correct permissions. Here is a typical example.

Code Block
chmod 700 /etc/init.d/ofbiz

5. At this point, you should be able to test the script manually, via root or sudo. If you execute the following command, OFBiz should stop (if it was already up), and then start again. Bear in mind that this process can take between 10s and 3 minutes, depending on your macine! If this command does not work, something is wrong, investigate the command output or OFBiz logs to find out what.

Code Block
/etc/init.d/ofbiz restart

6. Finally, we are ready to tell our Operating system, to execute this script automatically at certain points during OS startup/shutdown. How we do this depends on our specific Linux Distro. I have only put instructions here for those distros I am familiar with. A generic point is that it is IMPORTANT here that your OFBiz starts AFTER any services on which it depends. Typically this is your DB server. If you use MySQL for instance, and MySQL starts with sequence 20, then OFbiz must start with sequence 21 or higher. Invert this logic for stopping.

RedHat/Fedora

6a. Edit the comment line in your /etc/init.d/ofbiz, starting with # chkconfig, to reflect specific runlevels at which to start your service, and the order in which to start it. For instance the following says "start ofbiz in runlevels 2, 3, 4 and 5, at position 21. At any other runlevels (ie 1 and 6), stop OFBiz in position 19."

Code Block
# chkconfig: 2345 21 19

6b. Now execute the following command as root

Code Block
chkconfig --add ofbiz

Debian/Ubuntu

6a. Execute the following commands as a user with sudo permissions (on a typical Ubuntu installation, this means a member of the admin group). Do not omit the two dots in the second command, they are important.

Code Block
sudo update-rc.d -f ofbiz remove sudo update-rc.d ofbiz start 21 2 3 4 5 . stop 19 0 1 6 .

6b. Alternative: Without proper shutdown the Ofbiz database can not be restartet anymore. So this /etc/init.d/ofbiz script is a mix of the Solaris script below, startofbiz.bat and a Linux startup/stop script. You might use the sysv-rc-conf package/ command to let it run in state 2, 3, 4, 5 as many other services/server do in Debian or Ubuntu.

The Solaris shell function ofbizprocs() does not work with bash. Instead simply executing the external program pgrep does the job here. You need to install the Debian or Ubuntu package procps in order to use pgrep.

Code Block

#!/bin/bash -e

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          ofbiz
# Required-Start:    $syslog $time $remote_fs
# Required-Stop:     $syslog $time $remote_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: start Apache Ofbiz
# Description:       Debian init script for the Apache Ofbiz,
#                    the open source enterprise automation software 
### END INIT INFO
set -e
######################################################################
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/src/jdk1.6.0_18
export CLASSPATH=/usr/local/src/jdk1.6.0_18
export PATH=.:/usr/local/src/jdk1.6.0_18/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
cd /var/www/Ofbiz/
######################################################################
export JAVA_BINARY=/usr/local/src/jdk1.6.0_18/bin/java
export JAVA=$JAVA_BINARY
OFBIZ_HOME=/var/www/Ofbiz/
OFBIZ_LOG=$OFBIZ_HOME/runtime/logs/console.log
OFBIZ_OUT=/tmp/OfbizOut
# JAVA_VMOPTIONS="-Duser.language=de"
# JAVA_VMOPTIONS="-Xms768M -Xmx1024M -Duser.language=en"
JAVA_ARGS="-jar ${OFBIZ_HOME}/ofbiz.jar"
OFBIZ_USER=ofbiz
######################################################################
# shutdown settings
ADMIN_PORT=10523
ADMIN_KEY="InsertYourOwnKeyHere!"

# VM args
ADMIN="-Dofbiz.admin.port=$ADMIN_PORT -Dofbiz.admin.key=$ADMIN_KEY"
MEMIF="-Xms128M -Xmx512M"
MISC="-Duser.language=de"
VMARGS="$MEMIF $MISC $DEBUG $RMIIF $ADMIN"
######################################################################
# The original shell function ofbizprocs() does NOT work with bash.
# Therefore simply executing the external program does the job here:

ofbizprocs="pgrep -u ${OFBIZ_USER} java"
# We need the Debian or Ubuntu package procps for this!

start() {
    echo "Starting OFBiz: "
    echo "Testing running OFBiz: "
    if [ "$($ofbizprocs)" != "" ]; then
        echo "OFBiz is already running..."
        return 1
    fi

    # All clear
    cd $OFBIZ_HOME
    umask 007
    /bin/rm -f $OFBIZ_OUT $OFBIZ_LOG
    echo "Now really starting OFBiz: "
    su - $OFBIZ_USER \
-c "cd $OFBIZ_HOME && $JAVA_BINARY $VMARGS $JAVA_ARGS >$OFBIZ_OUT 2>>$OFBIZ_LOG &"
    echo "startup return value: " $?
    return $?
}

# Stop OFBiz
stop() {
    echo -n "Stopping OFBiz: "
    if [ "$($ofbizprocs)" = "" ]; then
        echo "OFBiz is not running..."
        return 1
    fi
    # All clear
    cd $OFBIZ_HOME
    umask 007    
    su - ofbiz \
-c "cd $OFBIZ_HOME && $JAVA_BINARY $VMARGS $JAVA_ARGS -shutdown >$OFBIZ_OUT 2>>$OFBIZ_LOG&"
	sleep 15
    if [ "$($ofbizprocs)" != "" ]; then
        # Let's try to -TERM
        /bin/kill -TERM "$($ofbizprocs)"
    else
        return 0
    fi
	sleep 10
    if [ "$($ofbizprocs)" != "" ]; then
        # Let's try it the hard way!
        /bin/kill -9 "$($ofbizprocs)"
    else
        return 0
    fi
	sleep 10
    if [ "$($ofbizprocs)" != "" ]; then
        echo "Some processes could not be stopped:"
        echo "$($ofbizprocs)"
        echo "A possible solution is to try this command once more!"
        return 1
    else
        return 0
    fi
}

######################################################################
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
    start)
	log_daemon_msg "Starting Apache Ofbiz" "ofbiz"
	start
	log_end_msg $?
    ;;
  stop)
	log_daemon_msg "Stopping deferred Apache Ofbiz" "ofbiz"
	stop
	log_end_msg $?
    ;;
  force-reload|restart)
    stop
    start
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/atd {start|stop|restart|force-reload}"
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

Solaris (at least v10)

To be adapted maybe, from a Christopher Snow's message on user ML

Code Block

#!/bin/sh

JAVA_BINARY=/export/home/ofbiz/jdk1.6.0_13/bin/java
OFBIZ_HOME=/export/home/ofbiz/ofbiz
OFBIZ_LOG=$OFBIZ_HOME/runtime/logs/console.log

JAVA_VMOPTIONS="-Xms768M -Xmx1024M -Duser.language=en"
JAVA_ARGS="-jar ${OFBIZ_HOME}/ofbiz.jar"
OFBIZ_USER=ofbiz

ofbizprocs() {
    OFBIZ_PROCS=`pgrep -u ${OFBIZ_USER} java`
}

start() {
    echo "Starting OFBiz: "
    ofbizprocs
    if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" != "" ]; then
        echo "OFBiz is already running..."
        return 1
    fi

    # All clear
    cd $OFBIZ_HOME
    umask 007
    /bin/rm -f $OFBIZ_LOG
    su - ofbiz -c "cd $OFBIZ_HOME && $JAVA_BINARY $JAVA_VMOPTIONS 
$JAVA_ARGS >>$OFBIZ_LOG 2>>$OFBIZ_LOG&"
    echo "startup return value: " $?
    return 0
}

# Stop OFBiz
stop() {
    echo -n "Stopping OFBiz: "
    ofbizprocs
    if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" = "" ]; then
        echo "OFBiz is not running..."
        return 1
    fi

    # All clear
    cd $OFBIZ_HOME
    umask 007    
    su - ofbiz -c "cd $OFBIZ_HOME && $JAVA_BINARY $JAVA_VMOPTIONS 
$JAVA_ARGS -shutdown >>$OFBIZ_LOG"
    ofbizprocs
    if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" != "" ]; then
        # Let's try to -TERM
        /bin/kill -TERM $OFBIZ_PROCS
    fi
    ofbizprocs
    if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" != "" ]; then
        # Let's try it the hard way!
        /bin/kill -9 $OFBIZ_PROCS
    fi
    ofbizprocs
    if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" != "" ]; then
        echo "Some processes could not be stopped:"
        echo $OFBIZ_PROCS
        echo "A possible solution is to try this command once more!"
        return 1
    else
        return 0
    fi
}

case "$1" in
    'start')
        start
    ;;
    'stop')
        stop
    ;;
    'restart')
        stop
        start
    ;;  
    'status')
        ofbizprocs
        if [ "$OFBIZ_PROCS" = "" ]; then
            echo "OFBiz is stopped"
            exit 1
        else
            echo "OFBiz is running"
            exit 0
        fi
    ;;
    *)
        echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|kill|restart|status|help}"
        exit 1
    ;;
esac
echo
exit $?

7. Fire 'er up!

Let's test the fecker ! We need to restart the machine. Your distro may offer a graphical option for this but the standard unix command, to be executed via root or sudo, is the following. Run it, wait a wee while, then try to login to your OFBiz from another machine on your LAN!

Code Block
shutdown -r now

OS X (10.4+)

OS X 10.4+ uses the launchd daemon for startup services. Getting OFBiz to run as a server is really simple using this approach.

1. Create the org.apache.ofbiz.plist configuration file. A plist configuration file is nothing more than an XML file with the .plist extension. Use the sample script below (but be sure to change the WorkingDirectory property and create a file named org.apache.ofbiz.plist:

Code Block

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Disabled</key>
	<false/>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>org.apache.ofbiz</string>
	<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
	<string>/Users/jaz/Sandbox/ofbiz</string>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>./tools/startofbiz.sh</string>
	</array>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

You can change the RunAtLoad property if you want to stop OFBiz auto-starting.

2. To test the startup script you use launchctl. The following command will start OFBiz as the current user:

Code Block
$ launchctl load org.apache.ofbiz.plist

You can view the status and process ID by running:

Code Block
$ launchctl list \| grep ofbiz

To unload the service after confirming it is working, run:

Code Block
$ launchctl unload org.apache.ofbiz.plist

3. Deploy the startup script (assumes running as root):

Code Block
$ sudo chown root:wheel org.apache.ofbiz.plist $ sudo mv org.apache.ofbiz.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/

You can now reboot and have OFBiz startup automatically. To load the script without rebooting you run the load command as root.

Code Block
$ sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.apache.ofbiz.plist

4. To stop/start the process after it has been loaded either by rebooting or by running the load command you can run the following:
To Stop (note that the .plist is not specified for starting/stopping):

Code Block
$ sudo launchctl stop org.apache.ofbiz

To Start

Code Block
$ sudo launchctl start org.apache.ofbiz

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