How to start Bitcoind on ubuntu startup

vindimy

full member

Activity: 239

Merit: 100

If you guys want a really easy and fast way to install and manage bitcoind (or any other altcoin) and keep it up to date, consider the Opscode Chef crypto-coin cookbook.

I use it for my "altcointip bot" project. It provides automated, zero-config install of any coin by compiling specific release from source. It uses upstart to control the coin service:

Code:

: ~$ cat /etc/init/bitcoind.conf
description bitcoind

start on runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [016]

setuid bitcoin
setgid altcointip

respawn
respawn limit 10 60 # 10 times in 60 seconds

exec /opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/bitcoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

Here's what final result looks like:

Code:

:~$ ps aux|grep coin
litecoin   664  0.4  9.3 1667632 190036 ?      SLsl Oct07  37:50 /opt/altcointip/coins/litecoin/litecoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/litecoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/litecoin/litecoin.conf
ppcoin     668  0.3  3.0 867176 62248 ?        Ssl  Oct07  26:14 /opt/altcointip/coins/ppcoin/ppcoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/ppcoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/ppcoin/ppcoin.conf
2007       673  0.4  4.5 1447688 93268 ?       SLsl Oct07  35:19 /opt/altcointip/coins/primecoin/primecoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/primecoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/primecoin/primecoin.conf
bitcoin    676  0.7 17.1 1812184 350156 ?      SLsl Oct07  65:57 /opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/bitcoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
namecoin   680  0.2 10.9 834768 223228 ?       Ssl  Oct07  25:06 /opt/altcointip/coins/namecoin/namecoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/namecoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/namecoin/namecoin.conf
2009      3526  0.6  4.4 917764 90960 ?        Ssl  Oct07  47:59 /opt/altcointip/coins/feathercoin/feathercoind -datadir=/opt/altcointip/coins/feathercoin/data -conf=/opt/altcointip/coins/feathercoin/feathercoin.conf

:~$ bitcoind getinfo
{
    "version" : 80500,
    "protocolversion" : 70001,
    "walletversion" : 60000,
    "balance" : 0.68225642,
    "blocks" : 263287,
    "timeoffset" : -10,
    "connections" : 10,
    "proxy" : "",
    "difficulty" : 189281249.28103292,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1376917621,
    "keypoolsize" : 100,
    "paytxfee" : 0.00010000,
    "unlocked_until" : 0,
    "errors" : ""
}

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

Glad you got it working.

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

Finally solved it with your help - thank you!! It seems that rc.local was all good. What wasn't good was that ubuntu wasn't running it on boot. I followed the instructions on this site http://askubuntu.com/questions/299792/why-is-the-command-in-etc-rc-local-not-executed-during-startup

and had to

Code:

 apt-get install sysv-rc-conf

then run sudo sysv-rc-conf after that after a reboot one wonderful instance of bitcoind running

Thanks so so much for all your help!!!

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

Of course you can run bitcoind as root, although by the principle of least privilege, you shouldn't.

In this case, the command would be just

Code:

bitcoind -daemon

since rc.local gets executed by root anyway (the "-daemon" switch seems more natural than the ampersand).

However, it looks like myuser doesn't have a hoe directory. This would be the case if you, e.g., created it with

Code:

useradd myuser

If you have already configured bitcoind as root (created a configuration file, downloaded the blockchain, etc.), do the following as root:

Code:

mkdir /home/myuser
mv /root/.bitcoin /home/myuser
chown -R myuser:myuser /home/myuser

If not, do the following as root:

Code:

mkdir -p /home/myuser/.bitcoin
echo -n rpcpassword= > /home/myuser/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
head -c 16 /dev/random | md5sum | cut -b 1-32 >> /home/myuser/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
echo daemon=1 >> /home/myuser/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
chown -R myuser:myuser /home/myuser
chmod 600 /home/myuser/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf

The setting "daemon=1" makes the ampersand obsolete.

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

yeah that doesn't work. Is there no way to run /etc/rc.local as root and have:

Code:

test -e /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key || dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
root -c bitcoind &
exit 0

Cheers

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

Does the directory /home/myuser exist? What happens if you login as myuser and execute bitcoind?

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

sorry the whole file is:

Code:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

test -e /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key || dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
su myuser -c bitcoind &
exit 0

though if i run it now i just get: mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/home/myuser/.bitcoin’: No such file or directory

I installed bitcoind as root could that be the issue?

thanks for all your help!

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

I see no shebang. The first line should say something like this:

Code:

#!/bin/sh -e

If "sh -e" is indeed being used, the second command won't be executed if the first one fails. To avoid this, change the first command to

Code:

test -e /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key || dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server || :

or the shebang to

Code:

#!/bin/sh

Also, the second command seems to be missing the "su" at the beginning.

Quote from: dserrano5 on October 10, 2013, 05:05:46 PM

Specify the full path. The environment on rc.local doesn't necessarily matches the one on that user's shell. That includes $PATH.

Right. Without the "-l" switch, root's path would be used. But if "sudo /etc/rc.local" doesn't complain about a missing executable, so something else is (also) wrong.

dserrano5

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1029

Specify the full path. The environment on rc.local doesn't necessarily matches the one on that user's shell. That includes $PATH.

And "su" is missing there.

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

hey so /etc/rc.local contains:

Code:

test -e /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key || dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
myuser -c bitcoind &
exit 0

if i run it as root it just does nothing. Doesn't load bitcoind which i'm assuming it should?

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

What else does /etc/rc.local contain? Is it executable? What haapens if you execute sudo /etc/rc.local from a terminal?

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

hmm still not working. I'm assuming that bitcoind is in the path since all i have to do to start it is type "bitcoind"

thanks

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

As long as myuser is a login account and bitcoind is in myuser's path, that should work (although I forgot the ampersand at the end). It should be

Code:

su myuser -c bitcoind &

Check that /etc/rc.local is executable. If it is and it still doesn't work, could you post its entire contents?

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

hey guys - thanks for your help. I think i might be missing something though as I'm not getting it working. So i've edited /etc/rc.local and added the line:

Code:

su myuser -c bitcoind

rebooted but a bitcoind getinfo get's "couldn't connect to server"? I'm guessing I'm missing a step somewhere?

Thanks for you help

redtwitz

full member

Activity: 231

Merit: 100

Quote from: cshelswell on October 10, 2013, 03:28:15 PM

Hi I've got bitcoind installed on a headless ubuntu server to run an application. I'm just trying to get it to start on a reboot. I've had a really good search and can't find anything that I think is applicable to me. I found this: https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=965.0 but I installed bitcoin from the PPA's and there's nothing in the /etc/init.d folder. Can i just go ahead and create this script anyway?

Init scripts will work, no matter where the executables came from. However, they are a hassle.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Throw bitcoind in your /etc/rc.local.

If you do, be careful to execute the daemon as the proper user.

On Ubuntu, the file exists by default, so adding the line

Code:

su cshelswell -c bitcoind

anywhere before the exit command should do the job.

dserrano5

legendary

Activity: 1974

Merit: 1029

Not the most professional in the world but this is what I have:

Code:

$ grep bitcoin /etc/crontab
@reboot         btc     /usr/bin/nice /home/btc/bin/bitcoind

cshelswell

hero member

Activity: 615

Merit: 500

Hi I've got bitcoind installed on a headless ubuntu server to run an application. I'm just trying to get it to start on a reboot. I've had a really good search and can't find anything that I think is applicable to me. I found this: https://bitcointalk.org/?topic=965.0 but I installed bitcoin from the PPA's and there's nothing in the /etc/init.d folder. Can i just go ahead and create this script anyway?

Any advice on how to get ubuntu to load bitcoind at startup would be great - thanks

Topic: How to start Bitcoind on ubuntu startup (Read 3762 times)