# Starting lighttpd/Rails apps as user, not root **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834 "2006-02-01T20:34:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/1 "2006-02-01T20:34:56Z")
Hi everyone, When I want something to start at boot, I put it into /etc/rc\*. The service will start as root, though. How do I make it start as a particular user? I’m worried about the machine going down and me not being around to pick my app back up when it does. I think this would also help my SwitchTower issue of having 8 fastcgi processes running for the app. 4 started by lighttpd, and 4 started/restarted when I deploy. Since the deployment user can’t kill the root-run fastcgi processes, they stay running. Thanks, Sean ---
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/2 "2006-02-01T20:43:24Z")
Sean H. wrote: > Hi everyone, > > When I want something to start at boot, I put it into /etc/rc\*. The > service will start as root, though. > > How do I make it start as a particular user? I’m worried about the > machine going down and me not being around to pick my app back up when > it does. > > I think this would also help my SwitchTower issue of having 8 fastcgi > processes running for the app. 4 started by lighttpd, and 4 > started/restarted when I deploy. Since the deployment user can’t kill > the root-run fastcgi processes, they stay running. > > Thanks, > > Sean add a cronjob at @reboot this will get executed at…well…reboot… M ---
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/3 "2006-02-01T21:05:19Z")
On Wed, 2006-02-01 at 14:33 -0500, Sean H. wrote: > Hi everyone, > > When I want something to start at boot, I put it into /etc/rc\*. The > service will start as root, though. > > How do I make it start as a particular user? I’m worried about the > machine going down and me not being around to pick my app back up when > it does. * * * ## su - some\_user -c ‘/usr/sbin/lighttpd’ & > I think this would also help my SwitchTower issue of having 8 fastcgi > processes running for the app. 4 started by lighttpd, and 4 > started/restarted when I deploy. Since the deployment user can’t kill > the root-run fastcgi processes, they stay running. * * * I wouldn’t know about this Craig ---
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/4 "2006-02-01T21:50:43Z")
In your lighttpd.conf you can specify user and and group and then (on Debian anyway) when it does the /etc/init.d/lighttpd start at bootup it will spawn as that user. server.username = “www-data” server.groupname = “www-data” Michael T. ---
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/5 "2006-02-01T22:42:22Z")
Michael and Brian, that’s the thing. Thanks! On 2/1/06, Brian V. Hughes [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Yes. It makes the auto-deployment of your changed app code much smoother. Just > make sure you tell lighttpd to become the user that SwitchTower logs in as and > you should be all set. That’s basically what I’m doing for all my Rails apps, > although I don’t have ST wired into my deployment process, just yet… Yes, that’s how I have it working now. The only missing piece was the server-running-as-user. Thanks again! Sean ---
**Author:** ![seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@seanhussey](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/seanhussey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/starting-lighttpd-rails-apps-as-user-not-root/99834/6 "2006-02-01T21:56:47Z")
Sean H. wrote: > When I want something to start at boot, I put it into /etc/rc\*. The > service will start as root, though. > > How do I make it start as a particular user? I’m worried about the > machine going down and me not being around to pick my app back up when > it does. I’m far from being a Unix guru, but your subject line specifically mentions lighttpd, which is something I can offer some assistance on. Basically, you always want root to launch lighttpd, for a production Rails app, but what you do is you tell lighttpd to change its user and group when it launches. You do that with these lines in your lighttpd.conf: server.username = “foo” server.groupname = “bar” Since lighttpd is run as root, it can pretty much change its user and group, at will. The advantage is that since the lighttpd process becomes owned by user “foo”, any child processes launched by lighttpd are also owned by user “foo”. So when you have lighttpd launch the FastCGI listeners, they will be owned by user “foo”. > I think this would also help my SwitchTower issue of having 8 fastcgi > processes running for the app. 4 started by lighttpd, and 4 > started/restarted when I deploy. Since the deployment user can’t kill > the root-run fastcgi processes, they stay running. Yes. It makes the auto-deployment of your changed app code much smoother. Just make sure you tell lighttpd to become the user that SwitchTower logs in as and you should be all set. That’s basically what I’m doing for all my Rails apps, although I don’t have ST wired into my deployment process, just yet… -Brian