Starting JIRA Automatically on Linux

On Linux/Solaris, the best practice is to install, configure and run each service (including JIRA) as a dedicated user with only the permissions they require.

To install, configure and get JIRA to start automatically on Linux/Solaris:

1. Create a jira user account which will be used to run JIRA. For example, enter the following at a Linux/Solaris console:

   sudo useradd --create-home -c "JIRA role account" jira

2. Create a directory into which JIRA will be installed. For example:

   sudo mkdir /opt/atlassian/jira
   sudo chown jira: /opt/atlassian/jira
   

3. Log in as the jira user to install JIRA:

   sudo su - jira
   

4. Assuming you downloaded the JIRA from a 'tar.gz' archive, you need to extract it:

   cd /opt/atlassian/jira
   tar zxvf /tmp/atlassian-jira-X.Y.tar.gz
   ln -s atlassian-jira-X.Y/ current
   

5. Edit current/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/jira-application.properties and set jira.home=/var/atlassian/application-data/jira

6. Then back as root, create the file /etc/init.d/jira (code shown below), which will be responsible for starting up JIRA after a reboot (or when manually invoked).

   #!/bin/sh -e
   # JIRA startup script
   #chkconfig: 2345 80 05
   #description: JIRA
   
   # Define some variables
   # Name of app ( JIRA, Confluence, etc )
   APP=jira
   # Name of the user to run as
   USER=jira
   # Location of application's bin directory
   BASE=/opt/atlassian/jira/current
   # Location of Java JDK
   export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
   
   case "$1" in
     # Start command
     start)
       echo "Starting $APP"
       /bin/su -m $USER -c "cd $BASE/logs && $BASE/bin/startup.sh &> /dev/null"
       ;;
     # Stop command
     stop)
       echo "Stopping $APP"
       /bin/su -m $USER -c "$BASE/bin/shutdown.sh &> /dev/null"
       echo "$APP stopped successfully"
       ;;
      # Restart command
      restart)
           $0 stop
           sleep 5
           $0 start
           ;;
     *)
       echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/$APP {start|restart|stop}"
       exit 1
       ;;
   esac
   
   exit 0
   
   

7. Make the init script executable:

   chmod \+x /etc/init.d/jira

8. Place symlinks in the run-level directories to start and stop this script automatically.
   
   

   1. For Debian-based systems:

      update-rc.d jira defaults

      The following commands will be executed to place symlinks in the run-level directories:

      Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/jira ...
         /etc/rc0.d/K20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc1.d/K20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc6.d/K20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc2.d/S20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc3.d/S20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc4.d/S20jira -> ../init.d/jira
         /etc/rc5.d/S20jira -> ../init.d/jira
      

   2. For RedHat-based systems:

      the init.d script contains chkconfig settings

      sudo /sbin/chkconfig --add jira

9. Ensure the script is executed in the correct order, in particular after the database startup script.