inittab

[Joe Profaizer]

We have an application that we want to ensure it is always running. We put an entry in /etc/inittab. We were informed that this was monitored by the init process and would restart processes that were terminated.
Below is our entry:
----------------------------
hrms::respawn:su - hradm -c "cd /opt/appserver/psfthrms/hrms751/appserv; ./psad
min -p start -d STL_HDEV"
----------------------------

Upon killing this process, the process didn't restart. Did we define the entry wrong or do we have to notify the init process that the inittab has changed? Must we reboot for every entry we put in the inittab?

Please consult.

..Joe

[John_16 · Accepted solution]

Do an "init q" and it will reread the inittab and the new changes will take effect.

[John Palmer]

After changing inittab you need to inform init with the command 'init c'.

Also init will only respawn a process that it started in the first place. ie if you started your daemon manually and then killed it, init would not be aware.

[Robert Gamble]

Joe,

I would recommend using a different method of keeping that 'aemon' alive.
Use a start script that not only starts your process, but a second process that checks to see if the 1st is still alive with logic included to restart it.

Good Luck

[John Palmer]

Joe,

Sorry about the typo, I meant 'init q'

[John Palmer]

Joe,

You should also consider defining a runlevel (second field of the inittab entry) the same as your default (second field of the first record). This will ensure that your daemon only gets started when the system gets to the normal runlevel after a boot.

[Vincente Fernandes]

You need to define a runlevel(second field), this will make sure that your daemon will restart automatically) when the system comes up in normal runlevel. Do "who -r" will tell you the current level of system. Also you have to create a script in "/sbin/init.d/appscriptname" and linked to the appropriate "rc.?" directory if you want your application to come bootsup/shut down automatically when the server comes bootsup/down. To test it, change second field in inittab to the require runlevel, kill the application and it should come up automatically otherwise do "init q".

[Joe Profaizer]

Thank you all!!!

[Joe Profaizer]

Thank you all!!!