After a few attempts I implemented working .conf file for upstart which works as a service with automatic start after reboot and restart (respawn) in case of crash. Also it can start my app with unprivileged user permissions. The name of the file is /etc/init/my-app.conf.
To start / stop service please use
sudo start my-app / sudo stop my-app
If you have an error like
start: Unknown job: my-app
exec the following command
sudo initctl reload-configuration
My /etc/init/my-app.conf file:
#my-app
description "node.js my-app website"
env FULL_PATH="/home/myuser/app.prod/app"
env NODE_PATH="/usr/bin/node"
start on filesystem or runlevel [2345]
stop on [!2345]
script
export HOME="/root"
export NODE_ENV=production
echo $$ > /var/run/my-app.pid
cd $FULL_PATH
#Use exec below if you want to launch it under myuser,
#don't forget to create /var/log/my-app.sys.log with appropriate permissions
#exec sudo -u myuser sh -c "$NODE_PATH server.js >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log 2>&1"
exec $NODE_PATH server.js >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log 2>&1
end script
pre-start script
echo "[`date`] (sys) Starting" >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log
end script
pre-stop script
rm /var/run/my-app.pid
echo "[`date`] (sys) Stopping" >> /var/log/my-app.sys.log
end script
#uncomment respawn if you want to restart your service in case of crash
#respawn
#respawn limit 50 30
I do recommend to uncomment respawn after you will make sure that everything works ok.
UPDATE
I improved my script (please keep in mind that it works not under root but under regular user zn ):
#znapi.conf
description "node.js zn api"
env FULL_PATH="/home/zn/app.prod"
env NODE_PATH="/usr/bin/node"
env LOG="/var/log/znapi.log"
env PIDFILE="/var/run/znapi.pid"
# Start up when the system hits any normal runlevel, and
#start on filesystem or runlevel [2345]
#start when mongod started
start on started mongod
# shuts down when the system goes to shutdown or reboot.
stop on runlevel [06]
respawn
respawn limit 50 5
pre-start script
# check that log file exist or create it
test -f $LOG || { touch $LOG; chown zn:zn $LOG; }
# Date format same as (new Date()).toISOString() for consistency
echo "[`date`] (sys) Starting" >> $LOG
end script
script
export NODE_ENV=production
exec start-stop-daemon --start -m -p $PIDFILE -c zn -d $FULL_PATH -x server.js >> $LOG 2>&1
end script
pre-stop script
rm $PIDFILE
echo "[`date`] (sys) Stopping" >> $LOG
end script
/etc/init/app.confand it worked for me (started a process and created the log file.) Are you sure the file is in the correct place with (ls -Al /etc/init/app.conf)? Also, what version of Upstart (start --version) and what OS? – Capuano