---
title: IDM as a Linux service
description: IDM provides a script that can generate SysV or Systemd service initialization scripts. You can start the script as the root user, or configure it to start during the boot process.
component: pingidm
version: 8.1
page_id: pingidm:install-guide:install-linux-service
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingidm/8.1/install-guide/install-linux-service.html
keywords: ["Installation", "Linux Service", "Systemd Service", "SysV Service"]
---

# IDM as a Linux service

IDM provides a script that can generate `SysV` or `Systemd` service initialization scripts. You can start the script as the root user, or configure it to start during the boot process.

When IDM runs as a service, logs are written to the installation directory.

1. If you have not yet installed IDM, follow the steps in [Install IDM](chap-install.html#install-openidm).

2. Review the options by running the following script:

   ```
   /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh
   Usage: ./create-openidm-rc.sh --[systemd|chkconfig|lsb]
   Outputs OpenIDM init file to stdout for the given system

   --systemd    Generate Systemd init script. This is preferred for all modern distros.
   --chkconfig  Generate SysV init script with chkconfig headers (RedHat/CentOS)
   --lsb        Generate SysV init script with LSB headers (Debian/Ubuntu)
   ...
   ```

These examples describe how to create each of these scripts:

> **Collapse: Set up a Systemd Service**
>
> If you're running relatively standard versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (CentOS Linux) version 7.x, or Ubuntu 16.04 and later, you'll want to set up a systemd service script. To set up such a script, navigate to the `/path/to/openidm/bin` directory, and run the following command:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --systemd
> ```
>
> As noted in the output, you can set up the IDM service on a standard systemd-based Linux distribution with the following commands:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --systemd > openidm.service
> sudo cp openidm.service /etc/systemd/system/
> systemctl enable openidm
> systemctl start openidm
> ```
>
> To stop the IDM service, run the following command:
>
> ```
> systemctl stop openidm
> ```
>
> You can modify the `openidm.service` script. The following excerpt would run IDM with a startup script in the `/home/idm/project` directory:
>
> ```none
> [Unit]
> Description=ForgeRock OpenIDM
> After=network.target auditd.target
>
> [Service]
> Type=simple
> SuccessExitStatus=143
> Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr
> User=testuser
> ExecStart=/root/openidm/startup.sh -p /home/idm/project
> ExecStop=/root/openidm/shutdown.sh
>
> [Install]
> WantedBy=multi-user.target
> ```
>
> Run the following command to reload the configuration and then start the IDM service script:
>
> ```
> systemctl daemon-reload
> systemctl start openidm
> ```

> **Collapse: Set up a SysV Service (Red Hat)**
>
> If you are running standard versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (CentOS Linux) version 6.x, set up a SysV service script with runlevels controlled through the `chkconfig` command. To set up such a script, run the following command:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --chkconfig
> ```
>
> You can then set up and start the IDM service on a Linux distribution that uses SysV init scripts, with the following commands:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --chkconfig  > openidm
> sudo cp openidm /etc/init.d/
> sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/openidm
> sudo chkconfig --add openidm
> sudo chkconfig openidm on
> sudo service openidm start
> ```
>
> To stop the IDM service, run the following command:
>
> ```
> sudo service openidm stop
> ```
>
> You can modify the `/etc/init.d/openidm` script. The following excerpt would run IDM with the `startup.sh` script in the `/path/to/openidm` directory:
>
> ```
> START_CMD="PATH=$JAVA_BIN_PATH:$PATH;nohup $OPENIDM_HOME/startup.sh >$OPENIDM_HOME/logs/server.out 2>&1 &"
> ```
>
> You can modify this line to point to some `/path/to/production` directory:
>
> ```
> START_CMD="PATH=$JAVA_BIN_PATH:$PATH;nohup $OPENIDM_HOME/startup.sh -p /path/to/production >$OPENIDM_HOME/logs/server.out 2>&1 &"
> ```
>
> Run the following command to reload the configuration and then start the IDM service script:
>
> ```
> sudo service openidm start
> ```
>
> If you run Linux with SELinux enabled, change the file context of the newly copied script with the following command:
>
> ```
> sudo restorecon /etc/init.d/openidm
> ```
>
> Verify the change to SELinux contexts with the `ls -Z /etc/init.d` command. For consistency, change the user context to match other scripts in the same directory with the `sudo chcon -u system_u /etc/init.d/openidm` command.

> **Collapse: Set up a SysV Service (Ubuntu)**
>
> If you're running an older version of Ubuntu Linux that supports SysV services, set up a SysV service script, with runlevels controlled through the `update-rc.d` command. To set up such a script, run the following command:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --lsb
> ```
>
> You can then set up and start the IDM service on a Linux distribution that uses SysV init scripts, with the following commands:
>
> ```
> /path/to/openidm/bin/create-openidm-rc.sh --lsb  > openidm
> sudo cp openidm /etc/init.d/
> sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/openidm
> sudo update-rc.d openidm defaults
> sudo service openidm start
> ```
>
> To stop the IDM service, run the following command:
>
> ```
> sudo service openidm stop
> ```
>
> You can modify the `/etc/init.d/openidm` script. The following excerpt would run IDM with the `startup.sh` script in the `/path/to/openidm` directory:
>
> ```
> START_CMD="PATH=$JAVA_BIN_PATH:$PATH;nohup $OPENIDM_HOME/startup.sh >$OPENIDM_HOME/logs/server.out 2>&1 &"
> ```
>
> You can modify this line to point to some `/path/to/production` directory:
>
> ```
> START_CMD="PATH=$JAVA_BIN_PATH:$PATH;nohup $OPENIDM_HOME/startup.sh -p /path/to/production >$OPENIDM_HOME/logs/server.out 2>&1 &"
> ```
>
> You can then run the following command to reload the configuration and then start the IDM service script:
>
> ```
> sudo service openidm restart
> ```