This document explains how to set up RethinkDB to run as a system service on supported operating systems, automatically launching on boot. For general instructions on starting RethinkDB, see Start a RethinkDB server.

In general, you’ll have to follow these steps:

• Install RethinkDB as a service for your operating system. (This document describes how to do that for both init.d and systemd-based Linux distributions, as well as OS X using launchd and Windows services. Depending on how you’ve installed RethinkDB, this may already be done for you.)
• Create a RethinkDB configuration file for each RethinkDB instance running on this physical server.

Startup with init.d

RethinkDB packages automatically install an init script at /etc/init.d/rethinkdb and add default run-level entries. For RethinkDB to automatically run on system startup, you’ll need to add a config file to /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/.

Quick setup

Copy the sample configuration file and use the configuration file documentation as a guide to customize it. (If you don’t have the sample .conf file, you can download it here.)

sudo cp /etc/rethinkdb/default.conf.sample /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/instance1.conf
sudo vim /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/instance1.conf

Then, restart the service:

sudo /etc/init.d/rethinkdb restart

The basic setup is complete—you’ve now got a working server!

Multiple instances

The init.d script supports starting multiple instances on the same server via multiple .conf files in /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d. This may be desirable for isolating databases for separate applications running on the same server, or for testing purposes. (There is no performance gain from running multiple nodes of the same cluster on the same physical machine.)

In each configuration file, set a different data directory, and include the join configuration option for each node with the IP address and port of another node in the cluster. If the instances are not running on the same machine, specify bind=all in the configuration file (or --bind all on the command line). Take care that each instance on the same machine specifies different values for driver-port, cluster-port and http-port.

Installing from source

If you compiled from source, get the init.d script from here. Get the sample .conf file here.

Startup with systemd

Full support for systemd is planned—you can track progress on issue 2014. For now, you’ll have to create a couple configuration files manually.

Basic setup

Create the file /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/rethinkdb.conf with the content:

d /run/rethinkdb 0755 rethinkdb rethinkdb -

And create the service file, /usr/lib/systemd/system/rethinkdb@.service:

[Unit]
Description=RethinkDB database server for instance '%i'

[Service]
User=rethinkdb
Group=rethinkdb
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rethinkdb serve --config-file /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/%i.conf
KillMode=process
PrivateTmp=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

The chmod for the two files should be 644 (chmod 644 <file>).

Starting RethinkDB instances

First, create the RethinkDB data directory with the following command and set the ownership to the rethinkdb user:

rethinkdb create -d /path/to/your/rethinkdb/directory
sudo chown -R rethinkdb.rethinkdb /path/to/your/rethinkdb/directory

Then, copy the sample configuration file and use the configuration file documentation as a guide to customize it. (If you don’t have the sample .conf file, you can download it here.)

sudo cp /etc/rethinkdb/default.conf.sample /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/instance1.conf
sudo vim /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d/instance1.conf

While you may be able to leave many options at their defaults, you’ll definitely need to change the directory= line in the configuration file to point to your RethinkDB data directory.

directory=/path/to/your/rethinkdb/directory

Then, enable the service:

sudo systemctl enable rethinkdb@<name_instance>
sudo systemctl start rethinkdb@<name_instance>

You’ve now got a working server!

Multiple instances

As systemd supports multiple instances on the same server, you simply need to create multiple .conf files in /etc/rethinkdb/instances.d. This may be desirable for isolating databases for separate applications running on the same server, or for testing purposes. (There is no performance gain from running multiple nodes of the same cluster on the same physical machine.)

In each configuration file, set a different data directory, and include the join configuration option for each node with the IP address and port of another node in the cluster. If the instances are not running on the same machine, specify bind=all in the configuration file (or --bind all on the command line). Take care that each instance on the same machine specifies different values for driver-port, cluster-port and http-port.

Startup with launchd (OS X)

If you install RethinkDB using Homebrew, a launchd configuration file will be installed for you in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/, although that file may need to be modified.

Basic setup

If you didn’t install using Homebrew, you’ll need to create a launchd configuration file, and decide where you want to store your data files. These instructions assume the following locations:

• RethinkDB binary installed by the official package in /usr/local/bin/rethinkdb
• RethinkDB data directory will be /Library/RethinkDB/data
• RethinkDB log will be /var/log/rethinkdb.log

If you wish other locations, change the text in the file appropriately.

Create /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rethinkdb.server.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.rethinkdb.server</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
      <string>/usr/local/bin/rethinkdb</string>
      <string>-d</string>
      <string>/Library/RethinkDB/data</string>
  </array>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/var/log/rethinkdb.log</string>
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/var/log/rethinkdb.log</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <true/>
  <key>LowPriorityIO</key>
  <false/>
</dict>
</plist>

Set this file to be owned by the root user:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rethinkdb.server.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rethinkdb.server.plist

Then you’ll need to create the RethinkDB data directory.

sudo mkdir -p /Library/RethinkDB
sudo rethinkdb create -d /Library/RethinkDB/data

Using a RethinkDB configuration file

By default, neither Homebrew nor the example configuration file above will read options from a configuration file. If you wish to use one, you’ll need to do the following:

• Download the sample configuration file and copy it to a new location.

cp default.conf.sample /etc/rethinkdb.conf

• Edit the configuration file in your favorite editor. While you may be able to leave many options at their defaults, you’ll definitely need to change the directory= line in the file to point to your data directory.

sudo pico /etc/rethinkdb.conf

• Edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rethinkdb.server.plist to change the ProgramArguments key so RethinkDB will use your configuration file.

<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/rethinkdb</string>
    <string>--config-file</string>
    <string>/etc/rethinkdb.conf</string>
</array>

Starting RethinkDB instances

To start RethinkDB, use launchctl:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.rethinkdb.server.plist

RethinkDB will automatically load on startup. To disable this behavior, change the RunAtLoad key to <false/> in the plist file.

Multiple instances

Running multiple instances of RethinkDB on the same server may be desirable for isolating databases for separate applications running on the same server, or for testing purposes. (There is no performance gain from running multiple nodes of the same cluster on the same physical machine.)

You will need to create new copies of the com.rethinkdb.server.plist file with different names (e.g., com.rethinkdb.server2.plist), making the following changes:

• Set the Label key value to the name of the file (e.g., com.rethinkdb.server2.plist).
• Set the ProgramArguments key to a new configuration file (e.g., /etc/rethinkdb2.conf).
• Set the StandardOutPath and StandardErrorPath keys to a new log file.

In each configuration file, set a different data directory, and include the join configuration option for each node with the IP address and port of another node in the cluster. If the instances are not running on the same machine, specify bind=all in the configuration file (or --bind all on the command line). Take care that each instance on the same machine specifies different values for driver-port, cluster-port and http-port.

Startup as a Windows service

First, you’ll need to create a configuration file. You can download the sample file and customize it using the configuration file documentation as a guide. The most important line to change is directory: this points to the RethinkDB data directory. By default, RethinkDB will use c:\Windows\System32\rethinkdb_data.

To test a configuration file before using it, start RethinkDB manually, specifying the configuration with the --config-file flag:

rethinkdb.exe --config-file <config-file>

To actually install the RethinkDB service, execute:

rethinkdb.exe install-service --config-file <config-file>

The service will be installed under the name rethinkdb_default, and will automatically be started after installation. You can use the Services tab in Task Manager to monitor, stop, and restart the service. By default, REthinkDB is set to automatically start on system startup.

By default, the service will execute with System user privileges. If you’d like to install the service with a different user account, you can use the --runuser and --runuser-password options:

rethinkdb.exe install-service --config-file <config-file> --runuser <domain>\<username> --runuser-password <password>

If the user is local, the <domain> is the name of the server; otherwise, it’s the name of the Windows Domain or Active Directory the user record is located in.

If you want to uninstall the RethinkDB service:

rethinkdb.exe remove-service

Both install-service and remove-service also accept an --instance-name <name> option to give the RethinkDB instance a specific name that will appear in the service manager. This will let you run multiple instances of RethinkDB on the same server.

Caveats

• The service sets the locations of the configuration file and the rethinkdb.exe binary on installation. If you move either of those, you’ll need to remove the service and re-install it.
• If you change options in the configuration file, the service will be need to be restarted to pick up the changes.

Troubleshooting