Launch QuestDB with systemd

Use systemd to run QuestDB as a system or user service. This guide will demonstrate an initial configuration which you can use as the basis for your installation scripts. It will also demonstrate how to setup and start a QuestDB systemd service.

Prerequisites​

The prerequisites for deploying QuestDB with systemd are:

  • A Unix machine supporting systemd

Initial system configuration​

The following commands inform a basis for your systemd service. Prior to running systemd, you will require some directory structure and a binary for QuestDB. Depending on your specific needs and operational preferences, your commands may differ. The goal is to give you a helpful starting point for the example service. The example presumes that you have used a privileged user to create a user with appropriately scoped permissions.

#!/bin/bash

# Download and install the JDK
curl -s https://download.oracle.com/java/17/latest/jdk-17_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz -o jdk.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/jdk
tar -xzf jdk.tar.gz -C ~/jdk --strip-components=1
export JAVA_HOME=~/jdk
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

# Download and set up QuestDB
curl -s https://dl.questdb.io/snapshots/questdb-latest-no-jre-bin.tar.gz -o questdb.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/questdb/binary
tar -xzf questdb.tar.gz -C ~/questdb/binary --strip-components 1
mv ~/questdb/binary/questdb.jar ~/bin/

Using a QuestDB server.conf​

Your QuestDB configuration is done in a server.conf file. The server.conf file is populated with safe defaults on first startup if it does not exist. It is common for user's of QuestDB to stick with the default configuration. However, should you choose to update your own and serve it via a scripted method or similar, you may do so.

Read more about the available options in our Configuration reference page.

Example questdb.service​

Create a new file called questdb.service:

touch questdb.service

The example below is a recommended starting point. Note the default QuestDB service configuration and system paths in line with the above example. Next, open the questdb.service file and add the following:

[Unit]
Description=QuestDB
Documentation=https://www.questdb.io/docs/
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=2
# Adjust java path to match requirements of a given distro
ExecStart=/home/[USER_NAME]/jdk/bin/java \
--add-exports java.base/jdk.internal.math=io.questdb \
-p /home/[USER_NAME]/bin/questdb.jar \
-m io.questdb/io.questdb.ServerMain \
-DQuestDB-Runtime-66535 \
-ea -Dnoebug \
-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions \
-XX:+AlwaysPreTouch \
-XX:+UseParallelOldGC \
-d /home/[USER_NAME]/var/lib/questdb

ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID

# Prevent writes to /usr, /boot, and /etc
ProtectSystem=full
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=questdb

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Next, move your questdb.service file into your user's systemd config:

mv questdb.service  ~/.config/systemd/user/questdb.service

Enable the service:

systemctl --user enable questdb.service

Start the service:

systemctl --user start questdb

Check out the service status:

systemctl --user status questdb.service

Your QuestDB instance should now be accessible at localhost, with services available at the following default ports:

  • Web console & REST API is available on port 9000
  • PostgreSQL wire protocol available on 8812
  • InfluxDB line protocol 9009 (TCP and UDP)
  • Health monitoring & Prometheus /metrics 9003

User vs. System​

As an operator, you can decide whether to run systemd as the "system" from root permissions, or a user with its own privileges. At the system level, root is required to make changes to the systemctl application. Services created this way will start and stop when the system is restarted.

Unlike at the system level, user services will start & stop as the user session is activated or de-activated. You also do not need to apply sudo to make changes to the services.

Consistent with the examples on this page, we recommend scoped users.