Using chkconfig to enable a custom service at boot

In this recipe we will consider the practice of using the chkconfig management tool in order to enable a custom service at boot.

CentOS provides us with a simple command-line tool for managing services that are started during the various runlevels of your system (discussed in Chapter 1, Installing CentOS). Most applications and services will include their own initialization script and these will be installed to /etc/init.d, but over the life time of your server you may wish to use or write your own custom service (from a script or for a bespoke application) that will require manual installation. You may even want to troubleshoot an existing service, but whatever your reasons, it is the purpose of this recipe to show you how it can be achieved.

Getting ready

To complete this recipe you will require a minimal installation of the CentOS 6 operating system with root privileges and a console-based text editor of your choice. It is assumed that...