freeradius init.d script

[TheBigAmbulance]

I've installed freeradius (version 2.1.10) from repositories and what seems to be happening is that the script in init.d does not start the server on boot.

Here is the /etc/init.d/freeradius file

#!/bin/sh
# Start/stop the FreeRADIUS daemon.

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          freeradius
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Should-Start:      $time mysql slapd postgresql samba krb5-kdc
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Radius Daemon 
# Description:       Extensible, configurable radius daemon
### END INIT INFO

set -e

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

PROG="freeradius"
PROGRAM="/usr/sbin/freeradius"
PIDFILE="/var/run/freeradius/freeradius.pid"
DESCR="FreeRADIUS daemon"

if [ -r /etc/default/$PROG ]; then
  . /etc/default/$PROG
fi

test -f $PROGRAM || exit 0

# /var/run may be a tmpfs
if [ ! -d /var/run/freeradius ]; then
  mkdir -p /var/run/freeradius
  chown freerad:freerad /var/run/freeradius
fi

export PATH="${PATH:+$PATH:}/usr/sbin:/sbin"

ret=0

case "$1" in
        start)
                log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESCR" "$PROG"
                start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $PROGRAM -- $FREERADIUS_OPTIONS || ret=$?
                log_end_msg $ret
                exit $ret
                ;;
        stop)
                log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESCR" "$PROG"
                if [ -f "$PIDFILE" ] ; then
                  start-stop-daemon --stop --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE || ret=$?
                else 
                  log_action_cont_msg "$PIDFILE not found"
                  ret=0
                fi
                log_end_msg $ret
                ;;
        restart)
                $0 stop
                $0 start
                ;;
        reload|force-reload)
                log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESCR" "$PROG"
                if [ -f "$PIDFILE" ] ; then
                  start-stop-daemon --stop --signal HUP --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE || ret=$?
                else 
                  log_action_cont_msg "$PIDFILE not found"
                  ret=0
                fi
                log_end_msg $ret
                ;;
        *)
                echo "Usage: $0 start|stop|restart|force-reload|reload"
                exit 1 
                ;;
esac

exit 0

There is a file in /etc/rc.d/S99freeradius which matches the above.

A reboot does not start radius, but manually running /etc/init.d/freeradius starts freeradius without incident.

Any ideas?

[Snowhog]

Silly question, likely, but is the file executable?

[james147]

You should be starting it with

sudo start freeradius

if that works try enabling it to boot at startup:

sudo update-rc.d freeradius enable

(I would check the update-rc.d man pages first, it has been a while since I have used it)

[kubicle]

There is a file in /etc/rc.d/S99freeradius which matches the above.

That doesn't sound right, as there is no /etc/rc.d in *buntus (or was that a typo) the start-stop links (for old-school init scripts) should be in runlevel based rcX.d directories.
You can try running 'sudo update-rc.d freeradius defaults 99 20'
(This should put start links S99freeradius for runlevels 2-5 (rc2.d to rc5.d) and stop links K20freeradius to runlevels 0, 1 and 6)

[TheBigAmbulance]

Thanks for the feedback!!

@Snowhog: The file is executable.

root@aaa:/# ls -la /etc/init.d/freeradius
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2165 Dec 10 16:09 /etc/init.d/freeradius
root@aaa:/#

@james147: Your command had this to say:

root@aaa:/# update-rc.d freeradius enable
update-rc.d: warning: freeradius start runlevel arguments (none) do not match LSB Default-Start values (2 3 4 5)
update-rc.d: warning: freeradius stop runlevel arguments (none) do not match LSB Default-Stop values (0 1 6)
 Enabling system startup links for /etc/init.d/freeradius ...
 Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/freeradius ...
   /etc/rc2.d/S99freeradius
   /etc/rc3.d/S99freeradius
   /etc/rc5.d/S99freeradius
 Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/freeradius ...
   /etc/rc2.d/S99freeradius -> ../init.d/freeradius
   /etc/rc3.d/S99freeradius -> ../init.d/freeradius
   /etc/rc5.d/S99freeradius -> ../init.d/freeradius
root@aaa:/#

@kubicle: I tried entering 'update-rc.d freeradius defaults 99 20', but got this...

root@aaa:/# update-rc.d freeradius defaults 99 20
 System start/stop links for /etc/init.d/freeradius already exist.
root@aaa:/#

When the system has a fresh boot, freeradius doesn't start but all the init statements work:

root@aaa:/# start freeradius
start: Unknown job: freeradius
root@aaa:/# service freeradius start
 * Starting FreeRADIUS daemon freeradius                                                                                                              [ OK ] 
root@aaa:/# netstat -lnp | grep radius
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1812            0.0.0.0:*                           2189/freeradius 
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1813            0.0.0.0:*                           2189/freeradius 
udp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1814            0.0.0.0:*                           2189/freeradius 
root@aaa:/# service freeradius stop
 * Stopping FreeRADIUS daemon freeradius                                                                                                              [ OK ] 
root@aaa:/# netstat -lnp | grep radius
root@aaa:/#

The only other reason I could think that it wouldn't start is that some dependencies (ie mysql) did not start by the time freeradius got there? guess....

[TheBigAmbulance]

Hmmm... I am using mysql

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...s/+bug/1081509

[kubicle]

@kubicle: I tried entering 'update-rc.d freeradius defaults 99 20', but got this...

root@aaa:/# update-rc.d freeradius defaults 99 20
 System start/stop links for /etc/init.d/freeradius already exist.
root@aaa:/#

That's because the previous command already created the links...james posted his suggestion while I was typing mine (so my command was somewhat redundant).

The mysql dependency problem sounds plausible, of course you could log the output of the init script during boot to see if it outputs any errors of interest (it could confirm whether the script runs and whether the problem is indeed a mysql error)

[TheBigAmbulance]

I'll have to look at the init logging options as I don't remember right off hand where that is. When the init items come scrolling by on bootup, I see that the freeradius daemon fails. Any advice on the init logging? Is that in syslog/messages/something I have to turn on?

I got around this for now by adding '/etc/init.d/freeradius start' in /etc/rc.local and it does work. This sorta prooves that freeradius is starting before other services are given a chance to finish starting.

[kubicle]

I'll have to look at the init logging options as I don't remember right off hand where that is. When the init items come scrolling by on bootup, I see that the freeradius daemon fails. Any advice on the init logging? Is that in syslog/messages/something I have to turn on?

I got around this for now by adding '/etc/init.d/freeradius start' in /etc/rc.local and it does work. This sorta prooves that freeradius is starting before other services are given a chance to finish starting.

I concur with your conclusion.

Since you found a workaround, there is not really a need to dig deeper, but if you're interested you could check /var/log/freeradius/* to see if the programs own logging system has catched errors.

If you wish to log the results of the init script, you could add something like "exec > /var/log/my_freeradius.log 2>&1" below the shebang (#!/bin/sh) in /etc/init.d/freeradius (this should output stdout and stderr of the init script into /var/log/my_freeradius.log that you could check after booting).

You can also enable bootlogging in /etc/default/bootlogd, but you might not get much out of it (it's been sort of iffy for years)