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2.3.x

PermalinkControl Kong through systemd

PermalinkIntroduction

This document includes instructions on how to integrate Kong with systemd for Debian and RPM based packages. Note that some of the supported GNU/Linux distributions for Kong may not have adopted systemd as their default init system (for example, CentOS 6 and RHEL 6). For the following instructions, it is assumed that Kong has already been installed and configured on a systemd-supported GNU/Linux distribution.

PermalinkStart Kong

$ sudo systemctl start kong

PermalinkStop Kong

$ sudo systemctl stop kong

PermalinkStart Kong automatically at system boot

To enable Kong to automatically start at system boot:

$ sudo systemctl enable kong

To disable Kong from automatically starting at system boot:

$ sudo systemctl disable kong

PermalinkRestart Kong

$ sudo systemctl restart kong

PermalinkQuery Kong status

$ sudo systemctl status kong

PermalinkCustomize the Kong unit file

The official systemd service is located at /lib/systemd/system/kong.service. For scenarios where customizations are needed (for example, configuring Kong or modifying the service file behavior), we recommend to create another service at /etc/systemd/system/kong.service to avoid conflicts upon reinstalling or upgrading Kong.

All environment variables prefixed with KONG_ and capitalized will override the settings specified in the /etc/kong/kong.conf.default file. For example: log_level = debug in the .conf file translates to the KONG_LOG_LEVEL=debug environment variable.

There is also the possibility of opting to not use environment variables in the service file but instead use a configuration file. In this case, modify the ExecStartPre systemd directive to execute kong prepare with the -c argument to point to your configuration file. For example, if you have a custom configuration file at /etc/kong/kong.conf, modify the ExecStartPre directive as follows:

ExecStartPre=/usr/local/bin/kong prepare -p /usr/local/kong -c /etc/kong/kong.conf

When linking non environment files using the EnvironmentFile systemd directive, note that the systemd parser will only recognize environment variables assignments. For example, if one of the Kong’s default configuration files are linked (/etc/kong/kong.conf.default and /etc/kong.conf), non environment variables assignments in the file could lead to systemd errors. In this case, systemd will not allow the Kong service to be started. For this reason, we recommend specifying an EnvironmentFile other than the default ones:

EnvironmentFile=/etc/kong/kong_env.conf

PermalinkLogging to syslog and journald

In this case, adding the below Environment systemd directives to your customized systemd service file at /etc/systemd/system/kong.service will do it:

Environment=KONG_PROXY_ACCESS_LOG=syslog:server=unix:/dev/log
Environment=KONG_PROXY_ERROR_LOG=syslog:server=unix:/dev/log
Environment=KONG_ADMIN_ACCESS_LOG=syslog:server=unix:/dev/log
Environment=KONG_ADMIN_ERROR_LOG=syslog:server=unix:/dev/log

To view the journald logs: journalctl -u kong

To view the syslog logs: tail -F /var/log/syslog

PermalinkCustomize Kong’s Nginx instance [using the Nginx directive injection system

To use the Nginx directive injection system, add the below Environment systemd directive to your custom service at /etc/systemd/system/kong.service if environment variables are preferred. Note the quoting rules defined by systemd to specify an environment variable containing spaces:

Environment="KONG_NGINX_HTTP_OUTPUT_BUFFERS=4 64k"

PermalinkCustomize Kong’s Nginx instance using --nginx-conf

To use the --nginx-conf argument, modify the ExecStartPre systemd directive to execute kong prepare with the --nginx-conf argument. For example, if you have a custom template at /usr/local/kong/custom-nginx.template, modify the ExecStartPre directive as follows:

ExecStartPre=/usr/local/bin/kong prepare -p /usr/local/kong --nginx-conf /usr/local/kong/custom-nginx.template

PermalinkCustomize Kong’s Nginx instance including files via the injected Nginx directives

To include files via the injected Nginx directives, add the below Environment systemd directive to your custom service at /etc/systemd/system/kong.service if environment variables are preferred:

Environment=KONG_NGINX_HTTP_INCLUDE=/path/to/your/my-server.kong.conf