Generic script for managing a Unix service

Create a file with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash
export user_name="root"

export srv_name="serv"
export exec_dir_stop="/home/$user_name/bin/stop_serv.sh"
export exec_dir_start="/home/$user_name/bin/start_serv.sh"

case "$1" in
start)
echo -n "Starting $srv_name Service Daemon"

/usr/bin/sudo -u $user_name $exec_dir_start
;;
stop)
echo -n "Shutting $srv_name Service Daemon"
/usr/bin/sudo -u $user_name $exec_dir_stop
;;
restart)
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
exit 1
;;
esac

Save it with a descriptive name on /etc/init.d (or /etc/rc.d) , for instance http_filter . Change the access rights to the user in charge of managing the service, and create a softlink on the run level you want the service to be started.