Deploying and Configuring Supervisor for Reliable Background Process Management on Linux

When you need certain programs or processes to run stably in the background, server crashes or accidental termination can cause instability; the Supervisor process‑management tool provides a practical solution.

1. Install from source

Download the tarball, extract it, and run the Python installer:

[root@node2 ~]# cd supervisor-3.3.4
[root@node2 supervisor-3.3.4]# ll
[root@node2 supervisor-3.3.4]# python setup.py install

The installation fails with:

No local packages or download links found for meld3>=0.6.5
error: Could not find suitable distribution for Requirement.parse('meld3>=0.6.5')

Resolve the issue by upgrading/installing meld3 and then re‑run the installer.

Verify the installation:

[root@node2 ~]# echo_supervisord_conf

2. Configuration file

Create the configuration directory and generate the default config file:

[root@node2 local]# mkdir /etc/supervisor
[root@node2 ~]# echo_supervisord_conf >/etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf

Key sections of /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf include:

[unix_http_server]
file=/tmp/supervisor.sock ; socket file path

[inet_http_server]
port=127.0.0.1:9001 ; TCP server (disabled by default)
username=root ; optional username
password=abc@123 ; optional password

[supervisord]
logfile=/tmp/supervisord.log
logfile_maxbytes=50MB
logfile_backups=10
loglevel=info
pidfile=/tmp/supervisord.pid
nodaemon=false
minfds=1024
minprocs=200

[rpcinterface:supervisor]
supervisor.rpcinterface_factory = supervisor.rpcinterface:make_main_rpcinterface

[supervisorctl]
serverurl=unix:///tmp/supervisor.sock

[include]
files = /etc/supervisor/supervisord.d/*.conf

3. Create a custom program configuration (example: Jenkins)

[root@node2 ~]# more /etc/supervisor/supervisord.d/jenkins.conf
program:pro-jenkins]
command=java -jar /root/jenkins.war
priority=1
numprocs=1
autostart=true
autorestart=true
startretries=5
exitcodes=0
stopsignal=KILL
stopwaitsecs=10
redirect_stderr=true

4. Start Supervisor

[root@node2 ~]# supervisord -c /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf
[root@node2 ~]# ps -ef | grep supervisord

5. Reload configuration

[root@node2 ~]# supervisorctl -c /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf

6. Check program status

[root@node2 ~]# supervisorctl -c /etc/supervisor/supervisord.conf
pro-jenkins STARTING
supervisor>
[root@node2 ~]# supervisorctl
pro-jenkins RUNNING   pid 26538, uptime 0:00:02
supervisor>

Finally, you can verify the web UI at the configured address to ensure the service is online.

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