Hi Jay,

This really isn't the proper forum for this, but it does appear that things with your support ticket have gotten a bit confused. So, I will try to clarify here for you (and anyone else who is now interested).

First, in your ticket you asked: "Do you deliver a systemd [aka systemctl] services startup file and/or the documentation to set it up and enable it in Red Hat EL7 [for the old SOAP-based XPP Web Services]?"

And the answer, as was stated in your ticket, is: No.

For XPP (all products), we have never yet developed, let alone delivered, any systemd/systemctl services startup files.

In XPP development, we are just now developing systemd/systemctl services startup files for non-retired XPP products (such as XPP itself and the newer XPP RESTful Web Services) - to replace the init.d type of startup files. But these won't be available/delivered until the next core release of XPP and the next release of XPP RESTful Web Services. However, there are no plans to develop such systemd type startup scripts for any retired products like the old SOAP-based XPP Web Services.

Support did not say in your ticket that we never delivered any init.d startup scripts; as you've pointed out it's obvious that we do. They were stating that we never did that for the systemd/systemctl type of startup scripts that you specifically asked about.

And what support was trying to convey about "starting up Tomcat on Linux at boot" was that we deliver an init.d startup script that provides a framework for our (old) XPP WS add-on product to help get the XPP environment set up before invoking Tomcat's startup script, but if you are having problems getting Tomcat to run at boot or you are having some kinds of "permission" problems in Tomcat then support cannot really provide much help because Tomcat is not our product.

If you are using RHEL 7, I have to ask why you are not just using the init.d startup script that is provided with the (old) XPP WS product?

Here at RWS we are still using all of the XPP-delivered init.d startup scripts on our RHEL 7 systems (and I believe RHEL 8 as well).

Within this RHEL article (Overview of systemd for RHEL 7 - Red Hat Customer Portal) it states (highlights added):

Transitioning to systemd

If you are used to using the init process and System V init scripts prior to RHEL 7, there are a few things you should know about transitioning to systemd:

• Using RHEL 6 commands: For the time being, you can use commands such as service, chkconfig, runlevel, and init as you did in RHEL 6. They will cause appropriate systemd commands to run, with similar, if not exactly the same, results. Here are some examples:

  # service cups restart
  Redirecting to /bin/systemctl restart cups.service
  # chkconfig cups on
  Note: Forwarding request to 'systemctl enable cups.service'.
  

• System V init Scripts: Although not encouraged, System V init scripts are still supported. There are still some services in RHEL 7 that are implemented in System V init scripts. ...

AFAIK, it's only starting with RHEL 9 that init.d scripts are no longer supported at all (but don't quote me on that). And that's why in XPP development, we have started working on the new systemd type of startup scripts for the next core releases of our active products.

RH themselves provide guidance on converting from init.d scripts to the systemd way, for example in this blog (Converting traditional sysV init scripts to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 systemd unit files). Perhaps that blog can help you if you still want to try to convert to using the systemd way to start Tomcat. But I think it is unnecessary and you should be fine with the init.d startup script delivered with XPP WS.

Thank you for the de-confusion and clarification, Jonathan. And thanks for indulging me. 

I think we are on the track you've outlined, to incorporate the sysV-style init.d script as-is. But this has been a low-priority project here, and I haven't been much help to the Linux admin who I threw this over to. (That person does know know much about XPP.) Anyway, so your detailed explanation (and links) helps fill in a couple of blanks. I appreciate the time.

Thank you for the de-confusion and clarification, Jonathan. And thanks for indulging me. 

I think we are on the track you've outlined, to incorporate the sysV-style init.d script as-is. But this has been a low-priority project here, and I haven't been much help to the Linux admin who I threw this over to. (That person does know know much about XPP.) Anyway, so your detailed explanation (and links) helps fill in a couple of blanks. I appreciate the time.