What is supervisord?
Tags: beginners, productivity, python
Published: 2022-07-21 08:33:00

1. A process control system
2. what is supervisord
3. why use supervisord
4. sample file

---


### **A Process Control System**

the process control system monitors and controls several processes on your system 

it handles the start/monitor/stop/restart of your services. if you are from Linx/UNIX world you will know that **init** as “process id 1”

The init process is the last step in the boot procedure and is identified by process id "1".   Init is responsible for starting system processes

Init typically will start multiple instances of "Getty" which waits for console logins which spawn one's user shell process. Upon shutdown, init controls the sequence and processes for the shutdown.
The init process is never shut down. It is a user process and not a kernel system process although it does run as root.

### what is supervisord?

It’s a process control tool which is written in pure python

Supervisord is a client/server system that allows its users to monitor and control several processes on UNIX-like operating systems.

It shares some of the same goals as programs like *launchd,daemontools*, and *runit*. Unlike some of these programs, **it is not meant to be run as a substitute for init as “process id 1”. Instead it is meant to be used to control processes related to a project or a customer**, and is meant to start like any other program at boot time.

Supervisor can be installed with pip install:

`pip install supervisor`

 details instruction to install [supervisord](http://supervisord.org/installing.html) 

supervisord uses configuration files so it’s easy to understand what each process is doing

*supervisord.conf* is a Windows-INI-style (Python ConfigParser) file.  It has sections (each denoted by a [header]) and key/value pairs within the sections.

### why use supervisord?

consider the scenario where you have written a hello world program and you want to start that particular program after booting up your OS in this kind of scenario where you can use supervisord.

We use supervisord in docker to run multiple services (program). In the next blog, I will explain how to use supervisord in docker to control.

### Sample file

```markup
; Sample supervisor config file.
;
; For more information on the config file, please see:
; http://supervisord.org/configuration.html
;
; Notes:
;  - Shell expansion ("~" or "$HOME") is not supported.  Environment
;    variables can be expanded using this syntax: "%(ENV_HOME)s".
;  - Quotes around values are not supported, except in the case of
;    the environment= options as shown below.
;  - Comments must have a leading space: "a=b ;comment" not "a=b;comment".
;  - Command will be truncated if it looks like a config file comment, e.g.
;    "command=bash -c 'foo ; bar'" will truncate to "command=bash -c 'foo ".
;
; Warning:
;  Paths throughout this example file use /tmp because it is available on most
;  systems.  You will likely need to change these to locations more appropriate
;  for your system.  Some systems periodically delete older files in /tmp.
;  Notably, if the socket file defined in the [unix_http_server] section below
;  is deleted, supervisorctl will be unable to connect to supervisord.

[unix_http_server]
file=/tmp/supervisor.sock   ; the path to the socket file
;chmod=0700                 ; socket file mode (default 0700)
;chown=nobody:nogroup       ; socket file uid:gid owner
;username=user              ; default is no username (open server)
;password=123               ; default is no password (open server)

; Security Warning:
;  The inet HTTP server is not enabled by default.  The inet HTTP server is
;  enabled by uncommenting the [inet_http_server] section below.  The inet
;  HTTP server is intended for use within a trusted environment only.  It
;  should only be bound to localhost or only accessible from within an
;  isolated, trusted network.  The inet HTTP server does not support any
;  form of encryption.  The inet HTTP server does not use authentication
;  by default (see the username= and password= options to add authentication).
;  Never expose the inet HTTP server to the public internet.

;[inet_http_server]         ; inet (TCP) server disabled by default
;port=127.0.0.1:9001        ; ip_address:port specifier, *:port for all iface
;username=user              ; default is no username (open server)
;password=123               ; default is no password (open server)

[supervisord]
logfile=/tmp/supervisord.log ; main log file; default $CWD/supervisord.log
logfile_maxbytes=50MB        ; max main logfile bytes b4 rotation; default 50MB
logfile_backups=10           ; # of main logfile backups; 0 means none, default 10
loglevel=info                ; log level; default info; others: debug,warn,trace
pidfile=/tmp/supervisord.pid ; supervisord pidfile; default supervisord.pid
nodaemon=false               ; start in foreground if true; default false
silent=false                 ; no logs to stdout if true; default false
minfds=1024                  ; min. avail startup file descriptors; default 1024
minprocs=200                 ; min. avail process descriptors;default 200
;umask=022                   ; process file creation umask; default 022
;user=supervisord            ; setuid to this UNIX account at startup; recommended if root
;identifier=supervisor       ; supervisord identifier, default is 'supervisor'
;directory=/tmp              ; default is not to cd during start
;nocleanup=true              ; don't clean up tempfiles at start; default false
;childlogdir=/tmp            ; 'AUTO' child log dir, default $TEMP
;environment=KEY="value"     ; key value pairs to add to environment
;strip_ansi=false            ; strip ansi escape codes in logs; def. false

; The rpcinterface:supervisor section must remain in the config file for
; RPC (supervisorctl/web interface) to work.  Additional interfaces may be
; added by defining them in separate [rpcinterface:x] sections.

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

; The supervisorctl section configures how supervisorctl will connect to
; supervisord.  configure it match the settings in either the unix_http_server
; or inet_http_server section.

[supervisorctl]
serverurl=unix:///tmp/supervisor.sock ; use a unix:// URL  for a unix socket
;serverurl=http://127.0.0.1:9001 ; use an http:// url to specify an inet socket
;username=chris              ; should be same as in [*_http_server] if set
;password=123                ; should be same as in [*_http_server] if set
;prompt=mysupervisor         ; cmd line prompt (default "supervisor")
;history_file=~/.sc_history  ; use readline history if available

; The sample program section below shows all possible program subsection values.
; Create one or more 'real' program: sections to be able to control them under
; supervisor.

;[program:theprogramname]
;command=/bin/cat              ; the program (relative uses PATH, can take args)
;process_name=%(program_name)s ; process_name expr (default %(program_name)s)
;numprocs=1                    ; number of processes copies to start (def 1)
;directory=/tmp                ; directory to cwd to before exec (def no cwd)
;umask=022                     ; umask for process (default None)
;priority=999                  ; the relative start priority (default 999)
;autostart=true                ; start at supervisord start (default: true)
;startsecs=1                   ; # of secs prog must stay up to be running (def. 1)
;startretries=3                ; max # of serial start failures when starting (default 3)
;autorestart=unexpected        ; when to restart if exited after running (def: unexpected)
;exitcodes=0                   ; 'expected' exit codes used with autorestart (default 0)
;stopsignal=QUIT               ; signal used to kill process (default TERM)
;stopwaitsecs=10               ; max num secs to wait b4 SIGKILL (default 10)
;stopasgroup=false             ; send stop signal to the UNIX process group (default false)
;killasgroup=false             ; SIGKILL the UNIX process group (def false)
;user=chrism                   ; setuid to this UNIX account to run the program
;redirect_stderr=true          ; redirect proc stderr to stdout (default false)
;stdout_logfile=/a/path        ; stdout log path, NONE for none; default AUTO
;stdout_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; max # logfile bytes b4 rotation (default 50MB)
;stdout_logfile_backups=10     ; # of stdout logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
;stdout_capture_maxbytes=1MB   ; number of bytes in 'capturemode' (default 0)
;stdout_events_enabled=false   ; emit events on stdout writes (default false)
;stdout_syslog=false           ; send stdout to syslog with process name (default false)
;stderr_logfile=/a/path        ; stderr log path, NONE for none; default AUTO
;stderr_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; max # logfile bytes b4 rotation (default 50MB)
;stderr_logfile_backups=10     ; # of stderr logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
;stderr_capture_maxbytes=1MB   ; number of bytes in 'capturemode' (default 0)
;stderr_events_enabled=false   ; emit events on stderr writes (default false)
;stderr_syslog=false           ; send stderr to syslog with process name (default false)
;environment=A="1",B="2"       ; process environment additions (def no adds)
;serverurl=AUTO                ; override serverurl computation (childutils)

; The sample eventlistener section below shows all possible eventlistener
; subsection values.  Create one or more 'real' eventlistener: sections to be
; able to handle event notifications sent by supervisord.

;[eventlistener:theeventlistenername]
;command=/bin/eventlistener    ; the program (relative uses PATH, can take args)
;process_name=%(program_name)s ; process_name expr (default %(program_name)s)
;numprocs=1                    ; number of processes copies to start (def 1)
;events=EVENT                  ; event notif. types to subscribe to (req'd)
;buffer_size=10                ; event buffer queue size (default 10)
;directory=/tmp                ; directory to cwd to before exec (def no cwd)
;umask=022                     ; umask for process (default None)
;priority=-1                   ; the relative start priority (default -1)
;autostart=true                ; start at supervisord start (default: true)
;startsecs=1                   ; # of secs prog must stay up to be running (def. 1)
;startretries=3                ; max # of serial start failures when starting (default 3)
;autorestart=unexpected        ; autorestart if exited after running (def: unexpected)
;exitcodes=0                   ; 'expected' exit codes used with autorestart (default 0)
;stopsignal=QUIT               ; signal used to kill process (default TERM)
;stopwaitsecs=10               ; max num secs to wait b4 SIGKILL (default 10)
;stopasgroup=false             ; send stop signal to the UNIX process group (default false)
;killasgroup=false             ; SIGKILL the UNIX process group (def false)
;user=chrism                   ; setuid to this UNIX account to run the program
;redirect_stderr=false         ; redirect_stderr=true is not allowed for eventlisteners
;stdout_logfile=/a/path        ; stdout log path, NONE for none; default AUTO
;stdout_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; max # logfile bytes b4 rotation (default 50MB)
;stdout_logfile_backups=10     ; # of stdout logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
;stdout_events_enabled=false   ; emit events on stdout writes (default false)
;stdout_syslog=false           ; send stdout to syslog with process name (default false)
;stderr_logfile=/a/path        ; stderr log path, NONE for none; default AUTO
;stderr_logfile_maxbytes=1MB   ; max # logfile bytes b4 rotation (default 50MB)
;stderr_logfile_backups=10     ; # of stderr logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
;stderr_events_enabled=false   ; emit events on stderr writes (default false)
;stderr_syslog=false           ; send stderr to syslog with process name (default false)
;environment=A="1",B="2"       ; process environment additions
;serverurl=AUTO                ; override serverurl computation (childutils)

; The sample group section below shows all possible group values.  Create one
; or more 'real' group: sections to create "heterogeneous" process groups.

;[group:thegroupname]
;programs=progname1,progname2  ; each refers to 'x' in [program:x] definitions
;priority=999                  ; the relative start priority (default 999)

; The [include] section can just contain the "files" setting.  This
; setting can list multiple files (separated by whitespace or
; newlines).  It can also contain wildcards.  The filenames are
; interpreted as relative to this file.  Included files *cannot*
; include files themselves.

;[include]
;files = relative/directory/*.ini
```