The following example is a systemd script, which defines a simple process that is run during startup. This is compatible with most Linux-based systems but you may need to implement a different solution on another operating system. Note: this article documents the legacy Ruby `deploy-agent`. If you are setting up a new server, see [Migrating from the Ruby deploy-agent to network-agent](/support/migrating-to-network-agent) for the supported replacement.

Simply save this file as a useful name within your `/etc/systemd/system` directory, as follows:

```
/etc/systemd/system/deploy-agent.service
```

The file will contain the following:

```
[Unit]
Description=Deploy Agent

[Service]
User=deployhq
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/deploy-agent run
ExecStop=/usr/local/bin/deploy-agent stop
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```

You'll need to replace the `User` value as appropriate for the user you installed the agent with.

Once the file has been created and populated, you'll need to set permissions for it, reload systemd and then enable the service:

```bash
sudo chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/deploy-agent.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable deploy-agent.service
```

This will cause the agent to be started on boot, and if you wish to start it immediately, you can run:

```bash
sudo systemctl start deploy-agent.service
```

If you need to check that the agent is running correctly at any time, you can run:

```bash
$ sudo systemctl status deploy-agent.service
* deploy-agent.service - Deploy Agent
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/deploy-agent.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2019-10-09 10:22:49 BST; 48s ago
 Main PID: 526 (deploy-agent)
   CGroup: /system.slice/deploy-agent.service
           `-526 /usr/bin/ruby2.3 /usr/local/bin/deploy-agent run
```