# Guide on how to run the boringproxy server as a service

**URL:** <https://forum.hhf.technology/t/guide-on-how-to-run-the-boringproxy-server-as-a-service/241>\
**Category:** Self-hosted Applications\
**Tags:** boringproxy\
**Created:** [October 17, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.hhf.technology/t/guide-on-how-to-run-the-boringproxy-server-as-a-service/241 "2024-10-17T17:16:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hhf.technoloy](https://forum.hhf.technology/user_avatar/forum.hhf.technology/hhf.technoloy/32/68_2.png) [@hhf.technoloy](https://forum.hhf.technology/u/hhf.technoloy)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://forum.hhf.technology/t/guide-on-how-to-run-the-boringproxy-server-as-a-service/241/1 "2024-10-17T17:16:31Z")

</div>

A quick how to on start the boringproxy server as a service.  
(Same goes for client)  
Probably 101 stuff but took me a bit of fiddling to get right.  
I guess boringproxy users was a easy /boring experience so hope this helps.

On a vps running debian 11/ubuntu .  
Assumes a password set for root (su passwd) so su works.

#created a user for boring proxy:  
#add user boringproxy  
`adduser boringproxy`  
#for better way see comment below about  
`useradd -M -r -s /bin/false -c "boringproxy system user" boringproxy`

#become user and cd to home dir  
`su boringproxy`  
`cd`

#install boring proxy in home dir /home/boringproxy/boringproxy-linux-x86\_64 server -for example  
#get BP  
`curl -LO https://github.com/boringproxy/boringproxy/releases/download/v0.10.0/boringproxy-linux-x86_64`  
#Make executable  
`chmod +x boringproxy-linux-x86_64`  
#Allow binding to ports 80 and 443  
`su /usr/sbin/setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep boringproxy-linux-x86_64 exit `  
#Create an .ssh dir for boring proxy:

`mkdir ~/.ssh`  
`chmod 700 ~/.ssh`  
`touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys`  
`chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys`

#Configure boring proxy to run as a service as bop:

`su`  
`cd /etc/systemd/system/`  
`touch boringproxy.service`  
`nano boringproxy.service`

#in the newly created file add:

```auto
[Unit]
Description=Boring Proxy service
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=0
[Service]
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=1
User=bop
WorkingDirectory=/home/boringproxy
ExecStart=/home/boringproxy/boringproxy-linux-x86_64 server -admin-domain bop.domainname.com

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

```

#Note: without WorkingDirectory boring proxy can’t load the config

#test buy starting and stopping  
`systemctl start boringproxy`  
#access [https://bop.domainname.com](https://bop.domainname.com/)  
`systemctl stop boringproxy`

#to start automatically:  
`systemctl enable boringproxy`  
#reboot and test - done

#To debug follow your log:  
`tail -f /var/log/daemon.log`

#token will be in:  
`cat /home/boringproxy/boringproxy_db.json`

I noticed my tunnel fails sometime like if the internet conenction restarts.

So here’s a working attempt at a monitoring script.

```bash
if curl -s -u user:password -I https://tunnel.bopdomain.com/ | head -n 1 | grep "HTTP/2 502" > /dev/null; then 
#boringproxy tunnel is down
   systemctl restart boringproxy
fi

```

user and password are the boringproxy tunnel ones.  
remove " -u user:password" if tunnel is not passworded.

Run above script via cron at your choosen interval.