Virola self-hosted server running as a daemon on Arch Linux

This instruction is valid for other Arch-based Linux distributions (Manjaro, Parabola, ArcoLinux, etc.)

During the installation of the self-hosted Virola server on Linux, you'll have the option to register the server as a systemd service (daemon). If configured, this allows systemd to automatically start the server at boot and restart it gracefully in case of failures.

Below are the instructions you'll need to manage the registered systemd service. Even if you chose not to enable it during installation, you can still create the systemd service configuration manually at any time.

Managing the Virola systemd Service

Start, Stop, and Restart the Virola Server

Use the following systemctl commands to control the Virola server:

sudo systemctl start virola-server - Starts the Virola server
sudo systemctl stop virola-server - Stops the Virola server
sudo systemctl restart virola-server - Restarts the Virola server

Changing the Host or Port

To update the host or port the Virola server listens on:

Open /home/virola/start-virola-server.sh in a text editor
Locate the --listen parameter
Modify the value using the syntax: --listen HOST:PORT
Save the file
Run sudo systemctl restart virola-server to apply the changes

Important: After updating, make sure to also change the Server Host and Server Port settings in your Virola client.

Moving the Database to a New Location

To relocate the Virola server database:

Find the current database (default: /home/virola/storage/virola_server_database_v9.db)
Stop the server: sudo systemctl stop virola-server
Move the database file to the new location
Open /home/virola/start-virola-server.sh in a text editor
Locate the --storage-dir parameter
Update the path using the syntax: --storage-dir STORAGE-DIRECTORY-PATH
Save the file
Start the server: sudo systemctl start virola-server

You may not have access to the /home/virola directory, but you can still view its contents using the command sudo ls /home/virola, and access files inside the directory. For example, the command sudo nano /home/virola/start-virola-server.sh opens the file start-virola-server.sh in nano text editor.

Note! If the /home/virola/start-virola-server.sh file is missing, the Virola server was likely registered as a systemd service manually. In that case, host, port and storage directory settings are defined directly in the virola-server.service file, typically located at /etc/systemd/system/virola-server.service.

Manual systemd Registration for Virola Server

Create user virola with the following command:
```
sudo useradd -m virola
```
Make sure to keep -m parameter to create the user's home directory at /home/virola
Navigate to /etc/systemd/system directory and create the file virola-server.service there. You may use nano editor for this:
```
sudo nano virola-server.service
```

Add the following to the file:

[Unit]
Description=Virola Server
Wants=network.target
After=network.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/home/virola
User=virola
ExecStart=/usr/bin/virola-server --listen HOST:PORT --storage-dir ./storage
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

where

HOST is the IP you've chosen for the Virola server
PORT is the port you've chosen for the Virola server

Save the file
Execute the following commands one by one
```
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start virola-server
sudo systemctl enable virola-server
```
After this, your Virola Server should be up and running, and you can try to connect to it with Virola Client app.

To check the status of virola-server systemd service, use the following command:

sudo systemctl status virola-server