# Ghost installed and configured, but not starting

**URL:** <https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-installed-and-configured-but-not-starting/31405>\
**Category:** Self-hosting\
**Created:** [July 18, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-installed-and-configured-but-not-starting/31405 "2022-07-18T02:57:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ryansechrest](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/ryansechrest/32/18588_2.png) [@ryansechrest](https://forum.ghost.org/u/ryansechrest)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-installed-and-configured-but-not-starting/31405/21 "2022-07-25T19:10:26Z")

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Hi @markstos I tried taking lsnode out the equation this weekend, but I’m facing two issues: (1) I now can’t get `ghost start` to run successfully, but it seems `ghost run` works (which I’m told should only be used for debugging). (2) Properly configuring OpenLiteSpeed to act as a reverse proxy (getting a 503).

I’m still tinkering to see if I can make any progress.

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**Author:** ![markstos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/markstos/32/18182_2.png) [@markstos](https://forum.ghost.org/u/markstos)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-installed-and-configured-but-not-starting/31405/22 "2022-07-25T20:04:34Z")

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I recommend using the built-in support for starting/stopping/managing the service with `systemd`. `systemd` starts the service with `ghost run`. Here’s the summary docs for `ghost run`:

> Run a Ghost instance directly (used by process managers and for debugging)

So while `ghost run` is used for debugging, it’s also used by process managers like `systemd`.

If you haven’t already, you can use `ghost setup systemd`. Once that’s done, standard systemd commands can work on the service, including:

```auto
systemctl start 'ghost*'
systemctl status 'ghost*'
systemctl stop 'ghost*'
systemctl restart 'ghost*'
journalctl -u 'ghost*' # to look at the logs

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ryansechrest](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/ryansechrest/32/18588_2.png) [@ryansechrest](https://forum.ghost.org/u/ryansechrest)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 4:33am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/ghost-installed-and-configured-but-not-starting/31405/23 "2022-07-26T04:33:23Z")

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Hi @markstos I got it working. As mentioned, there were a number of problems, and considering I changed quite a few variables, I’m not 100% sure what actually the mysql issue was, but it’s solved.

1. I initially installed Ghost in a protected directory to which only the newly created Ghost user had access. I didn’t notice it at first, but the Ghost CLI needed access to that directory _and_ the parent directories, which wasn’t ideal in its current location. So I moved Ghost from `/home/blog.example.org` to `/var/www/blog.example.org`.

2. When I ran `ghost install`, I included the `--no-setup-linux-user` flag, because I thought it was going to create another user specific for the Ghost blog, and I already had one. That said, it’s actually creating a `ghost` user for the Ghost CLI, and perhaps that is helpful to have.

3. Per your recommendation, I completely scrapped the `lsnode` part from the guide I followed, and I set up a reverse proxy in OpenLiteSpeed instead:

```auto
context / {
  type proxy
  handler ghost
  addDefaultCharset off
}

```

The tricky part here was that I had to create this `ghost` handler to expose the `2368` port on which Ghost is running. This configuration was added to OpenLiteSpeed in Server Configuration \> External App.

1. Previously, I wanted OpenLiteSpeed to start and run Ghost, because I thought that was the way to go, but per your recommendation, I just switched to using `systemd`, which I simply enabled/configured during the installation.

And here we are. Ghost is running, it’s using a remote MySQL 8 database, and I can finally sleep.

Thanks again for sticking with me here.

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