You may wish to add these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local to start the service: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.nsca-ng ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.nsca-ng start fi You may also add these lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.nsca-ng ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.nsca-ng stop fi Remember to give executable permission to /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown: chmod 0755 /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown