I noticed that in the start process, couchbase will be run as “couchbase” users and change some kernel parameters, besides that is there any special reason why we can’t run it as non-root one? Like say, if we run non-root, we will get a broken couchbase, or couchbase with worse performance?
Thank you for your feedback. Running as non-root is only suggested for development environments.
Here are a few reasons why you have to run couchbase as root -
With package manager and information in privileged directory , it can automatically identify it is a fresh install or an upgrade. Without root/sudo access, we lose this context.
Access to network interface ( open socket ) in order to be able to listen to connections
Access to the data folder. The default is accessible only by root or couchbase user
Access to logging folder. The default is accessible only by root or couchbase user.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Don Pinto
Couchbase Server Product Management