This script requires an 'etherpad' user/group to exist before running. The recommended UID/GID is 264. You can create these like so: groupadd -g 264 etherpad useradd -u 264 -g 264 -c "Etherpad lite" -m etherpad After installation, Etherpad lite can be started with /etc/rc.d/rc.etherpad-lite start if you want it to start at boot, add an entry like this in /etc/rc.d/rc.local # Start etherpad-lite: if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.etherpad-lite ]; then /etc/rc.d/rc.etherpad-lite start fi to stop it at shutdown, add a similar entry substituting "start" with "stop" in /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown. Settings can be configured in /etc/etherpad-lite/settings.json Log files can be found in /var/log/etherpad-lite/ If you want to use it with mysql, have a look at https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite/wiki/How-to-use-Etherpad-Lite-with-MySQL