Start-up scripts are another useful way of starting and configuring ECF. There is an example included in the default installation of ECF; ecflow_start.sh.
Scripts like these can be used to reconfigure some of the default ecFlow variables and check that ecFlow is not already running (using ecflow_client --ping), set the environment (or do it in .profile or .cshrc), backup logfiles and checkpoint files, start ecflow_server in the background and alert operators if there is a problem starting.