When installing Neo4j Server, keep in mind that the bin/neo4j executable will need to be run by some OS system user, and that user will need write permissions to some files/directories, specifically to the data directory. That user will also need execute permissions on other files, such as those in /bin.

It is recommended to either choose or create a user who will own and manage the Neo4j Server. This user should own the entire neo4j directory, so make sure to untar/unzip it as this user, and not with sudo (UNIX/Linux/OSx), etc.

What happens if data is not writable by the neo4j user?

Neo4j won’t be able to write anything either to the store or its log files. As a result any logs would be appended to the console.log. The following error message would indicate a possible permissions issue:

2015-05-19 19:32:16.220+0000 INFO [Cluster] Write transactions to database disabled


Dave Gordon
Applicable versions:
file systemInstallationneo4j-2.xneo4j-3.xoperationspermissionsserverstartupunix