System V init examines the /etc/inittab file for an :initdefault: entry, which tells init whether there is a default runlevel. If there is no default runlevel, then the user is dumped to a system console, where a runlevel must be entered manually.
The inittab file describes which processes are started at bootup.
es:2345:respawn:/bin/su - <endeca_user> -c "/absolute/path/to/start.sh"
where: