             winston.debug("starting express webserver listening on #{program.host}:#{program.port}")
             http_server.listen(program.port, program.host, cb)
         (cb) ->
+            if not program.port
+                cb(); return
             async.parallel([
                 (cb) ->
                     # init authentication via passport (requires database)


    async.series([
        (cb) ->
            init_metrics(cb)
        (cb) ->
            # this defines the global (to this file) database variable.

#############################################

program.usage('[start/stop/restart/status/nodaemon] [options]')
    .option('--port <n>', 'port to listen on (default: 5000; 0 -- do not start)', ((n)->parseInt(n)), 5000)
    .option('--proxy_port <n>', 'port that the proxy server listens on (default: 0 -- do not start)', ((n)->parseInt(n)), 0)
    .option('--log_level [level]', "log level (default: debug) useful options include INFO, WARNING and DEBUG", String, "debug")
    .option('--host [string]', 'host of interface to bind to (default: "127.0.0.1")', String, "127.0.0.1")
