the_service.rb

#/spec/support/the_service.rb

#ensure that after all specs TheService will be stopped
RSpec.configure do |config|
  config.after :suite do
    TheServiceControl.stop
  end
end

class TheServiceControl
  class << self
    @pid = nil
    @config = nil

    def config
      puts "Please create file: #{config_path}" unless File.exist?(config_path)
      @config = YAML.load_file(config_path)
    end

    def host
      TheServiceControl.config['server']['addr']
    end

    def config_path
      Rails.root.join('spec', 'support', 'the_service_config.yml')
    end

    def start
       # will be described below
    end

    def stop
      # will be described below
    end

    def post(params, headers)
      HTTParty.post("http://#{host}/request", body: params, headers: headers )
    end
  end
end