Which account to use to stop/start Linux services?

The scripts are owned and executable by protect.  Therefore, you can use the root account to start or stop the services, or any other account that has the ability to do an "su - protect" as the script will actually do the "su - protect" for you.

You can also enter su - protect as root (or any other user with permissions) to become the protect user prior to running the Vontu scripts.