Unlike ALM/QC, Octane does not have a task tray status icon to tell you if it is running or not (especially not on Linux).
There is a special log (that is by the way, also in QC/ALM) called the ''wrapper.log'' (default in C:octanelog) that will tell you if the server is up and running and if it has any issues during the startup.
You may have used it on your first few launch attempts when running the initserver.bat (or .sh) to get Octane installed the first time.
The best way to use this on the first few boots is to DELETE it, then start the Octane service (or initserver script). This way, the lines added are related to this start-up session.
As you get Octane working and are using it, it may have multiple ''boot sessions'' logged in this Wrapper log, so you then need to scroll to the bottom of the log for the latest one (also can check the time/date stamp on the log lines).
You should see a line with ''Server is ready!'' near or on the last line.