Service Management

Overview

Services (also called daemons) are programs running in the background that provide various system functions. Modern Linux systems use systemd as init system and service manager.

systemd Introduction

systemd is the init system for most modern Linux distributions, responsible for:

Booting the system
Managing services
Managing mount points
Managing devices
Managing logs

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Unit	Basic unit managed by systemd
Service	Service unit, runs daemons
Target	Target unit, combines multiple units
Socket	Socket unit, manages sockets
Timer	Timer unit, scheduled tasks

Unit File Locations

Path	Description
`/lib/systemd/system/`	System unit files
`/etc/systemd/system/`	Administrator custom units
`/run/systemd/system/`	Runtime units
`~/.config/systemd/user/`	User units

systemctl Commands

Managing Services

bash

# Start service
$ sudo systemctl start nginx

# Stop service
$ sudo systemctl stop nginx

# Restart service
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx

# Reload configuration (don't interrupt service)
$ sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Reload or restart
$ sudo systemctl reload-or-restart nginx

# View service status
$ systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - A high performance web server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2025-01-09 10:00:00 CST; 2h ago
  Process: 1234 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/nginx (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1235 (nginx)
    Tasks: 3 (limit: 4915)
   Memory: 10.0M
   CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
           ├─1235 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx
           └─1236 nginx: worker process

# Check if service is active
$ systemctl is-active nginx
active

# Check if service failed
$ systemctl is-failed nginx
active

Enable at Boot

bash

# Enable auto-start at boot
$ sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Disable auto-start at boot
$ sudo systemctl disable nginx

# Enable and start immediately
$ sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

# Disable and stop immediately
$ sudo systemctl disable --now nginx

# Check if enabled
$ systemctl is-enabled nginx
enabled

# Mask service (completely prevent from starting)
$ sudo systemctl mask nginx

# Unmask
$ sudo systemctl unmask nginx

List Services

bash

# List all services
$ systemctl list-units --type=service

# List running services
$ systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

# List installed services
$ systemctl list-unit-files --type=service

# List failed services
$ systemctl list-units --failed

# List all units
$ systemctl list-units

# List dependencies
$ systemctl list-dependencies nginx

System Status

bash

# View system status
$ systemctl status

# Reload systemd configuration
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# View default target
$ systemctl get-default
graphical.target

# Set default target
$ sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target  # Multi-user (no graphics)
$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target   # Graphical interface

# Switch runlevel
$ sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target
$ sudo systemctl isolate graphical.target

Power Management

bash

# Shutdown
$ sudo systemctl poweroff

# Restart
$ sudo systemctl reboot

# Suspend
$ sudo systemctl suspend

# Hibernate
$ sudo systemctl hibernate

# Hybrid-suspend
$ sudo systemctl hybrid-sleep

Writing Service Unit Files

Basic Structure

ini

[Unit]
Description=My Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/myapp
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[Unit] Section

ini

[Unit]
Description=Service description
Documentation=https://example.com/docs
After=network.target mysql.service
Requires=mysql.service
Wants=redis.service
Conflicts=other.service

Option	Description
Description	Service description
Documentation	Documentation links
After	Start after specified unit
Before	Start before specified unit
Requires	Required units (fail if unavailable)
Wants	Optional dependencies (failure doesn't affect)
Conflicts	Conflicting units

[Service] Section

ini

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www
ExecStart=/usr/bin/myapp --config /etc/myapp.conf
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
ExecStop=/bin/kill -TERM $MAINPID
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
EnvironmentFile=/etc/myapp/env

Option	Description
Type	Service type
User/Group	Run user/group
WorkingDirectory	Working directory
ExecStart	Start command
ExecStop	Stop command
ExecReload	Reload command
Restart	Restart policy
RestartSec	Restart interval
Environment	Environment variables
EnvironmentFile	Environment variable file

Type Types

Type	Description
simple	Default, main process is service process
forking	Service forks then parent exits
oneshot	One-time task
notify	Service sends notification when ready
idle	Wait for other tasks to complete

Restart Policies

Policy	Description
no	Don't restart
always	Always restart
on-success	Restart on successful exit
on-failure	Restart on failure
on-abnormal	Restart on abnormal exit
on-abort	Restart on abort signal

[Install] Section

ini

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=myservice.service

Option	Description
WantedBy	Target that depends on this unit
RequiredBy	Target that requires this unit
Alias	Alternative names

Example: Node.js Application

ini

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service
[Unit]
Description=My Node.js Application
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/myapp
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=myapp
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PORT=3000

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Example: Python Application

ini

# /etc/systemd/system/flask-app.service
[Unit]
Description=Flask Application
After=network.target

[Service]
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/flask-app
Environment="PATH=/var/www/flask-app/venv/bin"
ExecStart=/var/www/flask-app/venv/bin/gunicorn --workers 3 --bind unix:flask-app.sock -m 007 app:app
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Creating and Enabling Service

bash

# 1. Create service file
$ sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service

# 2. Reload systemd
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# 3. Start service
$ sudo systemctl start myapp

# 4. Check status
$ systemctl status myapp

# 5. Enable auto-start
$ sudo systemctl enable myapp

Viewing Logs

journalctl

bash

# View all logs
$ journalctl

# View specific service logs
$ journalctl -u nginx

# Follow logs in real-time
$ journalctl -u nginx -f

# View today's logs
$ journalctl --since today

# View last 1 hour
$ journalctl --since "1 hour ago"

# View specific time range
$ journalctl --since "2025-01-09 10:00:00" --until "2025-01-09 12:00:00"

# View last 100 lines
$ journalctl -n 100

# View kernel logs
$ journalctl -k

# View boot logs
$ journalctl -b
$ journalctl -b -1  # Last boot

# Filter by priority
$ journalctl -p err  # Errors and above

# Output as JSON
$ journalctl -u nginx -o json-pretty

# View disk usage
$ journalctl --disk-usage

# Clean old logs
$ sudo journalctl --vacuum-time=7d  # Keep 7 days
$ sudo journalctl --vacuum-size=500M  # Keep 500MB

Scheduled Tasks: Timer

Timer Unit File

ini

# /etc/systemd/system/backup.timer
[Unit]
Description=Daily Backup Timer

[Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
OnCalendar=*-*-* 03:00:00
Persistent=true
Unit=backup.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Timer Time Format

bash

# Fixed interval
OnBootSec=5min           # Start 5 minutes after boot
OnUnitActiveSec=1h       # 1 hour after last run

# Calendar time
OnCalendar=hourly        # Every hour
OnCalendar=daily         # Every day
OnCalendar=weekly        # Every week
OnCalendar=monthly        # Every month
OnCalendar=*-*-* 03:00:00    # Every day at 3 AM
OnCalendar=Mon *-*-* 09:00:00  # Every Monday at 9 AM

Managing Timer

bash

# List all timers
$ systemctl list-timers

# Start timer
$ sudo systemctl start backup.timer

# Enable auto-start
$ sudo systemctl enable backup.timer

# View timer status
$ systemctl status backup.timer

Traditional init Systems

service Command

bash

# Start service
$ sudo service nginx start

# Stop service
$ sudo service nginx stop

# Restart service
$ sudo service nginx restart

# View status
$ sudo service nginx status

# List all services
$ service --status-all

update-rc.d (Debian Family)

bash

# Enable auto-start
$ sudo update-rc.d nginx defaults

# Disable auto-start
$ sudo update-rc.d nginx disable

Summary

This chapter introduced Linux service management:

systemctl commands: Start, stop, restart, enable services
Writing service files: Unit, Service, Install sections
Log management: journalctl
Scheduled tasks: Timer units

systemd is the core of modern Linux systems; mastering it is an essential skill for system administration.

Previous chapter: Package Management

Next chapter: Network Basics

Service Management ​

Overview ​

systemd Introduction ​

Core Concepts ​

Unit File Locations ​

systemctl Commands ​

Managing Services ​

Enable at Boot ​

List Services ​

System Status ​

Power Management ​

Writing Service Unit Files ​

Basic Structure ​

[Unit] Section ​

[Service] Section ​

[Install] Section ​

Example: Node.js Application ​

Example: Python Application ​

Creating and Enabling Service ​

Viewing Logs ​

journalctl ​

Scheduled Tasks: Timer ​

Timer Unit File ​

Timer Time Format ​

Managing Timer ​

Traditional init Systems ​

service Command ​

update-rc.d (Debian Family) ​

Summary ​

Service Management

Overview

systemd Introduction

Core Concepts

Unit File Locations

systemctl Commands

Managing Services

Enable at Boot

List Services

System Status

Power Management

Writing Service Unit Files

Basic Structure

[Unit] Section

[Service] Section

[Install] Section

Example: Node.js Application

Example: Python Application

Creating and Enabling Service

Viewing Logs

journalctl

Scheduled Tasks: Timer

Timer Unit File

Timer Time Format

Managing Timer

Traditional init Systems

service Command

update-rc.d (Debian Family)

Summary