Systemd Services

Systemd Services

Create, manage, and monitor systemd services and timers. Covers unit file authoring, dependency management, socket activation, resource limits, journalctl log analysis, and production hardening.

When to Use

• Deploying an application as a managed background service
• Replacing cron jobs with systemd timers for better logging and dependency control
• Setting up socket activation for on-demand service startup
• Configuring resource limits (CPU, memory, I/O) for services
• Debugging service startup failures and runtime crashes
• Managing service dependencies and ordering

Prerequisites

• Linux system running systemd (most modern distributions)
• Root or sudo access for creating system-level unit files
• Application binary or script to run as a service
• Understanding of the application's start/stop lifecycle

Service Unit File -- Complete Example

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service
[Unit]
Description=MyApp Production Server
Documentation=https://docs.example.com/myapp
After=network-online.target postgresql.service
Wants=network-online.target
Requires=postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=notify
User=myapp
Group=myapp
WorkingDirectory=/opt/myapp

# Environment configuration
EnvironmentFile=/etc/myapp/env
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PORT=8080

# Execution
ExecStartPre=/opt/myapp/bin/migrate --check
ExecStart=/opt/myapp/bin/server --config /etc/myapp/config.yaml
ExecStartPost=/opt/myapp/bin/healthcheck.sh
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
ExecStop=/opt/myapp/bin/graceful-stop.sh

# Restart behavior
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StartLimitIntervalSec=300
StartLimitBurst=5

# Timeouts
TimeoutStartSec=30
TimeoutStopSec=30
WatchdogSec=60

# Security hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
PrivateTmp=true
ReadWritePaths=/var/lib/myapp /var/log/myapp
CapabilityBoundingSet=
AmbientCapabilities=

# Logging
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
SyslogIdentifier=myapp

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Service Management Commands

# Reload systemd after creating or modifying unit files
systemctl daemon-reload

# Start, stop, restart a service
systemctl start myapp
systemctl stop myapp
systemctl restart myapp

# Reload service configuration without restart (if supported)
systemctl reload myapp

# Enable service to start on boot
systemctl enable myapp

# Enable and start in one command
systemctl enable --now myapp

# Disable and stop
systemctl disable --now myapp

# Check service status
systemctl status myapp

# Check if a service is active, enabled, or failed
systemctl is-active myapp
systemctl is-enabled myapp
systemctl is-failed myapp

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

# List all failed services
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=failed

# Show all properties of a service
systemctl show myapp

# Show specific property values
systemctl show myapp -p MainPID,MemoryCurrent,CPUUsageNSec

# Mask a service (prevent it from being started at all)
systemctl mask myapp

# Unmask
systemctl unmask myapp

# Reset a failed service state
systemctl reset-failed myapp

Timer Units (Cron Replacement)

Timer File

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

[Timer]
# Run daily at 2:30 AM
OnCalendar=*-*-* 02:30:00
# If the system was off at the scheduled time, run when it boots
Persistent=true
# Add random delay up to 15 minutes to avoid thundering herd
RandomizedDelaySec=900
# Associate with a specific service (defaults to same name .service)
Unit=backup.service

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Corresponding Service File

# /etc/systemd/system/backup.service
[Unit]
Description=Daily backup job
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
User=backup
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/run-backup.sh
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

Timer Management

# Common OnCalendar expressions:
# minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly
# *-*-* 06:00:00       Daily at 6 AM
# Mon..Fri *-*-* 09:00 Weekdays at 9 AM
# *:0/15               Every 15 minutes

# Validate calendar expressions
systemd-analyze calendar "Mon..Fri *-*-* 09:00"

# List all active timers
systemctl list-timers --all

# Enable and start a timer
systemctl enable --now backup.timer

# Run the associated service immediately (for testing)
systemctl start backup.service

Socket Activation

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.socket
[Unit]
Description=MyApp Socket

[Socket]
ListenStream=8080
Accept=no
# Optionally bind to a specific IP
# ListenStream=10.0.1.10:8080

[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service
[Unit]
Description=MyApp Server
Requires=myapp.socket

[Service]
Type=notify
User=myapp
ExecStart=/opt/myapp/bin/server
# Service receives the socket file descriptor from systemd

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# Enable the socket (service starts on first connection)
systemctl enable --now myapp.socket

# Check socket status
systemctl status myapp.socket

# List all listening sockets
systemctl list-sockets

Dependency Management

# Key [Unit] directives for ordering and dependencies:
# After=            Start after these units (ordering only)
# Requires=         Hard dependency -- fail if this unit cannot start
# Wants=            Soft dependency -- try to start, don't fail if unavailable
# PartOf=           Stop this unit when the parent stops
# Conflicts=        Cannot run alongside this unit

# Visualize the dependency tree for a service
systemctl list-dependencies myapp

# Show reverse dependencies (who depends on this unit)
systemctl list-dependencies myapp --reverse

# Analyze boot order for a service
systemd-analyze critical-chain myapp.service

Resource Limits (cgroups v2)

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service.d/limits.conf
# (drop-in override file)
[Service]
# Memory limits
MemoryMax=1G
MemoryHigh=768M

# CPU limits
CPUQuota=200%          # Up to 2 full CPU cores
CPUWeight=100          # Relative weight (default=100)

# I/O limits
IOWeight=50
IOReadBandwidthMax=/dev/sda 100M
IOWriteBandwidthMax=/dev/sda 50M

# Process limits
LimitNOFILE=65535
LimitNPROC=4096
TasksMax=512

# Disable OOM killer (let the app handle it)
OOMPolicy=continue

# Apply drop-in overrides without editing the main unit file
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service.d/

cat <<'EOF' > /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service.d/limits.conf
[Service]
MemoryMax=1G
CPUQuota=200%
EOF

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart myapp

# View current resource usage for a service
systemctl status myapp                  # Shows Memory and CPU
systemd-cgtop                          # Real-time cgroup resource usage

# Edit a service's overrides interactively
systemctl edit myapp
# This creates a drop-in file automatically

Journalctl Log Analysis

# Follow logs for a service in real time
journalctl -u myapp -f

# Show logs since last boot
journalctl -u myapp -b

# Show logs for a specific time range
journalctl -u myapp --since "2025-01-15 08:00" --until "2025-01-15 12:00"

# Show only error and above
journalctl -u myapp -p err

# Show the last 100 lines with full messages (no truncation)
journalctl -u myapp -n 100 --no-pager -l

# Show logs in JSON format (for parsing)
journalctl -u myapp -o json-pretty --no-pager | head -50

# Check journal disk usage and vacuum old entries
journalctl --disk-usage
journalctl --rotate
journalctl --vacuum-time=7d
journalctl --vacuum-size=500M

Troubleshooting