Ubuntu/Apt

Services Commands

Manage system services with systemctl. Start, stop, enable, and monitor services, timers, and targets on modern Ubuntu/Debian systems running systemd.

13 commands

Pro Tips

Use 'systemctl status service' for a quick overview — shows active state, logs, and PID.

Use 'systemctl enable --now service' to both enable at boot AND start immediately in one command.

Use 'journalctl -u service -f' to follow live logs for a specific service — like tail -f for systemd.

Common Mistakes

'systemctl disable' stops auto-start on boot but doesn't stop the running service. Add '--now' to do both.

Editing unit files in /etc/systemd/system/ requires 'systemctl daemon-reload' before changes take effect.