Process Management with systemd

Intermediate10 min

Manage services and processes using systemd, including starting, stopping, enabling, and debugging service units.

Prerequisites

-Linux with systemd
-Root or sudo access

Steps

List running services

View all active services and their status.

$ systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

Check a specific service status

View detailed status including PID, memory usage, and recent logs.

$ systemctl status nginx

View failed services

List all services that have failed to start.

$ systemctl list-units --type=service --state=failed

Use 'systemctl reset-failed' to clear the failed state after investigating.

Enable a service to start on boot

Configure a service to start automatically when the system boots.

$ sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

The --now flag starts the service immediately in addition to enabling it for boot.

View service dependencies

See what a service depends on and what depends on it.

$ systemctl list-dependencies nginx

Full Script

full-script.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Process Management with systemd
set -euo pipefail

echo "=== System State ==="
systemctl is-system-running

echo ""
echo "=== Failed Services ==="
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=failed --no-legend || echo "No failed services"

echo ""
echo "=== Running Services ==="
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running --no-pager | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Service Commands ==="
echo "Status:      systemctl status <service>"
echo "Start:       sudo systemctl start <service>"
echo "Stop:        sudo systemctl stop <service>"
echo "Restart:     sudo systemctl restart <service>"
echo "Enable:      sudo systemctl enable --now <service>"
echo "Disable:     sudo systemctl disable --now <service>"
echo "Logs:        journalctl -u <service> -f"
echo "Reload:      sudo systemctl daemon-reload"

FAQ

Discussion

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#!/bin/bash # Process Management with systemd set -euo pipefail echo "=== System State ===" systemctl is-system-running echo "" echo "=== Failed Services ===" systemctl list-units --type=service --state=failed --no-legend || echo "No failed services" echo "" echo "=== Running Services ===" systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running --no-pager | head -20 echo "" echo "=== Service Commands ===" echo "Status: systemctl status <service>" echo "Start: sudo systemctl start <service>" echo "Stop: sudo systemctl stop <service>" echo "Restart: sudo systemctl restart <service>" echo "Enable: sudo systemctl enable --now <service>" echo "Disable: sudo systemctl disable --now <service>" echo "Logs: journalctl -u <service> -f" echo "Reload: sudo systemctl daemon-reload"