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SystemdServicesLinux6 min read

Manage services with systemd

Manage system services with systemd: start, stop, enable, and create your own custom services.

systemd is the init system on modern Linux distributions. It manages services, handles dependencies and provides logging.

Basic service commands

bash
sudo systemctl start nginx      # Start a service
sudo systemctl stop nginx       # Stop a service
sudo systemctl restart nginx    # Restart a service
sudo systemctl reload nginx     # Reload config (no downtime)
sudo systemctl status nginx     # Check status
sudo systemctl enable nginx     # Start on boot
sudo systemctl disable nginx    # Don't start on boot

List services

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

Create a custom service

Create a service file for your application:

bash
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service

Content:

ini
[Unit]
Description=My Application
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=deploy
WorkingDirectory=/home/deploy/myapp
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/deploy/myapp/dist/index.js
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PORT=3000

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the custom service

bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable myapp
sudo systemctl start myapp

View logs with journalctl

bash
# All logs for a service
sudo journalctl -u myapp

# Follow logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u myapp -f

# Logs since last boot
sudo journalctl -u myapp -b

# Last 50 lines
sudo journalctl -u myapp -n 50

# Logs from the last hour
sudo journalctl -u myapp --since "1 hour ago"

Service file options

ini
Restart=always          # Always restart
RestartSec=10           # Wait 10s before restart
StartLimitBurst=5       # Max 5 restarts
StartLimitIntervalSec=60 # Within 60 seconds
StandardOutput=journal  # Log to journalctl
StandardError=journal

Troubleshooting

bash
# Check for errors in service file
sudo systemd-analyze verify myapp.service

# See why a service failed
sudo systemctl status myapp
sudo journalctl -u myapp --no-pager -n 30

Tip

For Node.js apps, systemd is a lighter alternative to PM2. For Python apps, combine with Gunicorn. Always set Restart=on-failure for production services on your Baires Host VPS.

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