I'm relatively new to Linux and trying to get a handle on managing background services. Can someone explain the best practices for controlling services and daemons, especially how to start/stop them automatically at boot?
Here are some best practices and tips for controlling services in Linux, especially regarding starting and stopping them automatically at boot.
Understanding Systemd
Most modern Linux distributions use systemd as their init system, which is responsible for bootstrapping the user space and managing system processes after booting. It has replaced older init systems like System V init (sysvinit) and Upstart in many distributions. Understanding how to use systemd will be key in managing your services and daemons.
Basic Commands
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Start a service: To manually start a service, you can use the command
sudo systemctl start <service_name>. Replace<service_name>with the name of the service you want to start. -
Stop a service: Similarly, to stop a service, use
sudo systemctl stop <service_name>. -
Enable a service to start at boot: If you want a service to start automatically at boot, you'll need to enable it. Do this with
sudo systemctl enable <service_name>. -
Disable a service from starting at boot: Conversely, if you don't want a service to start automatically, you can disable it with
sudo systemctl disable <service_name>. -
Check the status of a service: To see whether a service is running, use
sudo systemctl status <service_name>. This command also provides other information like the service's start time and recent log entries.
Especially for services critical to your system's operation or security, it's good practice to regularly check their status and logs. The journalctl command can be used in conjunction with systemctl to view logs for specific services.
@scriptguru Thanks!