How to Create and Execute New Service in SystemD - Shell Script

Steps to Create and Execute New Service Units in SystemD Using Shell Script

SystemD is a system service manager in linux. Creating and executing new service units in SystemD using shell scripting is explained in this session.

To view service units

Execute the below command in graphical.target level, to have a look at service units.

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl --type=service
UNIT                          LOAD   ACTIVE SUB     DESCRIPTION
accounts-daemon.service       loaded active running Accounts Service
anacron.service               loaded active running Run anacron jobs
apparmor.service              loaded active exited  LSB: AppArmor initialization
apport.service                loaded active exited  LSB: automatic crash report g
avahi-daemon.service          loaded active running Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack
cgmanager.service             loaded active running Cgroup management daemon
colord.service                loaded active running Manage, Install and Generate 
cron.service                  loaded active running Regular background program pr
cups-browsed.service          loaded active running Make remote CUPS printers ava
cups.service                  loaded active running CUPS Scheduler
dbus.service                  loaded active running D-Bus System Message Bus

Now you can see the status for all services that are currently running in your system.

To check the status for a specific service

Run the following command to check the status for a specific service.

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl status cron.service 
? cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cron.service  enabled  vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2016-04-21 18:23:23 IST  18h ago
     Docs: man:cron(8)
 Main PID: 845 (cron)
   CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
           ??845 /usr/sbin/cron -f

Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Started Regular background program pro...n.
Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Starting Regular background program pr.....
Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp cron[845]: (CRON) INFO (pidfile fd = 3)
Apr 21 18:23:24 linuxhelp cron[845]: (CRON) INFO (Running @reboot jobs)
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

To immediately start and stop a service

If a service is enabled or disabled once it will automatically starts and stops in the next boot. To immediately start and stop a service without rebooting run the following commands.

Example

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl stop cron.service 
root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl status cron.service 
? cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cron.service  enabled  vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2016-04-22 12:53:00 IST  1s ago
     Docs: man:cron(8)
  Process: 845 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/cron -f $EXTRA_OPTS (code=killed, signal=TERM)
 Main PID: 845 (code=killed, signal=TERM)

Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Started Regular background program pro...n.
Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Starting Regular background program pr.....
Apr 21 18:23:23 linuxhelp cron[845]: (CRON) INFO (pidfile fd = 3)
Apr 21 18:23:24 linuxhelp cron[845]: (CRON) INFO (Running @reboot jobs)
Apr 22 12:53:00 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Stopping Regular background program pr.....
Apr 22 12:53:00 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Stopped Regular background program pro...n.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl start cron.service 
root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl status cron.service 
? cron.service - Regular background program processing daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cron.service  enabled  vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2016-04-22 12:53:12 IST  2s ago
     Docs: man:cron(8)
 Main PID: 4084 (cron)
   CGroup: /system.slice/cron.service
           ??4084 /usr/sbin/cron -f

Apr 22 12:53:12 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Started Regular background program pro...n.
Apr 22 12:53:12 linuxhelp systemd[1]: Starting Regular background program pr.....
Apr 22 12:53:12 linuxhelp cron[4084]: (CRON) INFO (pidfile fd = 3)
Apr 22 12:53:12 linuxhelp cron[4084]: (CRON) INFO (Skipping @reboot jobs -- ...p)
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

To enable or disable a service

Run the following command to enable or disable a service
Example

root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl disable cron.service 
Synchronizing state for cron.service with sysvinit using update-rc.d...
Executing /usr/sbin/update-rc.d cron defaults
Executing /usr/sbin/update-rc.d cron disable
root@linuxhelp:~# systemctl enable cron.service 
Synchronizing state for cron.service with sysvinit using update-rc.d...
Executing /usr/sbin/update-rc.d cron defaults
Executing /usr/sbin/update-rc.d cron enable

To see the link files for unit services

Go to /etc/systemd/system/ directory path to see the link files for unit services.

Example

root@linuxhelp:~# cd /etc/systemd/system/
root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# ls
bluetooth.target.wants                      kexec.target.wants
dbus-org.bluez.service                      multi-user.target.wants
dbus-org.freedesktop.Avahi.service          network-online.target.wants
dbus-org.freedesktop.ModemManager1.service  plymouth-log.service
dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service  plymouth.service
default.target.wants                        poweroff.target.wants
display-manager.service                     printer.target.wants
display-manager.service.wants               reboot.target.wants
getty.target.wants                          shutdown.target.wants
graphical.target.wants                      sockets.target.wants
halt.target.wants                           suspend.target.wants
hibernate.target.wants                      sysinit.target.wants
hybrid-sleep.target.wants                   syslog.service

Here you can get some link files of service units and also some directories of the target.wants

This directory /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/ contains all the files which is need for multi-user target.

Example:

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# ls multi-user.target.wants/
anacron.service       cups.path                   pppd-dns.service
avahi-daemon.service  ModemManager.service        remote-fs.target
cgmanager.service     NetworkManager.service      rsyslog.service
cgproxy.service       plymouth-quit.service       ufw.service
cron.service          plymouth-quit-wait.service  vsftpd.service
cups-browsed.service  postgresql.service          whoopsie.service

To create a service unit

To create a service unit with the name create.service and make it executable for all users.
Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# vim create.service

Add the following lines in create.service

[Unit]
Description = This will Create a new file
After = network.target

[Service]
ExecStart = /usr/local/bin/touch.sh

[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# chmod a+x create.service

To create a unit of service type, set it to be loaded after the network.target and we need every-time the service begins to run a bash script with the name " touch.sh" that we are going to create.

If the service is enabled, a symbolic link will be automatically created to that service within the " multi-user.target.wants" and if you disable this, then the link will be deleted.

To enable and check

Run the following command to enable and check it.
Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# systemctl enable create.service 
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/create.service to /etc/systemd/system/create.service.
root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# ls multi-user.target.wants/
anacron.service       cups.path                   remote-fs.target
avahi-daemon.service  ModemManager.service        rsyslog.service
cgmanager.service     NetworkManager.service      ufw.service
cgproxy.service       plymouth-quit.service       vsftpd.service
create.service        plymouth-quit-wait.service  whoopsie.service
cron.service          postgresql.service
cups-browsed.service  pppd-dns.service

Now the create.service is ready for next booting, but we need to create a script file called touch.sh under the path /usr/local/bin as we mentioned above.

Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# vim /usr/local/bin/touch.sh

Adding the below line within vim and save it

#!/bin/bash
touch /root/file

and make the script file will be executed by all users by running the below command.

Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/touch.sh

Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# systemctl start create.service

After starting the service check whether the file is created under /root directory as we mentioned in our script file.

Example

root@linuxhelp:/etc/systemd/system# ls /root/
file