Systemdis a system and service manager for Linux operating systems. It is designed to be backwards compatible with SysV init scripts, and provides a number of features such as parallel startup of system services at boot time, on-demand activation of daemons, or dependency-based service control logic. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, systemd replaces Upstart as the default init system.
The default configuration of systemd is defined during the compilation and it can be found in systemd configuration file at /etc/systemd/system.conf. Use this file if you want to deviate from those defaults and override selected default values for systemd units globally.
The systemd system and service manager is designed to be mostly compatible with SysV init and Upstart. The following are the most notable compatibility changes with regards to the previous major release of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system:
Previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which were distributed with SysV init or Upstart, used init scripts located in the /etc/rc.d/init.d/ directory. These init scripts were typically written in Bash, and allowed the system administrator to control the state of services and daemons in their system. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, these init scripts have been replaced with service units.
Additionally, some units have alias names. Those names can have shorter names than units, which can be used instead of the actual unit names. To find all aliases that can be used for a particular unit, use:
If you change the root directory using the chroot command, most systemctl commands refuse to perform any action. The reason for this is that the systemd process and the user that used the chroot command do not have the same view of the filesystem. This happens, for example, when systemctl is invoked from a kickstart file.
The exception to this are unit file commands such as the systemctl enable and systemctl disable commands. These commands do not need a running system and do not affect running processes, but they do affect unit files. Therefore, you can run these commands even in chroot environment. For example, to enable the httpd service on a system under the /srv/website1/ directory:
Replace name with the name of the service unit you want to restart (for example, httpd). This command stops the selected service unit in the current session and immediately starts it again. Importantly, if the selected service unit is not running, this command starts it too. To tell systemd to restart a service unit only if the corresponding service is already running, run the following command as root:
In order to prevent users from encountering unnecessary error messages or partially rendered web pages, the Apache HTTP Server allows you to edit and reload its configuration without the need to restart it and interrupt actively processed requests. To do so, type the following at a shell prompt as root:
Replace name with the name of the service unit you want to enable (for example, httpd). This command reads the [Install] section of the selected service unit and creates appropriate symbolic links to the /usr/lib/systemd/system/name.service file in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory and its subdirectories. This command does not, however, rewrite links that already exist. If you want to ensure that the symbolic links are re-created, use the following command as root:
Replace name with the name of the service unit you want to disable (for example, bluetooth). This command reads the [Install] section of the selected service unit and removes appropriate symbolic links to the /usr/lib/systemd/system/name.service file from the /etc/systemd/system/ directory and its subdirectories. In addition, you can mask any service unit to prevent it from being started manually or by another service. To do so, run the following command as root:
This command replaces the /etc/systemd/system/name.service file with a symbolic link to /dev/null, rendering the actual unit file inaccessible to systemd. To revert this action and unmask a service unit, type as root:
In systemd, positive and negative dependencies between services exist. Starting particular service may require starting one or more other services (positive dependency) or stopping one or more services (negative dependency).
When you attempt to start a new service, systemd resolves all dependencies automatically. Note that this is done without explicit notification to the user. If you are already running a service, and you attempt to start another service with a negative dependency, the first service is automatically stopped.
For example, if you are running the postfix service, and you try to start the sendmail service, systemd first automatically stops postfix, because these two services are conflicting and cannot run on the same port.
Previous versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which were distributed with SysV init or Upstart, implemented a predefined set of runlevels that represented specific modes of operation. These runlevels were numbered from 0 to 6 and were defined by a selection of system services to be run when a particular runlevel was enabled by the system administrator. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the concept of runlevels has been replaced with systemd targets.
Systemd targets are represented by target units. Target units end with the .target file extension and their only purpose is to group together other systemd units through a chain of dependencies. For example, the graphical.target unit, which is used to start a graphical session, starts system services such as the GNOME Display Manager (gdm.service) or Accounts Service (accounts-daemon.service) and also activates the multi-user.target unit. Similarly, the multi-user.target unit starts other essential system services such as NetworkManager (NetworkManager.service) or D-Bus (dbus.service) and activates another target unit named basic.target.
Rescue mode provides a convenient single-user environment and allows you to repair your system in situations when it is unable to complete a regular booting process. In rescue mode, the system attempts to mount all local file systems and start some important system services, but it does not activate network interfaces or allow more users to be logged into the system at the same time. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, rescue mode is equivalent to single user mode and requires the root password.
This command is similar to systemctl isolate rescue.target, but it also sends an informative message to all users that are currently logged into the system. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run this command with the --no-wall command line option:
Emergency mode provides the most minimal environment possible and allows you to repair your system even in situations when the system is unable to enter rescue mode. In emergency mode, the system mounts the root file system only for reading, does not attempt to mount any other local file systems, does not activate network interfaces, and only starts a few essential services. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, emergency mode requires the root password.
This command is similar to systemctl isolate emergency.target, but it also sends an informative message to all users that are currently logged into the system. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run this command with the --no-wall command line option:
The systemctl utility provides commands for shutting down the system, however the traditional shutdown command is also supported. Although the shutdown command will call the systemctl utility to perform the shutdown, it has an advantage in that it also supports a time argument. This is particularly useful for scheduled maintenance and to allow more time for users to react to the warning that a system shutdown has been scheduled. The option to cancel the shutdown can also be an advantage.
By default, running either of these commands causes systemd to send an informative message to all users that are currently logged into the system. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run the selected command with the --no-wall command line option, for example:
Where hh:mm is the time in 24 hour clock format. The /run/nologin file is created 5 minutes before system shutdown to prevent new logins. When a time argument is used, an optional message, the wall message, can be appended to the command.
By default, this command causes systemd to send an informative message to all users that are currently logged into the system. To prevent systemd from sending this message, run this command with the --no-wall command line option:
This command saves the system state in RAM and with the exception of the RAM module, powers off most of the devices in the machine. When you turn the machine back on, the system then restores its state from RAM without having to boot again. Because the system state is saved in RAM and not on the hard disk, restoring the system from suspend mode is significantly faster than restoring it from hibernation, but as a consequence, a suspended system state is also vulnerable to power outages.
This command saves the system state on the hard disk drive and powers off the machine. When you turn the machine back on, the system then restores its state from the saved data without having to boot again. Because the system state is saved on the hard disk and not in RAM, the machine does not have to maintain electrical power to the RAM module, but as a consequence, restoring the system from hibernation is significantly slower than restoring it from suspend mode.
In addition to controlling the systemd system and service manager locally, the systemctl utility also allows you to interact with systemd running on a remote machine over the SSH protocol. Provided that the sshd service on the remote machine is running, you can connect to this machine by running the systemctl command with the --host or -H command line option:
Defines the order in which units are started. The unit starts only after the units specified in After are active. Unlike Requires, After does not explicitly activate the specified units. The Before option has the opposite functionality to After.
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