Creating and managing Systemd services

Petrus Maas — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:10:52 +0000

This is a guide on how to create, manage and persist your own systemd service.

But first — what is a system service?

A system service is a background process managed by the operating system.
It typically handles essential tasks like networking, logging, or scheduling.
Services are controlled by a service manager — on most Linux systems, that's systemd.
They can start automatically at boot, on demand, or based on specific triggers.
You can use system services to automate tasks, such as running scripts at startup or restarting failed processes.

By the end of this guide you'll be able to:

✅ Create a simple bash script that runs continuously in the background
✅ Set up a systemd service to manage and automate that script
✅ Configure service behavior, including auto-restart on failure
✅ Redirect service output to a log file for monitoring
✅ Control the service using systemctl commands (start, stop, enable, disable, status)
✅ Ensure your service starts automatically at boot
✅ Use systemd to automate tasks and maintain persistent background processes

🔧 Step by Step Guide

1. Create the Dummy Script

Create a file called dummy.sh and add the following content:

#!/bin/bash

while true; do
  echo "$(date) | Dummy service is running..." >> /var/log/dummy-service.log
  sleep 10
done

Save the file and make it executable:

chmod +x dummy.sh

Copy the file to the proper directory:

sudo mv dummy.sh /usr/local/bin/dummy.sh

2. Create the Systemd Service File

Create a new systemd service file:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/dummy.service

Add the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Dummy service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/dummy.sh
Restart=always
User=root
StandardOutput=append:/var/log/dummy-service.log
StandardError=append:/var/log/dummy-service.log

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Also make sure to set the log file permissions properly to avoid systemd errors:

sudo touch /var/log/dummy-service.log
sudo chmod 644 /var/log/dummy-service.log

3. Reload Systemd and Enable the Service

Run these commands to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable dummy

4. Manage the Service

You can interact with the service using:

sudo systemctl start dummy     # Start the service
sudo systemctl stop dummy      # Stop the service
sudo systemctl enable dummy    # Enable the service to start on boot
sudo systemctl disable dummy   # Disable the service
sudo systemctl status dummy    # Check the service status

5. Check Logs

Check your log file:

cat /var/log/dummy-service.log

6. Ensure the Service Auto-Restarts

If the service crashes, Restart=always ensures it restarts.

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