Starting and stopping systemd services
1 Environment #
This document applies to the following products and product versions:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5, 15 SP4, 15 SP3, 15 SP2, 12 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5, 15 SP4, 15 SP3, 15 SP2, 12 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability 15 SP5, 15 SP4, 15 SP3, 15 SP2, 12 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5, 15 SP4, 15 SP3, 15 SP2
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP5
2 Starting and stopping services with systemctl #
systemctl is the systemd command for managing
services. The syntax for starting and stopping services
manually is as follows:
systemctl start|stop|restart|try-restart|reload|reload-or-restart SERVICE-NAME
You can manage multiple services at once, for example, start two services:
systemctl start SERVICE-NAME1 SERVICE-NAME2
It is a best practice to use systemctl to stop
services, rather than the ps command. A systemd
service can include commands, processes, and dependencies.
ps operates on single processes. Using
ps may leave a systemd service in an
inconsistent state.
systemctl also controls whether services start at
boot, see xref linkend="FOO".
3 Starting and stopping services with systemctl #
systemctl status SERVICE-NAMECheck if a service is running, stopped, enabled, or masked, and display the most recent log entries.
systemctl start SERVICE-NAMEStart a service.
systemctl stop SERVICE-NAMEStop a service.
systemctl restart SERVICE-NAMEStop the service and then start it. If a service is not running it will be started.
systemctl try-restart SERVICE-NAMERestart a service if it is running. This has no effect on a service that is not running.
systemctl reload SERVICE-NAMEReload the service's configuration file without interrupting operation.
systemctl reload-or-restart SERVICE-NAMEReload the service if it supports reloading, otherwise it restarts the service. If the service is not running it will be started.