Custom systemd Unit and Unit File

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Overview

This article describes the procedure to configure an arbitrary service myservice to be managed by systemd. It includes the creation of corresponding unit file and systemd configuration to start/stop the service automatically at boot/shutdown.

Important Note

This procedure was not tested step-by-step. When I have a concrete case that can be used for testing, revisit and update.

Create the Unit File

Create the /etc/systemd/system/myservice.service unit file. For more details on the location of the unit files, see systemd Concepts - Unit File Location. 

touch /etc/systemd/system/myservice.service
chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/myservice.service

Configure the Unit File

Process Started and Stopped by Auxiliary Scripts

[Unit]
Description=MyService
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/opt/myservice/bin/myservice start
ExecStop=/opt/myservice/bin/myservice stop
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

For more details on the content of the unit files, see systemd Concepts - Unit File Structure.

Daemon Process that Forks and Creates Its Own PID File

[Unit]
Description=MyService
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/opt/myservice/bin/myservice
Type=forking
PIDFile=/var/run/myservice.pid

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

For more details on the content of the unit files, see systemd Concepts - Unit File Structure.

Notify systemd of the existence of the new file

systemctl daemon-reload

Exercise the Service

systemctl start myservice
systemctl status hello
systemctl restart hello
systemctl stop hello
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