How To Create a systemd Service in Linux (CentOS 7)

How To Create a systemd Service in Linux (CentOS 7)

Creating a systemd service in Linux is much easier than writing init scripts. Here is an example to create an iperf3 service for systemd!

---

OS used in this guide: CentOS 7 with EPEL for the iperf3 package

---

1. First, install iperf3.

$ sudo yum install iperf3

---

2. Next, create a user iperf which will be used to run the iperf3 service.

$ sudo adduser iperf -s /sbin/nologin

---

3. Next, create the following file:

/etc/systemd/system/iperf3.service

Put in the following contents and save the file:

[Unit]
Description=iperf3 Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=iperf
ExecStart=/usr/bin/iperf3 -s
Restart=on-abort


[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

---

Reload systemd to see the changes

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

---

Start the iperf3 service:

$ sudo systemctl start iperf3

---

Check the status:

[stmiller@ny ~]$ sudo systemctl status iperf3
iperf3.service - iperf3 Service
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/iperf3.service; disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2014-12-08 13:43:49 EST; 18s ago
 Main PID: 32657 (iperf3)
   CGroup: /system.slice/iperf3.service
           └─32657 /usr/bin/iperf3 -s

Dec 08 13:43:49 ny.stmiller.org systemd[1]: Started iperf3 Service.
[stmiller@ny ~]$ 

---

Stop the iperf3 service:

$ sudo systemctl stop iperf3

---

Start the service at boot:

[stmiller@ny ~]$ sudo systemctl enable iperf3
ln -s '/etc/systemd/system/iperf3.service' '/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/iperf3.service'

---

Disable the service at boot:

$ sudo systemctl disable iperf3