This page has been obsoleted and replaced: https://systemd.io/TIPS_AND_TRICKS.
Tips & Tricks
Also check out the Frequently Asked Questions!
Listing running services
$ systemctl
UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB JOB DESCRIPTION
accounts-daemon.service loaded active running Accounts Service
atd.service loaded active running Job spooling tools
avahi-daemon.service loaded active running Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack
bluetooth.service loaded active running Bluetooth Manager
colord-sane.service loaded active running Daemon for monitoring attached scanners and registering them with colord
colord.service loaded active running Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles
crond.service loaded active running Command Scheduler
cups.service loaded active running CUPS Printing Service
dbus.service loaded active running D-Bus System Message Bus
...
Showing runtime status
$ systemctl status udisks2.service
udisks2.service - Storage Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/udisks2.service; static)
Active: active (running) since Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:49:25 +0200; 1 day and 1h ago
Main PID: 615 (udisksd)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/udisks2.service
└ 615 /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd --no-debug
Jun 27 20:49:25 epsilon udisksd[615]: udisks daemon version 1.94.0 starting
Jun 27 20:49:25 epsilon udisksd[615]: Acquired the name org.freedesktop.UDisks2 on the system message bus
cgroup tree
$ systemd-cgls
└ system
├ 1 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --system --deserialize 18
├ ntpd.service
│ └ 8471 /usr/sbin/ntpd -u ntp:ntp -g
├ upower.service
│ └ 798 /usr/libexec/upowerd
├ wpa_supplicant.service
│ └ 751 /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -u -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -u -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log -P /var/run/wpa_supplicant.pid
├ nfs-idmap.service
│ └ 731 /usr/sbin/rpc.idmapd
├ nfs-rquotad.service
│ └ 753 /usr/sbin/rpc.rquotad
├ nfs-mountd.service
│ └ 732 /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd
├ nfs-lock.service
│ └ 704 /sbin/rpc.statd
├ rpcbind.service
│ └ 680 /sbin/rpcbind -w
├ postfix.service
│ ├ 859 /usr/libexec/postfix/master
│ ├ 877 qmgr -l -t fifo -u
│ └ 32271 pickup -l -t fifo -u
├ colord-sane.service
│ └ 647 /usr/libexec/colord-sane
├ udisks2.service
│ └ 615 /usr/lib/udisks2/udisksd --no-debug
├ colord.service
│ └ 607 /usr/libexec/colord
├ prefdm.service
│ ├ 567 /usr/sbin/gdm-binary -nodaemon
│ ├ 602 /usr/libexec/gdm-simple-slave --display-id /org/gnome/DisplayManager/Display1
│ ├ 612 /usr/bin/Xorg :0 -br -verbose -auth /var/run/gdm/auth-for-gdm-O00GPA/database -seat seat0 -nolisten tcp
│ └ 905 gdm-session-worker [pam/gdm-password]
├ systemd-ask-password-wall.service
│ └ 645 /usr/bin/systemd-tty-ask-password-agent --wall
├ atd.service
│ └ 544 /usr/sbin/atd -f
├ ksmtuned.service
│ ├ 548 /bin/bash /usr/sbin/ksmtuned
│ └ 1092 sleep 60
├ dbus.service
│ ├ 586 /bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --systemd-activation
│ ├ 601 /usr/libexec/polkit-1/polkitd --no-debug
│ └ 657 /usr/sbin/modem-manager
├ cups.service
│ └ 508 /usr/sbin/cupsd -f
├ avahi-daemon.service
│ ├ 506 avahi-daemon: running [epsilon.local]
│ └ 516 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
├ system-setup-keyboard.service
│ └ 504 /usr/bin/system-setup-keyboard
├ accounts-daemon.service
│ └ 502 /usr/libexec/accounts-daemon
├ systemd-logind.service
│ └ 498 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind
├ crond.service
│ └ 486 /usr/sbin/crond -n
├ NetworkManager.service
│ ├ 484 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon
│ └ 8437 /sbin/dhclient -d -4 -sf /usr/libexec/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/dhclient-wlan0.pid -lf /var/lib/dhclient/dhclient-903b6f6aa7a1-46c8-82a9-7f637dfbb3e4-wlan0.lease -cf /var/run/nm-d...
├ libvirtd.service
│ ├ 480 /usr/sbin/libvirtd
│ └ 571 /sbin/dnsmasq --strict-order --bind-interfaces --pid-file=/var/run/libvirt/network/default.pid --conf-file= --except-interface lo --listenaddress 192.168.122.1 --dhcp-range 192.168.122.2,1...
├ bluetooth.service
│ └ 479 /usr/sbin/bluetoothd -n
├ systemd-udev.service
│ └ 287 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-udevd
└ systemd-journald.service
└ 280 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald
ps with cgroups
$ alias psc='ps xawf -eo pid,user,cgroup,args'
$ psc
PID USER CGROUP COMMAND
...
1 root name=systemd:/systemd-1 /bin/systemd systemd.log_target=kmsg systemd.log_level=debug selinux=0
415 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/sysinit.service /sbin/udevd -d
928 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/atd.service /usr/sbin/atd -f
930 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/ntpd.service /usr/sbin/ntpd -n
932 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/crond.service /usr/sbin/crond -n
935 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/auditd.service /sbin/auditd -n
943 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/auditd.service \_ /sbin/audispd
964 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/auditd.service \_ /usr/sbin/sedispatch
937 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/acpid.service /usr/sbin/acpid -f
941 rpc name=systemd:/systemd-1/rpcbind.service /sbin/rpcbind -f
944 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/rsyslog.service /sbin/rsyslogd -n -c 4
947 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/systemd-logger.service /lib/systemd/systemd-logger
950 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/cups.service /usr/sbin/cupsd -f
955 dbus name=systemd:/systemd-1/messagebus.service /bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --systemd-activation
969 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/getty@.service/tty6 /sbin/mingetty tty6
970 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/getty@.service/tty5 /sbin/mingetty tty5
971 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/getty@.service/tty1 /sbin/mingetty tty1
973 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/getty@.service/tty4 /sbin/mingetty tty4
974 root name=systemd:/user/lennart/2 login -- lennart
1824 lennart name=systemd:/user/lennart/2 \_ -bash
975 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/getty@.service/tty3 /sbin/mingetty tty3
988 root name=systemd:/systemd-1/polkitd.service /usr/libexec/polkit-1/polkitd
994 rtkit name=systemd:/systemd-1/rtkit-daemon.service /usr/libexec/rtkit-daemon
...
Changing the Default Boot Target
$ ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target
This line makes the multi user target (i.e. full system, but no graphical UI) the default target to boot into. This is kinda equivalent to setting runlevel 3 as the default runlevel on Fedora/sysvinit systems.
$ ln -sf /usr/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target
This line makes the graphical target (i.e. full system, including graphical UI) the default target to boot into. Kinda equivalent to runlevel 5 on fedora/sysvinit systems. This is how things are shipped by default.
What other units does a unit depend on?
For example, if you want to figure out which services a target like multi-user.target pulls in, use something like this:
$ systemctl show -p "Wants" multi-user.target
Wants=rc-local.service avahi-daemon.service rpcbind.service NetworkManager.service acpid.service dbus.service atd.service crond.service auditd.service ntpd.service udisks.service bluetooth.service cups.service wpa_supplicant.service getty.target modem-manager.service portreserve.service abrtd.service yum-updatesd.service upowerd.service test-first.service pcscd.service rsyslog.service haldaemon.service remote-fs.target plymouth-quit.service systemd-update-utmp-runlevel.service sendmail.service lvm2-monitor.service cpuspeed.service udev-post.service mdmonitor.service iscsid.service livesys.service livesys-late.service irqbalance.service iscsi.service netfs.service
Instead of "Wants" you might also try "WantedBy", "Requires", "RequiredBy", "Conflicts", "ConflictedBy", "Before", "After" for the respective types of dependencies and their inverse.
What would get started if I booted into a specific target?
If you want systemd to calculate the "initial" transaction it would execute on boot, try something like this:
$ systemd --test --system --unit=foobar.target
for a boot target foobar.target. Note that this is mostly a debugging tool that actually does a lot more than just calculate the initial transaction, so don't build scripts based on this.