Book Image

Linux Service Management Made Easy with systemd

4 (1)
Book Image

Linux Service Management Made Easy with systemd

4 (1)

Overview of this book

Linux Service Management Made Easy with systemd will provide you with an in-depth understanding of systemd, so that you can set up your servers securely and efficiently.This is a comprehensive guide for Linux administrators that will help you get the best of systemd, starting with an explanation of the fundamentals of systemd management.You’ll also learn how to edit and create your own systemd units, which will be particularly helpful if you need to create custom services or timers and add features or security to an existing service. Next, you'll find out how to analyze and fix boot-up challenges and set system parameters. An overview of cgroups that'll help you control system resource usage for both processes and users will also be covered, alongside a practical demonstration on how cgroups are structured, spotting the differences between cgroups Version 1 and 2, and how to set resource limits on both. Finally, you'll learn about the systemd way of performing time-keeping, networking, logging, and login management. You'll discover how to configure servers accurately and gather system information to analyze system security and performance. By the end of this Linux book, you’ll be able to efficiently manage all aspects of a server running the systemd init system.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
1
Section 1: Using systemd
12
Section 2: Understanding cgroups
16
Section 3: Logging, Timekeeping, Networking, and Booting

Understanding the basic computer architecture

Before we can talk about bootloaders, we need to define a few terms that describe the basic computer architecture:

  • Bootloader: The bootloader is the first software program that runs when a computer is booted. Its job is to load the Linux kernel and to start the init system.
  • Boot manager: When you first power on your computer, a boot manager will present you with a boot menu. If you have multiple operating systems installed, the boot manager will allow you to choose which one to boot. If a Linux distro has multiple kernels installed, the boot manager will allow you to choose which kernel to boot.
  • BIOS: The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is firmware that resides in a chip on a computer motherboard. It contains the basic instructions that start up a computer. After the computer is started, the BIOS will perform a Power-on Self Test (POST) to verify that the hardware is working properly. Then, the BIOS will start the bootloader...