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How to Set Up a Process Daemon on Ubuntu Linux with systemd

·344 words·2 mins
Sebastian Scheibe
Author
Sebastian Scheibe
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If you need to run a process as a daemon in Ubuntu, this guide will walk you through the steps to set it up properly using systemd.

Setting Up the Daemon
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Let’s assume your executable is named arduino-data-points, and you want to configure it as a daemon under the same name.

I assume the executable is stored here:

/root/arduino-data/arduino-data-points

1. Define the Service
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First, create a service file for systemd.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/arduino-data.service

Modify the following parameters according to your setup:

  • Description: A brief explanation of the service
  • ExecStart: The full path to your executable
  • WorkingDirectory: The directory where the service runs
  • User: The user under which the service runs (e.g., root or another user)
  • Group: The group under which the service runs (e.g., root or another group)
[Unit]
Description=Arduino Data Service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/root/arduino-data/arduino-data-points
Restart=always
User=root
Group=root
WorkingDirectory=/root/arduino-data

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2. Reload the Systemd Daemon
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After creating the service file, reload systemd to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

3. Start the Service
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Now, start the service:

sudo systemctl start arduino-data

4. Verify the Service Status
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To check if the service is running properly, use:

sudo systemctl status arduino-data

If successful, you should see an output similar to this:

● arduino-data.service - Arduino Data Service
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/arduino-data.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Mon 2025-01-06 02:11:02 UTC; 1 month 3 days ago
   Main PID: 13346 (arduino-data-po)
      Tasks: 5 (limit: 1101)
     Memory: 11.4M
        CPU: 3min 33.196s
     CGroup: /system.slice/arduino-data.service
             └─13346 /root/arduino-data/arduino-data-points

5. Enable the Service to Start on Boot
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To ensure the service starts automatically on reboot, enable it with:

sudo systemctl enable arduino-data

You should see an output similar to:

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/arduino-data.service → /etc/systemd/system/arduino-data.service.

Viewing Service Logs
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To check the service logs, use:

sudo journalctl -u arduino-data

Example output:

Jan 05 04:20:36 test-server systemd[1]: Started Arduino Data Service.
Jan 05 04:20:36 test-server arduino-data-points[3231]: 2025/01/05 04:20:36 Server started at :8081

Conclusion
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With these steps, your process should be successfully running as a daemon on Ubuntu, automatically restarting if needed and persisting through reboots.