Linux systemd Analyze and Troubleshooting Cheat Sheet

Linux systemd Analyze and Troubleshooting•Permalink

Use systemd-analyze, unit verification, logs, and dependency tools to diagnose systemd problems.

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Boot Analysis

Measure and visualize startup delays.

Show boot time

Measure firmware, loader, kernel, and userspace startup time.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzeboottime

bash

systemd-analyze time

Fast first look at slow boot issues.

Show slowest units

List units ordered by startup time.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzeblamestartup

bash

systemd-analyze blame

Great for identifying services slowing boot.

Show critical startup chain

Display boot dependency chain affecting startup time.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzecritical-chainboot

bash

systemd-analyze critical-chain

Useful when blame alone does not explain ordering impact.

Generate boot SVG plot

Create an SVG timeline of boot.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzeplotsvg

bash

systemd-analyze plot > boot.svg

Helpful for visual boot analysis.

Verification and Security

Validate units and inspect hardening.

Verify a unit file

Validate unit syntax and references.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzeverifyunit-file

bash

systemd-analyze verify /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service

Run this before or after writing custom units.

Analyze service security

Show hardening score and suggestions.

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bashANYsystemd-analyzesecurityhardening

bash

systemd-analyze security nginx.service

Useful when improving service isolation and sandboxing.

Show service command

Inspect the ExecStart setting.

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bashANYsystemctlExecStartdebug

bash

systemctl show myapp -p ExecStart

Good for checking what systemd is really executing.

Show environment references

Inspect environment-related properties.

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bashANYsystemctlenvironmentdebug

bash

systemctl show myapp -p Environment -p EnvironmentFiles

Useful for broken env variable issues.

Incident Debugging

Troubleshoot failed services and restart loops.

Inspect failed service

Show last status and logs for a failed unit.

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bashANYsystemctlfailedincident

bash

systemctl status myapp.service

Status is often the fastest single command for incidents.

Service logs this boot

Show one service's logs for the current boot.

↗#

bashANYjournalctlserviceboot

bash

journalctl -u myapp.service -b

Focuses on current startup issues only.

Service logs previous boot

Inspect service logs from the last boot.

↗#

bashANYjournalctlserviceprevious-boot

bash

journalctl -u myapp.service -b -1

Valuable after a boot-loop or crash.

Show restart policy

Inspect restart and rate limit settings.

↗#

bashANYsystemctlrestartpolicy

bash

systemctl show myapp -p Restart -p RestartSec -p StartLimitIntervalUSec -p StartLimitBurst

Critical when diagnosing restart loops.

Create override drop-in

Open editor for safe unit overrides.

↗#

bashANYsystemctleditoverride

bash

sudo systemctl edit myapp

Preferred over editing vendor files directly.

Remove overrides

Revert a unit to vendor/default state.

↗#

bashANYsystemctlrevertoverride

bash

sudo systemctl revert myapp

Handy when overrides caused problems.

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