In Linux, the services are a program that runs in the background outside the system user’s control. The services manage the program as a background process. The services can be enabled, disabled, restarted, or stopped to perform specific tasks.
This guide pens down the guidelines to enable or disable the Ubuntu services using “systemd”:
How to Enable Services Using Systemd?
The “systemd” is an init(initialization) system of Ubuntu. This system is managed through the “systemctl” command line tool.
Check the service Status
Let’s check the service status, which will be enabled later in this guide:
$ sudo systemctl status cron.service
The output shows that the “cron.service” is disabled.
Enable the Service
To enable the services in Ubuntu, use the “systemctl” command with the “enable” keyword and the service name shown in the image:
$ sudo systemctl enable cron.service
The “cron.service” is enabled now.
Restart the Service
Execute the below-mentioned command to restart the service to make the changes effective:
$ systemctl restart cron.service
Verify the Service Status
Last, check the specified service status again for the verification purpose:
$ sudo systemctl status cron.service
The green indicator verifies that the “cron.service” has been enabled successfully.
How to Disable Services Using Systemd?
This section enlists the recommended steps to disable services in Ubuntu:
View the Service Status
The “systemctl” command is used to check the “bluetooth.service” status:
$ sudo systemctl status bluetooth.service
The “bluetooth.service” is enabled.
Disable the Service
Type the “bluetooth.service” name with the “systemctl” command:
$ sudo systemctl disable bluetooth.service
The command executed successfully.
Restart the Service
Restart the service to make the changes effective:
$ systemctl restart bluetooth.service
Confirm the Service Status
Check the status of the “bluetooth.service” again for verification using the below-mentioned command:
$ sudo systemctl status bluetooth.service
The “bluetooth.service” has been disabled permanently.
Conclusion
Ubuntu/Debian-based Linux systems offer the “systemctl” command to enable and disable the services. To enable any service, use the syntax “sudo systemctl enable cron.service” and to disable any service, use the command “sudo systemctl disable cron.service”. This post briefly describes the complete procedure to enable and disable services in Ubuntu.
