How to Restart, Stop, and Debug Services with systemctl

systemctl is the main tool for managing services on modern Linux servers. It allows you to control services, check their status, and debug failures without rebooting the VPS.

Step 1: Check Service Status

Before restarting or stopping a service, always check its current state.

sudo systemctl status nginx

Replace nginx with the service name you want to inspect.

Step 2: Restart a Service

Restarting reloads the service and applies configuration changes.

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Use this after editing config files.

Step 3: Stop a Service

Stopping a service fully terminates it.

sudo systemctl stop nginx

The service will remain stopped until started manually.

Step 4: Start a Service

Start a stopped service.

sudo systemctl start nginx

Step 5: Enable or Disable Services at Boot

Control whether a service starts automatically after reboot.

sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl disable nginx

Step 6: Debug a Failed Service

If a service fails, systemctl shows the exit reason.

sudo systemctl status nginx

Look for lines marked as failed or error.

Step 7: View Detailed Service Logs

Use journalctl to inspect service logs.

sudo journalctl -u nginx

Show recent logs only:

sudo journalctl -u nginx --since "10 minutes ago"

You may also want to review this related article: 

Optional Step: Reload a Service Without Restart

Reload applies configuration changes without dropping connections.

sudo systemctl reload nginx