service vs. systemctl scripts -- which to use

Question

In Fedora we have 'systemctl' and 'service' scripts. It seems that service internally calls systemctl. So what is the correct/right way on Fedora to start or stop services -- via systemctl or service facility? May be there are nuances to keep in mind?

Answer 1

The way to stop/start services in Fedora (later versions) is using systemctl.

However, there may be a few services left in /etc/init.d/ which you could control with the service command. You can still control them with systemctl as systemd automatically maps them to unit files for you.

For example, on my CentOS 7 (Fedora 19 or thereabouts), there is a /etc/rc.d/init.d/network script which I could control with the service command. If I use systemctl instead, it still works:

# sudo systemctl status network
network.service - LSB: Bring up/down networking
Loaded: loaded (/etc/rc.d/init.d/network)
Active: active (exited) since Tue 2014-11-11 08:21:51 GMT; 2 weeks 1 days ago

As you can see, it has been mapped to /etc/rc.d/init.d/network by systemd and the systemctl command controls it.

I could be so 'last year' and use service instead:

# service network status
Configured devices:
lo eth0
Currently active devices:
lo eth0 tun0

Both work, but note that they do give different results in their status commands.

Answer 2

It's typically the case that the service scripts are redirected to systemctl (Systemd) scripts so it's basically your preference which you want to use.

Example

From my Fedora 20 system.

$ service sshd status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status  sshd.service
sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2014-11-21 09:12:10 EST; 5 days ago
 Main PID: 1095 (sshd)
   CGroup: /system.slice/sshd.service
           └─1095 /usr/sbin/sshd -D

Nov 21 09:12:10 dufresne systemd[1]: Starting OpenSSH server daemon...
Nov 21 09:12:10 dufresne systemd[1]: Started OpenSSH server daemon.
Nov 21 09:12:11 dufresne sshd[1095]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Nov 21 09:12:11 dufresne sshd[1095]: Server listening on :: port 22.

I generally use both methods, since old habits die hard. But if you're trying to adapt to the Systemd world, I'd continue to force myself to do things using systemctl if possible.

Also Systemd brings everything that you used to do with chkconfig and service under one command, systemctl, so I generally find that easier to cope with in the long run.

This cheatsheet on the Fedora project's website is helpful in making the switch.

   

Incidentally, the answer to your original question is answered in a footnote on that page:

Note that all /sbin/service and /sbin/chkconfig lines listed above continue to work on systemd, and will be translated to native equivalents as necessary. The only exception is chkconfig --list.

References

• SysVinit to Systemd Cheatsheet