systemctl throws error

Question

I just started to learn about systemctl, I tried to create a service file that will run a nodejs script but it fails to run and the error doesn't really tell me why.

Here are the steps I've taken:

1) Navigated to /lib/systemd/system and created a file using the following command:

sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/hello_env.service

2) Created the following service file:

[Unit]
Description=
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/dev/index.js
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi.user.target

3) typed sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4) Started the process:

sudo systemctl start hello_env

5) Checked status:

sudo systemctl status hello_env

And got the following error:

> hello_env.service   Loaded: loaded
> (/lib/systemd/system/hello_env.service; disabled; vendor pres   
> Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2020-01-29 16:00:37 IST;
> 2s ago   Process: 25605 ExecStart=/usr/bin/node
> /home/dev/index.j  Main PID: 25605 (code=exited,
> status=1/FAILURE)
> 
> Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: hello_env.service: Main process
> exited, code Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: hello_env.service:
> Failed with result 'exit- Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]:
> hello_env.service: Service hold-off time ove Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env
> systemd[1]: hello_env.service: Scheduled restart job, re Jan 29
> 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: Stopped index.js - starting the bot. Jan
> 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: hello_env.service: Start request
> repeated to Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: hello_env.service:
> Failed with result 'exit- Jan 29 16:00:37 sf-env systemd[1]: Failed to
> start index.js.

Please note that If I navigate to /home/dev/index.js and run the script with node index.js it works just fine - please advise what I'm missing

Answer 1

I managed to resolve it by echoing this line ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/dev/index.js, I then saw there was an error in the script.

So for future reference, debug the ExecStart to see that it actually works.