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Services and System Control

service

Controls services through legacy init wrappers.

service is a compatibility command used on older or mixed systems to start, stop, restart, and query services.

Syntax
service name action

Arguments explained

  • Options adjust output or behavior.
  • Arguments name the files, services, hosts, or values the command should work with.

Common examples

Check a service
service ssh status

Shows SSH service status through the legacy interface.

Restart a service
sudo service nginx restart

Restarts nginx where service wrappers are available.

service Command
FieldDetails
Commandservice
CategoryServices and System Control
Primary useControls services through legacy init wrappers.
Syntaxservice name action

Related articles

systemctl

Controls systemd services and system state.

journalctl

Reads the systemd journal.

chkconfig

Manages legacy SysV service startup settings.