How to run a program during start up on Linux using systemctl

How to run a program during start up on Linux

Use the following steps to run a program on start up or booting on Linux machine.  Any program that needs to be run during start or boot is termed as service. We will use systemd to run a service in the background during startup. systemd is a system and service manager for Linux, also capable of replacing the traditional SysV init system

1.       To create a service run the following command

sudo nano /etc/system/system/NAME_OF_YOUR_SERVIC.service.

2.        nano editor will open a blank file. Put the following command and save the file.

Description = DESRIPTION_OF_YOUR_SERVICE // A small description of your service here.

Wants=network.target // This means the service will start after the network is ready.

[Service]

Type=simple

ExecStart="Application/script name with path"  ex: /home/pramod/mybgapp.sh

Restart=on-failure

RestartSec=10

KillMode=process

[install]

WantedBy=multi-user.target

3.       Once the service is created we need to reload the service using systemctl. Use the following command to reload the service.

Sudo systemctl daemon-reload

4.       Use the following command to enable the service.

Sudo systemctl enable YOUR_SERVICE_NAME

5.       To start the service use the following command

Sudo systemctl start YOUR_SERVICE_NAME

6.       To check if the service is running or not use the following command.

Systemctl status YOUR_SERVICE_NAME

7.       Now reboot the system. Application will start automatically else crash if failed.