The systemd Playbook: Learn by Doing

Are you tired of theory-heavy tutorials that leave you confused when it’s time to actually manage services on a Linux system?

Welcome to “systemd Playbook: Learn by Doing”, a hands-on, text-based course designed to turn you into a confident systemd user through real-world scenarios and sample labs. You are not reading here, you are doing it and learning it.

Whether you’re a Linux beginner trying to grasp system services or a sysadmin looking to level up your systemd knowledge—this course will meet you where you are and take you deeper.

📚 What will you learn?

Module 1: Understanding systemd Core: Grasp the concepts of units, states, targets, and dependencies.

Module 2: Crafting Robust Unit Files: Write, modify, and debug unit files for services, sockets, timers, and paths.

Module 3: Mastering journalctl: Dig into advanced log filtering, persistent logs, and runtime analysis.

Module 4: Automating with Timers: Replace cron jobs with systemd timers for smarter, event-driven automation.

Module 5: Resource Management with cgroups: Use systemd to manage CPU, memory, and I/O limits via cgroup integration. Isolate and control services with ease.

Module 6: Networking with systemd-networkd: Learn how to configure static IPs, bridges, VLANs, and DHCP with systemd-networkd.

Module 7: Debugging & Troubleshooting systemd: Use built-in tools and boot options to diagnose startup failures. Practice troubleshooting with broken units, dependency issues, and journal logs.

How to use this course?

Throughout this course, you will gain practical skills through hands-on exercises, and real-world scenarios.

The best approach here would be to follow the instructions and commands on your Linux system installed in a virtual machine or a dedicated test machine.

By the end, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to manage your Linux system more effectively using systemdl.