systemctl – control the systemd system and service manager

$ sudo systemctl start nginx
$ sudo systemctl stop nginx
$ sudo systemctl restart nginx
$ sudo systemctl reload nginx    # Reload config

$ systemctl status nginx
● nginx.service - A high performance web server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2025-01-15 10:00:00 UTC
     Docs: man:nginx(8)
 Main PID: 1234 (nginx)

$ sudo systemctl enable nginx
$ sudo systemctl disable nginx
$ systemctl is-enabled nginx
enabled

$ systemctl is-active nginx
active
$ systemctl is-failed nginx
active

# All loaded units
$ systemctl list-units

# Only services
$ systemctl list-units --type=service

# All installed services
$ systemctl list-unit-files --type=service

# Failed services
$ systemctl --failed

$ systemctl cat nginx
$ systemctl show nginx    # All properties

$ sudo systemctl edit nginx    # Create override
$ sudo systemctl edit --full nginx    # Edit entire file

# Reboot
$ sudo systemctl reboot

# Shutdown
$ sudo systemctl poweroff

# Suspend
$ sudo systemctl suspend

# View boot targets
$ systemctl get-default
graphical.target

# Change to multi-user (no GUI)
$ sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target

$ sudo systemctl try-restart nginx

$ sudo systemctl reload-or-restart nginx

$ sudo systemctl mask nginx
$ sudo systemctl unmask nginx

$ sudo systemctl reset-failed