service command does not recognize the service file. RHEL6.9

Question

I'm using rhel6.9 and I've copied my service file to both /etc/systemd/system and /usr/lib/systemd/system/ folders. I have set up services using systemctl before, but I have never tried it with the oldschool service command.

Now, service mytest start doesn't work, it says that's an unrecognized service. In systemctl you run daemon-reload, but how do I do that with service?

somethingSomething · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-02T19:30:46.630

service is an "high-level" command used for start, restart, stop and status
services in different Unixes and Linuxes. Depending on the "lower-level" service manager, service redirects on different binaries.

For example, on CentOS 7 it redirects to systemctl, while on CentOS 6 it directly called the relative /etc/init.d script. On the other hand, in older Ubuntu releases it redirects to upstart.

service is adequate for basic service management, while directly calling systemctl give greater control options.

In RHEL6 you first add the service:

chkconfig --add SERVICE

then to enable or disable:

chkconfig SERVICE on
chkconfig SERVICE off

Check if service is enabled:

chkconfig SERVICE --list

You can also in RHEL7 and higher turn the service on like this for start on next boot or other trigger:

systemctl enable SERVICE

Note that all recent versions of systemctl assume the ".service" if left off.

/etc/systemd/system/lircmd.service

Becomes:

systemctl enable lircmd

Also Systemd brings everything that you used to do with chkconfig and service under one command, systemctl, so I generally find that easier to cope with in the long run.

Also see man update-rc.d:

update-rc.d requires dependency and runlevel information to be provided in the init.d script LSB comment header of all init.d scripts.

Like here:

Add a block like this in the init.d script:

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          scriptname
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start daemon at boot time
# Description:       Enable service provided by daemon.
### END INIT INFO

https://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts

The service command is a wrapper script that allows system administrators to start, stop, and check the status of services without worrying too much about the actual init system being used. Prior to systemd's introduction, it was a wrapper for /etc/init.d scripts and Upstart's initctl command, and now it is a wrapper for these two and systemctl as well.

man service:

service(8)                                                                                              System Manager's Manual                                                                                              service(8)

NAME
       service - run a System V init script

SYNOPSIS
       service SCRIPT COMMAND [OPTIONS]

       service --status-all

       service --help | -h | --version

DESCRIPTION
       service runs a System V init script, systemd unit, or upstart job in as predictable an environment as possible, removing most environment variables and with the current working directory set to /.

       The SCRIPT parameter specifies a System V init script, located in /etc/init.d/SCRIPT, or the name of a systemd unit, or the name of an upstart job in /etc/init. The existence of a systemd unit or upstart job of the same name
       as a script in /etc/init.d will cause the unit/job to take precedence over the init.d script.  The supported values of COMMAND depend on the invoked script.  service passes COMMAND and OPTIONS to the init script  unmodified.
       For  systemd  units  or upstart jobs, start, stop, status, and reload are passed through to their systemctl/initctl equivalents. For upstart jobs, restart will call the upstart 'stop' for the job, followed immediately by the
       'start', and will exit with the return code of the start command.

       All scripts should support at least the start and stop commands.  As a special case, if COMMAND is --full-restart, the script is run twice, first with the stop command, then with the start command. This option has no  effect
       on upstart jobs.

       service  --status-all  runs  all  init  scripts,  in alphabetical order, with the status command.  The status is [ + ] for running services, [ - ] for stopped services and [ ? ] for services without a 'status' command.  This
       option only calls status for sysvinit jobs; upstart jobs can be queried in a similar manner with initctl list.

EXIT CODES
       service calls the init script and returns the status returned by it.

FILES
       /etc/init.d
              The directory containing System V init scripts.

       /etc/init
              The directory containing upstart jobs.

       /{lib,run,etc}/systemd/system
              The directories containing systemd units.

ENVIRONMENT
       LANG, LANGUAGE, LC_CTYPE, LC_NUMERIC, LC_TIME, LC_COLLATE, LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES, LC_PAPER, LC_NAME, LC_ADDRESS, LC_TELEPHONE, LC_MEASUREMENT, LC_IDENTIFICATION, LC_ALL, TERM, PATH
              The only environment variables passed to the init scripts.

SEE ALSO
       /etc/init.d/skeleton,
       update-rc.d(8),
       init(8),
       invoke-rc.d(8).
       systemctl(1).
       initctl(8).

service command does not recognize the service file. RHEL6.9

1 Answers1