Inspecting Services with systemd-analyze

systemd-analyze is a powerful tool that helps diagnose and troubleshoot issues related to systemd services. It provides various commands to analyze the performance and dependencies of services, as well as to pinpoint issues during the boot process.

Steps to Analyze Systemd Services

1. Analyze Boot Performance

systemd-analyze can help you understand how long each service takes to start during boot. This is useful for identifying services that are slowing down the boot process.

To get a summary of the boot time:
Terminal window
```
systemd-analyze
```
This command shows the overall time taken to boot, including the kernel, initrd, and user space times.
To see a detailed breakdown of how long each service took to start:
Terminal window
```
systemd-analyze blame
```
This lists all services in order of their startup time, with the slowest services listed first.
For a graphical representation of the boot process, use:
Terminal window
```
system-analyze plot > boot-time.svg
```
This command generates an SVG file that visually represents the startup times of all services. You can view this file in any web browser.

2. View Service Dependencies

To troubleshoot issues related to service dependencies, you can visualize the dependency tree of a specific service. To display the dependency tree of a service:

systemd-analyze critical-chain <service_name>.service

This command shows the critical path that affects the startup time of the service, highlighting any dependencies that may delay its startup.

3. Verify Unit Files

To verify the configuration of a service’s unit file:

systemd-analyze verify <service-name>.service

This command checks the syntax and can help identify configuration issues.

4. Check for Cyclic Dependencies

Cyclic dependencies can cause services to fail or hang during boot. systemd-analyze can check for these issues:

To check for any cyclic dependencies:

systemd-analyze verify --man=your-service-name.service

This will warn you about any loops or issues within the unit’s dependency tree.

systemd-analyze can also assess the security of your service’s configuration:

To evaluate the overall threat exposure of systemd services, use:
Terminal window
```
systemd-analyze security
```
To evaluate the security of a specific service:
Terminal window
```
systemd-analyze security <service-name>.service
```
This command provides a security assessment, scoring the service based on various hardening options and highlighting potential weaknesses.