Services and Daemons in Cumulus Linux
Services (also known as daemons) and processes are at the heart of how a Linux system functions. Most of the time, a service takes care of itself; you just enable and start it, then let it run. However, because a Cumulus Linux switch is a Linux system, you can dig deeper if you like. Services can start multiple processes as they run. Services are important to monitor on a Cumulus Linux switch.
You manage services in Cumulus Linux in the following ways:
- Identify currently active or stopped services
- Identify boot time state of a specific service
- Disable or enable a specific service
- Identify active listener ports
systemd and the systemctl Command
In general, you manage services using systemd via the systemctl command. You use it with any service on the switch to start, stop, restart, reload, enable, disable, reenable, or get the status of the service.
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl start | stop | restart | status | reload | enable | disable | reenable SERVICENAME.service
For example to restart networking, run the command:
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl restart networking.service
The service name is written after the systemctl subcommand, not before it.
To show all the services currently running, run the systemctl status command. For example:
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo systemctl status
● switch
State: running
Jobs: 0 queued
Failed: 0 units
Since: Thu 2019-01-10 00:19:34 UTC; 23h ago
CGroup: /
├─init.scope
│ └─1 /sbin/init
└─system.slice
├─haveged.service
│ └─234 /usr/sbin/haveged --Foreground --verbose=1 -w 1024
├─sysmonitor.service
│ ├─ 658 /bin/bash /usr/lib/cumulus/sysmonitor
│ └─26543 sleep 60
├─systemd-udevd.service
│ └─218 /lib/systemd/systemd-udevd
├─system-ntp.slice
│ └─ntp@mgmt.service
│ └─vrf
│ └─mgmt
│ └─12108 /usr/sbin/ntpd -n -u ntp:ntp -g
├─cron.service
│ └─274 /usr/sbin/cron -f -L 38
├─system-serial\x2dgetty.slice
│ └─serial-getty@ttyS0.service
│ └─745 /sbin/agetty -o -p -- \u --keep-baud 115200,38400,9600 ttyS0 vt220
├─nginx.service
│ ├─332 nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;
│ └─333 nginx: worker process
├─auditd.service
│ └─235 /sbin/auditd
├─rasdaemon.service
│ └─275 /usr/sbin/rasdaemon -f -r
├─clagd.service
│ └─11443 /usr/bin/python /usr/sbin/clagd --daemon 169.254.1.2 peerlink.4094 44:39:39:ff:40:9
--priority 100 --vxlanAnycas
├─switchd.service
│ └─430 /usr/sbin/switchd -vx
...
systemctl Subcommands
systemctl has a number of subcommands that perform a specific operation on a given service.
- status returns the status of the specified service.
- start starts the service.
- stop stops the service.
- restart stops, then starts the service, all the while maintaining state. If there are dependent services or services that mark the restarted service as Required, the other services also restart. For example, running
systemctl restart frr.servicerestarts any of the routing protocol services that are enabled and running, such asbgpdorospfd. - reload reloads the configuration for the service.
- enable enables the service to start when the system boots, but does not start it unless you use the
systemctl start SERVICENAME.servicecommand or reboot the switch. - disable disables the service, but does not stop it unless you use the
systemctl stop SERVICENAME.servicecommand or reboot the switch. You can start or stop a disabled service. - reenable disables, then enables a service. You might need to do this so that any new Wants or WantedBy lines create the symlinks necessary for ordering. This has no side effects on other services.
There is often little reason to interact with the services directly using these commands. If a critical service crashes or encounters an error, it is automatically respawned by systemd. systemd is effectively the caretaker of services in modern Linux systems and is responsible for starting all the necessary services at boot time.
Ensure a Service Starts after Multiple Restarts
By default, systemd is configured to try to restart a particular service only a certain number of times within a given interval before the service fails to start at all. The settings, StartLimitInterval (which defaults to 10 seconds) and StartBurstLimit (which defaults to 5 attempts) are stored in the service script; however, many services override these defaults, sometimes with much longer times. For example, switchd.service sets StartLimitInterval=10m and StartBurstLimit=3; therefore, if you restart switchd more than 3 times in 10 minutes, it does not start.
When the restart fails for this reason, you see a message similar to the following:
Job for switchd.service failed. See 'systemctl status switchd.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details.
systemctl status switchd.service shows output similar to:
Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Thu 2016-04-07 21:55:14 UTC; 15s ago
To clear this error, run systemctl reset-failed switchd.service. If you know you are going to restart frequently (multiple times within the StartLimitInterval), you can run the same command before you issue the restart request. This also applies to stop followed by start.
Keep systemd Services from Hanging after Starting
If you start, restart, or reload any systemd service that can be started from another systemd service, you must use the --no-block option with systemctl. Otherwise, that service or even the switch itself might hang after starting or restarting.
Identify Active Listener Ports for IPv4 and IPv6
You can identify the active listener ports under both IPv4 and IPv6 using the netstat command:
cumulus@switch:~$ netstat -nlp --inet --inet6
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:53 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 444/dnsmasq
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 874/sshd
tcp6 0 0 :::53 :::* LISTEN 444/dnsmasq
tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN 874/sshd
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:28450 0.0.0.0:* 839/dhclient
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:53 0.0.0.0:* 444/dnsmasq
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:68 0.0.0.0:* 839/dhclient
udp 0 0 192.168.0.42:123 0.0.0.0:* 907/ntpd
udp 0 0 127.0.0.1:123 0.0.0.0:* 907/ntpd
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:123 0.0.0.0:* 907/ntpd
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:4784 0.0.0.0:* 909/ptmd
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3784 0.0.0.0:* 909/ptmd
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3785 0.0.0.0:* 909/ptmd
udp6 0 0 :::58352 :::* 839/dhclient
udp6 0 0 :::53 :::* 444/dnsmasq
udp6 0 0 fe80::a200:ff:fe00::123 :::* 907/ntpd
udp6 0 0 ::1:123 :::* 907/ntpd
udp6 0 0 :::123 :::* 907/ntpd
udp6 0 0 :::4784 :::* 909/ptmd
udp6 0 0 :::3784 :::* 909/ptmd
Identify Services Currently Active or Stopped
To determine which services are currently active or stopped, run the cl-service-summary command:
cumulus@switch:~$ cl-service-summary
Service cron enabled active
Service ssh enabled active
Service syslog enabled active
Service asic-monitor enabled inactive
Service clagd enabled inactive
Service cumulus-poe inactive
Service lldpd enabled active
Service mstpd enabled active
Service neighmgrd enabled active
Service netd enabled active
Service netq-agent enabled active
Service ntp enabled active
Service portwd enabled active
Service ptmd enabled active
Service pwmd enabled active
Service smond enabled active
Service switchd enabled active
Service sysmonitor enabled active
Service rdnbrd disabled inactive
Service frr enabled inactive
...
You can also run the systemctl list-unit-files --type service command to list all services on the switch and see which ones are enabled:
cumulus@switch:~$ systemctl list-unit-files --type service
UNIT FILE STATE
aclinit.service enabled
acltool.service enabled
acpid.service disabled
asic-monitor.service enabled
auditd.service enabled
autovt@.service disabled
bmcd.service disabled
bootlog.service enabled
bootlogd.service masked
bootlogs.service masked
bootmisc.service masked
checkfs.service masked
checkroot-bootclean.service masked
checkroot.service masked
clagd.service enabled
console-getty.service disabled
console-shell.service disabled
container-getty@.service static
cron.service enabled
cryptdisks-early.service masked
cryptdisks.service masked
cumulus-aclcheck.service static
cumulus-core.service static
cumulus-fastfailover.service enabled
cumulus-firstboot.service disabled
cumulus-platform.service enabled
...
Identify Essential Services
If you need to know which services are required to run when the switch boots, run:
cumulus@switch:~$ systemctl list-dependencies --before basic.target
To see which services are needed for networking, run:
cumulus@switch:~$ systemctl list-dependencies --after network.target ● ├─switchd.service ● ├─wd_keepalive.service ● └─network-pre.target
To identify the services needed for a multi-user environment, run:
cumulus@switch:~$ systemctl list-dependencies --before multi-user.target ● ├─bootlog.service ● ├─systemd-readahead-done.service ● ├─systemd-readahead-done.timer ● ├─systemd-update-utmp-runlevel.service ● └─graphical.target ● └─systemd-update-utmp-runlevel.service
Important Services
The following table lists the most important services in Cumulus Linux.
| Service Name | Description | Affects Forwarding? |
|---|---|---|
| switchd | Hardware abstraction daemon. Synchronizes the kernel with the ASIC. | YES |
| sx_sdk | Interfaces with the Spectrum ASIC. Only on Spectrum switches. | YES |
| portwd | Port watch daemon. Broadcom switches only. Reads pluggable information over the I2C bus. Identifies and classifies the modules that are inserted into the system. Manages setting related to the module types that are inserted. | YES, eventually, if modules are added or removed |
| frr | FRRouting. Handles routing protocols. There are separate processes for each routing protocol, such as bgpd and ospfd. |
YES if routing |
| clag | Cumulus link aggregation daemon. Handles MLAG. | YES if using MLAG |
| neighmgrd | Keeps neighbor entries refreshed, snoops on ARP and ND packets if ARP suppression is on, and refreshes VRR MAC addresses. | YES |
| mstpd | Spanning tree protocol daemon. | YES if using layer 2 |
| ptmd | Prescriptive Topology Manager. Verifies cabling based on LLDP output. Also sets up BFD sessions. | YES if using BFD |
| netd | NCLU back end. | NO |
| rsyslog | Handles logging of syslog messages. | NO |
| ntp | Network time protocol. | NO |
| ledmgrd | LED manager. Reads the state of system LEDs. | NO |
| sysmonitor | Watches and logs critical system load (free memory, disk, CPU). | NO |
| lldpd | Handles Tx/Rx of LLDP information. | NO |
| smond | Reads platform sensors and fan information from pwmd. | NO |
| pwmd | Reads and sets fan speeds. | NO |