SysVinit to Systemd Cheatsheet

This is a document to help system administrators who need to understand what commands in systemd replace their old workflow in SysVinit.

Services

SystemVinit Command	Systemd Command	Notes
ls -al /etc/rc.d/init.d	systemctl --all --type=service	Used to list the services that can be started or stopped
chkconfig httpd --list		Used to list what levels this service is configured on or off
chkconfig httpd --level 345 on		Turn the service on for the next reboot
chkconfig httpd --level 345 off		Turn the service off for the next reboot
service httpd start	systemctl start httpd.service OR service httpd start	Used to start a service (not reboot persistent)
service httpd stop	systemctl stop httpd.service OR service httpd stop	Used to stop a service (not reboot persistent)
service httpd restart	systemctl restart httpd.service OR service httpd restart	Used to stop and then start a service
service httpd reload	systemctl reload httpd.service OR service httpd reload	When supported, reloads the config file without interrupting pending operations.
service httpd condrestart	systemctl reload-or-restart httpd.service OR systemctl condrestart httpd.service OR service httpd condrestart	when supported restarts if the service is already running.

Runlevels

runlevels are used with telinit and on the kernel command line in SystemVinit. These traditional ways of switching runlevels still work with systemd, but additionally, the following can be used instead.

SystemVinit Runlevel	Systemd Target	Notes
0		Halt the system.
1, s, single, emergency		Single user mode.
2, 4		User-defined/Site-specific runlevels. By default, identical to 3.
3	runlevel3.target, multi-user.target	Multi-user, non-graphical. Users can usually login via multiple consoles or via the network.
5	runlevel5.target, graphical.target	Multi-user, graphical. Usually has all the services of runlevel 3 plus a graphical login.
6		Reboot

Changing runlevels:

SystemVinit Command	Systemd Command	Notes
telinit 3	systemctl isolate runlevel3.target OR telinit 3	Change to multi-user run level.
sed s/^id:.*:initdefault:/id:3:initdefault:/	ln -sf /lib/systemd/systemd/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target	Set to use multi-user runlevel on next reboot.