Skip to main content

​
Overview

For production Linux deployments, systemd provides robust process management, automatic restarts, and service dependency handling. This guide covers creating systemd unit files and managing Template Worker as a system service.

​
Basic Service Unit

Here’s a complete systemd service unit file for Template Worker: 
[Unit]
Description=Template Worker Service
After=network.target postgresql.service
PartOf=antiraid-v6.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=antiraid
Group=antiraid
WorkingDirectory=/home/antiraid/template-worker
ExecStart=/home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --worker-type processpool
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=mixed
TimeoutStopSec=5
PrivateTmp=true
RestartSec=1
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

​
Service Configuration Explained

DirectivePurpose
Type=simpleProcess doesn’t fork; stays in foreground
User=antiraidRun as non-privileged user
WorkingDirectorySets working directory for config.yaml
ExecStartCommand to start the worker
ExecReloadSend HUP signal for graceful reload
KillMode=mixedSend SIGTERM to main, SIGKILL to others
TimeoutStopSec=5Wait 5s for graceful shutdown
PrivateTmp=trueIsolate /tmp directory for security
Restart=alwaysAuto-restart on failure
RestartSec=1Wait 1s before restart attempt

​
Installation

1

Create service user

Create a dedicated user for running the service:
sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false antiraid
2

Deploy binary and config

Copy your built binary and configuration:
sudo mkdir -p /home/antiraid/template-worker
sudo cp target/release/template-worker /home/antiraid/template-worker/
sudo cp config.yaml /home/antiraid/template-worker/
sudo chown -R antiraid:antiraid /home/antiraid/template-worker
3

Create systemd unit file

Create the service file at /etc/systemd/system/template-worker.service:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/template-worker.service
Paste the unit file content from above.
4

Reload systemd and enable service

# Reload systemd configuration
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable service to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable template-worker.service
5

Start the service

sudo systemctl start template-worker.service

​
Service Management

​
Common Commands

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start template-worker

# Stop the service
sudo systemctl stop template-worker

# Restart the service
sudo systemctl restart template-worker

# Reload configuration (sends SIGHUP)
sudo systemctl reload template-worker

# View status
sudo systemctl status template-worker

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u template-worker -f

# View logs since boot
sudo journalctl -u template-worker -b

# View logs from last hour
sudo journalctl -u template-worker --since "1 hour ago"

​
Service Status

Check if the service is running: 
sudo systemctl status template-worker
Output should show: 
● template-worker.service - Template Worker Service
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/template-worker.service; enabled)
   Active: active (running) since ...

​
Worker Type Configuration

Template Worker supports multiple worker modes via command-line arguments. See Scaling for detailed comparison. 
ExecStart=/home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --worker-type processpool
Default mode. Spawns separate processes for isolation.

​
Thread Pool

ExecStart=/home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --worker-type threadpool --tokio-threads-master 15
Uses threads instead of processes. Lower overhead but less isolation.

​
Custom Worker Count

ExecStart=/home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --worker-type processpool --process-workers 8

​
Multi-Service Deployment

For complex deployments with multiple services, create a target unit to manage them together.

​
Create Target Unit

Create /etc/systemd/system/antiraid-v6.target: 
[Unit]
Description=AntiRaid v6 Service Stack

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
In each service unit file, add: 
[Unit]
PartOf=antiraid-v6.target

​
Example: Multiple Services

Sandwich Gateway Service (ar-sandwich.service): 
[Unit]
Description=AntiRaid Sandwich Daemon (gateway proxy)
After=network.target
PartOf=antiraid-v6.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=antiraid-secure
Group=antiraid-secure
WorkingDirectory=/home/antiraid-secure/sandwich-daemon
ExecStart=/home/antiraid-secure/sandwich-daemon/sandwich \
  -configurationPath=sandwich.yaml \
  -prometheusAddress :3931 \
  -httpEnabled \
  --httpHost 0.0.0.0:29334 \
  -level debug
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=mixed
TimeoutStopSec=5
PrivateTmp=true
RestartSec=1
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Template Worker Service (template-worker.service): 
[Unit]
Description=Template Worker Service
After=network.target postgresql.service ar-sandwich.service
PartOf=antiraid-v6.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=antiraid
Group=antiraid
WorkingDirectory=/home/antiraid/template-worker
ExecStart=/home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --worker-type processpool
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
KillMode=mixed
TimeoutStopSec=5
PrivateTmp=true
RestartSec=1
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

​
Managing the Service Stack

# Start all services in target
sudo systemctl start antiraid-v6.target

# Stop all services in target
sudo systemctl stop antiraid-v6.target

# View status of all services
sudo systemctl list-dependencies antiraid-v6.target

​
Environment Variables

To pass environment variables to your service, use the Environment directive: 
[Service]
Environment="RUST_LOG=template-worker=debug"
Environment="MESOPHYLL_SERVER=localhost:50051"
Or use an environment file: 
[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/home/antiraid/template-worker/.env

​
Security Hardening

For production deployments, add these security directives: 
[Service]
# Security
PrivateTmp=true
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ProtectHome=true
ReadWritePaths=/home/antiraid/template-worker
ProtectKernelTunables=true
ProtectControlGroups=true
RestrictRealtime=true
RestrictNamespaces=true

# Resource limits
LimitNOFILE=65536
LimitNPROC=512
MemoryMax=4G
CPUQuota=200%

​
Monitoring and Logs

​
Structured Logging

Template Worker logs to stdout/stderr. Systemd captures these via journald: 
# Follow logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u template-worker -f

# View logs with priority level
sudo journalctl -u template-worker -p err

# Export logs to file
sudo journalctl -u template-worker --since today > worker.log

​
Log Rotation

Configure journald log retention in /etc/systemd/journald.conf: 
[Journal]
SystemMaxUse=500M
SystemMaxFileSize=100M
MaxRetentionSec=7day

​
Troubleshooting

​
Service Won’t Start

  1. Check service status: 
    sudo systemctl status template-worker
  2. View recent logs: 
    sudo journalctl -u template-worker -n 50
  3. Test binary manually: 
    sudo -u antiraid /home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker

​
Permission Errors

Ensure the service user owns all required files: 
sudo chown -R antiraid:antiraid /home/antiraid/template-worker
sudo chmod 600 /home/antiraid/template-worker/config.yaml

​
Service Keeps Restarting

  1. Check for crashes in logs: 
    sudo journalctl -u template-worker | grep -i "error\|panic\|crash"
  2. Verify configuration: 
    sudo -u antiraid /home/antiraid/template-worker/template-worker --help
  3. Temporarily disable auto-restart to debug: 
    [Service]
Restart=on-failure

​
Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us