SYSTEMD-ANALYZE(1)

NAME
systemd-analyze - Analyze and debug system manager

SYNOPSIS

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] [time]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] blame

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] critical-chain [UNIT...]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] log-level [LEVEL]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] log-target [TARGET]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] service-watchdogs [BOOL]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] dump

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] plot [>file.svg]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] dot [PATTERN...] [>file.dot]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] unit-paths

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] syscall-filter [SET...]

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] calendar SPECS...

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] timespan SPAN...

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] cat-config NAME|PATH...

systemd-analyze [OPTIONS...] security UNIT...

DESCRIPTION

systemd-analyze may be used to determine system boot-up performance statistics and retrieve other state and tracing information from the system and service manager, and to verify the correctness of unit files. It is also used to access special functions useful for advanced system manager debugging.

If no command is passed, systemd-analyze time is implied.

  systemd-analyze time

This command prints the time spent in the kernel before userspace has been reached, the time spent in the initial RAM disk (initrd) before normal system userspace has been reached, and the time normal system userspace took to initialize. Note that these measurements simply measure the time passed up to the point where all system services have been spawned, but not necessarily until they fully finished initialization or the disk is idle.

Example 1. Show how long the boot took

    # in a container
    $ systemd-analyze time
    Startup finished in 296ms (userspace)
    multi-user.target reached after 275ms in userspace
    # on a real machine
    $ systemd-analyze time
    Startup finished in 2.584s (kernel) + 19.176s (initrd) + 47.847s (userspace) = 1min 9.608s
    multi-user.target reached after 47.820s in userspace

  systemd-analyze blame

This command prints a list of all running units, ordered by the time they took to initialize. This information may be used to optimize boot-up times. Note that the output might be misleading as the initialization of one service might be slow simply because it waits for the initialization of another service to complete. Also note: systemd-analyze blame doesn't display results for services with Type=simple, because systemd considers such services to be started immediately, hence no measurement of the initialization delays can be done.

Example 2. Show which units took the most time during boot

    $ systemd-analyze blame
             32.875s pmlogger.service
             20.905s systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
             13.299s dev-vda1.device
             ...
                23ms sysroot.mount
                11ms initrd-udevadm-cleanup-db.service
                 3ms sys-kernel-config.mount

  systemd-analyze critical-chain [UNIT...]

This command prints a tree of the time-critical chain of units (for each of the specified UNITs or for the default target otherwise). The time after the unit is active or started is printed after the "@" character. The time the unit takes to start is printed after the "+" character. Note that the output might be misleading as the initialization of services might depend on socket activation and because of the parallel execution of units.

Example 3. systemd-analyze time

    $ systemd-analyze critical-chain
    multi-user.target @47.820s
    └─pmie.service @35.968s +548ms
      └─pmcd.service @33.715s +2.247s
        └─network-online.target @33.712s
          └─systemd-networkd-wait-online.service @12.804s +20.905s
            └─systemd-networkd.service @11.109s +1.690s
              └─systemd-udevd.service @9.201s +1.904s
                └─systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service @7.306s +1.776s
                  └─kmod-static-nodes.service @6.976s +177ms
                    └─systemd-journald.socket
                      └─system.slice
                        └─-.slice

  systemd-analyze log-level [LEVEL]

systemd-analyze log-level prints the current log level of the systemd daemon. If an optional argument LEVEL is provided, then the command changes the current log level of the systemd daemon to LEVEL (accepts the same values as --log-level= described in systemd(1)).

  systemd-analyze log-target [TARGET]

systemd-analyze log-target prints the current log target of the systemd daemon. If an optional argument TARGET is provided, then the command changes the current log target of the systemd daemon to TARGET (accepts the same values as --log-target=, described in systemd(1)).

  systemd-analyze service-watchdogs [yes|no]

systemd-analyze service-watchdogs prints the current state of service runtime watchdogs of the systemd daemon. If an optional boolean argument is provided, then globally enables or disables the service runtime watchdogs (WatchdogSec=) and emergency actions (e.g. OnFailure= or StartLimitAction=); see systemd.service(5). The hardware watchdog is not affected by this setting.

  systemd-analyze dump

This command outputs a (usually very long) human-readable serialization of the complete server state. Its format is subject to change without notice and should not be parsed by applications.

Example 4. Show the internal state of user manager

    $ systemd-analyze --user dump
    Timestamp userspace: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    Timestamp finish: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    Timestamp generators-start: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    Timestamp generators-finish: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    Timestamp units-load-start: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    Timestamp units-load-finish: Thu 2019-03-14 23:28:07 CET
    -> Unit proc-timer_list.mount:
            Description: /proc/timer_list
            ...
    -> Unit default.target:
            Description: Main user target
    ...

  systemd-analyze plot

This command prints an SVG graphic detailing which system services have been started at what time, highlighting the time they spent on initialization.

Example 5. Plot a bootchart

    $ systemd-analyze plot >bootup.svg
    $ eog bootup.svg&

  systemd-analyze dot [pattern...]

This command generates textual dependency graph description in dot format for further processing with the GraphViz dot(1) tool. Use a command line like systemd-analyze dot | dot -Tsvg >systemd.svg to generate a graphical dependency tree. Unless --order or --require is passed, the generated graph will show both ordering and requirement dependencies. Optional pattern globbing style specifications (e.g. *.target) may be given at the end. A unit dependency is included in the graph if any of these patterns match either the origin or destination node.

Example 6. Plot all dependencies of any unit whose name starts with "avahi-daemon"

    $ systemd-analyze dot 'avahi-daemon.*' | dot -Tsvg >avahi.svg
    $ eog avahi.svg

Example 7. Plot the dependencies between all known target units

    $ systemd-analyze dot --to-pattern='*.target' --from-pattern='*.target' \
          | dot -Tsvg >targets.svg
    $ eog targets.svg

  systemd-analyze unit-paths

This command outputs a list of all directories from which unit files, .d overrides, and .wants, .requires symlinks may be loaded. Combine with --user to retrieve the list for the user manager instance, and --global for the global configuration of user manager instances.

Example 8. Show all paths for generated units

    $ systemd-analyze unit-paths | grep '^/run'
    /run/systemd/system.control
    /run/systemd/transient
    /run/systemd/generator.early
    /run/systemd/system
    /run/systemd/system.attached
    /run/systemd/generator
    /run/systemd/generator.late

Note that this verb prints the list that is compiled into systemd-analyze itself, and does not comunicate with the running manager. Use

    systemctl [--user] [--global] show -p UnitPath --value

to retrieve the actual list that the manager uses, with any empty directories omitted.

  systemd-analyze syscall-filter [SET...]

This command will list system calls contained in the specified system call set SET, or all known sets if no sets are specified. Argument SET must include the "@" prefix.

  systemd-analyze calendar EXPRESSION...

This command will parse and normalize repetitive calendar time events, and will calculate when they elapse next. This takes the same input as the OnCalendar= setting in systemd.timer(5), following the syntax described in systemd.time(7).

  systemd-analyze cat-config NAME|PATH...

This command is similar to systemctl cat, but operates on config files. It will copy the contents of a config file and any drop-ins to standard output, using the usual systemd set of directories and rules for precedence. Each argument must be either an absolute path including the prefix (such as /etc/systemd/logind.conf or /usr/lib/systemd/logind.conf), or a name relative to the prefix (such as systemd/logind.conf).

Example 9. Showing logind configuration

    $ systemd-analyze cat-config systemd/logind.conf
    # /etc/systemd/logind.conf
    ...
    [Login]
    NAutoVTs=8
    ...
    # /usr/lib/systemd/logind.conf.d/20-test.conf
    ... some override from another package
    # /etc/systemd/logind.conf.d/50-override.conf
    ... some administrator override

  systemd-analyze verify FILE...

This command will load unit files and print warnings if any errors are detected. Files specified on the command line will be loaded, but also any other units referenced by them. The full unit search path is formed by combining the directories for all command line arguments, and the usual unit load paths (variable $SYSTEMD_UNIT_PATH is supported, and may be used to replace or augment the compiled in set of unit load paths; see systemd.unit(5)). All units files present in the directories containing the command line arguments will be used in preference to the other paths.

The following errors are currently detected:

    • unknown sections and directives,

    • missing dependencies which are required to start the given unit,

    • man pages listed in Documentation= which are not found in the system,

    • commands listed in ExecStart= and similar which are not found in the system or not executable.

Example 10. Misspelt directives

    $ cat ./user.slice
    [Unit]
    WhatIsThis=11
    Documentation=man:nosuchfile(1)
    Requires=different.service
    [Service]
    Description=x
    $ systemd-analyze verify ./user.slice
    [./user.slice:9] Unknown lvalue 'WhatIsThis' in section 'Unit'
    [./user.slice:13] Unknown section 'Service'. Ignoring.
    Error: org.freedesktop.systemd1.LoadFailed:
       Unit different.service failed to load:
       No such file or directory.
    Failed to create user.slice/start: Invalid argument
    user.slice: man nosuchfile(1) command failed with code 16

Example 11. Missing service units

    $ tail ./a.socket ./b.socket
    ==> ./a.socket <==
    [Socket]
    ListenStream=100
    ==> ./b.socket <==
    [Socket]
    ListenStream=100
    Accept=yes
    $ systemd-analyze verify ./a.socket ./b.socket
    Service a.service not loaded, a.socket cannot be started.
    Service b@0.service not loaded, b.socket cannot be started.

  systemd-analyze security [UNIT...]

This command analyzes the security and sandboxing settings of one or more specified service units. If at least one unit name is specified the security settings of the specified service units are inspected and a detailed analysis is shown. If no unit name is specified, all currently loaded, long-running service units are inspected and a terse table with results shown. The command checks for various security-related service settings, assigning each a numeric "exposure level" value, depending on how important a setting is. It then calculates an overall exposure level for the whole unit, which is an estimation in the range 0.0...10.0 indicating how exposed a service is security-wise. High exposure levels indicate very little applied sandboxing. Low exposure levels indicate tight sandboxing and strongest security restrictions. Note that this only analyzes the per-service security features systemd itself implements. This means that any additional security mechanisms applied by the service code itself are not accounted for. The exposure level determined this way should not be misunderstood: a high exposure level neither means that there is no effective sandboxing applied by the service code itself, nor that the service is actually vulnerable to remote or local attacks. High exposure levels do indicate however that most likely the service might benefit from additional settings applied to them.

Please note that many of the security and sandboxing settings individually can be circumvented — unless combined with others. For example, if a service retains the privilege to establish or undo mount points many of the sandboxing options can be undone by the service code itself. Due to that is essential that each service uses the most comprehensive and strict sandboxing and security settings possible. The tool will take into account some of these combinations and relationships between the settings, but not all. Also note that the security and sandboxing settings analyzed here only apply to the operations executed by the service code itself. If a service has access to an IPC system (such as D-Bus) it might request operations from other services that are not subject to the same restrictions. Any comprehensive security and sandboxing analysis is hence incomplete if the IPC access policy is not validated too.

Example 12. Analyze systemd-logind.service

    $ systemd-analyze security --no-pager systemd-logind.service
      NAME                DESCRIPTION                              EXPOSURE
    ✗ PrivateNetwork=     Service has access to the host's network      0.5
    ✗ User=/DynamicUser=  Service runs as root user                     0.4
    ✗ DeviceAllow=        Service has no device ACL                     0.2
    ✓ IPAddressDeny=      Service blocks all IP address ranges
    ...
    → Overall exposure level for systemd-logind.service: 4.1 OK 🙂

OPTIONS

The following options are understood:

--system
    Operates on the system systemd instance. This is the implied default.

--user
    Operates on the user systemd instance.

--global
    Operates on the system-wide configuration for user systemd instance.

--order, --require
    When used in conjunction with the dot command (see above), selects which dependencies are shown in the dependency graph. If --order is passed, only dependencies of type After= or Before= are shown. If --require is passed, only dependencies of type Requires=, Requisite=, Wants= and Conflicts= are shown. If neither is passed, this shows dependencies of all these types.

--from-pattern=, --to-pattern=
    When used in conjunction with the dot command (see above), this selects which relationships are shown in the dependency graph. Both options require a glob(7) pattern as an argument, which will be matched against the left-hand and the right-hand, respectively, nodes of a relationship.

    Each of these can be used more than once, in which case the unit name must match one of the values. When tests for both sides of the relation are present, a relation must pass both tests to be shown. When patterns are also specified as positional arguments, they must match at least one side of the relation. In other words, patterns specified with those two options will trim the list of edges matched by the positional arguments, if any are given, and fully determine the list of edges shown otherwise.

--fuzz=timespan
    When used in conjunction with the critical-chain command (see above), also show units, which finished timespan earlier, than the latest unit in the same level. The unit of timespan is seconds unless specified with a different unit, e.g. "50ms".

--man=no
    Do not invoke man to verify the existence of man pages listed in Documentation=.

--generators
    Invoke unit generators, see systemd.generator(7). Some generators require root privileges. Under a normal user, running with generators enabled will generally result in some warnings.

--root=PATH
    With cat-files, show config files underneath the specified root path PATH.

-H, --host=
    Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username and hostname separated by "@", to connect to. The hostname may optionally be suffixed by a container name, separated by ":", which connects directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST.

-M, --machine=
    Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to connect to.

-h, --help
    Print a short help text and exit.

--version
    Print a short version string and exit.

--no-pager
    Do not pipe output into a pager.

EXIT STATUS

On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.

ENVIRONMENT

$SYSTEMD_PAGER
    Pager to use when --no-pager is not given; overrides $PAGER. If neither $SYSTEMD_PAGER nor $PAGER are set, a set of well-known pager implementations are tried in turn, including less(1) and more(1), until one is found. If no pager implementation is discovered no pager is invoked. Setting this environment variable to an empty string or the value "cat" is equivalent to passing --no-pager.

$SYSTEMD_LESS
    Override the options passed to less (by default "FRSXMK").

$SYSTEMD_LESSCHARSET
    Override the charset passed to less (by default "utf-8", if the invoking terminal is determined to be UTF-8 compatible).

$SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE
    Takes a boolean argument. When true, the "secure" mode of the pager is enabled; if false, disabled. If $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE is not set at all, secure mode is enabled if the effective UID is not the same as the owner of the login session, see geteuid(2) and sd_pid_get_owner_uid(3). In secure mode, LESSSECURE=1 will be set when invoking the pager, and the pager shall disable commands that open or create new files or start new subprocesses. When $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE is not set at all, pagers which are not known to implement secure mode will not be used. (Currently only less(1) implements secure mode.)

    Note: when commands are invoked with elevated privileges, for example under sudo(8) or pkexec(1), care must be taken to ensure that unintended interactive features are not enabled. "Secure" mode for the pager may be enabled automatically as describe above. Setting SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE=0 or not removing it from the inherited environment allows the user to invoke arbitrary commands. Note that if the $SYSTEMD_PAGER or $PAGER variables are to be honoured, $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE must be set too. It might be reasonable to completly disable the pager using --no-pager instead.

SEE ALSO

systemd(1), systemctl(1)