1podman-generate-systemd(1)() podman-generate-systemd(1)()
2
6 podman-generate-systemd - Generate systemd unit file(s) for a container
7 or pod. Not supported for the remote client
8
11 podman generate systemd [options] container|pod
12
15 podman generate systemd will create a systemd unit file that can be
16 used to control a container or pod. By default, the command will print
17 the content of the unit files to stdout.
18 Note: If you use this command with the remote client, you would still
21 have to place the generated units on the remote system.
22
25 --files, -f
26 Generate files instead of printing to stdout. The generated files are
27 named {container,pod}-{ID,name}.service and will be placed in the cur‐
28 rent working directory.
29 Note: On a system with SELinux enabled, the generated files will
32 inherit contexts from the current working directory. Depending on the
33 SELinux setup, changes to the generated files using restorecon, chcon,
34 or semanage may be required to allow systemd to access these files.
35 Alternatively, use the -Z option when running mv or cp.
36 --format=format
39 Print the created units in specified format (json). If --files is spec‐
40 ified the paths to the created files will be printed instead of the
41 unit content.
42 --name, -n
45 Use the name of the container for the start, stop, and description in
46 the unit file
47 --new
50 Using this flag will yield unit files that do not expect containers and
51 pods to exist. Instead, new containers and pods are created based on
52 their configuration files. The unit files are created best effort and
53 may need to be further edited; please review the generated files care‐
54 fully before using them in production.
55 --time, -t=value
58 Override the default stop timeout for the container with the given
59 value.
60 --restart-policy=policy
63 Set the systemd restart policy. The restart-policy must be one of:
64 "no", "on-success", "on-failure", "on-abnormal", "on-watchdog",
65 "on-abort", or "always". The default policy is on-failure.
66 --container-prefix=prefix
69 Set the systemd unit name prefix for containers. The default is con‐
70 tainer.
71 --pod-prefix=prefix
74 Set the systemd unit name prefix for pods. The default is pod.
75 --separator=separator
78 Set the systemd unit name separator between the name/id of a con‐
79 tainer/pod and the prefix. The default is -.
80
83 Generate and print a systemd unit file for a container
84 Generate a systemd unit file for a container running nginx with an
85 always restart policy and 1-second timeout to stdout.
86 $ podman create --name nginx nginx:latest
89 $ podman generate systemd --restart-policy=always -t 1 nginx
90 # container-de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6.service
91 # autogenerated by Podman 1.8.0
92 # Wed Mar 09 09:46:45 CEST 2020
93 [Unit]
95 Description=Podman container-de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6.service
96 Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
97 [Service]
99 Restart=always
100 ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6
101 ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 1 de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6
102 KillMode=none
103 Type=forking
104 PIDFile=/run/user/1000/overlay-containers/de1e3223b1b888bc02d0962dd6cb5855eb00734061013ffdd3479d225abacdc6/userdata/conmon.pid
105 [Install]
107 WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target
108 Generate systemd unit file for a container with --new flag
112 The --new flag generates systemd unit files that create and remove con‐
113 tainers at service start and stop commands (see ExecStartPre and Exec‐
114 StopPost service actions). Such unit files are not tied to a single
115 machine and can easily be shared and used on other machines.
116 $ sudo podman generate systemd --new --files --name bb310a0780ae
119 # container-busy_moser.service
120 # autogenerated by Podman 1.8.3
121 # Fri Apr 3 09:40:47 EDT 2020
122 [Unit]
124 Description=Podman container-busy_moser.service
125 Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
126 Wants=network.target
127 After=network-online.target
128 [Service]
130 Environment=PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=%n
131 Restart=on-failure
132 ExecStartPre=/bin/rm -f %t/%n-pid %t/%n-cid
133 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/podman run --conmon-pidfile %t/%n-pid --cidfile %t/%n-cid --cgroups=no-conmon -d -dit alpine
134 ExecStop=/usr/local/bin/podman stop --ignore --cidfile %t/%n-cid -t 10
135 ExecStopPost=/usr/local/bin/podman rm --ignore -f --cidfile %t/%n-cid
136 PIDFile=%t/%n-pid
137 KillMode=none
138 Type=forking
139 [Install]
141 WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target
142 Generate systemd unit files for a pod with two simple alpine containers
146 Note systemctl should only be used on the pod unit and one should not
147 start or stop containers individually via systemctl, as they are man‐
148 aged by the pod service along with the internal infra-container.
149 You can still use systemctl status or journalctl to examine container
152 or pod unit files.
153 $ podman pod create --name systemd-pod
156 $ podman create --pod systemd-pod alpine top
157 $ podman create --pod systemd-pod alpine top
158 $ podman generate systemd --files --name systemd-pod
159 /home/user/pod-systemd-pod.service
160 /home/user/container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service
161 /home/user/container-jolly_shtern.service
162 $ cat pod-systemd-pod.service
163 # pod-systemd-pod.service
164 # autogenerated by Podman 1.8.0
165 # Wed Mar 09 09:52:37 CEST 2020
166 [Unit]
168 Description=Podman pod-systemd-pod.service
169 Documentation=man:podman-generate-systemd(1)
170 Requires=container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service container-jolly_shtern.service
171 Before=container-amazing_chandrasekhar.service container-jolly_shtern.service
172 [Service]
174 Restart=on-failure
175 ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman start 77a818221650-infra
176 ExecStop=/usr/bin/podman stop -t 10 77a818221650-infra
177 KillMode=none
178 Type=forking
179 PIDFile=/run/user/1000/overlay-containers/ccfd5c71a088768774ca7bd05888d55cc287698dde06f475c8b02f696a25adcd/userdata/conmon.pid
180 [Install]
182 WantedBy=multi-user.target default.target
183 Installation of generated systemd unit files.
187 Podman-generated unit files include an [Install] section, which carries
188 installation information for the unit. It is used by the enable and
189 disable commands of systemctl(1) during installation.
190 Once you have generated the systemd unit file, you can copy the gener‐
193 ated systemd file to /etc/systemd/system for installing as a root user
194 and to $HOME/.config/systemd/user for installing it as a non-root user.
195 Enable the copied unit file or files using systemctl enable.
196 Note: Copying unit files to /etc/systemd/system and enabling it marks
199 the unit file to be automatically started at boot. And similarly, copy‐
200 ing a unit file to $HOME/.config/systemd/user and enabling it marks the
201 unit file to be automatically started on user login.
202 # Generated systemd files.
205 $ podman pod create --name systemd-pod
206 $ podman create --pod systemd-pod alpine top
207 $ podman generate systemd --files --name systemd-pod
208 # Copy all the generated files.
210 $ sudo cp pod-systemd-pod.service container-great_payne.service /etc/systemd/system
212 $ systemctl enable pod-systemd-pod.service
213 Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/pod-systemd-pod.service → /etc/systemd/system/pod-systemd-pod.service.
214 Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target.wants/pod-systemd-pod.service → /etc/systemd/system/pod-systemd-pod.service.
215 $ systemctl is-enabled pod-systemd-pod.service
216 enabled
217 To run the user services placed in $HOME/.config/systemd/user on first
221 login of that user, enable the service with --user flag.
222 $ systemctl --user enable <.service>
225 The systemd user instance is killed after the last session for the user
229 is closed. The systemd user instance can be kept running ever after the
230 user logs out by enabling lingering using
231 $ loginctl enable-linger <username>
234 Use systemctl to perform operations on generated installed unit files.
238 Create and enable systemd unit files for a pod using the above examples
239 as reference and use systemctl to perform operations.
240 Since systemctl defaults to using the root user, all the changes using
243 the systemctl can be seen by appending sudo to the podman cli commands.
244 To perform systemctl actions as a non-root user use the --user flag
245 when interacting with systemctl.
246 $ systemctl --user start pod-systemd-pod.service
249 $ podman pod ps
250 POD ID NAME STATUS CREATED # OF CONTAINERS INFRA ID
251 0815c7b8e7f5 systemd-pod Running 29 minutes ago 2 6c5d116f4bbe
252 $ sudo podman ps # 0 Number of pods on root.
253 CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
254 $ systemctl stop pod-systemd-pod.service
255 $ podman pod ps
256 POD ID NAME STATUS CREATED # OF CONTAINERS INFRA ID
257 272d2813c798 systemd-pod Exited 29 minutes ago 2 6c5d116f4bbe
258 Create a simple alpine container and generate the systemd unit file
262 with --new flag. Enable the service and control operations using the
263 systemctl commands.
264 Note: When starting the container using systemctl start rather than
267 altering the already running container it spins up a "new" container
268 with similar configuration.
269 # Enable the service.
272 $ sudo podman ps -a
274 CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
275 bb310a0780ae docker.io/library/alpine:latest /bin/sh 2 minutes ago Created busy_moser
276 $ sudo systemctl start container-busy_moser.service
277 $ sudo podman ps -a
278 CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
279 772df2f8cf3b docker.io/library/alpine:latest /bin/sh 1 second ago Up 1 second ago distracted_albattani
280 bb310a0780ae docker.io/library/alpine:latest /bin/sh 3 minutes ago Created busy_moser
281
285 podman(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.service(5)
286
289 April 2020, Updated details and added usecase to use generated .service
290 files as root and non-root, by Sujil Shah (sushah at redhat dot com)
291 August 2019, Updated with pod support by Valentin Rothberg (rothberg at
294 redhat dot com)
295 April 2019, Originally compiled by Brent Baude (bbaude at redhat dot
298 com)
299 podman-generate-systemd(1)()