systemd service is inactive(dead)

Question

[Service]
Type = forking
PIDFile = /var/run/learninglocker.pid
ExecStart = /usr/bin/npm  start
WorkingDirectory = /opt/learninglocker
User = root
Group = root
EnvironmentFile = /opt/learninglocker/environment
StandardOutput = syslog
StandardError = syslog
SyslogIdentifier = learninglocker
LimitCORE = infinity
LimitNOFILE = infinity
LimitNPROC = infinity
TimeoutStartSec = "2min 30s"

[Unit]
After = network.target

[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target

It is a node application.

When I run "npm start", it gets executed and runs four different processes. But, when I run "systemctl start learninglocker.service", it runs for few seconds [i.e active (running)] and fails and again the four processes are running behind.

My question is: Is it ok if I use Type = Simple or should I use "forking"?

If use Type "forking", service is getting "failed" with no error message.

Answer 1

You can find here the difference between Simple, Forking and other launch options of Systemd in this post: https://superuser.com/questions/1274901/systemd-forking-vs-simple/1274913

Typically, you have to use simple if your launch script is blocking, and forking if your launch script forks itself without the help of systemd (this might be the case for you with npm start).

Also, you may have to add "RemainAfterExit=true" in your service descriptor so that systemd considers that the service is still running. You need also to define an ExecStop script so systemd knows how to stop your service.

You can also refer to this topic on how to define a systemd launch script for node js.