# Use Confluent Platform systemd Service Unit Files You can use Confluent Platform [systemd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemd) service unit files to configure automatic startup and monitoring of services during system boot. These files provide a standardized method for starting Confluent Platform server components in the correct order on startup. The systemd service unit files support staging and production deployments on Linux-based systems. ## Components managed by systemd unit files The [RPM](rhel-centos.md#systemd-rhel-centos-install) and [Debian packages](deb-ubuntu.md#systemd-ubuntu-debian-install) include systemd service unit files for these Confluent Platform components: - Apache Kafka® (`kafka`) - Kafka Connect (`kafka-connect`) - Confluent REST Proxy (`kafka-rest`) - ksqlDB (`ksql`) - Schema Registry (`schema-registry`) Each component runs under its own user and a common `confluent` group set up during package installation. This configuration ensures proper security separation between components that are running on the same system. Usernames use the `cp-` prefix followed by the component name. For example, `cp-kafka` and `cp-schema-registry`. For components with persistent storage, such as Kafka, the default component configuration file points to component-specific data directories `/var/lib/`. For example, Kafka points to `/var/lib/kafka`. ## Manage Confluent Platform services with systemd ### Enable automatic startup during boot To enable a Confluent Platform component to start automatically on boot but not immediately, run the following command. Component services are not enabled for automatic startup at install time, so you must enable each one explicitly. ```bash sudo systemctl enable confluent- ``` For example, you can enable the Confluent REST Proxy with the command: ```bash sudo systemctl enable confluent-kafka-rest ``` ### Start service immediately To start the service now, run the following command: ```bash sudo systemctl start confluent- ``` This command returns immediately, although the service has not yet started. The systemd daemon starts the service in the background. ### Check service status To check the status of a service, run the following command: ```bash systemctl status confluent- ``` Look for the `Active:` line, which should say `active`. ### Stop a service To stop a service, run the following command: ```bash sudo systemctl stop confluent- ``` ### Disable a service To disable a service and prevent automatic startup on boot, run the following command: ```bash sudo systemctl disable confluent- ``` ## Logging Each Confluent Platform component has its own log directory under `/var/log/confluent/`. For example, Schema Registry logs are located in `/var/log/confluent/schema-registry`. The standard output of services is written to the log journal of a service. You can read the log journal with this command: ```bash sudo journalctl -u confluent- ``` To update the log4j file used for a component, set the `_LOG4J_OPTS` environment variable. To update the logging directory path used by the default log4j files, update the `LOG_DIR` environment variable. For example, to change the log file directory for Schema Registry, use one of the following commands, then restart Schema Registry: ```bash export Environment="LOG_DIR=/new/path/to/log/confluent/schema-registry" ``` ```bash export Environment="SCHEMA_REGISTRY_LOG4J_OPTS=-Dconfluent.schemaregistry.log.dir=/new/path/to/log/confluent/schema-registry" ``` ### Follow the log To follow the log in real time, run the following command: ```bash sudo journalctl -f -u confluent- ``` ## Modify systemd configuration ### Modify service unit configuration settings To change a systemd service unit setting, add an override line with the new value. Do not edit existing lines, because that prevents clean upgrades to the base service unit files. The systemd component configuration settings are minimal and only control how the component is started, run, and stopped. The component configuration is managed through its existing `/etc//.properties` configuration file, for example `/etc/kafka/broker.properties` for a Kafka broker. ### Modify the systemd component configuration To modify the configuration settings for a service using the systemd builtin configuration editor, follow these steps: 1. View the current systemd component configuration: ```bash systemctl cat confluent- ``` 2. Run the edit command: ```bash sudo systemctl edit confluent- ``` 3. Optional: Inspect the result. ```bash systemctl cat confluent- ``` 4. Reload systemd configuration and restart the component. ```bash sudo systemctl reload sudo systemctl restart confluent- ``` To reconfigure the Confluent Platform component, refer to the component documentation and its configuration file. The configuration files are located in `/etc//.properties`. After reconfiguring the component, restart it with the following command to have the changes take effect: ```bash sudo systemctl restart confluent- ``` ## Related content * [Confluent Platform and Apache Kafka compatibility](../versions-interoperability.md#cp-ak-compatibility) * For more information about systemd, see [the systemd documentation](https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/). * For using the systemd unit files in combination with Ansible, see the [Ansible Playbooks for Confluent Platform](https://docs.confluent.io/ansible/current/overview.html).