[systemd-devel] Timeout for 'Activating (start)' status

[Mikhail Kasimov]

06.07.2017 17:18, Michael Chapman пишет:
> On Thu, 6 Jul 2017, Mikhail Kasimov wrote:
>> Hello!
>>
>> 've got an interesting trouble on timer-activated service -- 'systemctl
>> status' returns a log with 'Activating (start)' status:
>>
>> [1]
>> ==========
>> k_mikhail at linux-mk500:~> systemctl status vba32update.service
>> ● vba32update.service - VBA32 Anti-Virus Update Service
>>   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vba32update.service; disabled;
>> vendor preset: disabled)
>>   Active: activating (start) since Чтв 2017-07-06 15:32:35 EEST;
>> 35min ago
>> Main PID: 6214 (vbaupdx)
>>    Tasks: 1 (limit: 512)
>>   CGroup: /system.slice/vba32update.service
>>           └─6214 ./vbaupdx http://anti-virus.by/beta/update
>>
>> Июл 06 15:32:35 linux-mk500 systemd[1]: Starting VBA32 Anti-Virus Update
>> Service...
>> Июл 06 15:32:35 linux-mk500 vbacl[6214]: Vba32 console scanner update
>> process started
>> Июл 06 15:32:35 linux-mk500 vbacl[6214]: Reading configuration options
>> from ./vbacl.ini
>> Июл 06 15:32:35 linux-mk500 vbacl[6214]: Using direct connection for
>> update
>> k_mikhail at linux-mk500:~>
>> ==========
>>
>>
>> Simultaneously:
>> [2]
>> ==========
>> k_mikhail at linux-mk500:~> systemctl list-units -t timer
>> UNIT                         LOAD   ACTIVE SUB     DESCRIPTION
>> vba32update.timer            loaded active running Runs VBA32 Update
>> Hourly
>> ==========
>>
>> And that is normal. But 35 minutes for activating service is too long,
>> as for me.
>
> Is this a Type=oneshot service?
>
> It's a bit weird, but Type=oneshot services are not considered to be
> fully started until the ExecStart= command has exited. Until that time
> they're still "activating".
>
> You may be better off making the service Type=simple instead. A
> Type=simple service is fully started as soon as it has spawned the
> ExecStart= command.

Yes, Type=oneshot, because, if Type=simple, service will be active
permanently in case of its start. But this is not what is needed here --
service should be started, then to check the updates of anti-virus
software and then be successfully closed. Nothing more. Only one thing
can impact here -- remote anti-virus server connection timeout. And if
server connection timeout is set in wrong way, having a native systemd
forced timeout for oneshot-services may be useful.


>
>
>> And, by default, there is no way for user\admin to get message, that
>> there is a problem with activating of some service, except periodical
>> 'systemctl list-units -t timer' command output (in current described
>> case). And systemd logs contain no interesting info, which can be useful
>> to investigate the problem and its reasons, because there are no
>> explicit error-messages for such case.
>>
>> So, my questions are:
>> =================
>> 1) What is the correct systemd's behavior in such case?
>
> If this is a Type=oneshot service, systemd is working as intended here.

Ok, got that.


>
>> 2) What is systemd's timeout by default for service activation
>> (timer-activated, socket-activated)? If it is documentened, please, give
>> me a hint.
>
> By default, Type=oneshot services don't have a start timeout.

>> 3) If systemd's timeout from 2) is present, how can it be managed by
>> user\admin? E.g. after 10 minutes of 'Activating (start)', service gets
>> FAILED state with putting this info to systemd log, of course (something
>> like "systemd[1] fails to start foobar.service[PID] by timeout.
>> ExitCode:<number>").
>
> If you do add a TimeoutStartSec= to a Type=oneshot unit, this will
> force the unit to be stopped (by killing the process) after that time.
> That's probably not what you want.

In general way -- why not? For more twisted cases I can use OnFailure=
directive here, I suppose. So, will try to play with TimeoutStartSec=
directive.

>
> For a Type=simple service, the default TimeoutStartSec= is set in
> /etc/systemd/system.conf. It will be 90 seconds unless you've changed it.


Ok, thanks for clarifying and help!