systemd.socket(5) - Socket unit configuration



  • SYSTEMD.SOCKET(5)		systemd.socket		     SYSTEMD.SOCKET(5)
    
    NAME
           systemd.socket - Socket unit configuration
    
    SYNOPSIS
           socket.socket
    
    DESCRIPTION
           A unit configuration file whose name ends in ".socket" encodes
           information about an IPC or network socket or a file system FIFO
           controlled and supervised by systemd, for socket-based activation.
    
           This man page lists the configuration options specific to this unit
           type. See systemd.unit(5) for the common options of all unit
           configuration files. The common configuration items are configured in
           the generic [Unit] and [Install] sections. The socket specific
           configuration options are configured in the [Socket] section.
    
           Additional options are listed in systemd.exec(5), which define the
           execution environment the ExecStartPre=, ExecStartPost=, ExecStopPre=
           and ExecStopPost= commands are executed in, and in systemd.kill(5),
           which define the way the processes are terminated, and in
           systemd.resource-control(5), which configure resource control settings
           for the processes of the socket.
    
           For each socket file, a matching service file must exist, describing
           the service to start on incoming traffic on the socket (see
           systemd.service(5) for more information about .service files). The name
           of the .service unit is by default the same as the name of the .socket
           unit, but can be altered with the Service= option described below.
           Depending on the setting of the Accept= option described below, this
           .service unit must either be named like the .socket unit, but with the
           suffix replaced, unless overridden with Service=; or it must be a
           template unit named the same way. Example: a socket file foo.socket
           needs a matching service foo.service if Accept=false is set. If
           Accept=true is set, a service template file [email protected] must exist
           from which services are instantiated for each incoming connection.
    
           Unless DefaultDependencies= is set to false, socket units will
           implicitly have dependencies of type Requires= and After= on
           sysinit.target as well as dependencies of type Conflicts= and Before=
           on shutdown.target. These ensure that socket units pull in basic system
           initialization, and are terminated cleanly prior to system shutdown.
           Only sockets involved with early boot or late system shutdown should
           disable this option.
    
           Socket units will have a Before= dependency on the service which they
           trigger added implicitly. No implicit WantedBy= or RequiredBy=
           dependency from the socket to the service is added. This means that the
           service may be started without the socket, in which case it must be
           able to open sockets by itself. To prevent this, an explicit Requires=
           dependency may be added.
    
           Socket units may be used to implement on-demand starting of services,
           as well as parallelized starting of services. See the blog stories
           linked at the end for an introduction.
    
           Note that the daemon software configured for socket activation with
           socket units needs to be able to accept sockets from systemd, either
           via systemd's native socket passing interface (see sd_listen_fds(3) for
           details) or via the traditional inetd(8)-style socket passing (i.e.
           sockets passed in via standard input and output, using
           StandardInput=socket in the service file).
    
    AUTOMATIC DEPENDENCIES
           Socket units automatically gain a Before= dependency on the service
           units they activate.
    
           Socket units referring to file system paths (such as AF_UNIX sockets or
           FIFOs) implicitly gain Requires= and After= dependencies on all mount
           units necessary to access those paths.
    
           Socket units using the BindToDevice= setting automatically gain a
           BindsTo= and After= dependency on the device unit encapsulating the
           specified network interface.
    
           If DefaultDependencies=yes is set (the default), socket units
           automatically gain a Before= dependency on sockets.target. They also
           gain a pair of After= and Requires= dependency on sysinit.target, and a
           pair of Before= and Conflicts= dependencies on shutdown.target. These
           dependencies ensure that the socket unit is started before normal
           services at boot, and is stopped on shutdown.
    
           Additional implicit dependencies may be added as result of execution
           and resource control parameters as documented in systemd.exec(5) and
           systemd.resource-control(5).
    
    OPTIONS
           Socket files must include a [Socket] section, which carries information
           about the socket or FIFO it supervises. A number of options that may be
           used in this section are shared with other unit types. These options
           are documented in systemd.exec(5) and systemd.kill(5). The options
           specific to the [Socket] section of socket units are the following:
    
           ListenStream=, ListenDatagram=, ListenSequentialPacket=
    	   Specifies an address to listen on for a stream (SOCK_STREAM),
    	   datagram (SOCK_DGRAM), or sequential packet (SOCK_SEQPACKET)
    	   socket, respectively. The address can be written in various
    	   formats:
    
    	   If the address starts with a slash ("/"), it is read as file system
    	   socket in the AF_UNIX socket family.
    
    	   If the address starts with an at symbol ("@"), it is read as
    	   abstract namespace socket in the AF_UNIX family. The "@" is
    	   replaced with a NUL character before binding. For details, see
    	   unix(7).
    
    	   If the address string is a single number, it is read as port number
    	   to listen on via IPv6. Depending on the value of BindIPv6Only= (see
    	   below) this might result in the service being available via both
    	   IPv6 and IPv4 (default) or just via IPv6.
    
    	   If the address string is a string in the format v.w.x.y:z, it is
    	   read as IPv4 specifier for listening on an address v.w.x.y on a
    	   port z.
    
    	   If the address string is a string in the format [x]:y, it is read
    	   as IPv6 address x on a port y. Note that this might make the
    	   service available via IPv4, too, depending on the BindIPv6Only=
    	   setting (see below).
    
    	   Note that SOCK_SEQPACKET (i.e.  ListenSequentialPacket=) is only
    	   available for AF_UNIX sockets.  SOCK_STREAM (i.e.  ListenStream=)
    	   when used for IP sockets refers to TCP sockets, SOCK_DGRAM (i.e.
    	   ListenDatagram=) to UDP.
    
    	   These options may be specified more than once, in which case
    	   incoming traffic on any of the sockets will trigger service
    	   activation, and all listed sockets will be passed to the service,
    	   regardless of whether there is incoming traffic on them or not. If
    	   the empty string is assigned to any of these options, the list of
    	   addresses to listen on is reset, all prior uses of any of these
    	   options will have no effect.
    
    	   It is also possible to have more than one socket unit for the same
    	   service when using Service=, and the service will receive all the
    	   sockets configured in all the socket units. Sockets configured in
    	   one unit are passed in the order of configuration, but no ordering
    	   between socket units is specified.
    
    	   If an IP address is used here, it is often desirable to listen on
    	   it before the interface it is configured on is up and running, and
    	   even regardless of whether it will be up and running at any point.
    	   To deal with this, it is recommended to set the FreeBind= option
    	   described below.
    
           ListenFIFO=
    	   Specifies a file system FIFO to listen on. This expects an absolute
    	   file system path as argument. Behavior otherwise is very similar to
    	   the ListenDatagram= directive above.
    
           ListenSpecial=
    	   Specifies a special file in the file system to listen on. This
    	   expects an absolute file system path as argument. Behavior
    	   otherwise is very similar to the ListenFIFO= directive above. Use
    	   this to open character device nodes as well as special files in
    	   /proc and /sys.
    
           ListenNetlink=
    	   Specifies a Netlink family to create a socket for to listen on.
    	   This expects a short string referring to the AF_NETLINK family name
    	   (such as audit or kobject-uevent) as argument, optionally suffixed
    	   by a whitespace followed by a multicast group integer. Behavior
    	   otherwise is very similar to the ListenDatagram= directive above.
    
           ListenMessageQueue=
    	   Specifies a POSIX message queue name to listen on. This expects a
    	   valid message queue name (i.e. beginning with /). Behavior
    	   otherwise is very similar to the ListenFIFO= directive above. On
    	   Linux message queue descriptors are actually file descriptors and
    	   can be inherited between processes.
    
           ListenUSBFunction=
    	   Specifies a USB FunctionFS[1] endpoint location to listen on, for
    	   implementation of USB gadget functions. This expects an absolute
    	   file system path as the argument. Behavior otherwise is very
    	   similar to the ListenFIFO= directive above. Use this to open the
    	   FunctionFS endpoint ep0. When using this option, the activated
    	   service has to have the USBFunctionDescriptors= and
    	   USBFunctionStrings= options set.
    
           SocketProtocol=
    	   Takes a one of udplite or sctp. Specifies a socket protocol
    	   (IPPROTO_UDPLITE) UDP-Lite (IPPROTO_SCTP) SCTP socket respectively.
    
           BindIPv6Only=
    	   Takes a one of default, both or ipv6-only. Controls the IPV6_V6ONLY
    	   socket option (see ipv6(7) for details). If both, IPv6 sockets
    	   bound will be accessible via both IPv4 and IPv6. If ipv6-only, they
    	   will be accessible via IPv6 only. If default (which is the default,
    	   surprise!), the system wide default setting is used, as controlled
    	   by /proc/sys/net/ipv6/bindv6only, which in turn defaults to the
    	   equivalent of both.
    
           Backlog=
    	   Takes an unsigned integer argument. Specifies the number of
    	   connections to queue that have not been accepted yet. This setting
    	   matters only for stream and sequential packet sockets. See
    	   listen(2) for details. Defaults to SOMAXCONN (128).
    
           BindToDevice=
    	   Specifies a network interface name to bind this socket to. If set,
    	   traffic will only be accepted from the specified network
    	   interfaces. This controls the SO_BINDTODEVICE socket option (see
    	   socket(7) for details). If this option is used, an automatic
    	   dependency from this socket unit on the network interface device
    	   unit (systemd.device(5) is created. Note that setting this
    	   parameter might result in additional dependencies to be added to
    	   the unit (see above).
    
           SocketUser=, SocketGroup=
    	   Takes a UNIX user/group name. When specified, all AF_UNIX sockets
    	   and FIFO nodes in the file system are owned by the specified user
    	   and group. If unset (the default), the nodes are owned by the root
    	   user/group (if run in system context) or the invoking user/group
    	   (if run in user context). If only a user is specified but no group,
    	   then the group is derived from the user's default group.
    
           SocketMode=
    	   If listening on a file system socket or FIFO, this option specifies
    	   the file system access mode used when creating the file node. Takes
    	   an access mode in octal notation. Defaults to 0666.
    
           DirectoryMode=
    	   If listening on a file system socket or FIFO, the parent
    	   directories are automatically created if needed. This option
    	   specifies the file system access mode used when creating these
    	   directories. Takes an access mode in octal notation. Defaults to
    	   0755.
    
           Accept=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. If true, a service instance is spawned
    	   for each incoming connection and only the connection socket is
    	   passed to it. If false, all listening sockets themselves are passed
    	   to the started service unit, and only one service unit is spawned
    	   for all connections (also see above). This value is ignored for
    	   datagram sockets and FIFOs where a single service unit
    	   unconditionally handles all incoming traffic. Defaults to false.
    	   For performance reasons, it is recommended to write new daemons
    	   only in a way that is suitable for Accept=false. A daemon listening
    	   on an AF_UNIX socket may, but does not need to, call close(2) on
    	   the received socket before exiting. However, it must not unlink the
    	   socket from a file system. It should not invoke shutdown(2) on
    	   sockets it got with Accept=false, but it may do so for sockets it
    	   got with Accept=true set. Setting Accept=true is mostly useful to
    	   allow daemons designed for usage with inetd(8) to work unmodified
    	   with systemd socket activation.
    
    	   For IPv4 and IPv6 connections, the REMOTE_ADDR environment variable
    	   will contain the remote IP address, and REMOTE_PORT will contain
    	   the remote port. This is the same as the format used by CGI. For
    	   SOCK_RAW, the port is the IP protocol.
    
           Writable=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. May only be used in conjunction with
    	   ListenSpecial=. If true, the specified special file is opened in
    	   read-write mode, if false, in read-only mode. Defaults to false.
    
           MaxConnections=
    	   The maximum number of connections to simultaneously run services
    	   instances for, when Accept=true is set. If more concurrent
    	   connections are coming in, they will be refused until at least one
    	   existing connection is terminated. This setting has no effect on
    	   sockets configured with Accept=false or datagram sockets. Defaults
    	   to 64.
    
           KeepAlive=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. If true, the TCP/IP stack will send a
    	   keep alive message after 2h (depending on the configuration of
    	   /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_time) for all TCP streams accepted
    	   on this socket. This controls the SO_KEEPALIVE socket option (see
    	   socket(7) and the TCP Keepalive HOWTO[2] for details.) Defaults to
    	   false.
    
           KeepAliveTimeSec=
    	   Takes time (in seconds) as argument. The connection needs to remain
    	   idle before TCP starts sending keepalive probes. This controls the
    	   TCP_KEEPIDLE socket option (see socket(7) and the TCP Keepalive
    	   HOWTO[2] for details.) Defaults value is 7200 seconds (2 hours).
    
           KeepAliveIntervalSec=
    	   Takes time (in seconds) as argument between individual keepalive
    	   probes, if the socket option SO_KEEPALIVE has been set on this
    	   socket. This controls the TCP_KEEPINTVL socket option (see
    	   socket(7) and the TCP Keepalive HOWTO[2] for details.) Defaults
    	   value is 75 seconds.
    
           KeepAliveProbes=
    	   Takes an integer as argument. It is the number of unacknowledged
    	   probes to send before considering the connection dead and notifying
    	   the application layer. This controls the TCP_KEEPCNT socket option
    	   (see socket(7) and the TCP Keepalive HOWTO[2] for details.)
    	   Defaults value is 9.
    
           NoDelay=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. TCP Nagle's algorithm works by combining
    	   a number of small outgoing messages, and sending them all at once.
    	   This controls the TCP_NODELAY socket option (see tcp(7) Defaults to
    	   false.
    
           Priority=
    	   Takes an integer argument controlling the priority for all traffic
    	   sent from this socket. This controls the SO_PRIORITY socket option
    	   (see socket(7) for details.).
    
           DeferAcceptSec=
    	   Takes time (in seconds) as argument. If set, the listening process
    	   will be awakened only when data arrives on the socket, and not
    	   immediately when connection is established. When this option is
    	   set, the TCP_DEFER_ACCEPT socket option will be used (see tcp(7)),
    	   and the kernel will ignore initial ACK packets without any data.
    	   The argument specifies the approximate amount of time the kernel
    	   should wait for incoming data before falling back to the normal
    	   behavior of honouring empty ACK packets. This option is beneficial
    	   for protocols where the client sends the data first (e.g. HTTP, in
    	   contrast to SMTP), because the server process will not be woken up
    	   unnecessarily before it can take any action.
    
    	   If the client also uses the TCP_DEFER_ACCEPT option, the latency of
    	   the initial connection may be reduced, because the kernel will send
    	   data in the final packet establishing the connection (the third
    	   packet in the "three-way handshake").
    
    	   Disabled by default.
    
           ReceiveBuffer=, SendBuffer=
    	   Takes an integer argument controlling the receive or send buffer
    	   sizes of this socket, respectively. This controls the SO_RCVBUF and
    	   SO_SNDBUF socket options (see socket(7) for details.). The usual
    	   suffixes K, M, G are supported and are understood to the base of
    	   1024.
    
           IPTOS=
    	   Takes an integer argument controlling the IP Type-Of-Service field
    	   for packets generated from this socket. This controls the IP_TOS
    	   socket option (see ip(7) for details.). Either a numeric string or
    	   one of low-delay, throughput, reliability or low-cost may be
    	   specified.
    
           IPTTL=
    	   Takes an integer argument controlling the IPv4 Time-To-Live/IPv6
    	   Hop-Count field for packets generated from this socket. This sets
    	   the IP_TTL/IPV6_UNICAST_HOPS socket options (see ip(7) and ipv6(7)
    	   for details.)
    
           Mark=
    	   Takes an integer value. Controls the firewall mark of packets
    	   generated by this socket. This can be used in the firewall logic to
    	   filter packets from this socket. This sets the SO_MARK socket
    	   option. See iptables(8) for details.
    
           ReusePort=
    	   Takes a boolean value. If true, allows multiple bind(2)s to this
    	   TCP or UDP port. This controls the SO_REUSEPORT socket option. See
    	   socket(7) for details.
    
           SmackLabel=, SmackLabelIPIn=, SmackLabelIPOut=
    	   Takes a string value. Controls the extended attributes
    	   "security.SMACK64", "security.SMACK64IPIN" and
    	   "security.SMACK64IPOUT", respectively, i.e. the security label of
    	   the FIFO, or the security label for the incoming or outgoing
    	   connections of the socket, respectively. See Smack.txt[3] for
    	   details.
    
           SELinuxContextFromNet=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. When true, systemd will attempt to figure
    	   out the SELinux label used for the instantiated service from the
    	   information handed by the peer over the network. Note that only the
    	   security level is used from the information provided by the peer.
    	   Other parts of the resulting SELinux context originate from either
    	   the target binary that is effectively triggered by socket unit or
    	   from the value of the SELinuxContext= option. This configuration
    	   option only affects sockets with Accept= mode set to "true". Also
    	   note that this option is useful only when MLS/MCS SELinux policy is
    	   deployed. Defaults to "false".
    
           PipeSize=
    	   Takes a size in bytes. Controls the pipe buffer size of FIFOs
    	   configured in this socket unit. See fcntl(2) for details. The usual
    	   suffixes K, M, G are supported and are understood to the base of
    	   1024.
    
           MessageQueueMaxMessages=, MessageQueueMessageSize=
    	   These two settings take integer values and control the mq_maxmsg
    	   field or the mq_msgsize field, respectively, when creating the
    	   message queue. Note that either none or both of these variables
    	   need to be set. See mq_setattr(3) for details.
    
           FreeBind=
    	   Takes a boolean value. Controls whether the socket can be bound to
    	   non-local IP addresses. This is useful to configure sockets
    	   listening on specific IP addresses before those IP addresses are
    	   successfully configured on a network interface. This sets the
    	   IP_FREEBIND socket option. For robustness reasons it is recommended
    	   to use this option whenever you bind a socket to a specific IP
    	   address. Defaults to false.
    
           Transparent=
    	   Takes a boolean value. Controls the IP_TRANSPARENT socket option.
    	   Defaults to false.
    
           Broadcast=
    	   Takes a boolean value. This controls the SO_BROADCAST socket
    	   option, which allows broadcast datagrams to be sent from this
    	   socket. Defaults to false.
    
           PassCredentials=
    	   Takes a boolean value. This controls the SO_PASSCRED socket option,
    	   which allows AF_UNIX sockets to receive the credentials of the
    	   sending process in an ancillary message. Defaults to false.
    
           PassSecurity=
    	   Takes a boolean value. This controls the SO_PASSSEC socket option,
    	   which allows AF_UNIX sockets to receive the security context of the
    	   sending process in an ancillary message. Defaults to false.
    
           TCPCongestion=
    	   Takes a string value. Controls the TCP congestion algorithm used by
    	   this socket. Should be one of "westwood", "veno", "cubic", "lp" or
    	   any other available algorithm supported by the IP stack. This
    	   setting applies only to stream sockets.
    
           ExecStartPre=, ExecStartPost=
    	   Takes one or more command lines, which are executed before or after
    	   the listening sockets/FIFOs are created and bound, respectively.
    	   The first token of the command line must be an absolute filename,
    	   then followed by arguments for the process. Multiple command lines
    	   may be specified following the same scheme as used for
    	   ExecStartPre= of service unit files.
    
           ExecStopPre=, ExecStopPost=
    	   Additional commands that are executed before or after the listening
    	   sockets/FIFOs are closed and removed, respectively. Multiple
    	   command lines may be specified following the same scheme as used
    	   for ExecStartPre= of service unit files.
    
           TimeoutSec=
    	   Configures the time to wait for the commands specified in
    	   ExecStartPre=, ExecStartPost=, ExecStopPre= and ExecStopPost= to
    	   finish. If a command does not exit within the configured time, the
    	   socket will be considered failed and be shut down again. All
    	   commands still running will be terminated forcibly via SIGTERM, and
    	   after another delay of this time with SIGKILL. (See KillMode= in
    	   systemd.kill(5).) Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time
    	   span value such as "5min 20s". Pass "0" to disable the timeout
    	   logic. Defaults to DefaultTimeoutStartSec= from the manager
    	   configuration file (see systemd-system.conf(5)).
    
           Service=
    	   Specifies the service unit name to activate on incoming traffic.
    	   This setting is only allowed for sockets with Accept=no. It
    	   defaults to the service that bears the same name as the socket
    	   (with the suffix replaced). In most cases, it should not be
    	   necessary to use this option. Note that setting this parameter
    	   might result in additional dependencies to be added to the unit
    	   (see above).
    
           RemoveOnStop=
    	   Takes a boolean argument. If enabled, any file nodes created by
    	   this socket unit are removed when it is stopped. This applies to
    	   AF_UNIX sockets in the file system, POSIX message queues, FIFOs, as
    	   well as any symlinks to them configured with Symlinks=. Normally,
    	   it should not be necessary to use this option, and is not
    	   recommended as services might continue to run after the socket unit
    	   has been terminated and it should still be possible to communicate
    	   with them via their file system node. Defaults to off.
    
           Symlinks=
    	   Takes a list of file system paths. The specified paths will be
    	   created as symlinks to the AF_UNIX socket path or FIFO path of this
    	   socket unit. If this setting is used, only one AF_UNIX socket in
    	   the file system or one FIFO may be configured for the socket unit.
    	   Use this option to manage one or more symlinked alias names for a
    	   socket, binding their lifecycle together. Defaults to the empty
    	   list.
    
           FileDescriptorName=
    	   Assigns a name to all file descriptors this socket unit
    	   encapsulates. This is useful to help activated services identify
    	   specific file descriptors, if multiple fds are passed. Services may
    	   use the sd_listen_fds_with_names(3) call to acquire the names
    	   configured for the received file descriptors. Names may contain any
    	   ASCII character, but must exclude control characters and ":", and
    	   must be at most 255 characters in length. If this setting is not
    	   used, the file descriptor name defaults to the name of the socket
    	   unit, including its .socket suffix.
    
           TriggerLimitIntervalSec=, TriggerLimitIntervalBurst=
    	   Configures a limit on how often this socket unit my be activated
    	   within a specific time interval. The TriggerLimitIntervalSec= may
    	   be used to configure the length of the time interval in the usual
    	   time units "us", "ms", "s", "min", "h", ... and defaults to 5s (See
    	   systemd.time(7) for details on the various time units available).
    	   The TriggerLimitBurst= setting takes an integer value and specifies
    	   the numer of permitted activations per time interval, and defaults
    	   to 2500 (thus by default permitting 2500 activations per 5s). Set
    	   either to 0 to disable any form of trigger rate limiting. If the
    	   limit is hit, the socket unit is placed into a failure mode, and
    	   will not be connectible anymore until restarted. Note that this
    	   limit is enforced before the service activation is enqueued.
    
           Check systemd.exec(5) and systemd.kill(5) for more settings.
    
    SEE ALSO
           systemd(1), systemctl(1), systemd.unit(5), systemd.exec(5),
           systemd.kill(5), systemd.resource-control(5), systemd.service(5),
           systemd.directives(7), sd_listen_fds(3), sd_listen_fds_with_names(3)
    
           For more extensive descriptions see the "systemd for Developers"
           series: Socket Activation[4], Socket Activation, part II[5], Converting
           inetd Services[6], Socket Activated Internet Services and OS
           Containers[7].
    
    NOTES
    	1. USB FunctionFS
    	   https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/functionfs.txt
    
    	2. TCP Keepalive HOWTO
    	   http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/
    
    	3. Smack.txt
    	   https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/security/Smack.txt
    
    	4. Socket Activation
    	   http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html
    
    	5. Socket Activation, part II
    	   http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation2.html
    
    	6. Converting inetd Services
    	   http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/inetd.html
    
    	7. Socket Activated Internet Services and OS Containers
    	   http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activated-containers.html
    
    systemd						     SYSTEMD.SOCKET(5)
    


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