The service command is used to start, stop, enable, disable, and check the status of a init service.

IMPORTANT

The service command is used by systems using init. systemctl is used by systems using systemd.

The ps command can be used to determine if your system is using init or systemd. If PID 1 is init, then you will use the service command.

UID         PID   PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root          1      0  0 Mar08 ?        00:00:01 /sbin/init

If PID 1 is systemd, then you will use the systemctl command.

ps -ef | head
UID         PID   PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root          1      0  0 Mar01 ?        00:06:47 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --switched-root --system --deserialize 22

service status

The service status command will show if a service is running or stopped.

service example.service status

service start

The service start command is used to start a service.

service example.service start

service stop

The service stop command is used to start a service.

service example.service stop