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5 Basic chkconfig Command Examples in Linux

by Ravi Saive | Published: February 22, 2013 | Last Updated: January 3, 2015

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This is our ongoing Linux command series where we are going to review how we can use chkconfigcommand efficiently with it’s available parameters. The Chkconfig command tool allows to configure services start and stop automatically in the /etc/rd.d/init.d scripts through command line. Let’s see some examples.

5 chkconfig command examples

1. List All Services

Using ‘–list‘ parameter will displayed all services and their current start-up status in each run-level configuration.

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --list

NetworkManager  0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
abrt-ccpp       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
abrt-oops       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
...

2. Check Status of Specific Service

Below command shows startup configuration for a particular service. It’s showing HTTP services are turned off in all run levels.

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --list | grep httpd
httpd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off

3. How Do I Start a Particular Service on Run Levels

The following ‘chkconfig‘ command shows how we can start HTTP services only on run level 3 and 5with ‘–level‘ parameter. First command starts httpd services on run level 3 and 5 and second command verifies the status of httpd services running on run level.

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --level 35 httpd on

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --list | grep httpd
httpd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off

4. How to Check Which Services are On/Off

The following command will display all the services which are On and Off in specific run level 5.

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --list | grep 5:on
NetworkManager  0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
abrt-ccpp       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
abrt-oops       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
abrtd           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off
acpid           0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off
...

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --list | grep 5:off
dnsmasq         0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
dovecot         0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
firstboot       0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
kdump           0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
mysqld          0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
netconsole      0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
nfs             0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
...

5. How Do I Stop a Particular Service on Run Levels

The following command will turned Off a service called postfix for a just single run level. Similarly, we can turn Off a particular service in multiple run levels in one go as shown under.

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --level 3 postfix off

[root@tecmint ~]# chkconfig --level 2345 postfix off

As we all know, there are seven run levels are available on Linux Operating System. We’ll cover the significant of different run levels and booting sequence in details in our upcoming article. So, please stay tuned.

4COMMENTS

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Ravi Saive

Simple Word a Computer Geek and Linux Guru who loves to share tricks and tips on Internet. Most Of My Servers runs on Open Source Platform called Linux.

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4 RESPONSES

Sandy6933

November 16, 2014 at 11:54 pm

Nice post…Its so easy to understand!

Thank you very much for the hardwork :)

Reply
Keltron3030

June 11, 2014 at 4:54 am

Current Introduction typo to be corrected for directory path of RC scripts; /etc/rd.d/init.d

The Chkconfig command tool allows to configure services start and stop automatically in the /etc/rd.d/init.d scripts through command line. Let’s see some examples.

Corrected directory path of RC scripts; /etc/rc.d/init.d

Reply
Shepp

February 23, 2013 at 12:38 pm

#2 could be better written as…
$ chkconfig httpd –list

6 less keystrokes is a win in my book :)

Reply
- Sandy6933
  
  November 16, 2014 at 11:52 pm
  
  Makes sense!
  
  Thanks for sharing
  
  Reply

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