How to configure service autoloading in Linux

Service autoloading in Linux allows you to start certain services or services when the operating system boots up. This is important to ensure continuous system operation and to automatically start necessary services such as network services, web servers, databases and other applications.

Why do I need to configure autoloading?

Advantages of service autoloading:

1. Convenience: services that are automatically loaded at system startup are immediately ready to use, saving time and simplifying management.
2. Continuity: Booting services with the system ensures that services continue to run uninterrupted, even after a reboot or system failure.
3. Data protection: Service autoloading can include systematic backups or other procedures to ensure data security and integrity.
4. Service levels: autoloading allows you to configure different service levels (runlevels) to run specific services. This allows you to optimize resources and run

How to properly configure service autoloading?

In Linux, service autoloading can be configured in different ways, depending on the distribution you are using.

Using the systemctl command

To enable service autoloading: sudo systemctl enable <service name>

To disable service autoloading: sudo systemctl disable <service name>

sudo systemctl enable apache2 to enable Apache service autoloading

Manually add a symbolic link to the autoload directory

Open a terminal and navigate to /etc/init.d/.

Create a symbolic link to the service script in the /etc/rc.d/ or /etc/rc.local/ directory.

To add an autoload of the Apache service:

sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/apache2 /etc/rc.d/

Using the distribution's service management tools

Some Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, have graphical service management tools that make it easy to enable or disable service autoloading.

Besides these methods, there are other ways to customize service autoloading in Linux, such as using systemd-services or the cron utility.