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2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="systemd.socket" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
7  <refentryinfo>
8    <title>systemd.socket</title>
9    <productname>systemd</productname>
10  </refentryinfo>
11
12  <refmeta>
13    <refentrytitle>systemd.socket</refentrytitle>
14    <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
15  </refmeta>
16
17  <refnamediv>
18    <refname>systemd.socket</refname>
19    <refpurpose>Socket unit configuration</refpurpose>
20  </refnamediv>
21
22  <refsynopsisdiv>
23    <para><filename><replaceable>socket</replaceable>.socket</filename></para>
24  </refsynopsisdiv>
25
26  <refsect1>
27    <title>Description</title>
28
29    <para>A unit configuration file whose name ends in
30    <literal>.socket</literal> encodes information about an IPC or
31    network socket or a file system FIFO controlled and supervised by
32    systemd, for socket-based activation.</para>
33
34    <para>This man page lists the configuration options specific to
35    this unit type. See
36    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
37    for the common options of all unit configuration files. The common
38    configuration items are configured in the generic [Unit] and
39    [Install] sections. The socket specific configuration options are
40    configured in the [Socket] section.</para>
41
42    <para>Additional options are listed in
43    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
44    which define the execution environment the
45    <option>ExecStartPre=</option>, <option>ExecStartPost=</option>,
46    <option>ExecStopPre=</option> and <option>ExecStopPost=</option>
47    commands are executed in, and in
48    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
49    which define the way the processes are terminated, and in
50    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
51    which configure resource control settings for the processes of the
52    socket.</para>
53
54    <para>For each socket unit, a matching service unit must exist,
55    describing the service to start on incoming traffic on the socket
56    (see
57    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
58    for more information about .service units). The name of the
59    .service unit is by default the same as the name of the .socket
60    unit, but can be altered with the <option>Service=</option> option
61    described below. Depending on the setting of the
62    <option>Accept=</option> option described below, this .service
63    unit must either be named like the .socket unit, but with the
64    suffix replaced, unless overridden with <option>Service=</option>;
65    or it must be a template unit named the same way. Example: a
66    socket file <filename>foo.socket</filename> needs a matching
67    service <filename>foo.service</filename> if
68    <option>Accept=no</option> is set. If
69    <option>Accept=yes</option> is set, a service template
70    <filename>foo@.service</filename> must exist from which services
71    are instantiated for each incoming connection.</para>
72
73    <para>No implicit <varname>WantedBy=</varname> or
74    <varname>RequiredBy=</varname> dependency from the socket to the
75    service is added. This means that the service may be started
76    without the socket, in which case it must be able to open sockets
77    by itself. To prevent this, an explicit
78    <varname>Requires=</varname> dependency may be added.</para>
79
80    <para>Socket units may be used to implement on-demand starting of
81    services, as well as parallelized starting of services. See the
82    blog stories linked at the end for an introduction.</para>
83
84    <para>Note that the daemon software configured for socket activation with socket units needs to be able
85    to accept sockets from systemd, either via systemd's native socket passing interface (see
86    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
87    details about the precise protocol used and the order in which the file descriptors are passed) or via
88    traditional <citerefentry
89    project='freebsd'><refentrytitle>inetd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>-style
90    socket passing (i.e. sockets passed in via standard input and output, using
91    <varname>StandardInput=socket</varname> in the service file).</para>
92
93    <para>All network sockets allocated through <filename>.socket</filename> units are allocated in the host's network
94    namespace (see <citerefentry
95    project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>network_namespaces</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>). This
96    does not mean however that the service activated by a configured socket unit has to be part of the host's network
97    namespace as well.  It is supported and even good practice to run services in their own network namespace (for
98    example through <varname>PrivateNetwork=</varname>, see
99    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>), receiving only
100    the sockets configured through socket-activation from the host's namespace. In such a set-up communication within
101    the host's network namespace is only permitted through the activation sockets passed in while all sockets allocated
102    from the service code itself will be associated with the service's own namespace, and thus possibly subject to a
103    restrictive configuration.</para>
104  </refsect1>
105
106  <refsect1>
107    <title>Automatic Dependencies</title>
108
109    <refsect2>
110      <title>Implicit Dependencies</title>
111
112      <para>The following dependencies are implicitly added:</para>
113
114      <itemizedlist>
115        <listitem><para>Socket units automatically gain a <varname>Before=</varname>
116        dependency on the service units they activate.</para></listitem>
117
118        <listitem><para>Socket units referring to file system paths (such as <constant>AF_UNIX</constant>
119        sockets or FIFOs) implicitly gain <varname>Requires=</varname> and <varname>After=</varname>
120        dependencies on all mount units necessary to access those paths.</para></listitem>
121
122        <listitem><para>Socket units using the <varname>BindToDevice=</varname>
123        setting automatically gain a <varname>BindsTo=</varname> and
124        <varname>After=</varname> dependency on the device unit
125        encapsulating the specified network interface.</para></listitem>
126      </itemizedlist>
127
128      <para>Additional implicit dependencies may be added as result of
129      execution and resource control parameters as documented in
130      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
131      and
132      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
133    </refsect2>
134
135    <refsect2>
136      <title>Default Dependencies</title>
137
138      <para>The following dependencies are added unless
139      <varname>DefaultDependencies=no</varname> is set:</para>
140
141      <itemizedlist>
142        <listitem><para>Socket units automatically gain a
143        <varname>Before=</varname> dependency on
144        <filename>sockets.target</filename>.</para></listitem>
145
146        <listitem><para>Socket units automatically gain a pair of
147        <varname>After=</varname> and <varname>Requires=</varname>
148        dependency on <filename>sysinit.target</filename>, and a pair of
149        <varname>Before=</varname> and <varname>Conflicts=</varname>
150        dependencies on <filename>shutdown.target</filename>. These
151        dependencies ensure that the socket unit is started before normal
152        services at boot, and is stopped on shutdown. Only sockets
153        involved with early boot or late system shutdown should disable
154        <varname>DefaultDependencies=</varname> option.</para></listitem>
155      </itemizedlist>
156    </refsect2>
157  </refsect1>
158
159  <refsect1>
160    <title>Options</title>
161
162    <para>Socket unit files may include [Unit] and [Install] sections, which are described in
163    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
164    </para>
165
166    <para>Socket unit files must include a [Socket] section, which carries
167    information about the socket or FIFO it supervises. A number of
168    options that may be used in this section are shared with other
169    unit types. These options are documented in
170    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
171    and
172    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
173    The options specific to the [Socket] section of socket units are
174    the following:</para>
175
176    <variablelist class='unit-directives'>
177      <varlistentry>
178        <term><varname>ListenStream=</varname></term>
179        <term><varname>ListenDatagram=</varname></term>
180        <term><varname>ListenSequentialPacket=</varname></term>
181        <listitem><para>Specifies an address to listen on for a stream
182        (<constant>SOCK_STREAM</constant>), datagram
183        (<constant>SOCK_DGRAM</constant>), or sequential packet
184        (<constant>SOCK_SEQPACKET</constant>) socket, respectively.
185        The address can be written in various formats:</para>
186
187        <para>If the address starts with a slash
188        (<literal>/</literal>), it is read as file system socket in
189        the <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> socket family.</para>
190
191        <para>If the address starts with an at symbol
192        (<literal>@</literal>), it is read as abstract namespace
193        socket in the <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> family. The
194        <literal>@</literal> is replaced with a
195        <constant>NUL</constant> character before binding. For
196        details, see
197        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>unix</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
198
199        <para>If the address string is a single number, it is read as
200        port number to listen on via IPv6. Depending on the value of
201        <varname>BindIPv6Only=</varname> (see below) this might result
202        in the service being available via both IPv6 and IPv4
203        (default) or just via IPv6.
204        </para>
205
206        <para>If the address string is a string in the format
207        <literal><replaceable>v.w.x.y</replaceable>:<replaceable>z</replaceable></literal>, it is interpreted
208        as IPv4 address <replaceable>v.w.x.y</replaceable> and port <replaceable>z</replaceable>.</para>
209
210        <para>If the address string is a string in the format
211        <literal>[<replaceable>x</replaceable>]:<replaceable>y</replaceable></literal>, it is interpreted as
212        IPv6 address <replaceable>x</replaceable> and port <replaceable>y</replaceable>. An optional
213        interface scope (interface name or number) may be specified after a <literal>%</literal> symbol:
214        <literal>[<replaceable>x</replaceable>]:<replaceable>y</replaceable>%<replaceable>dev</replaceable></literal>.
215        Interface scopes are only useful with link-local addresses, because the kernel ignores them in other
216        cases. Note that if an address is specified as IPv6, it might still make the service available via
217        IPv4 too, depending on the <varname>BindIPv6Only=</varname> setting (see below).</para>
218
219        <para>If the address string is a string in the format
220        <literal>vsock:<replaceable>x</replaceable>:<replaceable>y</replaceable></literal>, it is read as CID
221        <replaceable>x</replaceable> on a port <replaceable>y</replaceable> address in the
222        <constant>AF_VSOCK</constant> family.  The CID is a unique 32-bit integer identifier in
223        <constant>AF_VSOCK</constant> analogous to an IP address.  Specifying the CID is optional, and may be
224        set to the empty string.</para>
225
226        <para>Note that <constant>SOCK_SEQPACKET</constant> (i.e.
227        <varname>ListenSequentialPacket=</varname>) is only available
228        for <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> sockets.
229        <constant>SOCK_STREAM</constant> (i.e.
230        <varname>ListenStream=</varname>) when used for IP sockets
231        refers to TCP sockets, <constant>SOCK_DGRAM</constant> (i.e.
232        <varname>ListenDatagram=</varname>) to UDP.</para>
233
234        <para>These options may be specified more than once, in which
235        case incoming traffic on any of the sockets will trigger
236        service activation, and all listed sockets will be passed to
237        the service, regardless of whether there is incoming traffic
238        on them or not. If the empty string is assigned to any of
239        these options, the list of addresses to listen on is reset,
240        all prior uses of any of these options will have no
241        effect.</para>
242
243        <para>It is also possible to have more than one socket unit
244        for the same service when using <varname>Service=</varname>,
245        and the service will receive all the sockets configured in all
246        the socket units. Sockets configured in one unit are passed in
247        the order of configuration, but no ordering between socket
248        units is specified.</para>
249
250        <para>If an IP address is used here, it is often desirable to
251        listen on it before the interface it is configured on is up
252        and running, and even regardless of whether it will be up and
253        running at any point. To deal with this, it is recommended to
254        set the <varname>FreeBind=</varname> option described
255        below.</para></listitem>
256      </varlistentry>
257
258      <varlistentry>
259        <term><varname>ListenFIFO=</varname></term>
260        <listitem><para>Specifies a file system FIFO (see <citerefentry
261        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>fifo</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
262        details) to listen on.  This expects an absolute file system path as argument.  Behavior otherwise is
263        very similar to the <varname>ListenDatagram=</varname> directive above.</para></listitem>
264      </varlistentry>
265
266      <varlistentry>
267        <term><varname>ListenSpecial=</varname></term>
268        <listitem><para>Specifies a special file in the file system to
269        listen on. This expects an absolute file system path as
270        argument. Behavior otherwise is very similar to the
271        <varname>ListenFIFO=</varname> directive above. Use this to
272        open character device nodes as well as special files in
273        <filename>/proc/</filename> and
274        <filename>/sys/</filename>.</para></listitem>
275      </varlistentry>
276
277      <varlistentry>
278        <term><varname>ListenNetlink=</varname></term>
279        <listitem><para>Specifies a Netlink family to create a socket
280        for to listen on. This expects a short string referring to the
281        <constant>AF_NETLINK</constant> family name (such as
282        <varname>audit</varname> or <varname>kobject-uevent</varname>)
283        as argument, optionally suffixed by a whitespace followed by a
284        multicast group integer. Behavior otherwise is very similar to
285        the <varname>ListenDatagram=</varname> directive
286        above.</para></listitem>
287      </varlistentry>
288
289      <varlistentry>
290        <term><varname>ListenMessageQueue=</varname></term>
291        <listitem><para>Specifies a POSIX message queue name to listen on (see <citerefentry
292        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>mq_overview</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
293        for details). This expects a valid message queue name (i.e. beginning with
294        <literal>/</literal>). Behavior otherwise is very similar to the <varname>ListenFIFO=</varname>
295        directive above. On Linux message queue descriptors are actually file descriptors and can be
296        inherited between processes.</para></listitem>
297      </varlistentry>
298
299      <varlistentry>
300        <term><varname>ListenUSBFunction=</varname></term>
301        <listitem><para>Specifies a <ulink
302        url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/usb/functionfs.txt">USB
303        FunctionFS</ulink> endpoints location to listen on, for
304        implementation of USB gadget functions. This expects an
305        absolute file system path of a FunctionFS mount point as the argument.
306        Behavior otherwise is very similar to the <varname>ListenFIFO=</varname>
307        directive above. Use this to open the FunctionFS endpoint
308        <filename>ep0</filename>. When using this option, the
309        activated service has to have the
310        <varname>USBFunctionDescriptors=</varname> and
311        <varname>USBFunctionStrings=</varname> options set.
312        </para></listitem>
313      </varlistentry>
314
315      <varlistentry>
316        <term><varname>SocketProtocol=</varname></term>
317        <listitem><para>Takes one of <option>udplite</option>
318        or <option>sctp</option>. The socket will use the UDP-Lite
319        (<constant>IPPROTO_UDPLITE</constant>) or SCTP
320        (<constant>IPPROTO_SCTP</constant>) protocol, respectively.</para>
321        </listitem>
322      </varlistentry>
323
324      <varlistentry>
325        <term><varname>BindIPv6Only=</varname></term>
326        <listitem><para>Takes one of <option>default</option>,
327        <option>both</option> or <option>ipv6-only</option>. Controls
328        the IPV6_V6ONLY socket option (see
329        <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>ipv6</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
330        for details). If <option>both</option>, IPv6 sockets bound
331        will be accessible via both IPv4 and IPv6. If
332        <option>ipv6-only</option>, they will be accessible via IPv6
333        only. If <option>default</option> (which is the default,
334        surprise!), the system wide default setting is used, as
335        controlled by
336        <filename>/proc/sys/net/ipv6/bindv6only</filename>, which in
337        turn defaults to the equivalent of
338        <option>both</option>.</para>
339        </listitem>
340      </varlistentry>
341
342      <varlistentry>
343        <term><varname>Backlog=</varname></term>
344        <listitem><para>Takes an unsigned integer argument. Specifies
345        the number of connections to queue that have not been accepted
346        yet. This setting matters only for stream and sequential
347        packet sockets. See
348        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>listen</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
349        for details. Defaults to SOMAXCONN (128).</para></listitem>
350      </varlistentry>
351
352      <varlistentry>
353        <term><varname>BindToDevice=</varname></term>
354        <listitem><para>Specifies a network interface name to bind this socket to. If set, traffic will only
355        be accepted from the specified network interfaces. This controls the
356        <constant>SO_BINDTODEVICE</constant> socket option (see <citerefentry
357        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
358        details). If this option is used, an implicit dependency from this socket unit on the network
359        interface device unit is created
360        (see <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.device</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
361        Note that setting this parameter might result in additional dependencies to be added to the unit (see
362        above).</para></listitem>
363      </varlistentry>
364
365      <varlistentry>
366        <term><varname>SocketUser=</varname></term>
367        <term><varname>SocketGroup=</varname></term>
368
369        <listitem><para>Takes a UNIX user/group name. When specified, all <constant>AF_UNIX</constant>
370        sockets and FIFO nodes in the file system are owned by the specified user and group. If unset (the
371        default), the nodes are owned by the root user/group (if run in system context) or the invoking
372        user/group (if run in user context).  If only a user is specified but no group, then the group is
373        derived from the user's default group.</para></listitem>
374      </varlistentry>
375
376      <varlistentry>
377        <term><varname>SocketMode=</varname></term>
378        <listitem><para>If listening on a file system socket or FIFO,
379        this option specifies the file system access mode used when
380        creating the file node. Takes an access mode in octal
381        notation. Defaults to 0666.</para></listitem>
382      </varlistentry>
383
384      <varlistentry>
385        <term><varname>DirectoryMode=</varname></term>
386        <listitem><para>If listening on a file system socket or FIFO,
387        the parent directories are automatically created if needed.
388        This option specifies the file system access mode used when
389        creating these directories. Takes an access mode in octal
390        notation. Defaults to 0755.</para></listitem>
391      </varlistentry>
392
393      <varlistentry>
394        <term><varname>Accept=</varname></term>
395        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If yes, a service instance is spawned for each incoming
396        connection and only the connection socket is passed to it. If no, all listening sockets themselves
397        are passed to the started service unit, and only one service unit is spawned for all connections
398        (also see above). This value is ignored for datagram sockets and FIFOs where a single service unit
399        unconditionally handles all incoming traffic. Defaults to <option>no</option>. For performance
400        reasons, it is recommended to write new daemons only in a way that is suitable for
401        <option>Accept=no</option>. A daemon listening on an <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> socket may, but
402        does not need to, call
403        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>close</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> on the
404        received socket before exiting. However, it must not unlink the socket from a file system. It should
405        not invoke
406        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>shutdown</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry> on
407        sockets it got with <varname>Accept=no</varname>, but it may do so for sockets it got with
408        <varname>Accept=yes</varname> set. Setting <varname>Accept=yes</varname> is mostly useful to allow
409        daemons designed for usage with <citerefentry
410        project='freebsd'><refentrytitle>inetd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> to work
411        unmodified with systemd socket activation.</para>
412
413        <para>For IPv4 and IPv6 connections, the <varname>REMOTE_ADDR</varname> environment variable will
414        contain the remote IP address, and <varname>REMOTE_PORT</varname> will contain the remote port. This
415        is the same as the format used by CGI. For <constant>SOCK_RAW</constant>, the port is the IP
416        protocol.</para>
417
418        <para>It is recommended to set <varname>CollectMode=inactive-or-failed</varname> for service
419        instances activated via <varname>Accept=yes</varname>, to ensure that failed connection services are
420        cleaned up and released from memory, and do not accumulate.</para></listitem>
421      </varlistentry>
422
423      <varlistentry>
424        <term><varname>Writable=</varname></term>
425        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. May only be used in
426        conjunction with <varname>ListenSpecial=</varname>. If true,
427        the specified special file is opened in read-write mode, if
428        false, in read-only mode. Defaults to false.</para></listitem>
429      </varlistentry>
430
431      <varlistentry>
432        <term><varname>FlushPending=</varname></term>
433        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. May only be used when
434        <option>Accept=no</option>. If yes, the socket's buffers are cleared after the
435        triggered service exited. This causes any pending data to be
436        flushed and any pending incoming connections to be rejected. If no, the
437        socket's buffers won't be cleared, permitting the service to handle any
438        pending connections after restart, which is the usually expected behaviour.
439        Defaults to <option>no</option>.
440        </para></listitem>
441      </varlistentry>
442
443      <varlistentry>
444        <term><varname>MaxConnections=</varname></term>
445        <listitem><para>The maximum number of connections to
446        simultaneously run services instances for, when
447        <option>Accept=yes</option> is set. If more concurrent
448        connections are coming in, they will be refused until at least
449        one existing connection is terminated. This setting has no
450        effect on sockets configured with
451        <option>Accept=no</option> or datagram sockets. Defaults to
452        64.</para></listitem>
453      </varlistentry>
454
455      <varlistentry>
456        <term><varname>MaxConnectionsPerSource=</varname></term>
457        <listitem><para>The maximum number of connections for a service per source IP address.
458        This is very similar to the <varname>MaxConnections=</varname> directive
459        above. Disabled by default.</para>
460        </listitem>
461      </varlistentry>
462
463       <varlistentry>
464        <term><varname>KeepAlive=</varname></term>
465        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true, the TCP/IP stack will send a keep alive message
466        after 2h (depending on the configuration of
467        <filename>/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_time</filename>) for all TCP streams accepted on this
468        socket. This controls the <constant>SO_KEEPALIVE</constant> socket option (see <citerefentry
469        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
470        the <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/">TCP Keepalive
471        HOWTO</ulink> for details.) Defaults to <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
472      </varlistentry>
473
474      <varlistentry>
475        <term><varname>KeepAliveTimeSec=</varname></term>
476        <listitem><para>Takes time (in seconds) as argument. The connection needs to remain
477        idle before TCP starts sending keepalive probes. This controls the TCP_KEEPIDLE
478        socket option (see
479        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
480        and the <ulink
481        url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/">TCP
482        Keepalive HOWTO</ulink> for details.)
483        Defaults value is 7200 seconds (2 hours).</para></listitem>
484      </varlistentry>
485
486      <varlistentry>
487        <term><varname>KeepAliveIntervalSec=</varname></term>
488        <listitem><para>Takes time (in seconds) as argument between individual keepalive probes, if the
489        socket option <constant>SO_KEEPALIVE</constant> has been set on this socket. This controls the
490        <constant>TCP_KEEPINTVL</constant> socket option (see <citerefentry
491        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
492        the <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/">TCP Keepalive
493        HOWTO</ulink> for details.) Defaults value is 75 seconds.</para></listitem>
494      </varlistentry>
495
496      <varlistentry>
497        <term><varname>KeepAliveProbes=</varname></term>
498        <listitem><para>Takes an integer as argument. It is the number of
499        unacknowledged probes to send before considering the
500        connection dead and notifying the application layer. This
501        controls the TCP_KEEPCNT socket option (see
502        <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
503        and the <ulink
504        url="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/">TCP
505        Keepalive HOWTO</ulink> for details.) Defaults value is
506        9.</para></listitem>
507      </varlistentry>
508
509      <varlistentry>
510        <term><varname>NoDelay=</varname></term>
511        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. TCP Nagle's
512        algorithm works by combining a number of small outgoing
513        messages, and sending them all at once. This controls the
514        TCP_NODELAY socket option (see
515        <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>tcp</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
516        Defaults to <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
517      </varlistentry>
518
519      <varlistentry>
520        <term><varname>Priority=</varname></term>
521        <listitem><para>Takes an integer argument controlling the priority for all traffic sent from this
522        socket. This controls the <constant>SO_PRIORITY</constant> socket option (see <citerefentry
523        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
524        details.).</para></listitem>
525      </varlistentry>
526
527      <varlistentry>
528        <term><varname>DeferAcceptSec=</varname></term>
529
530        <listitem><para>Takes time (in seconds) as argument. If set,
531        the listening process will be awakened only when data arrives
532        on the socket, and not immediately when connection is
533        established. When this option is set, the
534        <constant>TCP_DEFER_ACCEPT</constant> socket option will be
535        used (see
536        <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>tcp</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>),
537        and the kernel will ignore initial ACK packets without any
538        data. The argument specifies the approximate amount of time
539        the kernel should wait for incoming data before falling back
540        to the normal behavior of honoring empty ACK packets. This
541        option is beneficial for protocols where the client sends the
542        data first (e.g. HTTP, in contrast to SMTP), because the
543        server process will not be woken up unnecessarily before it
544        can take any action.
545        </para>
546
547        <para>If the client also uses the
548        <constant>TCP_DEFER_ACCEPT</constant> option, the latency of
549        the initial connection may be reduced, because the kernel will
550        send data in the final packet establishing the connection (the
551        third packet in the "three-way handshake").</para>
552
553        <para>Disabled by default.</para>
554        </listitem>
555      </varlistentry>
556
557      <varlistentry>
558        <term><varname>ReceiveBuffer=</varname></term>
559        <term><varname>SendBuffer=</varname></term>
560        <listitem><para>Takes an integer argument controlling the receive or send buffer sizes of this
561        socket, respectively.  This controls the <constant>SO_RCVBUF</constant> and
562        <constant>SO_SNDBUF</constant> socket options (see <citerefentry
563        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
564        details.). The usual suffixes K, M, G are supported and are understood to the base of
565        1024.</para></listitem>
566      </varlistentry>
567
568      <varlistentry>
569        <term><varname>IPTOS=</varname></term>
570        <listitem><para>Takes an integer argument controlling the IP Type-Of-Service field for packets
571        generated from this socket.  This controls the <constant>IP_TOS</constant> socket option (see
572        <citerefentry
573        project='die-net'><refentrytitle>ip</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
574        details.). Either a numeric string or one of <option>low-delay</option>, <option>throughput</option>,
575        <option>reliability</option> or <option>low-cost</option> may be specified.</para></listitem>
576      </varlistentry>
577
578      <varlistentry>
579        <term><varname>IPTTL=</varname></term>
580        <listitem><para>Takes an integer argument controlling the IPv4 Time-To-Live/IPv6 Hop-Count field for
581        packets generated from this socket. This sets the
582        <constant>IP_TTL</constant>/<constant>IPV6_UNICAST_HOPS</constant> socket options (see <citerefentry
583        project='die-net'><refentrytitle>ip</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
584        <citerefentry
585        project='die-net'><refentrytitle>ipv6</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
586        details.)</para></listitem>
587      </varlistentry>
588
589      <varlistentry>
590        <term><varname>Mark=</varname></term>
591        <listitem><para>Takes an integer value. Controls the firewall mark of packets generated by this
592        socket. This can be used in the firewall logic to filter packets from this socket. This sets the
593        <constant>SO_MARK</constant> socket option. See <citerefentry
594        project='die-net'><refentrytitle>iptables</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
595        details.</para></listitem>
596      </varlistentry>
597
598      <varlistentry>
599        <term><varname>ReusePort=</varname></term>
600        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. If true, allows multiple
601        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>bind</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>s to this TCP
602        or UDP port. This controls the <constant>SO_REUSEPORT</constant> socket option. See <citerefentry
603        project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>socket</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
604        details.</para></listitem>
605      </varlistentry>
606
607      <varlistentry>
608        <term><varname>SmackLabel=</varname></term>
609        <term><varname>SmackLabelIPIn=</varname></term>
610        <term><varname>SmackLabelIPOut=</varname></term>
611        <listitem><para>Takes a string value. Controls the extended
612        attributes <literal>security.SMACK64</literal>,
613        <literal>security.SMACK64IPIN</literal> and
614        <literal>security.SMACK64IPOUT</literal>, respectively, i.e.
615        the security label of the FIFO, or the security label for the
616        incoming or outgoing connections of the socket, respectively.
617        See <ulink
618        url="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/security/Smack.txt">Smack.txt</ulink>
619        for details.</para></listitem>
620      </varlistentry>
621
622      <varlistentry>
623        <term><varname>SELinuxContextFromNet=</varname></term>
624         <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. When true, systemd
625         will attempt to figure out the SELinux label used for the
626         instantiated service from the information handed by the peer
627         over the network. Note that only the security level is used
628         from the information provided by the peer. Other parts of the
629         resulting SELinux context originate from either the target
630         binary that is effectively triggered by socket unit or from
631         the value of the <varname>SELinuxContext=</varname> option.
632         This configuration option applies only when activated service
633         is passed in single socket file descriptor, i.e. service
634         instances that have standard input connected to a socket or
635         services triggered by exactly one socket unit. Also note
636         that this option is useful only when MLS/MCS SELinux policy
637         is deployed. Defaults to
638         <literal>false</literal>. </para></listitem>
639      </varlistentry>
640
641      <varlistentry>
642        <term><varname>PipeSize=</varname></term>
643        <listitem><para>Takes a size in bytes. Controls the pipe
644        buffer size of FIFOs configured in this socket unit. See
645        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>fcntl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
646        for details. The usual suffixes K, M, G are supported and are
647        understood to the base of 1024.</para></listitem>
648      </varlistentry>
649
650      <varlistentry>
651        <term><varname>MessageQueueMaxMessages=</varname>,
652        <varname>MessageQueueMessageSize=</varname></term>
653        <listitem><para>These two settings take integer values and
654        control the mq_maxmsg field or the mq_msgsize field,
655        respectively, when creating the message queue. Note that
656        either none or both of these variables need to be set. See
657        <citerefentry project='die-net'><refentrytitle>mq_setattr</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
658        for details.</para></listitem>
659      </varlistentry>
660
661      <varlistentry>
662        <term><varname>FreeBind=</varname></term>
663        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. Controls whether the socket can be bound to non-local IP
664        addresses. This is useful to configure sockets listening on specific IP addresses before those IP
665        addresses are successfully configured on a network interface. This sets the
666        <constant>IP_FREEBIND</constant>/<constant>IPV6_FREEBIND</constant> socket option. For robustness
667        reasons it is recommended to use this option whenever you bind a socket to a specific IP
668        address. Defaults to <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
669      </varlistentry>
670
671      <varlistentry>
672        <term><varname>Transparent=</varname></term>
673        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. Controls the
674        <constant>IP_TRANSPARENT</constant>/<constant>IPV6_TRANSPARENT</constant> socket option. Defaults to
675        <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
676      </varlistentry>
677
678      <varlistentry>
679        <term><varname>Broadcast=</varname></term>
680        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. This controls the <constant>SO_BROADCAST</constant> socket
681        option, which allows broadcast datagrams to be sent from this socket. Defaults to
682        <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
683      </varlistentry>
684
685      <varlistentry>
686        <term><varname>PassCredentials=</varname></term>
687        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. This controls the <constant>SO_PASSCRED</constant> socket
688        option, which allows <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> sockets to receive the credentials of the sending
689        process in an ancillary message. Defaults to <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
690      </varlistentry>
691
692      <varlistentry>
693        <term><varname>PassSecurity=</varname></term>
694        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. This controls the <constant>SO_PASSSEC</constant> socket
695        option, which allows <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> sockets to receive the security context of the
696        sending process in an ancillary message.  Defaults to <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
697      </varlistentry>
698
699      <varlistentry>
700        <term><varname>PassPacketInfo=</varname></term>
701        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean value. This controls the <constant>IP_PKTINFO</constant>,
702        <constant>IPV6_RECVPKTINFO</constant>, <constant>NETLINK_PKTINFO</constant> or
703        <constant>PACKET_AUXDATA</constant> socket options, which enable reception of additional per-packet
704        metadata as ancillary message, on <constant>AF_INET</constant>, <constant>AF_INET6</constant>,
705        <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> and <constant>AF_PACKET</constant> sockets.  Defaults to
706        <option>false</option>.</para></listitem>
707      </varlistentry>
708
709      <varlistentry>
710        <term><varname>Timestamping=</varname></term>
711        <listitem><para>Takes one of <literal>off</literal>, <literal>us</literal> (alias:
712        <literal>usec</literal>, <literal>µs</literal>) or <literal>ns</literal> (alias:
713        <literal>nsec</literal>). This controls the <constant>SO_TIMESTAMP</constant> or
714        <constant>SO_TIMESTAMPNS</constant> socket options, and enables whether ingress network traffic shall
715        carry timestamping metadata. Defaults to <option>off</option>.</para></listitem>
716      </varlistentry>
717
718      <varlistentry>
719        <term><varname>TCPCongestion=</varname></term>
720        <listitem><para>Takes a string value. Controls the TCP congestion algorithm used by this
721        socket. Should be one of <literal>westwood</literal>, <literal>veno</literal>,
722        <literal>cubic</literal>, <literal>lp</literal> or any other available algorithm supported by the IP
723        stack. This setting applies only to stream sockets.</para></listitem>
724      </varlistentry>
725
726      <varlistentry>
727        <term><varname>ExecStartPre=</varname></term>
728        <term><varname>ExecStartPost=</varname></term>
729        <listitem><para>Takes one or more command lines, which are
730        executed before or after the listening sockets/FIFOs are
731        created and bound, respectively. The first token of the
732        command line must be an absolute filename, then followed by
733        arguments for the process. Multiple command lines may be
734        specified following the same scheme as used for
735        <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> of service unit
736        files.</para></listitem>
737      </varlistentry>
738
739      <varlistentry>
740        <term><varname>ExecStopPre=</varname></term>
741        <term><varname>ExecStopPost=</varname></term>
742        <listitem><para>Additional commands that are executed before
743        or after the listening sockets/FIFOs are closed and removed,
744        respectively. Multiple command lines may be specified
745        following the same scheme as used for
746        <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname> of service unit
747        files.</para></listitem>
748      </varlistentry>
749
750      <varlistentry>
751        <term><varname>TimeoutSec=</varname></term>
752        <listitem><para>Configures the time to wait for the commands
753        specified in <varname>ExecStartPre=</varname>,
754        <varname>ExecStartPost=</varname>,
755        <varname>ExecStopPre=</varname> and
756        <varname>ExecStopPost=</varname> to finish. If a command does
757        not exit within the configured time, the socket will be
758        considered failed and be shut down again. All commands still
759        running will be terminated forcibly via
760        <constant>SIGTERM</constant>, and after another delay of this
761        time with <constant>SIGKILL</constant>. (See
762        <option>KillMode=</option> in
763        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.)
764        Takes a unit-less value in seconds, or a time span value such
765        as "5min 20s". Pass <literal>0</literal> to disable the
766        timeout logic. Defaults to
767        <varname>DefaultTimeoutStartSec=</varname> from the manager
768        configuration file (see
769        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>).
770        </para></listitem>
771      </varlistentry>
772
773      <varlistentry>
774        <term><varname>Service=</varname></term>
775        <listitem><para>Specifies the service unit name to activate on
776        incoming traffic. This setting is only allowed for sockets
777        with <varname>Accept=no</varname>. It defaults to the service
778        that bears the same name as the socket (with the suffix
779        replaced). In most cases, it should not be necessary to use
780        this option. Note that setting this parameter might result in
781        additional dependencies to be added to the unit (see
782        above).</para></listitem>
783      </varlistentry>
784
785      <varlistentry>
786        <term><varname>RemoveOnStop=</varname></term>
787        <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If enabled, any file nodes created by this socket unit are
788        removed when it is stopped. This applies to <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> sockets in the file system,
789        POSIX message queues, FIFOs, as well as any symlinks to them configured with
790        <varname>Symlinks=</varname>. Normally, it should not be necessary to use this option, and is not
791        recommended as services might continue to run after the socket unit has been terminated and it should
792        still be possible to communicate with them via their file system node. Defaults to
793        off.</para></listitem>
794      </varlistentry>
795
796      <varlistentry>
797        <term><varname>Symlinks=</varname></term>
798        <listitem><para>Takes a list of file system paths. The specified paths will be created as symlinks to the
799        <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> socket path or FIFO path of this socket unit. If this setting is used, only one
800        <constant>AF_UNIX</constant> socket in the file system or one FIFO may be configured for the socket unit. Use
801        this option to manage one or more symlinked alias names for a socket, binding their lifecycle together. Note
802        that if creation of a symlink fails this is not considered fatal for the socket unit, and the socket unit may
803        still start. If an empty string is assigned, the list of paths is reset. Defaults to an empty
804        list.</para></listitem>
805      </varlistentry>
806
807      <varlistentry>
808        <term><varname>FileDescriptorName=</varname></term>
809        <listitem><para>Assigns a name to all file descriptors this
810        socket unit encapsulates. This is useful to help activated
811        services identify specific file descriptors, if multiple fds
812        are passed. Services may use the
813        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds_with_names</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
814        call to acquire the names configured for the received file
815        descriptors. Names may contain any ASCII character, but must
816        exclude control characters and <literal>:</literal>, and must
817        be at most 255 characters in length. If this setting is not
818        used, the file descriptor name defaults to the name of the
819        socket unit, including its <filename>.socket</filename>
820        suffix.</para></listitem>
821      </varlistentry>
822
823      <varlistentry>
824        <term><varname>TriggerLimitIntervalSec=</varname></term>
825        <term><varname>TriggerLimitBurst=</varname></term>
826
827        <listitem><para>Configures a limit on how often this socket unit may be activated within a specific time
828        interval. The <varname>TriggerLimitIntervalSec=</varname> may be used to configure the length of the time
829        interval in the usual time units <literal>us</literal>, <literal>ms</literal>, <literal>s</literal>,
830        <literal>min</literal>, <literal>h</literal>, … and defaults to 2s (See
831        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details on
832        the various time units understood). The <varname>TriggerLimitBurst=</varname> setting takes a positive integer
833        value and specifies the number of permitted activations per time interval, and defaults to 200 for
834        <varname>Accept=yes</varname> sockets (thus by default permitting 200 activations per 2s), and 20 otherwise (20
835        activations per 2s). Set either to 0 to disable any form of trigger rate limiting. If the limit is hit, the
836        socket unit is placed into a failure mode, and will not be connectible anymore until restarted. Note that this
837        limit is enforced before the service activation is enqueued.</para></listitem>
838      </varlistentry>
839
840    </variablelist>
841
842    <xi:include href="systemd.service.xml" xpointer="shared-unit-options" />
843  </refsect1>
844
845  <refsect1>
846      <title>See Also</title>
847      <para>
848        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
849        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
850        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-system.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
851        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.unit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
852        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
853        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.kill</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
854        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
855        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
856        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
857        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
858        <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_listen_fds_with_names</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
859      </para>
860      <para>
861        For more extensive descriptions see the "systemd for Developers" series:
862        <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html">Socket Activation</ulink>,
863        <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation2.html">Socket Activation, part II</ulink>,
864        <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/inetd.html">Converting inetd Services</ulink>,
865        <ulink url="http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activated-containers.html">Socket Activated Internet Services and OS Containers</ulink>.
866      </para>
867  </refsect1>
868
869</refentry>
870