Unrecognised Service for existing, working service - Ubuntu 18.04

Question

I'm trying to load a script on boot in Ubuntu Server 18.04. My .service script is installed in /etc/systemd/system, and I can run:

service my-service start

and:

service my-service stop

But when I try to run at boot (which according to the web I should do) with:

 service my-service enable

the system responds with:

 my-service: unrecognised service

Searching the web only tells me how to do it in older versions of Ubuntu which do not apply to 18.04 and I am unable to determine the correct terminology to find the answer.

The script:

# filename: /etc/systemd/system/my-service.service
[Unit]
Description=My Service
After=network.target
After=mysqld.service

[Service]
User=the-user
WorkingDirectory=/home/the-user/path-to-script
ExecStart=/home/the-user/path-to-script/start.sh
SuccessExitStatus=0
TimeoutStopSec=10
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

My question is: What am I doing wrong? How can I start this service on boot?

Solution 1

Use the real command, which for systemd would be:

sudo systemctl enable my-service

For reference, you do not have to use the main system directory for the unit file if you want it to run for a normal user, e.g. your own. You can create it in a directory such as:

~/.config/systemd/user/

Then you can do:

systemctl --user enable my-service

This avoids the need for sudo

As you have noted in your comment, when running per-user instances of systemd the User directive should be absent

Solution 2

Note:
In other instances that you get the same error:
The service command puts the object first !

service foo start

The systemctl command does the opposite:

systemctl start foo

Also, in service, you cannot add ".service", while you can if you use systemctl.

Comments

[cEz]

Have you tried using the real command, systemctl enable my-service?

[Clearsite - Remon Pel]

I think I must be dyslexic. I tried that command over an over again, because most articles refer to that. But reading my command history I used servicectl instead of systemctl. There's 3 days I'll never get back... THANKS.

[cEz]

Great, I've added an answer with some extra info

[Clearsite - Remon Pel]

I noticed, thank you! Question answered and improved upon :)

[Clearsite - Remon Pel]

Wow. Thanks! Even better! But just a side note: when using the second option (avoiding sudo), the line "User=the-user" should be removed from the service file, to prevent "Failed to determine supplementary groups: Operation not permitted" error.