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jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

[SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

I have a daily service timer pair that work fine if I don't reboot the system. It normally runs at 5:30am.  If I have to reboot the PC several times that afternoon the service runs after each reboot. I need to find a solution. Here are the .service and .timer files:

Timer

 # This timer unit is for database-backup
[Unit]
Description=start mythtv-database-backup
Requires=mythtv-database-backup.service

[Timer]
Unit=mythtv-database-backup.service
OnCalendar=*-*-* 05:30:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Service

 [Unit]
Description=Backup MythTV Database 'mythconverg'
Wants=mythtv-database-backup.timer
Requires=mysql.service
After=mysql.service
After=local-network-pingable.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mythtv-database-backup.sh 

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Could this because the Service is enabled?  Would the timer only need to be enabled??

Last edited by jfabernathy (2022-01-03 21:50:26)

Slithery

Administrator

From: Norfolk, UK

Registered: 2013-12-01

Posts: 5,776

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

Could this because the Service is enabled?  Would the timer only need to be enabled??

Correct.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System … rvice_unit

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jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

Could this because the Service is enabled?  Would the timer only need to be enabled??

Correct.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System … rvice_unit

I have read that page and I have disabled the service and only enabled the timer.  But when I reboot, the service runs every time. I only want it to run once early in the morning.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,330

Website

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

More specifically it's due to the symlink created by the combination of 1) being inabled and 2) the service file having an [Install] section.  Why is there even an install section - was this from an AUR package?

EDIT: does the timer status show that it was triggered by the timer, or is something else triggering it at boot up?  EDIT 2: see below.

Last edited by Trilby (2022-01-03 21:33:27)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

The second problem is that your timer Requires the service. The timer is activated on boot by timers.target, which then also activates the service.

Last edited by Raynman (2022-01-03 21:33:22)

jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

The second problem is that your timer Requires the service. The timer is activated on boot by timers.target, which then also activates the service.

You are right removing the requires from the timer solved it. I also removed the install section from the service.
New files:
Service

# This service unit is for backing up the mythtv database called mythconverg
#
[Unit]
Description=Backup MythTV Database 'mythconverg'
Wants=mythtv-database-backup.timer
Requires=mysql.service
After=mysql.service
After=local-network-pingable.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/mythtv-database-backup.sh 

Timer

[Unit]
Description=start mythtv-database-backup

[Timer]
Unit=mythtv-database-backup.service
OnCalendar=*-*-* 05:30:00
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

Thanks for the help. I've rebooted several more times and no triggering of the service.

jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

All this discussion made me research some more and I wondered why my service had this line in is:

Wants=mythtv-database-backup.timer

The timer is what is triggering the service so at best it's irrelevant. So I removed it and all it still well.

schard

Forum Moderator

From: Hannover

Registered: 2016-05-06

Posts: 2,138

Website

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

On a side-note: Since your timer is configured as "persistent", it will also start the corresponding service, if you e.g. boot your machine after 05:30:00. Just be aware of that.

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jfabernathy

Member

From: North Carolina

Registered: 2019-01-03

Posts: 123

Re: [SOLVED] need systemd daily service/timer to not run but once a day

On a side-note: Since your timer is configured as "persistent", it will also start the corresponding service, if you e.g. boot your machine after 05:30:00. Just be aware of that.

since this server is on 24/7, it's only the reboot that concerns me