Managing Services with Snap on Ubuntu

April 28, 2025 by walter

Managing Services with Snap on Ubuntu

On Ubuntu, if you want to use snap start commands to run a program as a backend service that automatically restarts when it exits, you'll need to create and package your application as a Snap with proper service definitions.

Creating a Snap with Service Capabilities

1. Create a snapcraft.yaml file

The key to making your application run as a service through Snap is defining it properly in your snapcraft.yaml file:

name: my-service
version: '1.0'
summary: My backend service
description: |
  A service that runs in the background and automatically restarts if it crashes.

grade: stable
confinement: strict
base: core20  # Use an appropriate base

apps:
  service:
    command: bin/my-service-executable
    daemon: simple
    restart-condition: always
    restart-delay: 10s
    plugs: [network, network-bind]  # Add appropriate plugs

parts:
  my-service:
    source: .
    plugin: go  # Use the appropriate plugin for your application
    # Additional build instructions

Key service configurations:

• daemon: simple - Indicates this is a background service
• restart-condition: always - Makes the service restart automatically if it exits
• restart-delay: 10s - Waits 10 seconds before restarting the crashed service

2. Build and install your Snap

# Build the snap
snapcraft

# Install it locally
sudo snap install my-service_1.0_amd64.snap --dangerous

Managing Your Snap Service

Once your Snap is installed, you can manage the service with these commands:

Start the service

sudo snap start my-service.service

Stop the service

sudo snap stop my-service.service

Restart the service

sudo snap restart my-service.service

Check service status

snap services my-service

Enable auto-start at boot

sudo snap enable my-service.service

Disable auto-start at boot

sudo snap disable my-service.service

Viewing Service Logs

You can check the service logs with:

snap logs my-service

For continuous monitoring:

snap logs -f my-service

Important Notes

1. The service will automatically restart based on the restart-condition you specified in the snapcraft.yaml file.

2. The daemon setting has several options:

   • simple: Standard service that starts and continues running
   • oneshot: Runs once and exits
   • forking: Service forks into background
   • notify: Service sends a notification when ready

3. Make sure to include the appropriate plugs in your snapcraft.yaml to give your service the permissions it needs.

4. The service name in commands will be <snap-name>.<app-name> - in this example it's my-service.service.

This approach ensures your service is properly managed by snapd, which will monitor and automatically restart it according to your specifications.

Good question — let’s break it down clearly:

snap vs. systemctl

1. What is systemctl (systemd)?

• systemctl is a command to manage services on systemd, which is the main init system and service manager on Ubuntu (and most Linuxes now).
• It's native, lightweight, fast.
• It manages everything that starts/stops/runs on the system — including:
  • Your own custom programs
  • Built-in services like networking, cron, etc.
• You write plain .service files to control things.

✅ Pros:

• Full control: you can configure memory limits, restart policies, dependencies, user permissions, everything.
• Integrated into the OS.
• Fast, minimal overhead.

❗ Cons:

• You have to manually create and maintain service files.
• You are responsible for setting permissions, updates, security.

2. What is Snap?

• Snap is a packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical (Ubuntu company).
• Snap can package an app with all its dependencies bundled.
• Snap also allows apps to define snap services (managed through Snap, not native systemd services).
• Snap services are defined inside the app's snap package (snapcraft.yaml) — not manually by you.

✅ Pros:

• Super easy to install apps (snap install xyz) — no dependency hell.
• Apps are automatically updated and sandboxed for security.
• Good if you're building apps you want to distribute easily across many distros.

❗ Cons:

• Snap apps run in a sandbox → sometimes can't easily access the real system (files, network).
• Snap startup is slower (because of the containerization overhead).
• Snap services are a bit harder to tweak compared to systemd services.
• Not all apps are good fits for Snap — especially small, fast backend tools.

So, which is better?

Very short answer:

• If you're running your own program, use systemd with systemctl. It’s cleaner, faster, more powerful.
• If you're packaging apps for others, Snap makes sense.

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