Linux Survival Basics

Show Failed systemd Units

A VPS feels unhealthy, but checking services one by one wastes time and misses failed timers, mounts, and sockets.

Command

systemctl --failed --no-pager

What changed

Nothing changes. The command prints units whose current systemd state is failed.

Danger

safe

When to use it

Use after deploys, reboots, package upgrades, or alerts when you need the fastest systemd health snapshot.

When not to use it

Do not use it as the only health check; a service can be running but still misconfigured or returning bad responses.

Undo or recovery

No undo needed because the command is read-only.

Expected output

Failed unit rows such as backup.service or app-worker.service.

demo script

Disposable terminal steps

systemctl --failed --no-pager
systemctl status nginx --no-pager --lines=30

Terminal transcript Demo JSON

simulated output

What it looks like

disposable vessel

::fixture-ready::
$ systemctl --failed --no-pager
  UNIT              LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION
  backup.service    loaded failed failed Nightly backup job
  app-worker.service loaded failed failed App background worker
2 loaded units listed.
::exit-code::0
$ systemctl status nginx --no-pager --lines=30
● nginx.service - A high performance web server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Thu 2026-06-25 14:12:10 CDT; 18min ago
   Main PID: 842 (nginx)
      Tasks: 3
     Memory: 12.4M
Jun 25 14:12:10 vps nginx[842]: start worker processes
Jun 25 14:12:11 vps nginx[842]: ready for connections
::exit-code::0

YouTube Short

Find failed systemd services fast.

When a VPS looks sick, do not start by guessing service names. Ask systemd what it already marked failed.

experiments

A/B tests to run

Metric: shorts_3_second_hold_rate

A: Stop guessing which service broke.

B: One command shows failed systemd units.