Linux Survival Basics

List Upcoming systemd Timers

Backups, renewals, and cleanup jobs may run as systemd timers, but they are easy to miss if you only inspect cron.

Command

systemctl list-timers --all --no-pager

What changed

Nothing changes. systemd prints timer units, next run time, last run time, and the service each timer activates.

Danger

safe

When to use it

Use when checking backups, certificate renewals, cleanup jobs, or unexpected periodic work.

When not to use it

Do not use it to inspect classic cron jobs; check crontabs separately.

Undo or recovery

No undo needed because the command is read-only.

Expected output

Timer rows showing NEXT, LEFT, LAST, UNIT, and ACTIVATES.

demo script

Disposable terminal steps

systemctl list-timers --all --no-pager
systemctl --failed --no-pager

Terminal transcript Demo JSON

simulated output

What it looks like

disposable vessel

::fixture-ready::
$ systemctl list-timers --all --no-pager
NEXT                         LEFT     LAST                         PASSED UNIT           ACTIVATES
Thu 2026-06-25 22:00:00 CDT  7h left  Thu 2026-06-25 02:00:00 CDT  12h ago backup.timer   backup.service
Fri 2026-06-26 00:05:00 CDT  9h left  Thu 2026-06-25 00:05:00 CDT  14h ago certbot.timer  certbot.service
::exit-code::0
$ 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

YouTube Short

Find scheduled systemd jobs.

Modern Linux servers often use systemd timers for backups, renewals, and cleanup. If you only check cron, you can miss half the schedule.

experiments

A/B tests to run

Metric: save_rate

A: Contrast systemd timers with cron.

B: Frame around backups and certificate renewals.