How to put a limit (Memory Max=) on a systemd service in a Raspberry Pi?

edjalmo · February 9, 2019 at 2:48 AM

So, I want to make changes on system.config. But when I type nano /etc/systemd/system.conf says File '/etc/systemd/system.conf' is unwritable.

I want to make this change because I want to put memory usage limits on some services that I use. I tried added the line MemoryMax=100M in a .service, but does not seem to have any limit on the service. I read a little and people say to edit the system.config to make this changes.

It's possible? If yes: how?

**Klojum** · February 9, 2019 at 7:10 AM Official Post

Quote from edjalmo

is unwritable

Because the system partition of LibreELEC is a read-only partition, which is for a good reason. LibreELEC is set up for use as a HTPC environment, it's not meant for the typical tweaking & fiddling IT tinkerer.

You can edit things of you mount the partition as writeable first.

Just know that all edits will be gone with the next LibreELEC downgrade/upgrade.

**chewitt** · February 9, 2019 at 7:46 AM Official Post

Online docs talk about global limits but I believe you can set them in individual service files too, and /storage/.config/system.d/ allows you to override any of the embedded .service files with your own (stop/disable the embedded service, then enable/start the custom one). LE doesn't allow you to install things to the core OS (everything is inside a read-only squashfs image) so any extra things you added via docker (or things wrapped as Kodi binary add-ons) must be using the persistent /storage area which is writeable so you can make direct changes.

edjalmo · February 9, 2019 at 5:35 PM

Quote from Klojum

You can edit things of you mount the partition as writeable first.

How can I make it writable?

edjalmo · February 9, 2019 at 5:45 PM

Quote from chewitt

/storage/.config/system.d/ allows you to override any of the embedded .service files with your own

I'm testing this How to set limits (ulimit) for services run by systemd in CentOS/RHEL 7 – The Geek Diary

Creating a file in /storage/.config/system.d/myservice.service.d/ulimit.conf and put it inside

Code

[Service]
MemoryMax=100M

Don't know if it works! But when I was doing a systemctl show myservice.service -p MemoryMax before said MemoryMax=infinity, and after creating this file says MemoryMax=104857600.

Hope it work!

edjalmo · February 9, 2019 at 10:27 PM

Quote from edjalmo
I'm testing this How to set limits (ulimit) for services run by systemd in CentOS/RHEL 7 – The Geek Diary

Creating a file in /storage/.config/system.d/myservice.service.d/ulimit.conf and put it inside
Code
[Service]
MemoryMax=100M
Don't know if it works! But when I was doing a systemctl show myservice.service -p MemoryMax before said MemoryMax=infinity, and after creating this file says MemoryMax=104857600.

Hope it work!

This did not work

**vpeter** · February 10, 2019 at 8:38 AM

You ad this parameter to one real service file or empty one?

I have added it to tigervnc service and it is in use.

Code

systemctl status service.tigervnc -l
Main PID: 1000 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service

# add parameter to service and restart

systemctl status service.tigervnc -l
Main PID: 1017 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M (max: 100.0M)
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service

Display More

edjalmo · February 10, 2019 at 1:53 PM

Quote from vpeter
You ad this parameter to one real service file or empty one?

I have added it to tigervnc service and it is in use.
Code
systemctl status service.tigervnc -l
Main PID: 1000 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service

# add parameter to service and restart

systemctl status service.tigervnc -l
Main PID: 1017 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M (max: 100.0M)
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service
Display More

I added for a real service.

Can you show your .service to I see how you do?

Quote from vpeter

Memory: 1.0M

When I do systemctl status myservice.service never show this!

**vpeter** · February 10, 2019 at 1:56 PM

Code

LibreELEC:~ # cat /storage/.config/system.d/service.tigervnc.service
[Unit]
Description=TigerVNC
After=graphical.target

[Service]
Environment=DISPLAY=:0.0
ExecStart=/bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/bin/tigervnc.start
TimeoutStopSec=1
Restart=always
RestartSec=2
StartLimitInterval=0
MemoryMax=100M

[Install]
WantedBy=kodi.target

LibreELEC:~ # systemctl status service.tigervnc -l | cat -
● service.tigervnc.service - TigerVNC
Loaded: loaded (/storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/system.d/service.tigervnc.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-02-10 14:56:45 CET; 7s ago
Main PID: 926 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M (max: 100.0M)
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service
├─926 /bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/bin/tigervnc.start
└─933 x0vncserver -PasswordFile=/storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.tigervnc/passwd -rfbport=5900

Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC systemd[1]: Started TigerVNC.
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]: Sun Feb 10 14:56:45 2019
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  Geometry:    Desktop geometry is set to 800x600+0+0
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  XDesktop:    Using evdev codemap
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  XDesktop:    XTest extension present - version 2.2
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  Main:        Listening on port 5900

Display More

edjalmo · February 11, 2019 at 12:20 AM

Quote from vpeter

Code

LibreELEC:~ # cat /storage/.config/system.d/service.tigervnc.service
[Unit]
Description=TigerVNC
After=graphical.target

[Service]
Environment=DISPLAY=:0.0
ExecStart=/bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/bin/tigervnc.start
TimeoutStopSec=1
Restart=always
RestartSec=2
StartLimitInterval=0
MemoryMax=100M

[Install]
WantedBy=kodi.target

LibreELEC:~ # systemctl status service.tigervnc -l | cat -
● service.tigervnc.service - TigerVNC
Loaded: loaded (/storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/system.d/service.tigervnc.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-02-10 14:56:45 CET; 7s ago
Main PID: 926 (sh)
Memory: 1.0M (max: 100.0M)
CGroup: /system.slice/service.tigervnc.service
├─926 /bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/service.tigervnc/bin/tigervnc.start
└─933 x0vncserver -PasswordFile=/storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.tigervnc/passwd -rfbport=5900

Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC systemd[1]: Started TigerVNC.
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]: Sun Feb 10 14:56:45 2019
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  Geometry:    Desktop geometry is set to 800x600+0+0
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  XDesktop:    Using evdev codemap
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  XDesktop:    XTest extension present - version 2.2
Feb 10 14:56:45 LibreELEC sh[926]:  Main:        Listening on port 5900

Display More

Weird! My .service is like your, but like I said when I do systemctl status it doesn't show Memory: 1.0M (max: 100.0M

like your.

You have made alterations on /etc/systemd/system.conf?

**vpeter** · February 11, 2019 at 8:03 AM

No extra modifications except this service.

In which service you are trying to add this?

edjalmo · February 11, 2019 at 1:06 PM

Quote from vpeter

In which service you are trying to add this?

Jackett

**vpeter** · February 11, 2019 at 1:12 PM

Do you see Memory line with kodi service?

Code

LibreELEC:~ # systemctl status kodi -l |cat -
● kodi.service - Kodi Media Center
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/kodi.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-02-11 11:58:04 CET; 2h 14min ago
Process: 1113 ExecStopPost=/usr/lib/kodi/kodi-safe-mode (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1111 ExecStop=/bin/kill -TERM $MAINPID (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1115 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/kodi/kodi-config (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 1120 (kodi.sh)
Memory: 225.1M
CGroup: /system.slice/kodi.service
├─1120 /bin/sh /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.sh --standalone -fs
└─1124 /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.bin --standalone -fs

Display More

edjalmo · February 11, 2019 at 1:16 PM

Quote from vpeter

Do you see Memory line with kodi service?

No. Look:

Code

# systemctl status kodi -l |cat -
● kodi.service - Kodi Media Center
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/kodi.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Fri 2018-06-22 08:11:53 -03; 7 months 21 days ago
  Process: 500 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/kodi/kodi-config (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 515 (kodi.sh)
   CGroup: /system.slice/kodi.service
           ├─515 /bin/sh /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.sh --standalone -fs
           └─549 /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.bin --standalone -fs

Jun 22 08:11:53 LibreELEC systemd[1]: Starting Kodi Media Center...
Jun 22 08:11:53 LibreELEC systemd[1]: Started Kodi Media Center.

Display More

**vpeter** · February 11, 2019 at 1:23 PM

Well, then you are using LE 8.2 I assume.

Use LE 9 and you will see this line Or use MemoryLimit=100M argument Because this is supported with systemd 232.

edjalmo · February 11, 2019 at 1:28 PM

Quote from vpeter

Well, then you are using LE 8.2 I assume.

Use LE 9 and you will see this line Or use MemoryLimit=100M argument Because this is supported with systemd 232.

No. I'm in LE 9. Before I use LE 9 I'm was in beta version, so I update via own LE.

You think this has made something wrong?

How can I check which systemd version I'm on?

I tried MemoryLimit=100M argument too, and don't work. Does not show in status.

**vpeter** · February 11, 2019 at 1:29 PM

Code

systemctl --version

No idea how you could do something wrong

edjalmo · February 11, 2019 at 1:34 PM

Quote from vpeter

systemctl --version

Show this:

Code

systemctl --version
systemd 239
-PAM -AUDIT -SELINUX -IMA -APPARMOR -SMACK +SYSVINIT -UTMP -LIBCRYPTSETUP -GCRYPT -GNUTLS -ACL -XZ -LZ4 -SECCOMP +BLKID -ELFUTILS +KMOD -IDN2 -IDN -PCRE2 default-hierarchy=hybrid