---
title: ''
description: Telegraf plugin for collecting metrics from Systemd-Units
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/input-plugins/systemd_units/
estimated_tokens: 3177
product: Telegraf Enterprise
version: v1
publisher: InfluxData
canonical: https://docs.influxdata.com/telegraf/v1/input-plugins/systemd_units/
date: '2026-05-21T20:10:18+02:00'
lastmod: '2026-05-21T20:10:18+02:00'
---

==========

* Telegraf v1.13.0+

[Plugin source](https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/tree/v1.39.1/plugins/inputs/systemd_units/)[Download configuration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/influxdata/telegraf/refs/tags/v1.39.1/plugins/inputs/systemd_units/sample.conf)

# Systemd-Units Input Plugin

This plugin gathers the status of systemd-units on Linux, using systemd’s DBus
interface.

> [!Note]
> This plugin requires systemd v230+!

**Introduced in:** Telegraf v1.13.0**Tags:** system**OS support:** linux

## Global configuration options

Plugins support additional global and plugin configuration settings for tasks
such as modifying metrics, tags, and fields, creating aliases, and configuring
plugin ordering. See [CONFIGURATION.md](/telegraf/v1/configuration/#plugins) for more details.

## Configuration

```toml
# Gather information about systemd-unit states
# This plugin ONLY supports Linux
[[inputs.systemd_units]]
  ## Pattern of units to collect
  ## A space-separated list of unit-patterns including wildcards determining
  ## the units to collect.
  ##  ex: pattern = "telegraf* influxdb* user@*"
  # pattern = "*"

  ## Filter for a specific unit type
  ## Available settings are: service, socket, target, device, mount,
  ## automount, swap, timer, path, slice and scope
  # unittype = "service"

  ## Collect system or user scoped units
  ##  ex: scope = "user"
  # scope = "system"

  ## Collect also units not loaded by systemd (disabled or static units)
  ## Enabling this feature might introduce significant load when used with
  ## unspecific patterns (such as '*') as systemd will need to load all
  ## matching unit files.
  # collect_disabled_units = false

  ## Collect detailed information for the units
  # details = false

  ## Timeout for state-collection
  # timeout = "5s"
```

This plugin supports two modes of operation:

### Non-detailed mode

This is the default mode, collecting data on the unit’s status only without
further details on the unit.

### Detailed mode

This mode can be enabled by setting the configuration option `details` to`true`. In this mode the plugin collects all information of the non-detailed
mode but provides additional unit information such as memory usage,
restart-counts, PID, etc. See the metrics section

### Load

Enumeration of [unit\_load\_state\_table](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/c87700a1335f489be31cd3549927da68b5638819/src/basic/unit-def.c#L87)

|Value|  Meaning  |Description|
|-----|-----------|-----------|
|  0  |  loaded   |unit is \~ |
|  1  |   stub    |unit is \~ |
|  2  | not-found |unit is \~ |
|  3  |bad-setting|unit is \~ |
|  4  |   error   |unit is \~ |
|  5  |  merged   |unit is \~ |
|  6  |  masked   |unit is \~ |

### Active

Enumeration of [unit\_active\_state\_table](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/c87700a1335f489be31cd3549927da68b5638819/src/basic/unit-def.c#L99)

|Value|  Meaning   |Description|
|-----|------------|-----------|
|  0  |   active   |unit is \~ |
|  1  | reloading  |unit is \~ |
|  2  |  inactive  |unit is \~ |
|  3  |   failed   |unit is \~ |
|  4  | activating |unit is \~ |
|  5  |deactivating|unit is \~ |

### Sub

enumeration of sub states, see various [unittype\_state\_tables](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/c87700a1335f489be31cd3549927da68b5638819/src/basic/unit-def.c#L163); duplicates
were removed, tables are hex aligned to keep some space for future values

|Value |         Meaning          |             Description             |
|------|--------------------------|-------------------------------------|
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0000|
|0x0000|         running          |             unit is \~              |
|0x0001|           dead           |             unit is \~              |
|0x0002|        start-pre         |             unit is \~              |
|0x0003|          start           |             unit is \~              |
|0x0004|          exited          |             unit is \~              |
|0x0005|          reload          |             unit is \~              |
|0x0006|           stop           |             unit is \~              |
|0x0007|      stop-watchdog       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0008|       stop-sigterm       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0009|       stop-sigkill       |             unit is \~              |
|0x000a|        stop-post         |             unit is \~              |
|0x000b|      final-sigterm       |             unit is \~              |
|0x000c|          failed          |             unit is \~              |
|0x000d|       auto-restart       |             unit is \~              |
|0x000e|        condition         |             unit is \~              |
|0x000f|         cleaning         |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0010|
|0x0010|         waiting          |             unit is \~              |
|0x0011|      reload-signal       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0012|      reload-notify       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0013|      final-watchdog      |             unit is \~              |
|0x0014| dead-before-auto-restart |             unit is \~              |
|0x0015|failed-before-auto-restart|             unit is \~              |
|0x0016|  dead-resources-pinned   |             unit is \~              |
|0x0017|   auto-restart-queued    |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0020|
|0x0020|        tentative         |             unit is \~              |
|0x0021|         plugged          |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0030|
|0x0030|         mounting         |             unit is \~              |
|0x0031|      mounting-done       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0032|         mounted          |             unit is \~              |
|0x0033|        remounting        |             unit is \~              |
|0x0034|        unmounting        |             unit is \~              |
|0x0035|    remounting-sigterm    |             unit is \~              |
|0x0036|    remounting-sigkill    |             unit is \~              |
|0x0037|    unmounting-sigterm    |             unit is \~              |
|0x0038|    unmounting-sigkill    |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0040|
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0050|
|0x0050|        abandoned         |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0060|
|0x0060|          active          |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0070|
|0x0070|       start-chown        |             unit is \~              |
|0x0071|        start-post        |             unit is \~              |
|0x0072|        listening         |             unit is \~              |
|0x0073|         stop-pre         |             unit is \~              |
|0x0074|     stop-pre-sigterm     |             unit is \~              |
|0x0075|     stop-pre-sigkill     |             unit is \~              |
|0x0076|      final-sigkill       |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0080|
|0x0080|        activating        |             unit is \~              |
|0x0081|     activating-done      |             unit is \~              |
|0x0082|       deactivating       |             unit is \~              |
|0x0083|   deactivating-sigterm   |             unit is \~              |
|0x0084|   deactivating-sigkill   |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x0090|
|      |                          |service\_state\_table start at 0x00a0|
|0x00a0|         elapsed          |             unit is \~              |
|      |                          |                                     |

## Example Output

### Output in non-detailed mode

```text
systemd_units,host=host1.example.com,name=dbus.service,load=loaded,active=active,sub=running,user=telegraf load_code=0i,active_code=0i,sub_code=0i 1533730725000000000
systemd_units,host=host1.example.com,name=networking.service,load=loaded,active=failed,sub=failed,user=telegraf load_code=0i,active_code=3i,sub_code=12i 1533730725000000000
systemd_units,host=host1.example.com,name=ssh.service,load=loaded,active=active,sub=running,user=telegraf load_code=0i,active_code=0i,sub_code=0i 1533730725000000000
```

### Output in detailed mode

```text
systemd_units,active=active,host=host1.example.com,load=loaded,name=dbus.service,sub=running,preset=disabled,state=static,user=telegraf active_code=0i,load_code=0i,mem_avail=6470856704i,mem_current=2691072i,mem_peak=3895296i,pid=481i,restarts=0i,status_errno=0i,sub_code=0i,swap_current=794624i,swap_peak=884736i 1533730725000000000
systemd_units,active=inactive,host=host1.example.com,load=not-found,name=networking.service,sub=dead,user=telegraf active_code=2i,load_code=2i,pid=0i,restarts=0i,status_errno=0i,sub_code=1i 1533730725000000000
systemd_units,active=active,host=host1.example.com,load=loaded,name=pcscd.service,sub=running,preset=disabled,state=indirect,user=telegraf active_code=0i,load_code=0i,mem_avail=6370541568i,mem_current=512000i,mem_peak=4399104i,pid=1673i,restarts=0i,status_errno=0i,sub_code=0i,swap_current=3149824i,swap_peak=3149824i 1533730725000000000
```
| Value | Meaning | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Value | Meaning | Description |
| 0 | loaded | unit is ~ |
| 1 | stub | unit is ~ |
| 2 | not-found | unit is ~ |
| 3 | bad-setting | unit is ~ |
| 4 | error | unit is ~ |
| 5 | merged | unit is ~ |
| 6 | masked | unit is ~ |

| Value | Meaning | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Value | Meaning | Description |
| 0 | active | unit is ~ |
| 1 | reloading | unit is ~ |
| 2 | inactive | unit is ~ |
| 3 | failed | unit is ~ |
| 4 | activating | unit is ~ |
| 5 | deactivating | unit is ~ |

| Value | Meaning | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Value | Meaning | Description |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0000 |
| 0x0000 | running | unit is ~ |
| 0x0001 | dead | unit is ~ |
| 0x0002 | start-pre | unit is ~ |
| 0x0003 | start | unit is ~ |
| 0x0004 | exited | unit is ~ |
| 0x0005 | reload | unit is ~ |
| 0x0006 | stop | unit is ~ |
| 0x0007 | stop-watchdog | unit is ~ |
| 0x0008 | stop-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x0009 | stop-sigkill | unit is ~ |
| 0x000a | stop-post | unit is ~ |
| 0x000b | final-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x000c | failed | unit is ~ |
| 0x000d | auto-restart | unit is ~ |
| 0x000e | condition | unit is ~ |
| 0x000f | cleaning | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0010 |
| 0x0010 | waiting | unit is ~ |
| 0x0011 | reload-signal | unit is ~ |
| 0x0012 | reload-notify | unit is ~ |
| 0x0013 | final-watchdog | unit is ~ |
| 0x0014 | dead-before-auto-restart | unit is ~ |
| 0x0015 | failed-before-auto-restart | unit is ~ |
| 0x0016 | dead-resources-pinned | unit is ~ |
| 0x0017 | auto-restart-queued | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0020 |
| 0x0020 | tentative | unit is ~ |
| 0x0021 | plugged | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0030 |
| 0x0030 | mounting | unit is ~ |
| 0x0031 | mounting-done | unit is ~ |
| 0x0032 | mounted | unit is ~ |
| 0x0033 | remounting | unit is ~ |
| 0x0034 | unmounting | unit is ~ |
| 0x0035 | remounting-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x0036 | remounting-sigkill | unit is ~ |
| 0x0037 | unmounting-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x0038 | unmounting-sigkill | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0040 |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0050 |
| 0x0050 | abandoned | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0060 |
| 0x0060 | active | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0070 |
| 0x0070 | start-chown | unit is ~ |
| 0x0071 | start-post | unit is ~ |
| 0x0072 | listening | unit is ~ |
| 0x0073 | stop-pre | unit is ~ |
| 0x0074 | stop-pre-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x0075 | stop-pre-sigkill | unit is ~ |
| 0x0076 | final-sigkill | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0080 |
| 0x0080 | activating | unit is ~ |
| 0x0081 | activating-done | unit is ~ |
| 0x0082 | deactivating | unit is ~ |
| 0x0083 | deactivating-sigterm | unit is ~ |
| 0x0084 | deactivating-sigkill | unit is ~ |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x0090 |
|  |  | service_state_table start at 0x00a0 |
| 0x00a0 | elapsed | unit is ~ |
|  |  |  |