These are the best references I've found thus far, though they may be somewhat daunting for the systemd novice. The first one discusses the contents of the systemd unit file (all types: service, socket, and so on). https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/understanding-systemd-units... The second deals with working with systemd services and its journal (using systemctl and journalctl). https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/systemd-essentials-working-... Each of these topics is discussed separately in: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-systemctl-to-man... https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-journalctl-to-vi...