Project 1: Service Health Dashboard

A real-time web dashboard that monitors all systemd services, shows their status, logs, resource usage, and lets you start/stop/restart services through a browser.

Quick Reference

Attribute Value
Primary Language Python
Alternative Languages Go, Rust
Difficulty Level 2: Intermediate
Time Estimate 1-2 weeks
Knowledge Area System Administration / IPC
Tooling D-Bus / Systemd API
Prerequisites Basic Linux administration, Python or Go, basic web development

What You Will Build

A real-time web dashboard that monitors all systemd services, shows their status, logs, resource usage, and lets you start/stop/restart services through a browser.

Why It Matters

This project builds core skills that appear repeatedly in real-world systems and tooling.

Core Challenges

  • Connecting to the system bus and calling systemd’s D-Bus methods (maps to D-Bus API)
  • Parsing unit properties and understanding what each means (maps to Unit structure)
  • Subscribing to real-time state change signals (maps to event-driven architecture)
  • Fetching and streaming journal logs for specific units (maps to journald)
  • Handling authentication/polkit for privileged operations (maps to Linux security)

Key Concepts

  • D-Bus fundamentals: “The Linux Programming Interface” Ch. 44 by Michael Kerrisk
  • systemd architecture: “How Linux Works, 3rd Edition” Ch. 6 by Brian Ward
  • Service states: `man systemd.service` (official documentation)
  • Python D-Bus: pystemd library documentation

Real-World Outcome

Deliver a working demo with observable output that proves the feature is correct.

Implementation Guide

  1. Reproduce the simplest happy-path scenario.
  2. Build the smallest working version of the core feature.
  3. Add input validation and error handling.
  4. Add instrumentation/logging to confirm behavior.
  5. Refactor into clean modules with tests.

Milestones

  • Milestone 1: Minimal working program that runs end-to-end.
  • Milestone 2: Correct outputs for typical inputs.
  • Milestone 3: Robust handling of edge cases.
  • Milestone 4: Clean structure and documented usage.

Validation Checklist

  • Output matches the real-world outcome example
  • Handles invalid inputs safely
  • Provides clear errors and exit codes
  • Repeatable results across runs

References

  • Main guide: SYSTEMD_LEARNING_PROJECTS.md
  • “Linux System Programming” by Robert Love