Starting a systemd service via python

Question

Is there a way to start/restart a systemd service via python?

I know that I can make a system call - but then I also could write this in shell script...

from subprocess import call
call(["systemctl", "restart service"])

I heared systemd has some python binds, but as far as I saw it they only cover the journal

Answer 1

You can use systemd's DBus API to call the RestartUnit method of the Manager (need of sufficient privileges, else it won't work)

import dbus
sysbus = dbus.SystemBus()
systemd1 = sysbus.get_object('org.freedesktop.systemd1', '/org/freedesktop/systemd1')
manager = dbus.Interface(systemd1, 'org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager')
job = manager.RestartUnit('sshd.service', 'fail')