systemd Service — Odoo On-Premise

Why use systemd?

Running Odoo directly in the terminal means it stops when you close the SSH session. systemd solves this by managing Odoo as a proper Linux service.

🔄 Auto-restart

Automatically restarts Odoo if it crashes or exits unexpectedly

⚡ Boot startup

Starts Odoo automatically when the server reboots

📋 Centralized logs

All output captured by journalctl, available system-wide

🔒 Dependency ordering

Ensures PostgreSQL is running before Odoo starts

Create the Service File

Create the systemd unit file at /etc/systemd/system/odoo.service.

bash

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/odoo.service

Paste the following unit configuration.

ini

[Unit]
Description=Odoo
Documentation=https://www.odoo.com/documentation
After=network.target postgresql.service
Requires=postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=simple

User=odoo
Group=odoo

WorkingDirectory=/opt/odoo/community
Environment="PATH=/opt/odoo/venv/bin"

ExecStart=/opt/odoo/venv/bin/python3 /opt/odoo/community/odoo-bin \
    -c /etc/odoo/odoo.conf

Restart=always
RestartSec=5
TimeoutStopSec=60

StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Virtual environment in ExecStart

Using the full path to the virtual environment's Python interpreter ensures Odoo always runs with the correct Python version and all installed packages, regardless of what is set in PATH.

Directive Reference

Directive	Value	Purpose
`After=postgresql.service`	—	Start Odoo only after PostgreSQL is ready
`Requires=postgresql.service`	—	Stop Odoo if PostgreSQL stops
`User / Group`	`odoo`	Run the process as the non-root `odoo` user
`Environment=PATH`	venv bin dir	Ensure the virtual environment executables are used
`Restart=always`	—	Restart automatically after any exit
`RestartSec=5`	5 seconds	Wait 5 seconds before attempting restart
`TimeoutStopSec=60`	60 seconds	Allow up to 60 seconds for graceful shutdown
`StandardOutput=journal`	—	Send stdout to systemd journal (accessible via `journalctl`)

Enable and Start the Service

Reload systemd to pick up the new unit file, then enable and start the service.

bash

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl enable odoo

sudo systemctl start odoo

Useful Service Commands

bash

sudo systemctl status odoo --no-pager

sudo systemctl restart odoo

sudo systemctl stop odoo

journalctl -u odoo -n 50 --no-pager

journalctl -u odoo -f

Verification

bash

sudo systemctl is-enabled odoo
sudo systemctl status odoo --no-pager
curl -I http://127.0.0.1:8069/web/login

✓ systemctl is-enabled odoo returns enabled
✓ systemctl status odoo shows active (running)
✓ curl to port 8069 returns HTTP 200 or 303
✓ Logs visible via journalctl -u odoo

Common Issues

Problem	Likely Cause	Resolution
Service fails immediately	Incorrect `ExecStart` path	Verify the virtual environment Python path: `which python` inside `source venv/bin/activate`
Permission denied	Wrong file ownership	Ensure `/opt/odoo` and `/etc/odoo` are owned by the `odoo` user
Python module missing	Wrong interpreter	Confirm `ExecStart` uses the venv Python, not `/usr/bin/python3`
PostgreSQL not found	DB service not started	Run `sudo systemctl start postgresql` first

Never run Odoo as root

Running Odoo as the root user is a significant security risk. Always use a dedicated odoo Linux user with only the minimum permissions required.