Problem with systemctl --root= option in RHEL/CentOS 7

[imperilaguy]

It is my understanding that --root= option in systemctl command is used to explicitly specify an alternate root path to find the service unit files.

On RHEL/CentOS 7, the following error occurs when attempting to use the above mentioned systemctl option:

[root@server-02 system]# systemctl --root=/myservices/mds start xyz.service
Failed to get D-Bus connection: Operation not permitted

The above command is run as root.

So, the idea behind the above command is that I am telling systemctl to find the service called xyz.service in the path /myservices/mds, as opposed to the default search paths like /etc/systemd/system or /run/systemd/system

Any idea why this is not working? If --root is not going to work, is there any other way to specify a custom search path?

Would really appreciate the help.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @imperilaguy and welcome to linux.org

CentOS is not in my repertoire, but there are others here whom can likely assist.

A question, though - when you are Root, sudo is not required, have you tried it without?

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz