🔐 New: A CISO’s benchmark for authorization maturity ➔ [Download the ebook](https://solutions.cerbos.dev/authorization-maturity-model-a-cisos-benchmark)

# Run Cerbos as a systemd service

Run the Cerbos PDP as a managed systemd service on any Linux host with automatic restarts and logging.

[Systemd deployment guide](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/deployment/systemd)

### Process management

Automatic restarts, dependency ordering, and resource limits managed by systemd

### Journal logging

Cerbos logs integrate with the systemd journal for centralized log management

### No container required

Run Cerbos as a native binary without Docker or any container runtime

## What is Cerbos?

Cerbos is an open-source authorization layer that decouples access control from your application code. It runs as a stateless Policy Decision Point (PDP) that evaluates fine-grained policies at request time.

Authorization policies are written in human-readable YAML supporting [RBAC](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/rbac/index.html), [ABAC](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/abac/index.html), and [conditional rules](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/pbac/index.html). They can be updated, tested, and deployed independently of your application.

Deploying Cerbos via Systemd gives you a production-ready authorization service that scales horizontally and fits naturally into your existing infrastructure and observability stack.

[Policy-as-code Human-readable YAML policies managed like source code](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/human-readable-authorization/index.html) [Scalable PDP Stateless policy decision point with sub-millisecond latency](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/scalability/index.html) [Centralized management Manage, test, and deploy policies from a single control plane](/content/features-benefits-and-use-cases/centralized-management/index.html)

### How to run Cerbos as a systemd service

1. **Download the Cerbos binary**, Grab the latest static binary from the Cerbos releases page for your architecture.
2. **Create a Cerbos configuration file**, Configure your policy source, server settings, and logging preferences in a YAML config file.
3. **Create a systemd unit file**, Define a service unit that runs the Cerbos binary with your configuration, with restart and resource limit policies.
4. **Enable and start the service**, Run `systemctl enable --now cerbos` to start Cerbos and ensure it starts on boot.

## FAQ

### How do I run Cerbos as a systemd service?

Download the Cerbos binary, create a systemd unit file that points to your Cerbos configuration, then enable and start the service with systemctl. Cerbos will run as a managed background process with automatic restarts.

### Does Cerbos require any external dependencies?

No. Cerbos is a single static binary with no external dependencies. It requires no database, message queue, or container runtime.

### How do I view Cerbos logs with systemd?

Use `journalctl -u cerbos` to view Cerbos logs through the standard systemd journal. Cerbos supports structured JSON logging for integration with log aggregation tools.

## Cerbos + Systemd

- Cerbos runs alongside your workloads in Systemd
- No external databases or message queues required
- Built-in metrics, distributed tracing, and structured logging
- Stateless PDP instances scale horizontally