Managing and Checking Timers

When did it run? When will it?

systemctl list-timers is the dashboard: NEXT and LEFT show the next run, LAST and PASSED the previous one, and UNIT/ACTIVATES the timer and the service it starts:

systemctl list-timers --all --no-pager

In the terminal

student@vulntech:~$ systemctl list-timers --all --no-pager
NEXT              LEFT          LAST PASSED UNIT              ACTIVATES
Sun 2026-10-18 0… 5min left     -    -      systemd-tmpfiles… systemd-tmpfiles-…
Mon 2026-10-19 0… 16h left      -    -      dpkg-db-backup.t… dpkg-db-backup.se…
Mon 2026-10-19 0… 16h left      -    -      report.timer      report.service
Mon 2026-10-19 0… 1 day 2h left -    -      man-db.timer      man-db.service
-                 -             -    -      apt-daily-upgrad…
-                 -             -    -      apt-daily.timer
-                 -             -    -      e2scrub_all.timer
-                 -             -    -      fstrim.timer

8 timers listed.

The job's own logs

Because the timer starts a service, the job's output is in the journal under the service's name — so you check whether scheduled work actually succeeded exactly as for any other service:

sudo journalctl -u report.service --no-pager -n 5
systemctl status report.timer --no-pager

In the terminal

student@vulntech:~$ sudo journalctl -u report.service --no-pager -n 5
[sudo] password for student:
Oct 18 07:06:16 vulntech systemd[1]: Starting report.service - Report...
Oct 18 07:06:16 vulntech sh[598]: ran report
Oct 18 07:06:17 vulntech systemd[1]: report.service: Deactivated successfully.
Oct 18 07:06:17 vulntech systemd[1]: Finished report.service - Report.
student@vulntech:~$ systemctl status report.timer --no-pager
● report.timer - Daily report
     Loaded: loaded (]8;;file://vulntech/etc/systemd/system/report.timer/etc/systemd/system/report.timer]8;;; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (waiting) since Sun 2026-10-18 07:06:19 UTC; 51s ago
    Trigger: Mon 2026-10-19 00:00:00 UTC; 16h left
   Triggers: ● report.service

Turning a timer off

To stop a scheduled job, stop and disable the timer — stop ends it now, disable keeps it from coming back at boot:

sudo systemctl disable --now report.timer
systemctl is-active report.timer
systemctl is-enabled report.timer

In the terminal (disable --now makes it both inactive and disabled, so both checks print the 'off' state)

student@vulntech:~$ sudo systemctl disable --now report.timer
[sudo] password for student:
Removed "/etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/report.timer".
student@vulntech:~$ systemctl is-active report.timer
inactive
student@vulntech:~$ systemctl is-enabled report.timer
disabled

Remember: systemctl list-timers --all shows next/last run; sudo journalctl -u NAME.service shows what a scheduled job did; systemctl disable --now NAME.timer turns a timer off now and at boot.