Modifying the Orchid systemd Service File in Linux

Orchid installers for all Linux distributions other than Ubuntu 14.04 use the systemd software suite to manage the Orchid Core VMS and Orchid ONVIF Autodiscovery services.

Orchid systemd services are provided and fully configured by the Orchid Core VMS installer, but in certain circumstances it may be useful to modify the Orchid service to specify custom configuration options, such as increasing the maximum number of threads that Linux will allow Orchid to use (occasionally necessary for very large installations).

While it is possible (though not recommended) to modify Orchid Core VMS's service file directly at /etc/systemd/system/orchid.service, any modifications to this file will be overwritten with default values whenever Orchid Core VMS is upgraded.  Follow the steps below to override or provide additional systemd options that will be persistent across upgrades:

Create an orchid.service.d directory parallel to your orchid.service file:

$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/orchid.service.d

Create a .conf file in this directory with the systemd variables (and sections) you need to add or override.  For example, the following /etc/systemd/system/orchid.service.d/override.conf file can be used to increase the default OS resource limits for very large Orchid installations (200+ cameras):

[Service]
LimitNOFILE=65535
TasksMax=infinity

After creating the override file, reload systemd and restart the Orchid Core VMS service for the change to take effect:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl restart orchid.service