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For on-premise installations, VARIOS AI provides the varios.sh script. It runs in the background, watches the update_version file, and automatically performs an update when a new target version is set (pull Docker images, restart containers, run migration scripts). To ensure the update helper starts reliably after a server reboot, you can register it as a systemd service.
Docker must be installed and startable. After=docker.service defines startup order; Wants=docker.service starts Docker when this service starts — even if Docker is not enabled for boot. We also recommend systemctl enable docker.service for server reboots. The service runs varios.sh --daemon directly — output goes to journald, not varios.log.

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Service file

Set WorkingDirectory to the directory containing varios.sh:
varios-update.service
[Unit]
Description=Start varios.sh
After=docker.service
Wants=docker.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/bin/sh ./varios.sh --daemon
WorkingDirectory=/docker/varios/

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

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Setup

1

Adjust WorkingDirectory

Set WorkingDirectory in varios-update.service to the absolute path of the VARIOS installation directory containing varios.sh, docker-compose.yml, and .env (e.g. /docker/varios/).
2

Install the service file and reload systemd

cp varios-update.service /etc/systemd/system/
systemctl daemon-reload
Without daemon-reload, systemd will not pick up the new service file — enable or start will fail.
3

Enable and start the service

systemctl enable --now varios-update.service
4

Verify the setup

systemctl status varios-update.service
The status should show active (running).
Follow logs live: journalctl -u varios-update.service -f

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Operations

Control the helper only via systemd — not via ./varios.sh --stop. The systemd service runs varios.sh --daemon directly in the foreground and does not create varios.pid. ./varios.sh --stop only works if the helper was previously started manually without systemd. 
# Check status
systemctl status varios-update.service

# Stop update monitoring (e.g. before maintenance)
systemctl stop varios-update.service

# Start update monitoring again
systemctl start varios-update.service

# Disable autostart (service keeps running until stopped)
systemctl disable varios-update.service
systemctl stop stops update monitoring. Any in-flight docker compose commands during an update may be interrupted, because systemd terminates the service process and its child processes (KillMode=control-group).

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Logs and troubleshooting

SourceCommandContent
systemd (primary)journalctl -u varios-update.service -fUpdate checks, update flow, errors
systemd (recent entries)journalctl -u varios-update.service -n 50 --no-pagerRecent history for troubleshooting
varios.log and varios.pid are only created when you start ./varios.sh without systemd — not when operating via this service.

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Common checks

  • Is Docker running? systemctl status docker.service
  • Does WorkingDirectory point to the installation directory?
  • Was systemctl daemon-reload run after copying the service file?
  • Details: journalctl -u varios-update.service -n 50 --no-pager
  • Does .env contain the current VERSION=?
  • Does update_version contain a different target version?
  • Check the log: journalctl -u varios-update.service -f
  • Check for an additionally started manual helper: pgrep -af varios.sh
  • Stop manually started helper: ./varios.sh --stop (only if varios.pid exists)
  • Stop systemd-managed helper: systemctl stop varios-update.service