Configuring a process to run as a service

Once the general settings are set using the service manager console application, you are ready to start adding programs to the service manager's execution list. Each application (EXE program, script, batch file, etc) you configure will be individually started, stopped, and monitored as specified by the settings you designate per application.



Step 1: Adding a user program to run as a service.

To add a new program to the service manager list, press the "Add" button. Please see the following figure:




When you press the Add button, a new dialog will be displayed that will allow you to specify per process settings for your program.





Step 2: Specify per-process program settings

If you pressed the Add button as specified in step 1, the following dialog will be displayed:





The following sections will describe the settings available in this dialog:



Command Line:

Use this edit field to specify the full path command line for your program. Also include any command line parameters your application may require.



Working Directory:

Use this edit field to specify the full path of the working directory for your program.



Enable this application:

This setting must be enabled for your application to be managed by the service manager service.



Show user interface:

If your application has a consol or GUI main window, enable this setting so the main consol window or main application window gets displayed when your application is started. Generally you will want this setting to be disabled.



Use named event for process termination:

If this setting is enabled, the service manager will create a Windows "named event" object when it starts your process. This named event can be used by your program to detect process termination requests by the service manager. If enabled, the service manager will pass the additional  "-ExitEvent event_name" command line parameter to your program. The service manager will then set the named event that is specified by the "event_name" part of the command line parameter when it wants your program to terminate. Your application can then monitor this named event to determine when it should terminate processing. This capability is most useful if you are developing your own application that will be managed by the service manager. It allows your application to detect exactly when the service manager wants to terminate your application. Using a named event is generally more suitable relative to other termination methods such as sending a GUI application a WM_CLOSE windows message or sending Ctrl+C to your console based application.



Restart the application if its process terminates:

Enable this setting if you want the service manager to restart your application in the event that your application crashes or causes an unhandled exception.



Monitor unhandled application exceptions:

Enable this setting if you want the service manager to trap unhandled application exceptions. Enabling this setting will allow the most robust execution and monitoring of your application. If your application generates an unhandled exception, the service manager will terminate your application if required and restart your application if "application restarting" has been enabled. Application exceptions that are detected are written to the log file and to the remote log server if enabled.



Periodically restart this application:

If enabled, the service manager will restart your application at the specified time interval. This capability is useful for application that may have resource or memory leaks that occur over time. Restarting applications that have these issues will allow the host server to reclaim possibly lost system memory an other resources.



Milliseconds to pause before starting next application:

This setting is used at service startup. It allows you to specify a delay that will be applied immediately after your program is started.



Milliseconds to pause before terminating this application:

Allows you to specify the time the service manager should wait for your program to terminate. If your program does not terminate in this amount of time, the service manager will forcefully terminate your application process. Note: Make sure you set this value to a reasonable value. Terminating a process forcefully can cause file data to not be flushed.