Installation of 4D Server as a Service on Windows 2000 Server
By Steve Hartman, 4D Technical Support
Technical Note 00-56
Technical Notes for Technical Notes for 00-12 December 2000
Introduction
With the release of Windows 2000, some 4D shops will opt to run their 4D databases as a service on Windows 2000 Server. The advantage of registering 4D Server as a service is that there is no need to launch the 4D Server independently. It will automatically launch when the Windows 2000 server boots up. The following technical note details the steps for registering 4D Server as a Service and some of the Service configuration options available in Windows 2000.
Installing 4D Server as a Service:
When setting up 4D Server as a service, first make sure the application resides in a folder whose path name does not contain any spaces or special characters. Launch the database under the Local System profile as you would normally and choose Register as Service from the File menu.
Figure 1
In most cases, the default configuration of services will allow the service to operate normally. The Windows 2000 services is located in the Microsoft Management Console. The (MMC) console is the snap-in that lets you start and stop services that are installed or running on your Windows 2000 computer. For a quick access Services, choose Start->Programs->Administrative Tools->Services.
Figure 2
You can see information about the 4D Server service installed on your computer, including name, description, status, startup type, and the account the service uses to log on in the Details pane (Figure 3) of the Services MMC console snap-in. Windows 2000 Server allows you to add a brief description of the service (so you don't accidentally disable something important).
Figure 3
To configure the 4D Server service, follow these steps:
1. Double-click the 4D Server service, or right –click it and choose Properties from the menu to open the Properties dialog box for the service.
2. Use the options on the General tab to change the description and even the display name of the service. You can change the description of the service to something meaningful, such as "Do not stop this service under any circumstances." This tab will also allow you to change the status or the start-up value.
3. To change the security context (to have the service log on as a particular user) or to change the password of the user account the service uses, select the Log On tab.
The Recovery tab, shown in Figure 7, displays a set of options, including what to do if the service fails. In addition to choosing the response (from Take No Action all the way to Reboot The Computer) that will occur on the first, second, and subsequent attempts, you can provide the details. You use the Dependencies tab to find out which services depend on this one and which services this one depends on. This is good to know before you stop the service. In NT 4 you had no way of knowing about dependencies (other than from experience or through a separate Resource Kit application) until you tried to stop the service.
NOTE: When you right-click a service, in addition to Stop, Start, Pause, and Resume, there's a Restart option. Choosing Restart causes Windows 2000 to stop a service and then start it again with just one click, a great time-saver compared with NT 4, in which you had to first stop the service, then wait for the service to stop, and then start it again.
Service Properties
You can view and configure properties for the 4D Server service installed on your computer. Right-click the service and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
Figure 4
The Service Properties dialog box has four tabs, General, Logon, Recovery, and Dependencies.
The General tab (Figure 5) lets you view and configure general items, such as the display name, description, startup type, status (started, stopped, or paused), and start parameters. You can also click the appropriate button to start, stop, pause, or resume the 4D Server service. Also lets you enter parameters to apply when the service is started.
Figure 5
The Log On tab (Figure 6) allows you to specify an account the 4D uses to log on. This can be either the Local System account or a user account you specify. In order to administer 4D server, it needs to be logged on as a Local System account. The interaction with the desktop option is part of the Local System account and if the 4D Server service does not have the "Allow service to interact with desktop" checkbox checked, the 4D Server administration window will be invisible and you will not be able to administer 4D Server. If the box is unchecked, 4D Server will not be seen on the desktop. You can also choose to provide a user interface that anyone logged on to the computer can use to interact with the service. Finally, you can enable or disable the service for specific hardware profiles you have set up on your computer by selecting a profile in the list and clicking Enable or Disable, respectively.
Figure 6
The Recovery tab (Figure 7) lets you specify an action Windows 2000 should take if the 4D Server service fails. You can specify different actions for the first, second, and subsequent failures. The default action varies from service to service. Available options include Take No Action, Run A File, Restart The Service, and Reboot The Computer. If you select "Run a File", you must specify in the Run File area of the dialog box the file you want Windows to run. If you select "Restart the Service", specify the number of minutes that should elapse before the service restarts. On the Recovery tab, you can also specify the number of days that should pass before Windows resets the fail count.
Figure 7
If you select "Reboot the Computer", click "Restart Computer Options" (Figure 7a) to specify the number of minutes that should elapse before the computer reboots and whether you want a custom message sent to network users before the computer reboots.
Figure 7a
The Dependencies tab (Figure 8) lets you view any services that depend on the currently selected service and any services on which the currently selected service depends. This information can help with troubleshooting service-related problems. Notice that 4D Server depends on the Print Spooler service. This is why a default printer must be installed for 4D Server to launch as a service.
Figure 8
Summary
With the release of Windows 2000, some 4D shops will opt to run their 4D databases as a service on Windows 2000 Server. The advantage of registering 4D Server as a service is that there is no need to launch the 4D Server independently. It will automatically launch when the Windows 2000 server boots up This technical note detailed the steps for registering 4D Server as a Service and some of the Service configuration options available in Windows 2000.