We have automatically started service which in some cases spends a lot of the time loading necessary data, let's say 10 minutes. During this time it works as expected (processing some huge data files required to start). I report the progess by C++ SetServiceStatus function, it is working fine.
This service is not dependent on anything and has only one dependency which is again our own service. It is started after those 10 minutes, it needs the first "server" service to be fully running to accept the requests.
I thought that windows would start all other automatic services (in less then 10 minutes as usually) and then start working normally but system is completely blocked during startup (i can't login to computer or ping the computer) until this one specific service is started (reports SERVICE_RUNNING by SetServiceStatus). When out service completely starts, the other missing system services (required for network, remote desktop, whatever, it's quite random) are also started. Is this normal behaviour? Why are non-depending processes (as remote desktop, network connections, etc.) waiting for this process? Am I missing something?
I tried to add some dependencies to postpone the startup of my service but I ended up with many dependencies and behaviour still somehow random (as order of services is random). Sometimes I was able to login but for example Start button started working only after those 10 minutes when my service was started. I am not sure what is "the last service" to depend on and what services to include to my depend-list and on some computers this services can be disabled and it can bring new problems... so I don't like this solution very much.
Another option was Delayed start option for our service. This should start service when all other automatic services are running. Well, this works fine, windows boots, computer running and responding, our service is started, but the performance is very bad, many times slower than usually, it seems that delayed started services have much lower priority or something like that.
My only current solution is to report to system that my service is running (by SetServiceStatus function), but to continue loading (this works, I tested it). But then we have problem with our dependent service as it needs to be started when the first one is really ready. It can be solved but I still wonder how is this possible and if there is something I could use to keep the current state of automatic started service which reports "started" when it is really fully started and prepared to work. Thanks for any ideas.
Set SERVICE_RUNNING as soon as possible, and then continue processing in background. Make your other service resilient to the first service being in a running state, but not yet ready to service.
The longer the service is in the starting state the more problems we get from different windows versions.
Related
I have a problem with a web service that is installed and started with a .msi that is created with the WiX toolset.
The service can be installed and started on all the machines I tested so far (shown as running in the Services Manager) but on some machines it is not reachable (for example via a browser) and not shown in the list of listening ports on that machine (displayed with 'netstat -a').
I am trying to figure out what's going wrong but I am not really familiar with web service development and configuration. It's a third party service, thus I don't know how it works internally.
A good starting point for me would be to find out, what exactly happens when a service is installed and started during the execution of the .msi-file.
Maybe I could try to tackle the problem on a lower level then.
Below is my code in the ServiceInstall-Element:
<ServiceInstall
Id="ServiceID"
Type="ownProcess"
Vital="yes"
Name="ServiceName"
DisplayName="ServiceDisplayName"
Description="Lorem Ipsum"
Start="auto"
Account="LocalSystem"
ErrorControl="normal"
Interactive="no"
Arguments="action=run">
</ServiceInstall>
The argument is important - without it, the service won't start or run.
Maybe someone else encounterd the same or a similar problem and can help me out.
Thanks already in advance - each hint is appreciated.
EDIT I (15.04.18):
As it might be a problem with the specific service, I will add some further information here:
It's a third party software called CryptoLicensing:
http://www.ssware.com/cryptolicensing/cryptolicensing_net.htm
Part of this software is that specific program, that serves as a License Server and does the license registration, for example in a customer's network.
The service can be run as a Windows application or installed and run as a Windows service. In both cases it should be listening on a (pre-)specified port on the installed machine.
Whenever I start the .exe as an application, everything works as intended. The service is reachable (for example with the browser) and can be accessed from other machines in the network.
When the .exe is installed and started as a service, it does not work as intended on every machine. For example if I install and start the service on my laptop, it is shown as running in the Services Manager, but is not reachable on its assigned URL (not even on the localhost) nor is the specific port displayed in the active listening ports, for example with 'netstat -a'.
The service itself starts without any error messages and does not log any errors or exceptions as it seems to be running without any problems.
I contacted the vendor, but sometimes he doesn't reply quickly and he is not very specific in his replies.
Before asking the question I assumed that it was a problem with the Windows user rights and the WiX installer but during the discussion here I had the feeling that it might a problem with the service itself.
I hope this 'new' piece of information helps in isolating and location the problem.
Thanks to everyone who helped so far!
Hopefully not stating the obvious here, but WiX doesn't do much except populate the ServiceInstall table in the MSI file, so this is about why Windows Installer won't start the service. ServiceInstall table:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa371637(v=vs.85).aspx
Also, this isn't really about ServiceInstall - it's probably about the ServiceControl element in your WiX source, but it's not clear whether that's how you're starting it or if you're starting it manually later on. That does make a difference. What is the error message and where are you getting it, and is it a 1920 or 1921 error (in the context of ServiceControl).
The main reason a service will start on one system but not another is missing dependencies. If your service is C++ based (the post doesn't say) then there are probably dependencies on C runtimes, UCRT runtimes, MFC or ATL runtimes and so on.
First: are you sure this service is intended to run as LocalSystem? (MSDN, SO).
Second: did you check the event logs in detail for anything obvious? If the service is good you should find a hint at least. Something to start with. I find that I sometimes miss the actual logs in the event viewer because it is so "crowded". My take on it: empty the log and stop and restart the service.
Something locking / blocking: If the service installs and runs OK I would suspect other factors such as firewalls (hardware & software), security software in general (anti-virus, malware scanners), network configuration issues (proxies, WINS, DNS and all the complexities involved in networking). Is the service trying to reach an UNC path?
Diverse Machines: What are the target machines? Are they virtual, are they physical, are they test machines, are they operative SOE machines in corporate networks? Are they the same OS version and edition?
Further Ideas: It is not quite related, but maybe skim this list of suggestions for debugging from another answer (I am not sure why it was down-voted, I think it is an OK list to inspire debugging ideas): Windows Application Startup Error Exception code: 0xe0434352 (maybe just skim the bolded words for ideas - Recommended).
sc.exe: And finally, perhaps check the sc.exe tool (Service Control) and see if it can provide you with some useful information for debugging.
sc.exe in the context of killing hung services (sample use).
sc.exe from MSDN
Some further links:
Windows Services Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Content seems to be up to date - at face value at least. These guys claim to be experts on services. I have no idea who they are.
Essential Tools for Windows Services: SC.EXE
Run Service Control (sc.exe) command on secure port
After almost 20 months we finally (and accidentally) found a solution to the problem! For the few machines, on which the service did not run properly, setting the NoInteractiveServices value in the registry to 0 did the trick. A value of 1 (which is default) means that no service is allowed to run interactively, regardless of whether it has the SERVICE_INTERACTIVE_PROCESS property. More information on Interactive Services.
I am not completely satisfied with the solution, because on all the other machines NoInteractiveServices is set to 1 AND the service runs properly anyway. However, on the machines where the service did not run interactively this solution worked for us. Thus I will accept this as an answer.
If anyone has more information on this issue and can explain why this works, feel free to
add them - I would be very interested!
I am using Coldfusion MX8 server and one of the scheduled task was running from 2 years but now suddenly from 01/12/2014 scheduled tasks are not running. When i browsed the file in browser then the file is running successfully without error.
I am not sure is there any updatation or license expiration problem. I am aware that mid of this year Adobe closed the support for coldfusion 8.
The first most common problem of this problem is external to the server. When you say you browsed to the file and it worked in a browser, it is very important to know if that test was performed on the server desktop. Knowing that you can browse to the file from your desktop or laptop is of small value.
The most common source of issues like this is a change in the DNS or network stack that is interfereing with resolution. For example, if the internal DNS serving your DMZ suddenly starts serving the "external" address - suddenly your server can't browse to your domain. Or if the IP served by the server for the domain in question goes from being 127.0.0.1 to some other IP that the server can't acces correctly due to reverse proxy or LB or some other rule. Finally, sometimes the Apache or IIS is altered so that an IP that previously was serviced (127.0.0.1 being the most common example) now does not respond.
If it is something intrinsic to the scheduler service then Frank's advice is pretty good - especially look for "proxy schduler" entries in the log - they can give you good clues. I would also log results of a scheduled task to a file. Then check the file. If it exists then your scheduled tasks ARE running - they are just not succeeding. Good luck!
I've seen the cf scheduling service crash in CF8. The rest of CF is unaffected.
Have you tried restarting the server?
Here are your concerns:
Your File (works since you tested it manually).
Your Scheduled Task (failed).
Your Coldfusion Application (Service) (any changes here)?
Your Server (what about here).
To test your problem create a duplicate task and schedule it. Leave the other one in place (maybe set your new one to run earlier). Use the same file too. See if it completes.
If it doesn't then you have a larger problem. Since the Coldfusion Server sits atop of the JVM there could be something happening there. Things just don't stop working unless something got corrupted or you got compromised. If you hardened your server by rearranging/renaming the file structure to make it more secure...It would break your task.
So going back: if your test schedule works then determine what is different between the two. Note you have logging capabilities. Logging abilities for CF8
If you are not directly incharge of maintaining this server, then I would recommend asking around and see if there was recent maintenance, if so, what was done to the server?
I have a fairly large Windows application (about 10 years old, written in c++) which works with SQL2000 Express (MSDE). It operates with database pretty extensively, but doesn't have performance issues. Due to SQL2000 MSDE compatibility issues with Windows 7/8 I want to migrate the application to SQL2014 Express.
All database access code is written in t/sql and as such the application migrates to SQL2014 without any code changes and all features work as expected. Except it's so badly slow it makes no sense to use the application under SQL2014. All select/update/insert queries take about 5-20 times more time to execute.
These are connection strings that I tried:
Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=localhost\app;User ID=app_user;Password=password;
Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=localhost\app;Trusted_Connection=yes;
I don't convert SQL2000 database to 2014 as the application creates a new database from scratch from scripts on its first run. Nothing fails, the default DB size is 12MB, the schema is pretty well optimised.
I also tried the same under SQL2008R2 Express - it's as slow as SQL2014 Express. Tried different PCs under Windows 7/8/8.1 - all the same.
The main detail which I noticed is that when I run the application under SQL2014 the most CPU consuming process in Windows Task Manager is "Local Security Authority Process". This process doesn't appear in Task Manager at all when I run it under SQL2000 MSDE and the application runs much faster. I guess LSA may be very heavy processing my "open connection" requests, but I don't know what to do about it.
The application is written is a way that it doesn't keep connections open, but creates them on demand and then releases. I tried to run SQL 2014 service under different accounts - it made no difference.
This process doesn't appear in Task Manager at all when I run it under SQL2000 MSDE and the application runs much faster. I guess LSA may be very heavy processing my "open connection" requests, but I don't know what to do about it.
Typically, lsass.exe (LSA) been used by IPSEC Services(PolicyAgent),
ProtectedStorage and Security Accounts Manager(SamSs)
Try to disable IPSEC Services(PolicyAgent)
I inherited a coldfusion MX7 application that has a long running process, which the user kicked by accident.
By my calculations, at the current rate, the job will run for 3 days.
There doesnt seem to be a way through the administrator interface to stop a job that is running.
The table that is being filled can be easily repopulated, so I would think stopping the coldfusion service wont effect anything except the table, which isnt a problem.
Am I right? Is that safe? Is there another way?
a one-time restart of the service should be fine. for the future, you may want to add a required url param or other such safety mechanism to keep this long process from accidentally going off.
Check to see if the task already has an explicit timeout out set
Explicit Timeout
Otherwise the default page time out is used
Server Settings
For newer versions of ColdFusion 8 and above, you can kill a running page with with the Server Monitor in the section labeled "Aborting unresponsive or troublesome requests/threads"
Using server monitor.
It also may be possible to stop the processing by killing the SQL Server Task:
Is there a task manager of sorts for SQL Server 2008 and on?
I need a way to download ( from a server ) and execute a file every month automatically and invisibly to the user.
How can I do that ?
Don't blindly check for updates on a schedule. Instead, check when the user starts your application (every time, or every 10th time, or every 30th day, but only when the app gets used).
Users hate it when an application they aren't running is taking up resources.
As Steve Jessop points out, it may also be good to occasionally check again if the app stays running for a long time.
Installing a "Scheduled Task" is still the way to go, but set it to run manually instead of on a periodic schedule, then your app can trigger it. An app can trigger a task that executes with higher permissions than the app itself (creating the task in the first place requires full admin rights). The task also remembers the last time it ran which is useful for keeping traffic down.
An application that you build as a Windows service will run in the background and can do what you want.
Microsoft Windows services, formerly
known as NT services, enable you to
create long-running executable
applications that run in their own
Windows sessions. These services can
be automatically started when the
computer boots, can be paused and
restarted, and do not show any user
interface. These features make
services ideal for use on a server or
whenever you need long-running
functionality that does not interfere
with other users who are working on
the same computer.
Least intrusive way is just to check when the application starts. (Every time, or every 10th time, or whatever). I know other large apps don't do that, but as a user I really hate it, perceive these apps as "bloat" and avoid when possible. (Example: iTunes). Anything else just clogs up my computer when I'm trying to do something else.
Also, you'd better make sure the code is safe to run; use a digital signature to be sure that the code is really from you. Otherwise you're vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack: I could set up an imitation server and send evil code to your users. (Or hack your server and upload evil code to your server for your users to get. Etc. etc.)