Big Kev s Little Services Monitor

Transcription

1 Big Kev s Little Services Monitor How it works: A small service application is installed onto each computer that you want to monitor. This service contains a TCP server that responds to commands sent to it from the client application. The service will either start, stop or re-start a service, or report its current status. The client, or monitor application can be run from any computer on the network (including the same one that is running the service), or you can run it over the internet if you set up port forwarding through your router. The client can be used to monitor as many services on as many different computers as you need. You simply input the service name, its location (computer network name or IP) and the port number used by the service on that computer. If you are monitoring more than one computer, the services can all have the same port number, as they will be on different hosts. Each service supports multiple connections, so you can install as many monitor clients as you need as well. If you want to monitor multiple computers over the internet, you will need to give each service a different port number so you can use port forwarding on your router to direct commands to the correct computer. Setting up: First, you need to install the service application on the computers you want to monitor. Run the setup file BK_SetupService.exe, this will install the service on the PC to be monitored. It will also install a small application that allows you to change the port number. Now install the monitor application on the PCs you will be using to monitor the services. Run the install program BK_MonitorSetup.exe to install the monitor application.

2 This will launch the monitor when installation is finished As we have not set up anything to be monitored yet, it should show NOT FOUND. Configuring services to be monitored: Click on Setup in the navigation pane on the LHS of the monitor screen to open the setup page, then click on the Add button to add a service you should now see the service details window. You will now need some information from the computer you want to monitor. The exact name of the service (case sensitive) is required for the Service Name field. To ensure that you have it correct, open the Services control panel on the computer you want to monitor (either by Control Panels > Administrative Tasks > Services, or typing services.msc in the Run command window found as Start > Run).

3 Now locate the service you want to monitor In this example, the TVService for MediaPortal, and double click it to show the properties page In this case, the Service name and the Display name are the same, but that is not always true, so you should always check by examining the properties page. The Service name right at the top of the properties page is the one we need.

4 Now enter the information into the Service Details screen. The Service Name must be exact, but you can enter any description that will be meaningful in the description field, for instance, TV Server HTPC. The Location is the IP address or network name of the PC where the service is located. The port number is the port being used by the monitoring service you installed (BK_ServiceSetup). The default is 50200, but you can check this on the PC being monitored by looking at the settings for Big Kevs Little Service Monitor at Programs > Big Kev s Little Services Monitor > Settings. Minutes to Restart should be left blank for normal monitoring. If you put a number in here, the client will automatically restart the service if it has been stopped for more than the number of minutes entered. This is a function of the client, not the service, so it will only work while the client is running. It does not continue to function after the client has been closed! Your setup should now look something like this Now go back to the Service page

5 The current state of the services is now displayed (it may take about 1 second for initial communication). Operation: Just click the service in the grid that you want to control, and then click on one of the buttons at the bottom of the screen to stop, start or reset the service. The status will be updated to show the current state. Possible states are STOPPED STARTING STOPPING RUNNING CONTINUE PENDING PAUSE PENDING PAUSED If you change the settings for any service, note that the Minutes to Restart timer will start over for all services listed.