nssm

NSSM: The Non-Sucking Service Manager
Version 2.1, 2009-12-28 by Benjamin Mayrargue (www.softlion.com)

NSSM is a service helper program similar to srvany and cygrunsrv. It can
start any application as an NT service and will restart the service if it
fails for any reason.

NSSM also has a graphical service installer and remover.

Full documentation can be found online at

http://iain.cx/src/nssm/

Since version 2.0, the GUI can be bypassed by entering all appropriate
options on the command line.

Since version 2.1, NSSM can be compiled for x64 platforms.
Thanks Benjamin Mayrargue.


Usage
-----
In the usage notes below, arguments to the program may be written in angle
brackets and/or square brackets. means you must insert the
appropriate string and [] means the string is optional. See the
examples below...


Installation using the GUI
--------------------------
To install a service, run

nssm install

You will be prompted to enter the full path to the application you wish
to run and any command line options to pass to that application.

Use the system service manager (services.msc) to control advanced service
properties such as startup method and desktop interaction. NSSM may
support these options at a later time...


Installation using the command line
-----------------------------------
To install a service, run

nssm install []

NSSM will then attempt to install a service which runs the named application
with the given options (if you specified any).

Don't forget to enclose paths in "quotes" if they contain spaces!


Managing the service
--------------------
NSSM will launch the application listed in the registry when you send it a
start signal and will terminate it when you send a stop signal. So far, so
much like srvany. But NSSM is the Non-Sucking service manager and will take
action if/when the application dies.

NSSM will try to restart itself if it notices that the application died but
you didn't send it a stop signal. NSSM will keep trying, pausing 30 seconds
between each attempt, until the service is successfully started or you send
it a stop signal.


Removing services using the GUI
-------------------------------
NSSM can also remove services. Run

nssm remove

to remove a service. You will prompted for confirmation before the service
is removed. Try not to remove essential system services...


Removing service using the command line
---------------------------------------
To remove a service without confirmation from the GUI, run

nssm remove confirm

Try not to remove essential system services...


Example usage
-------------
To install an Unreal Tournament server:

nssm install UT2004 c:\games\ut2004\system\ucc.exe server

To remove the server:

nssm remove UT2004 confirm


Building NSSM from source
-------------------------
NSSM is known to compile with Visual Studio 6, Visual Studio 2005 and Visual
Studio 2008.


Credits
-------
Thanks to Benjamin Mayrargue (www.softlion.com) for adding 64-bit support.

Licence
-------
NSSM is public domain. You may unconditionally use it and/or its source code
for any purpose you wish.