You can also configure another machine to monitor your SA service. For instance configure a machine generally off premise if possible or at least with a battery backup to verify things are running.
Everything thing you said was valid with one exception. When salive runs as a service there is an icon in the tray allowing you to monitor the service. This however will only be visible at the console or with VNC or something that actually uses the console session. On windows 2003 you can actually connect to the console session when using terminal services (which would also work) it is kind of a handy feature. Rant recedes here skip to the end if you do not want to hear it.... "Not worth upgrading to 2003 unless you are not running any websites or if you need the reset web services feature (which is spectacular). IIS 6.0 is not a smooth migration so be sure to configure your website on a test box first. (enable Asp, enable parent paths, kick the box, and away you go) (it took me two weeks to get everything running correctly)" Ok now back to the topic.... There is a front end GUI if you are in front of the server or logged in to the console session (using 2003 terminal service or other remote control software such as vnc (http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/ (best VNC yet))). So you must use ssh, telnet, or SaWeb. I have found Saweb pretty easy to use in the past. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Corey Horton Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 12:35 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Running As a Service Okay, my last, last email of the day, but, I can't resist. I'm getting some great feedback and solutions to some issues I've been juggling. So, here is one last email: Thanx. I'll try out SA Web. I've read about it, but didn't realize I could do what you described. Sounds perfect for our needs. I need SA to be running as a service, and to be able to modify checks on the fly periodically... Now, here's a long-winded version of my thought-process and why I asked the question originally. Hope it makes sense (if it did to me, I wouldn't be asking, right?) What I meant by "front-end" is, in Win2K, a service runs in the background. There really isn't a GUI. When you start the service, it just launches and does it's thing. If you don't check the Services applet in Control Panel or execute a "net start" command, you would never know it was running. Secondly, the service runs as a user (you choose who). You can't manipulate SA when it's running as a service. So, you have to launch it again as an application, which brings up the SA GUI. At this point, correct me if I'm wrong, you are now running two instances of SA: one as an application ON TOP of another, running as a service. It reads the same text file for parameters and checks, but, the service has already done that when it started. So, subsequent changes you make to the configuration won't be read until the service restarts. To complicate things, the SA application you run has the permissions/priviledges of whomever you are logged-in as at the console, while the service has the permissions/priveledges of whomever you configured it to pose as. So, some checks could fail on one but not on the other. To really, really complicate things, with Terminal Services, when you connect the the box and log in, you're given a brand new session, new user, new desktop, new permissions/priviledges etc. Theoretically (not really)it isn't even the same instance of Win2k. So, I was trying to find out how making changes with SA running as an application affects it running as a service. We have to run it as a service so it can automatically start, regardless of whether anyone has logged into the machine. In Win2k, applications can't launch until someone is logged-in successfully, while services start automatically. This becomes especially critical in cases, such as last night, when we lost power and a UPS failed (faulty battery). When the power came back on, the box running SA rebooted, but, SA didn't start, because I was running it as an application. Kind of an oxymoron, because I had no idea my SA box had gone down :-) Guess I'd better configure those "keep alive" mails tonight :-) -----Original Message----- From: Jason Passow [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 1:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Running As a Service You would have to restart the service for the changes to take effect. There are some web utilities for setting things in maintenance on a running service of SA. I assume you meant there is no front end on your terminal services session. I have not used SA with Terminal services so I cannot verify if your statement is correct there. Using SA web you can put a server into maintenance mode from remote. You can even run the web page on another server with access to that machine. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Corey Horton Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 11:56 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SA-list] Running As a Service One more question and I'm done for today. We run SA on a box in our server room that has Terminal Services installed.SA is set so that it reads the config info from the registry and it's pointing to the text file, etc. Ideally, once you receive an alert, you hope you can respond to the situation. However, some things are worth noting, but may be something that can wait until later (like in the morning back at the office). My question is, if SA is running as a service, and I launch it as an app simultaneously, put a machine into MAINTAINENCE (uncheck it) and save the config file, will SA running as a service (never stopped) pick up the changes? Or, do I have to stop and restart the service? The is no "front end" to SA when it is running as a service, so, I've got to launch it in app mode. Terminal Services allows me to do this from afar (like at my house). I want to do this to put certain machines in MAINTAINENCE mode to stop the alarms on things I can't fix right away. Hope this question makes sense. Thanx Again [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] With the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe SAlive To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] With the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe SAlive To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] With the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe SAlive To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] With the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe SAlive
