Installing BES 5.x as an NT Service

Problem:

• Product: Borland Enterprise Server 5.2 and 5.2.1
• Platform: Windows (all supported)

Installing BES 5.x as an NT Service.

Resolution:

This article provides instructions to install BES and the Apache web server as Windows NT services.

First install ias as an NT service.

1. Use the ias command with the install" option as follows:

     ias -install  bes

1. From the Windows start menu select Settings->Administrative Tools->Services.
2. Locate the "bes" service in the list. Note that if you installed ias using a different name then that name will appear in the list.
3. Double click that service.
4. Select Local System Account.

This installs BES as an NT service.

The following processes are started after ias is installed as an NT service:

• 2 osagents.exe
• 1 partition.exe
• 2 apache.exe
• 1 ias.exe

After the log off and relogin:

• 2 osagents
• 1 partition.exe
• 1 ias.exe

Note from above that the Apache web server is turned off after log off and relogin. This is due to an underlying problem with the Apache launcher which "disassociates" itself from the window-group that IAS and it"s associated services are running in.

The recommended workaround is to install the Apache webserver as a NT service manually. The only restriction in installing Apache as an NT service is that you lose the ability to start/stop the Apache server from the Borland Management Console.

Here is a brief overview on how to configure Apache as an NT service. Consult the Apache documentation shipped with the product for further details on configuring Apache as an NT service.

• Ensure that you have a valid user account to run Apache as a service - giving NET access to the default system account is a huge security hole. Most sites create their own "Apache" user account.

• Ensure that the SYSTEM path variable contains the following directories:

      �S_INSTALL%\\bin, �S_INSTALL%\\bin\\apache2
      �S_INSTALL%\\lib and �S_INSTALL\\lib\\apache2

    These will be needed to allow Apache to load required dlls

• Install the Apache service as follows:

     cd �S_HOME%\\bin\\apache2
     apache -k install -n "Borland Apache" -f BES52\\var\\servers\\server\\apache2\\conf\\httpd.conf

You need to use the -n to "name" the service, otherwise it defaults to "Apache"

Starting/stopping the Apache service can be done in one or two ways. One way of starting/stopping the service is to use the NT service manager (highlight the service and use the drop down to start/stop the service). The other approach is to use the following Apache commands:

To start the service: apache -k start -n "Borland Apache"
To stop the service: apache -k stop -n "Borland Apache"