Generate Windows services manually for Server and Desktop

Symptoms

VoiceObjects instances should start automatically when Windows starts. Multiple Instances should run on the same machine. Using the recommended approach of installing VoiceObjects multiple times (see Running VoiceObjects Server or VoiceObjects Desktop as a Windows Service in chapter 3 - Installing VoiceObjects of the Installation Guide) is no alternative.

Environment

VoiceObjects, any version
MS Windows

Cause

VoiceObjects does not automatically create Windows services. Installation is possible with the Tanuki Wrapper, delivered with VoiceObjects. As described in the Installation Guide the recommended way to have several instances running as Windows service it to install VoiceObjects several times in different folders. This assures that all paths and other settings are correct.

Resolution

Running VoiceObjects Instances from Separate Folders (recommended

This extends the description Configure multiple server instances per machine from Configuring a VoiceObjects Cluster in chapter 1 - Advanced Configuration of VoiceObjects in the Administration Guide. The general approach is to copy the /Platform/ folder inside a VoiceObjects installation to have one /Platform_*/ folder per instance (be it Desktop or Server). Now perform the following steps to change the wrapper settings and to create the new Windows services:

1. Make sure that all instances run together when started from the batch scripts.
2. Edit \WEB-INF\etc\ServiceWrapper\Win32\conf\[Jetty/Tomcat] \VOServer_service.conf/\VODesktop_service.conf :
   • change wrapper.ntservice.name=, wrapper.ntservice.displayname and wrapper.ntservice.descriptionto reflect the type and name of your instance
   • Create a chain of services.
     To avoid that all instances start at the same time please make sure that there is a chain of dependencies. This means that instance 1 on the machine has no dependencies, instance 2 depends on instance 1 and instance 3 depends on instance 2.
     change #wrapper.ntservice.dependency.1= for instances 2 and higher:
     • Remove the "#"
     • Add the wrapper.ntservice.name of the previous instance to this setting (as described above).
3. Check \WEB-INF\etc\ServiceWrapper\Win32\bin\[Jetty/Tomcat]\create_VODesktopWinService.bat or \create_VOServerWinService.bat and check the settings for the JVM and the Web Application Server.
4. Now create the services one by one
5. Start the new services from the Services.msc in Windows. Assure that all instances are running as expected.
6. Reboot the computer to assure that the instances also start as expected on a reboot.

Running VoiceObjects Instances from the Same Folder (not recommended)

In case you want to run different VoiceObjects instances from one folder please take the following steps.

Note: This is not the recommended way of setting up VoiceObjects. You might run into severe issues. Please contact Voxeo Support over https://evolution.voxeo.com to discuss your needs!

1. Open your VoiceObjects installation folder.
2. Copy the file wrapper.exe from VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF/etc/ServiceWrapper/Win32/bin into VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF.
3. Copy the files wrapper.dll and wrapper.jar from VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF/etc/ServiceWrapper/Win32/lib into VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF/lib.
4. Copy the file VOServer_service.conf or VODesktop_service.conf from VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF/etc/ServiceWrapper/Win32/conf/[Jetty/Tomcat] into VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF.
5. Copy the file web.xml.VOServer or web.xml.VODesktop located in the folder VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF/etc as web.xml into the folder VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF.

In order to test this configuration, run VoiceObjects Server and VoiceObjects Desktop in console mode with the following commands:

  cd VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF
  wrapper -c VOServer_service.conf
  wrapper -c VODesktop_service.conf

Install each of them as services with the following commands (if you want to remove them, use the same command with the "-r" option instead):

cd VoiceObjects/Platform/WEB-INF
wrapper -i VOServer_service.conf
wrapper -i VODesktop_service.conf

The service names are VoiceObjects Desktop and VoiceObjects Server. The services are installed and set to auto-start at boot time. However, they must be manually started this initial time using the SERVICES control panel.