Synchronet NT Services
======================

$Id: sbbsNTsvcs.txt,v 1.5 2005/09/11 00:07:40 rswindell Exp $

If you're running Synchronet on a Microsoft Windows NT based operating system
(e.g. Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows 2003), you can run
Synchronet as a set of NT services using the exectuable exec\sbbsNTsvcs.exe.

This single executable includes five (5) NT services that handle all the
functionality of Synchronet v3.12-Win32:

Name                 Description
----                 -----------
SynchronetBBS        Synchronet Telnet/RLogin Server
SynchronetFTP        Synchronet FTP Server
SynchronetWeb        Synchronet Web Server
SynchronetMail       Synchronet SMTP/POP3 Mail Server
SynchronetServices   Synchronet Services (e.g. NNTP, IRC, Finger, etc.)

You may install, disable, or remove each NT service independantly, or all at
once. To install all the Synchronet NT services at once, run:

	sbbsNTsvcs install

The configuration of the Synchronet servers and services is handled in your
Synchronet initialization file (e.g. ctrl/sbbs.ini). The Synchronet NT
services know the location of your Synchronet CTRL directory from the
SBBSCTRL environment variable. See sbbscon.txt for more details about the
SBBSCTRL environment variable and the initialization file (sbbs.ini).

Synchronet v3.12 and later automatically stores the relevant settings
in your Synchronet initialization file (no exporting is necessary).

Once installed, the Synchronet NT services may be started from the NT Services
dialog (under the Windows Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services), 
by running the Synchronet Control Panel, or if the system is rebooted, the
services will start automatically if enabled and configured for AutoStart.

To remove/un-install the Synchronet NT services, run:

	sbbsNTsvcs remove

You may also enable and disable the Synchronet NT services with the sbbsNTsvcs
command-line options. Run "sbbsNTsvcs -?" from a command prompt to see the 
available command-line options. Example:

Available Commands:

list                 to list services
install              to install services
remove               to remove serivces
disable              to disable services
enable               to re-enable disabled services
start                to start services
stop                 to stop services
recycle              to recycle services
mute                 to mute (sounds of) services
unmute               to unmute (sounds of) services

To recycle the Synchronet Web Server service, run:

	sbbsNTsvcs recycle web

Synchronet Control Panel
------------------------
You should shutdown the Synchronet Control Panel (GUI) before installing the
Synchronet NT services. The Synchronet Control Panel can be used to start,
stop, configure, recycle, and monitor the NT services once installed, but it
is not required for operation. If the Synchronet Control Panel is not running,
the BBS servers will still function, even if no user is logged into Windows.

You cannot "spy" on a BBS node running as an NT service and the "Clients"
window and the optional "Tray icon" in the Synchronet Control Panel will not
reflect active clients connected to Synchronet NT services. There are plans to
integrate these features with the Synchronet NT services in the future.

NT Event Log
------------
Log messages (determined by the LogMask in your sbbs.ini file) will be
logged as NT application event log messages (viewable in your NT Event
Viewer). 

You may wish to configure your NT event log to overwrite old messages
as needed:
1. Open the Event Viewer (e.g. from Control Panel->Administrative Tools)
2. Right click Application Log, Select Properties
3. Set the maximum log size to something like 8192 (8MB) or bigger
4. Select "Overwrite events as needed" or "older x days"

Debug Output
------------
If you wish to use a Windows debug output viewer (such as DebugView from
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/debugview.shtml) to view the log
output of one or more of the Synchronet NT Services, set the "Start
parameters" of one or more of the services (under the Windows Control Panel)
to "-debug".

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