Performance Consulting: A Practical Guide for HR and Learning Professionals

Overview

In Chapter 21 covered servers using .NET Remoting. The server processes that we've looked at so far must be started manually. In this chapter, we will look at Windows Services, programs that can be started automatically at boottime without needing someone to log on to the machine.

In this chapter we will explore:

• The architecture of Windows Services; the functionality of a service program, service control program, and service configuration program.

• How to implement a Windows Service with the classes found in the System.ServiceProcess namespace.

• Installation programs to configure the Windows Service in the Registry.

• Writing a program to control the Windows Service using the ServiceController class.

• How to implement event handling. Because Windows Services usually run without any users interactively logged in, and typically don't have a user interface, errors can't be displayed in a message box. Event handling is a good way to report errors.

• Adding event logging to other application types.

• Implementing performance monitoring for a Windows Service. Performance monitoring can be used to get information about a normal running service.

First, we'll begin with a look at what a Windows Service actually is.