Service Stalker User Guide

Details

Category: User Guides

Published on Monday, 06 May 2013 01:31

Written by Christian Dunn

Service Stalker is a service monitoring tool. It can be used to track any windows services running on a computer or server. This can be run manually to confirm required services are running or can be configured to send email notifications to alert when a service has stopped.

The FREE version includes limited features.

Service Stalker is easy to use with all features displayed in one interface.

Getting Started

1. Click Get Service to find all services on the local machine.
2. Select the services you wish to monitor.
3. Specify any options.
4. Click Check Services to identify if any selected services are no longer running.

Monitors

• No services selected
• Services not running/stopping/unknown
• Service disabled
• Start failed services
• Restart selected services

Features

• AutoStart will automatically list services and then check these services as soon as the program starts. This is ideal for automatic scheduling.
• AutoStop will close the program 30 seconds after a service check is complete. This is ideal for automatic scheduling.
• Log will generate a CSV file with the alert information any time an event occurs.
• Start Minimized will run the program minimized in the taskbar.
• Restart If Stopped will attempt a restart on the failed service. The status of this restart will be included in email notifications.
• Always Restart will stop then start any selected service. The status of this restart will be included in email notifications.
• Show Alert will send a popup alert to all users on the current machine (on XP requires Messenger service to be enabled).
• Send Emailwill send an email to the specified email address when a service is not running or no services are selected.
  • Use SSL specified secure email transmission.
  • Email Server specifies the server used to send email.
  • Username and Password are optional and can be used if your email server requires authentication.
  • From Address is the address email will come from.
  • To Address is the address email will be sent to.
  • Subject allows a custom subject to be specified for the email.
  • You can use "<computer>" in the email subject and the computer name will be inserted when sent.
• Clear Selections will remove all selected/saved services.
• Settings are saved in an ini file that is automatically created in the same folder as the executable.

INI File

• Trim={True|False} Enables feature to Trim process command line.
• TrimLength={number} Specifies length to trim command line.
• Restart={True|False} Enables restart of service if stopped when checked.
• AlwaysRestart={True|False} Always restarts service when checked.
• AutoStart={True|False} Automatically runs a check when application starts.
• AutoStop={True|False} Automatically closes application after running a check or after 15 seconds.
• Minimised={True|False} Starts application minimised.
• SendEmail={True|False} Sends an email when an alert is triggered.
• EmailSSL={True|False} Use SSL for sending email.
• EmailServer={smtpserver} Specify email server for sending email.
• EmailPort={port} Specify port for sending email (Default: 25).
• EmailUsername={username} Specify username for sending email.
• EmailPassword={password} Specify password for sending email.
• EmailTo={email} Specify recipient address for alert emails.
• EmailFrom={email} Specify sender address for alert emails.
• EmailSubject={subject} Specify email subject(can include variable).
• AlertToFile={FilePath} Specify target location to generate HTML alert notification if alert is triggered (can include variable).
• TargetMachine={computer|ip} Specify target machine for monitoring.
• Execute={FilePath} Specify application to execute if alert is triggered.
• Log={True|False} Creates a log file and records triggered alerts.
• SendAlert={True|False} Shows a popup message on the current machine if an alert is triggered.

Command Line Parameters

• /INI={FilePath} Specifies ini file to use for settings (Default: application-path\application-name.ini).
• /LogFile={FilePath} Specifies file to save log file if enabled (Default: application-path\application-name.csv).
• /AutoStart={True|False} Automatically runs a check when application starts.
• /AutoStop={True|False} Automatically closes application after running a check or after 15 seconds.
• /Minimised={True|False} Starts application minimised.
• /TargetMachine={computer|ip} Specify target machine for monitoring.
• /Execute={FilePath} Specify application to execute if alert is triggered.
• /Log={True|False} Creates a log file and records triggered alerts.
• /SendAlert={True|False} Shows a popup message on the current machine if an alert is triggered.
• /AlertToFile={FilePath} Specify target location to generate HTML alert notification if alert is triggered (can include variable).

Installation

Service Stalker has been tested on Windows XP,2003,Vista,7,8 and 2008 and requires the .Net Framework 3.5 to be installed.
You can download the .NET Framework from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=21

Service Stalker does not require installation. The executable can be located anywhere on your computer and settings file is automatically created in the same location when the program is run.

The configuration and log file is specific to the name of the executable. If you would like to run multiple instances of this application in the same location to monitor different criteria you can create a copy of the exe file and rename it and a new configuration and log file will be created to match the new name.

If you are running Windows Server 2008 R2 there is a known issue with a memory leak in the WMI services class that this program may impact. You can find out more about this issue and download the hotfix here.

Scheduling

Service Stalker does not include scheduling capabilities but can be easily scheduled using Windows Task Scheduler. This is designed so that the program can run even if you are not logged on to the server/computer. Simply create a new scheduled task in windows and specify the option to 'run whether user is logged on or not' and remember to select AutoStart and AutoStop. The program will now run on the schedule you define.

• Schedule a Task (Windows 8)
• Schedule a Task (Windows 7)
• Schedule a Task (Windows XP)

Find out how to Schedule multiple Stalker applications or commands with Stalker Go