NSSM: The Non-Sucking Service Manager
Version 2.24, 2014-08-31
NSSM is a service helper program similar to srvany and cygrunsrv. It can
start any application as an NT service and will restart the service if it
fails for any reason.
NSSM also has a graphical service installer and remover.
Full documentation can be found online at
http://nssm.cc/
Since version 2.0, the GUI can be bypassed by entering all appropriate
options on the command line.
Since version 2.1, NSSM can be compiled for x64 platforms.
Thanks Benjamin Mayrargue.
Since version 2.2, NSSM can be configured to take different actions
based on the exit code of the managed application.
Since version 2.3, NSSM logs to the Windows event log more elegantly.
Since version 2.5, NSSM respects environment variables in its parameters.
Since version 2.8, NSSM tries harder to shut down the managed application
gracefully and throttles restart attempts if the application doesn't run
for a minimum amount of time.
Since version 2.11, NSSM respects srvany's AppEnvironment parameter.
Since version 2.13, NSSM is translated into French.
Thanks François-Régis Tardy.
Since version 2.15, NSSM is translated into Italian.
Thanks Riccardo Gusmeroli.
Since version 2.17, NSSM can try to shut down console applications by
simulating a Control-C keypress. If they have installed a handler routine
they can clean up and shut down gracefully on receipt of the event.
Since version 2.17, NSSM can redirect the managed application's I/O streams
to an arbitrary path.
Since version 2.18, NSSM can be configured to wait a user-specified amount
of time for the application to exit when shutting down.
Since version 2.19, many more service options can be configured with the
GUI installer as well as via the registry.
Since version 2.19, NSSM can add to the service's environment by setting
AppEnvironmentExtra in place of or in addition to the srvany-compatible
AppEnvironment.
Since version 2.22, NSSM can set the managed application's process priority
and CPU affinity.
Since version 2.22, NSSM can apply an unconditional delay before restarting
an application which has exited.
Since version 2.22, NSSM can rotate existing output files when redirecting I/O.
Since version 2.22, NSSM can set service display name, description, startup
type, log on details and dependencies.
Since version 2.22, NSSM can manage existing services.
Usage
-----
In the usage notes below, arguments to the program may be written in angle
brackets and/or square brackets. <string> means you must insert the
appropriate string and [<string>] means the string is optional. See the
examples below...
Note that everywhere <servicename> appears you may substitute the
service's display name.
Installation using the GUI
--------------------------
To install a service, run
nssm install <servicename>
You will be prompted to enter the full path to the application you wish
to run and any command line options to pass to that application.
Use the system service manager (services.msc) to control advanced service
properties such as startup method and desktop interaction. NSSM may
support these options at a later time...
Installation using the command line
-----------------------------------
To install a service, run
nssm install <servicename> <application> [<options>]
NSSM will then attempt to install a service which runs the named application
with the given options (if you specified any).
Don't forget to enclose paths in "quotes" if they contain spaces!
If you want to include quotes in the options you will need to """quote""" the
quotes.
Managing the service
--------------------
NSSM will launch the application listed in the registry when you send it a
start signal and will terminate it when you send a stop signal. So far, so
much like srvany. But NSSM is the Non-Sucking service manager and can take
action if/when the application dies.
With no configuration from you, NSSM will try to restart itself if it notices
that the application died but you didn't send it a stop signal. NSSM will
keep trying, pausing between each attempt, until the service is successfully
started or you send it a stop signal.
NSSM will pause an increasingly longer time between subsequent restart attempts
if the service fails to start in a timely manner, up to a maximum of four
minutes. This is so it does not consume an excessive amount of CPU time trying
to start a failed application over and over again. If you identify the cause
of the failure and don't want to wait you can use the Windows service console
(where the service will be shown in Paused state) to send a continue signal to
NSSM and it will retry within a few seconds.
By default, NSSM defines "a timely manner" to be within 1500 milliseconds.
You can change the threshold for the service by setting the number of
milliseconds as a REG_DWORD value in the registry at
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters\AppThrottle.
Alternatively, NSSM can pause for a configurable amount of time before
attempting to restart the application even if it successfully ran for the
amount of time specified by AppThrottle. NSSM will consult the REG_DWORD value
at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters\AppRestartDelay
for the number of milliseconds to wait before attempting a restart. If
AppRestartDelay is set and the application is determined to be subject to
throttling, NSSM will pause the service for whichever is longer of the
configured restart delay and the calculated throttle period.
If AppRestartDelay is missing or invalid, only throttling will be applied.
NSSM will look in the registry under
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters\AppExit for
string (REG_EXPAND_SZ) values corresponding to the exit code of the application.
If the application exited with code 1, for instance, NSSM will look for a
string value under AppExit called "1" or, if it does not find it, will
fall back to the AppExit (Default) value. You can find out the exit code
for the application by consulting the system event log. NSSM will log the
exit code when the application exits.
Based on the data found in the registry, NSSM will take one of three actions:
If the value data is "Restart" NSSM will try to restart the application as
described above. This is its default behaviour.
If the value data is "Ignore" NSSM will not try to restart the application
but will continue running itself. This emulates the (usually undesirable)
behaviour of srvany. The Windows Services console would show the service
as still running even though the application has exited.
If the value data is "Exit" NSSM will exit gracefully. The Windows Services
console would show the service as stopped. If you wish to provide
finer-grained control over service recovery you should use this code and
edit the failure action manually. Please note that Windows versions prior
to Vista will not consider such an exit to be a failure. On older versions
of Windows you should use "Suicide" instead.
If the value data is "Suicide" NSSM will simulate a crash and exit without
informing the service manager. This option should only be used for
pre-Vista systems where you wish to apply a service recovery action. Note
that if the monitored application exits with code 0, NSSM will only honour a
request to suicide if you explicitly configure a registry key for exit code 0.
If only the default action is set to Suicide NSSM will instead exit gracefully.
Application priority
--------------------
NSSM can set the priority class of the managed application. NSSM will look in
the registry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<service>\Parameters
for the REG_DWORD entry AppPriority. Valid values correspon