Overview of services

Programs can be installed as services. A service is a program that, once started, is intended to run continuously. A service is administered by the sm_service utility. Programs installed as services start automatically upon system reboot; those not installed as services (manual processes or disabled processes) require that you issue commands to start and stop them as necessary.

VMware recommends that you install programs as services. You are prompted to make this choice during the software installation. When you choose to install a program as a service, the installation process automatically sets up the program accordingly.

The following are examples of VMware programs that should be installed as services:

• Broker

• Service Assurance Global Manager

• Service Assurance Adapter Platform (including the SNMP Trap Adapter and Syslog Adapter)

• IP Availability Manager and IP Performance Manager

  Although services start automatically upon system reboot, there will be occasion for you to manually start (and stop) a program that was installed as a service. Starting and stopping services with sm_service on page 74 describes starting and stopping services.

  If you choose not to install a program as a service, the program is installed as a manual process. If you install a program as a manual process, you can later change it to run as a service, described in Installing programs as services with sm_service on page 71.

  In addition, you can modify a service™s settings, as described in Modifying service parameters with sm_service on page 76.

  Note:

  The sm_service utility cannot be used with the Failover System. The VMware Smart Assurance Failover System User Guide provides specific information about starting, stopping, and configuring the Failover System scripts.