Service Control Task Properties

The Service Control Task Properties window contains the settings for a job step that executes a Service Control Task.

Property Pages

General

Name for this step (optional)Optionally, specify a descriptive name for the step.Enable this stepUncheck this box to disable the step. If the step is not enabled, it will be skipped at execution.Description/NotesEnter any extended descriptive information or notes for this step.

Conditions

The Conditions page defines conditions that must be satisfied before the step is run.

Condition Criteria

The Condition Criteria determine how the conditions should be evaluated:

  • Execute only if all conditions are met. The step is only executed if all of the listed conditions are met.
  • Execute if any condition is met. The step is executed if any of the listed conditions is met.

If Conditions are not satisfied

The satisfaction options determine what adTempus should do if the conditions are not satisfied:

  • Fail the step. The step is not executed; the status is set to Failed.
  • Execute anyway. The step is executed anyway.
  • Skip the step (do not report as a failure). The step is not run, but it is not treated as a failure. The status of the step is reported as "Skipped (conditions not met)."

Conditions List

The Conditions list lists the conditions that have been defined for the step. You can add, edit, or delete conditions. See the Conditions topic for information on the available condition types.

Variables

The Variables page allows you to define Job Variables for this step. You can add new Variables, or override the values of Variables inherited from the Job. Any Variables you define or override here affect only this step of the Job.

To set Variables that apply to the entire job, use the Variables page in the Job properties.

The Job Variable list shows variables defined for the current object as well as variables inherited from a higher level. Icons next to each variable in the list convey information about their inheritance:

The variable is inherited from a higher level
The variable is inherited from a higher level and is locked (cannot be overridden)
The variable is inherited from a higher level and has been modified at this level
The variable is new at this level
The variable is inherited from a higher level and must be overridden (a value provided) at this level
The variable has been overridden (redefined) at a lower level. This icon only appears if you have analyzed variable usage (see below).

When you hove the mouse pointer over the icon for an inherited variable, adTempus will show where the variable was inherited from.

Filtering the variable list

The variable list can be filtered to:

  • Hide inherited variables (so you only see variables defined at this level)
  • Hide variables that cannot be modified (inherited variables that are locked to prevent modification)
  • Show only variables that must be overridden

Analyzing and viewing variable usage5.0

When you click Analyze variable usage, adTempus searches for all the places where the variables are used or overridden. After this analysis is complete, new columns are added to the list to show, for each variable:

  • Whether it has been overridden (redefined) at a lower level
  • A count of how many times it is referenced (used)

Clicking Show variable usage opens a new window showing all the references and overrides for the variables. This is the same window shown by the Find Variable and Function References tool.

Analyze variable usage only finds references and overrides that are "below" the current level. For example, if you are viewing the variables for a job, this will find all references and overrides within the job, or within jobs that may receive variables from this jobs (jobs run by Responses or Job Triggers). If you are viewing a group, this will find all references and overrides within groups and jobs below the selected group. That is, the tool only lists places that might be affected by changes to the variables in the list.

This tool does not show other places where the variables might be used. For example if you are viewing job A and some of the variables are also used in job B, those uses will not be listed unless there is a link between job A and job B.

To find all references to a variable:

  • If the variable is defined at the server level, use the Analyze variable usage tool from the variables list at the server level. This will show all uses everywhere in adTempus.
  • Use the Find Variable and Function References tool to find a specific variable or all variables.

Responses

The Responses page defines the actions that adTempus should take in response to events that are fired during execution of the step. You can add, edit, delete, or reorder responses.

All job steps support the events listed below. Some tasks may define additional events .

Event Description
Step Started Occurs at the beginning of the step.
Step Ended Occurs at the end of the step, regardless of the step result.
Step Failed Occurs if the step fails for any reason.
Step Restarted Occurs if the step is restarted due to a Response.
Restart Limit Exceeded Occurs if the restart limit is exceeded.
Step skipped Occurs when the step is skipped, either because conditions were not met (if the Skip... option is selected on the Conditions page) or due to a skip option specific to the task.
One or more conditions failed Occurs if one or more Conditions for the step is not satisfied.
Conditions not met within the specified time

Occurs if the job or a step within the job has been waiting for conditions for longer than the specified time.

In addition to the standard Response Events, the Service Control Task defines the following special events:

Event Description
Task returns a failure result Occurs if adTempus is unable to start or stop the target service.
Task returns a successful result Occurs if adTempus succeeds in starting or stopping the service. Note:This event occurs before adTempus begins monitoring the service, so you can use it to respond to the service start without waiting for the monitoring to complete.
Service failed or was stopped outside of adTempus Occurs if adTempus detects that the service is no longer running. Valid only if the Monitor the service option has been selected.

Service Control

Service Location

Specify whether the target service is on the adTempus server or a different computer.

Service

Select the service you wish to control. The list of services is taken from the adTempus server.

You may also type in the name of the service if necessary. For example, the service may exist on the Agents where the job will run, but not on the Controller computer where the job is maintained. Since the service list would come from the Controller, in this case you would have to type in the service name.

If you enter the service name yourself, you must enter the "service name," which is often not the same as the "display name" that appears in the Service Control Manager. The service name is the same name you use when controlling the service through the "net start" and "net stop" commands. If you do not know the service name, look in the Registry under key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services. This key contains a subkey for each service; the key name is the service name.

Control Type

Select the action you want adTempus to perform:

Optionally, specify any Startup Parameters that should be passed to the service.

Options

When Start the service is selected as the control type, the following additional options are available:

Monitor the service

When this option is selected, adTempus will monitor the service. If adTempus detects that the service has stopped, it will fire the "Service Failed" event. By creating a Response to this event you can have adTempus restart the service (by restarting the step) or take other actions as appropriate.

When this option is selected, the job step does not end until the service has stopped (and no responses cause it to restart). Therefore, execution of the job will not continue past this step until the service stops. If you use this option you generally will want this step to be the only—or last—step of the job.

 

adTempus can only detect that the target service is no longer running. It cannot determine why the service is no longer running. Therefore any of the following circumstances could trigger the task's failure response:

  • The service application aborts ("crashes") in some way.
  • A user, or some other application, stops the service (e.g., using the Service Control Manager).
  • The operating system stops the service because the computer is shutting down. You should therefore make sure that adTempus is the first service to be stopped when the computer is being shut down or restarted.

Stop the service if the job is terminated

When this option is selected, adTempus will stop the service if the job is terminated (either through a manual abort or as a result of a Job Control action). The service is not stopped if the adTempus service is stopped.

This option is only available if the Monitor the service option is selected.

Related Concepts

Service Control Task