Managing Services
The Notification Services engine is run by a Windows service named NS$instance_name (referred to within the Notification Services documentation as "the NS$instance_name service" or simply "the service"). The service runs the event provider, generator, and distributor components.
The service controls the operation of the instance and its associated applications. The service can be started and stopped, which starts and stops the instance, and individual components of the service can be enabled and disabled, providing control over the operation of the instance.
You install the service when you register an instance of Notification Services.
After you install the service, you must enable and start the instance when you want to run the Notification Services instance and its applications. You can configure the service for automatic startup and automatic restart.
Depending on system configuration, an instance has one or more services associated with it:
- If Notification Services is installed on one server, one service runs the event provider, generator, and distributor components.
- If Notification Services is installed on multiple servers for scalability, one service is installed on each server. Each instance can have one generator, zero to many hosted event providers, and one or more distributors.
Because one service can run all components of Notification Services, you must enable or disable the event provider, generator, and distributor components as needed. For example, you can run the event provider and generator on one server, and the distributor on another server. An instance of this sort would have two services: one on each server.
Note Multiple server deployment is available only in Notification Services Enterprise Edition.
The NS$instance_name service topics that this section covers are described in the following table.
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Installing an NS$instance_name Service | Provides instructions for installing the NS$instance_name service on a server. |
| Configuring an NS$instance_name Service | Explains how to configure NS$instance_name service startup and restart behavior. |
| Enabling and Disabling Service Components | Explains how to enable and disable components of the NS$instance_name service, entire instances, or individual applications, for testing or for scaling out. |
| Starting and Stopping an NS$instance_name Service | Explains how to start and stop a NS$instance_name service from a command prompt and from the Services application. |
