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bgmCoder
Asked: 2015-06-16 14:51:24 +0800 CST

Get MRTG to run as Windows Service

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We just installed mrtg on our Windows Server 2012 and I am having trouble getting it to run as a service. I'm following the guide here, but am still stuck.

First, if I run mrtg manually, whilst specifying a config file, it does work and does generate graphs.

But for the service, I placed the files srvany.exe and instsrv.exe in c:\mrtg\bin (I removed the version number from the directory name, so it's all located now at c:\mrtg).

instsrv MRTG c:\mrtg\bin\srvany.exe

And I merged the regedit file into the registry and I can see the keys are there if I go and look. You can see from the path to Perl that I've installed the 64 bit version of Perl.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MRTG-PA500\Parameters]
 "Application"="c:\\perl64\\bin\\wperl.exe"
 "AppParameters"="c:\\mrtg\\bin\\mrtg --logging=eventlog c:\\mrtg\\bin\\mrtg-MyDevice.cfg"
 "AppDirectory"="c:\\mrtg\\bin\\"

Now, after I do all of this, the service is indeed, created, but when I try to start it, it starts and stops.

So I created a domain account for the service and assigned it to the service and gave read/write/modify rights to the mrtg directory and it's web directory, but it still won't start.

What am I missing?

[update]

Also, if I use the commandline equivalent to what is set in the reg entry, then I get some weirdness.

c:\mrtg\bin>perl mrtg --logging=eventlog mrtg-mydevice.cfg
Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 73.
Argument "Started mrtg with config 'mrtg-mydevice.cfg'\n" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 46.
Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 199. Argument "WARN" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 199.
Daemonizing MRTG ...
Do Not close this window. Or MRTG will die
Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 73.
Use of uninitialized value in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 199. Argument "WARN" isn't numeric in subroutine entry at C:/Perl64/lib/Win32/EventLog.pm line 199.

[update]

I just found this, which states that svrany.exe is not really fit for Windows 7 (or Server 2012 after that). I know some of the links on the mrtg site are pretty old. Maybe I just can't use srvany?

But I think I probably have some configuration issue.

windows-server-2012

1 Answers

  1. Okay! The problem was that srvany.exe won't work right on newer models of Windows. But nssm.exe will! nssm stands for non-sucking-service-manager - nifty name!

    So I created a batchfile with this in it.

    ::Monday, June 15, 2015
::http://nssm.cc/download
::Apparently, srvany.exe doesn't work right on newer Windows, so I got a 64bit nssm (non-sucking service manager) to put in its place.
::commandline directions: http://nssm.cc/commands

nssm install mrtg wperl "mrtg --logging=eventlog mrtg-mydevice.cfg"
nssm set mrtg AppDirectory c:\mrtg\bin
nssm set mrtg displayname mrtg
nssm set mrtg description "MRTG wPerl Service"
nssm set mrtg start service_auto_start
nssm start mrtg

    Once I did this, the service started right up. Now I can see nssm.exe and wperl (with it's proper commandline) running in the processes list. And I can modify the service by modifying the batch script.

    So now you can stop it with nssm stop mrtg

    and start it with nssm start mrtg

    (or you can manage other windows services, too, if you like)

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