Managing MainBoss Service

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

< Previous section  |  Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Next section >

You control the operation of MainBoss Service using Administration | MainBoss Service. This displays the following:

Service Name: The name of the MainBoss Service service. This is typically "MainBossService" but may be longer if you have multiple copies running on your computer (in order to handle multiple MainBoss databases).

Service Machine Name: The name of the computer where the service is running.

Service Account Name: The login name or Windows account under which the service is running. By default, this is NT AUTHORITY\Network Service, a Windows account often used for running services.

Status: The current status of MainBoss Service on your system. Possibilities are:

NotInstalled: MainBoss Service hasn't yet been installed on any system.

Stopped: MainBoss Service isn't running.

Running: MainBoss Service is active.

Event Log: Diagnostic messages that have been generated in connection with MainBoss Service. To read the details of any message in the list, click the message. The details will be displayed in the Details area below the Event Log.

If you do not have Windows Administrator privileges on the computer where MainBoss Service is installed, or if there is some other reason why the event log can't be displayed, MainBoss shows a diagnostic message in place of the event log. For further information, see the Installation and Administration Guide.

Apply Filter: Lets you set up a filter to select which records should be shown in the table. For more information, see Table Filters.

Search: Lets you search through the event log. For more information, see Searching for a Particular Record. The Search button has an accompanying drop-down list containing the following:

Find Next: Uses the same search condition(s) as your most recent search and finds the next record in the table that matches the condition(s). If the search reaches the end of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the start of the table and continues the search.

Find Previous: Same as Find Next except that it goes backward in the table. If the search reaches the start of the table without finding a matching record, it goes to the end of the table and continues the search.

Start Service/Restart Service/Stop Service: Starts, restarts or stops the service. You must have Windows Administration privileges in order to perform these operations. (Restarting the service means stopping it, then starting it again.)

Note: In order to use Start Service and Stop Service, you need Windows Administrator privileges. For Pause Service and Resume Service (described below), you only need the MainBoss Administration security role.

On the other hand, if you're running a demonstration version of MainBoss, MainBoss Service will only run for 60 minutes before terminating. In this case, you must use Start Service to restart the service, and you must have Windows Administrator privileges.

Configure the Windows Service for MainBoss: Installs MainBoss Service on the current computer, and configures the service using your current configuration. Before you do this, you should test the configuration first, as described in The MainBoss Service Module.

This button has a drop-down list containing:

Delete Windows Service for MainBoss: Deletes (uninstalls) the MainBoss Service associated with the current database.

Manually run the MainBoss Service: Runs the MainBoss Service software for a single processing cycle. This does not install the software as a Windows service; it simply does a single test-run using the current configuration. This lets you test your configuration before actually installing the service. The real MainBoss Service must not be running when you try a test-run.

You do not need Windows Administrator privilege to run the service manually.

MainBoss Service Configuration Diagnostics: Opens a command prompt window to display any diagnostic messages produced by the most recent manual run of MainBoss Service. You can increase or decrease the quantity of messages produced using the buttons listed below.

Process All: Tells MainBoss Service to immediately process any incoming requests and to send out notifications and/or acknowledgements as appropriate. This supersedes the usual schedule. For example, suppose you have MainBoss Service set up to do its processing every half hour. Clicking Process All tells MainBoss Service to do its processing immediately, rather than waiting for its usual half-hour schedule. (Note that Process All does not affect the usual schedule—processing will also be done at usually scheduled time.)

This button has a drop-down list containing:

Pause Service: Temporarily suspends MainBoss Service. The software will not process any requests, acknowledgements or notifications while it is suspended.

Resume Service: Activates MainBoss Service after it has been suspended by Pause Service.

Process Requestor Notifications: Immediately processes email notifications sent to requestors. This supersedes the usual schedule.

Process Email Requests: Immediately processes any incoming requests submitted by email. This supersedes the usual schedule.

Process Assignment Notifications: Immediately processes any notifications that should be sent to assignees of requests, work orders, and purchase orders. This supersedes the usual schedule.

Refresh from Database Configuration Record: Sends your current configuration to an installed version of MainBoss Service. You should perform this action whenever you change your MainBoss Service configuration.

Delete Activity Logging Entries: Helps you clean up the files that contain log messages created by MainBoss Service. In particular, it deletes messages that arise from erroneous or unexpected conditions that arise during processing.

This button has a drop-down list containing:

Delete Trace Logging Entries: Helps you clean up the files that contain log messages created by MainBoss Service. In particular, it deletes messages that mark various stages in MainBoss Service's processing cycle (e.g. when it starts to process requestor acknowledgements).

Delete All Logging Entries: Deletes all current entries in the files that contain log messages created by MainBoss Service.

Stop All Tracing: Tells MainBoss Service not to produce trace log messages.

Trace All: Tells MainBoss Service to trace all stages in the processing cycle. This includes Trace Email Requests, Trace Notify Requestor, and Trace Notify Assignee.

Trace Email Requests: Tells MainBoss Service to trace the processing of requests sent in by email.

Trace Notify Requestor: Tells MainBoss Service to trace the processing of notifications sent to requestors.

Trace Notify Assignee: Tells MainBoss Service to trace the processing of notifications sent to assignees of requests, work orders, and purchase orders.

Refresh: Updates the window to reflect any recent changes.

For information on configuring MainBoss Service, see Configuring MainBoss Service.

< Previous section  |  Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Next section >