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SUMMARY
This tutorial will guide you through the steps of setting up and configuring a Windows NT Server or Workstation to execute an ASP script as a service. This will let you execute an ASP script without a user being logged on to the server, thus allowing you to use the ASP technology as a tool for automatic file processing or similar.
REQUIREMENTS
For this setup to work, the server must have the following software installed:
An ASP compliant web server. For instance, Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 3.0 or higher.
A webbrowser. For instance, Microsoft Internet Explorer.
The Windows NT Ressource Kit or at least the ServAny/InstSrv utilities available separately.
When doing all the following, you must be logged on as Administrator.
THE SCRIPT
The ASP script you want to run as a service should be written as plain ASP as you would normally do. Although, in case you want the script to "loop", you should make sure, that you output the appropriate HTML to initiate a reload of the script. This should look something like this:
<%
[ Perform whatever task you need ]
%>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="60; url=myScript.asp">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
Generally, you would not generate any output, as the script will run in the background, not having anything to present to a user.
The HTML above assumes that the name of the script is myScript.asp and will reload the script (execute it) every 60 seconds.
Copy the script file to your webserver so it is accessible within the webserver namespace. From now on, I assume that you put it in the webserver root directory, so it is accessible via
http://localhost/myScript.asp
Eventually, test it using the webbrowser to make sure everything works as planned.
INSTALLING THE SERVICE
Setting up the service is pretty straight-forward if you follow the guideline provided with the NT Ressource Kit. Anyway, the following will guide you through just the nessecary steps.
We need the following files from the NT Ressource Kit:
instsrv.exe Utility to install Windows NT services
srvany.exe A service that will run any application
Although its optional, I recommend putting both files in your System32 directory. Now, start up a command prompt and execute this:
instsrv myAspService srvany.exe
A new service named "myAspService" is now available through the Control Panel -> Services applet. Of course, you can provide any name you like.
CONFIGURING THE SERVICE
Now we need to configure the newly installed service to actually execute the script. As seen above, we need some host application to make the HTTP request - namely a webbrowser. In other words, we need to configure the service to execute the webbrowser with the appropriate URL as a parameter.
To configure the service, first open the Services applet in Control Panel. Locate the new service, double-click it, and make sure it is set to "Automatic" startup. Close the Control Panel applet.
Start up the registry editor (either regedit.exe or regedt32.exe).
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
Locate the name of your new service. Under this key, create a new key called "Parameters".
Under this new key, create the following two value/data pairs, both of type String/REG_SZ.
Value name: Application
Data: c:\Program Files\Plus!\Microsoft Internet\iexplore.exe
Value name: AppParameters
Data: http://localhost/myScript.asp
Of course, you must do any appropriate changes to paths and names in order to fit your system setup and installations paths.
Close the registry editor.
TESTING THE SERVICE
To test the entire setup, reboot the server. Afterwards, go to Control Panel -> Services and verify, that the service is running. Th