Configuration of Sym3 Activate service

The file used to configure Sym3 Activate service is an XML file located here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Sym3\Sym3 Activate\BCS.Sym3.ActivateService.exe.config

Configure services to monitor

The following fragment sets up which services Sym3 Activate should control/monitor.

Example:

    <services>
        <add name="Sym3 Operator Service" KeepAlive="true" priority="1" monitorOnly="true" maxNumberOfRetries="3"/>
        <add name="Sym3 Alarm Service" priority="1" maxNumberOfRetries="3"/>
		<add name="Sym3 Authentication Service" 
            priority="1" 
            monitorOnly="false" 
            maxNumberOfRetries="3" 
            KillProcess="true" KillProcessTimeout="1000" StartTimeout="30000" StopTimeout="30000" >
		    <KillProcesses>
			    <add name="notepad" />
				<add name="chrome" />
		    </KillProcesses>
		</add>
    </services>

Attributes

Attribute	Description	Default Value
`name`	Service display name. This is the name of the service as it appears in the Microsoft Windows Services window (`services.msc`)	Mandatory
`priority`	Priority that determins the starting order of services. Value of 1 has the highest priority. Specify a higher priority for services that should be started first.	0
`KeepAlive`	Set to true if this service should be started if it is not already running	False
`monitorOnly`	When set to `true`, Sym3 Activate will not start or stop the service. Usually this value should be `true` for services set to automatic start mode. Setting `monitorOnly` to `false` for automatic mode services may cause Sym3 Activate to not operate normally.	False
`maxNumberOfRetries`	Number of times that Activate will retry to start the service. A lower value around 3 is recommended.	0
`KillProcess`	Enables or disables killing of service process during stop operation.	True
`KillProcessTimeout`	The time in milliseconds that Sym3 Activate will wait for service process to be killed. Usually killing process is very fast so this timeout should be a short one.	500ms
`KillProcesses`	Can be used to specify any more secondary processes to be killed during stop operation. This will be effective only when `KillProcess` is set to `true`. The name of the process to be killed should be specified in name attribute. Please note that killing a process is not a graceful operation.	Empty
`StartTimeout`	The amount of time in milliseconds that Sym3 Activate will wait for the service to be started. If this is not specified `<ServiceControlStartTimeOut>` is used. This value should be configured according to the time taken for the service to start.
`StopTimeout`	The amount of time in milliseconds that Sym3 Activate will wait for the service to be stopped. If this is not specified `<ServiceControlStopTimeOut>` is used. This value should be configured according to the time taken for the service to stop.

Settings and Options

The appSettings section of the configuration file is read by the framework, each entry has a key and a value, these keys are detailed within the following table:

❗: The most important settings likely to be changed for your project.

!	Attribute	Type	Description	Typical Value
	`StandaloneMode`	Boolean	If True, Sym3 Activate is working without a peer. Can be useful if you want to monitor services.	False
	`StatusListeningPort`	Number	The port to receive status updates from Sym3 services. This UDP port must be allowed in the firewall.	3000
	`ServiceControlStatusCheckInterval`	Number	The time interval in milliseconds to check Sym3 services status (monitor only).	1000
	`ServiceControlRetryInterval`	Number	The time interval in milliseconds to check Sym3 services status and restart a service if not started. Only effective in Active state.	5000
	`ServiceControlStartTimeOut`	Number	The timeout in milliseconds to wait to start a service	10000
	`ServiceControlStopTimeOut`	Number	The timeout in milliseconds to wait to stop a service	10000
❗	`VirtualIPAddress`	String	The IP address that is shared between the two servers, this is the address Sym3 Operator Client will connect to. Set to `127.0.0.1` to disable sharing IP
❗	`NetworkAdapter`	String	The network adapter the shared IP address is assigned to (the adapter to add/remove the address from). See how to get this info
	`SubnetMask`	String	Subnet mask for virtual IP	`255.255.255.0`
	`EnforceVirtualIP`	Boolean	Whether or not to force using shared IP Address to make outbound connection	False
❗	`PrimaryServer`	Boolean	Flag to indicate this is the primary server. Only one of the systems maybe set as the primary server, this is a fallback to ensure only one will ever be active	True for Server1, False for Server2
❗	`PeerIPAddress`	String	The IP address of the peer (Where the other Sym3 Activate service is located)
❗	`RefIPAddress`	String	The IP address of the reference server to ping periodically. This must be a valid and pingable address on your network.	Mandatory
	`RefInterval`	Number	The time between sending the ping requests to the reference server (milliseconds)	5000
	`RefPingTimeout`	Number	The amount of time to wait for a response from the reference server, before aborting the ping request	4
❗	`PeerStatusListeningPortRemote`	Number	The port number that the remote activate server has bound to for receiving status updates	Mandatory
❗	`PeerStatusListeningPortLocal`	Number	The port number activate binds to, to receive status updates from the peer	Mandatory
	`StatusSendingInterval`	Number	The rate (in milliseconds) at which Sym3 Activate status updates are sent	1000
	`StatusReceiveTimeout`	Number	The time interval to wait for a Sym3 Activate status update before reporting it as a timeout	5000

Network adapter

You can get the name of the network adapter with this powershell command:

Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name

Example

Let say:

Server1 is 172.29.27.181
Server2 is 172.29.27.182

We need:

An external valid IP, for example 172.29.27.1
A free IP address to become the virtual shared IP address, for example 172.29.27.180

Server 1 Configuration

This example list the most important values to be changed, the others remains unchanged

    <!-- Typical values -->
    <add key="StandaloneMode" value="false" />

    <!-- Virtual IP -->
    <add key="VirtualIPAddress" value="172.29.27.180" />
    <add key="SubNetMask" value="255.255.255.0" />
    <add key="NetworkAdapter" value="Ethernet1" />

    <!-- Server1 is the PRIMARY server -->
    <add key="PrimaryServer" value="true" />

    <!-- IP address of Server2 -->
    <add key="PeerIPAddress" value="172.29.27.182" />

    <!-- IP address of the reference (witness) -->
    <add key="RefIPAddress" value="172.29.27.1" />

    <!-- Ports to be used -->
    <add key="PeerStatusListeningPortRemote" value="20001" />
    <add key="PeerStatusListeningPortLocal" value="20002" />

Server 2 Configuration

This example list the most important values to be changed, the others remains unchanged

    <!-- Typical values -->
    <add key="StandaloneMode" value="false" />

    <!-- Virtual IP -->
    <add key="VirtualIPAddress" value="172.29.27.180" />
    <add key="SubNetMask" value="255.255.255.0" />
    <add key="NetworkAdapter" value="Ethernet1" />

    <!-- Server1 is the PRIMARY server -->
    <add key="PrimaryServer" value="false" />  <!-- !!!!! DIFFERENT !!!!!-->

    <!-- IP address of Server2 -->
    <add key="PeerIPAddress" value="172.29.27.181" /> <!-- !!!!! DIFFERENT !!!!!-->

    <!-- IP address of the reference (witness) -->
    <add key="RefIPAddress" value="172.29.27.1" />

    <!-- Ports to be used -->
    <add key="PeerStatusListeningPortRemote" value="20002" /> <!-- !!!!! DIFFERENT !!!!!-->
    <add key="PeerStatusListeningPortLocal" value="20001" /><!-- !!!!! DIFFERENT !!!!!-->