VSys One: Volunteer Management Software

Configuring NexusDB Server as a Windows Service

Only a user with full administrator rights to the server can perform these steps to completion.

Why run NexusDB Server as a service? When NexusDB Server is run as a regular application in the Windows "Startup" folder, it does not start until someone has logged into the machine, and stops when that user logs out. Running it as a service allows it to run as soon as Windows starts up and it can remain running until the machine is turned off.

NexusDB cannot refer to data on mapped network drives when running as a service. It must either be on a local drive or referenced via a UNC path, e.g. \\YOURSERVER\NexusDBData, not b:\NexusDBData.

Getting Started

Before you can run NexusDB as a service, you must have it configured correctly to connect to your data. Once the service is running you cannot reconfigure it to change network settings, database aliases or other values without stopping the service and changing the configuration.

Installing the service

First add a new user on the server, setting the password so that it never expires (NexusDB Server will log in with the rights of this user). Once that user is created, you need to enable that account to run services. Open the Local Security Policy, then go under Local Policies, User Rights Assignment and open Log on as a service from the list. Add the new user to this list and save.

Install the service itself by opening a command prompt in the directory of where nxServer.exe is located. You can do this by clicking on Start, then Run and entering cmd then pressing Enter. Change to where nxserver.exe is located. Type the following then hit Enter:
nxServer.exe /install /username:.\youraccount /password:yourpassword
Where youraccount and yourpassword are the Windows account and the password for that account.

An information window should appear "Service installed successfully". Click OK. Then a confirmation window will appear asking if you want to start the service, click No. From the next reboot of the Windows server forward, NexusDB should load as a service. Verify this in the next section of the documentation, or if the users rights were not configured properly.

Configure the Windows service

This section is not necessary if the user has the proper rights assigned.

1. Open the Control Panel's Administrative tools and click Services, then double click NexusDB Server. Go to the Log On tab and select the user created earlier and enter his password. This information might already be listed, but enter it again anyway. Click OK when finished.
2. Right-click on NexusDB Server and start the service.
3. Open VSys, it should open properly with your data.
4. Restart the server and start VSys to verify it opens as expected and that a reboot doesn't break the setup.