Repeater as Service

[Jens]

Hello,

I read in the faq, that it is possible to install the repeater as a windows service. Can you tell me how?

Is there maybe even a way to install a repeater on linux?

Jens

[supercoe]

I haven't tested the repeater running as a service so it's not recommended at this time but here are the steps:

1) repeater108.exe -install
2) manually start the service

To uninstall you must manually stop the service then run repeater108.exe -uninstall


Where can I get a linux repeater?

A port of the repeater for linux can be found at: http://koti.mbnet.fi/jtko/
Otherwise run the included repeater with Wine.

[gilrim]

I addition, I'd recommend to head over to services.msc and change the recovery options (restart service x2 and restart the computer), as well as setting it up to start automatically.

This way, the server should be running at most times (I run it in a vmware setting, there are no other services on the box).

[krash_control]

Hi Supercoe, can I just confirm you don't recommend this because you haven't tested it, or because there is a known problem with running it as a service?

Nevertheless I have installed it as a service on my server and will see how it goes.

[supercoe]

krash_control,

I don't recommend it because of lack of testing on my part. If others recommend this as a stable option (especially with the suggestions from gilrim) I'll change my wording in the FAQ.

[krash_control]

Thanks Supercoe. I'll let you know in a few days if I have any problems with it.

[webtron]

I'm just starting to test this and it looks great. Does all traffic pass through the repeater server or do the two customer and support personnel's computers link directly together? Does it reconnect if you restart the customers computer? Has anyone got the Linux repeater working on a hosted VPS?
Great work.
Cheers

[supercoe]

webtron,

Glad you like it so far!

All of the traffic passes through the repeater.

If you use the "Install Service" tray option it will reconnect after reboot.

I haven't tested the Linux repeater but others have stated that it works just fine.

Check the FAQ, read the Installation Guide and start a new thread if you have any questions. Good Luck!

[krash_control]

Well it has been about a week since I started running the repeater as a service and not once have I had to restart the service manually. I am a happy bunny. Looking forward to seeing the new repeater and further changes.

[supercoe]

krash_control,

Thanks for reporting back, this is great news!

[tbote]

The repeater really does not works well in service mode, may be in some enviroments, but soon or later I allways have problems when running in W2003/2008 servers

[supercoe]

krash_control,

What OS did you have luck with?

[krash_control]

I'm running it on W2003 server. I notice that the service does crash quite often, but I have it set to restart on failure and that's good enough. I haven't even looked into why it's crashing and only assume it does because the system tray icon appears more than once then when I hover my mouse over, it clears one of the icons.

[krash_control]

Ok, I've gone through my Application Event Logs and found the following a few times.

Code: Select all

Event Type:	Information
Event Source:	Application Error
Event Category:	(100)
Event ID:	1004
Date:		16/02/2010
Time:		17:04:19
User:		N/A
Computer:	NS4
Description:
Reporting queued error: faulting application repeater108.exe, version 1.1.0.4, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.2.3790.4455, fault address 0x0002c873.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74   Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c   ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 72 65 70   ure  rep
0018: 65 61 74 65 72 31 30 38   eater108
0020: 2e 65 78 65 20 31 2e 31   .exe 1.1
0028: 2e 30 2e 34 20 69 6e 20   .0.4 in 
0030: 6e 74 64 6c 6c 2e 64 6c   ntdll.dl
0038: 6c 20 35 2e 32 2e 33 37   l 5.2.37
0040: 39 30 2e 34 34 35 35 20   90.4455 
0048: 61 74 20 6f 66 66 73 65   at offse
0050: 74 20 30 30 30 32 63 38   t 0002c8
0058: 37 33                     73      

The fault address changes in each of the events, but pretty much the same error. Not sure what ntdll.dll does though.

But maybe it can help?

[webtron]

Hi Krash the reason there is extra icon in the system tray is because its crashing and restarting and the the icon is left over from the previous instance. Try adding repeater108.exe as an exception in your data execution prevention.
http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_turn_off_da ... rrors.html

[B]

But why do you think it's a DEP related error? I see all kinds of system tray phantom remnants like that when programs die and/or restart, and it's rarely a DEP thing, I think. (I always thought it was simply that the screen didn't properly clean up until the System Tray was reactivated as I moused over it.)

Coincidentally, MS talks about a Remote Desktop related instance of the application error at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828664

[webtron]

Because your running an application as a service. Just try it, it's not like its going to create any issues all it does is allow the service to run in a data area in memory.

[jhughes88]

When I install the repeater as a service I can see the instantsupport client connecting but the chunkvnc viewer does not connect (works okay when running as an application).

Any trick to installing as a service on Winxp SP3 connected to a win 2008 domain?

Thanks!

[supercoe]

jhughes88,

Unless the domain user has admin rights you won't be able to install as a service. Currently InstantSupport doesn't check if it has admin rights on a domain and will try to just install anyways. This usually brings up a "runas" box that does nothing.

[jhughes88]

Yeah, I tried localsystem, local user with admin rights and domain user with admin rights but still didn't work. Any other thoughts?

[supercoe]

Interesting, nothing should be stopping a local administrator from installing a service....

The worst part is that it works fine for me installing as a service on XP SP3 32bit and Server 2003 64bit while logged in as a domain admin.

I'm out of ideas... If the local administrator account can't install, something else is going on... Possibly protection software?

[B]

Wait a sec. I think it <b>is</b> installed as a service, but it's just not responding the way he or she expects. He or she wrote:

When I install the repeater as a service I can see the instantsupport...

Yeah, I tried <b>localsystem</b>, local user with admin rights and domain user with admin rights

These imply that the service <b>is</b> already successfully installed. He or she is just changing the authentication with which the service runs.

So, jhughes88, exactly what errors, if any, are you getting? Can you show us the repeater logs?

[jhughes88]

Correct the service installs and starts and the remote computer that runs instantsupport.exe connects to the repeater okay.

When i try to connect with the viewer using the remote's number it just hangs no entries in the repeater log. This works fine when I run the repeater as an application so I believe my router settings are correct and there aren't any firewalls blocking it....

wait never mind.. when running as an app it prompts me to unblock the app had to add exception for service.

Thanks for your help!

[B]

Aha! Windows Firewall gets in the way again. I suppose that's its job.

[supercoe]

Good catch B, sorry I missed that... need more coffee.

Weird, the windows firewall doesn't block outgoing connections.... either way, glad it works for you now

[B]

Well, of course for the repeater they're inbound connections. Have you tried espresso?

[supercoe]

lol, I might have to....

[gilrim]

I've been running the repeater for a while now, on a win32 based host. In the beginning it seemed to work very well, but after a while it apparent that the repeater stops accepting new associations from the viewer after a while ("Message could not be sent because an error with the switchboard occurred: server closed connection" and "Error reading Protocol Version").

I noticed this a while ago, and when I saw the improved, logging repeater I got that set up instead. But still, it stops listening on 5500 and mangles connections. (it seems that it's able of getting the first session up and running, but after that's been disconnected it just b0rkes till the service have been restarted...)

Any ideas? I was thinking about giving the linux-repeater a go: what are your experiences with using that as a mediator?

[supercoe]

Interesting issue, I've noticed that ever since I stopped leaving InstantSupport constantly connecting back to the repeater while running as a service my repeater problems have gone away.

It seems there is an issue with leaving a VNC server auto reconnecting back to the repeater, the connection timing out and it reconnecting again.

I've heard good things about the Linux repeater, doesn't hurt to give it a try but I've never extensively tested it.

I guess I've never had the problem the way you're saying, are you running a VNC server on the same machine as the repeater? Could that be borking the ports?

[B]

That does correspond to what happens to me, even that InstantSupport wasn't in active use at the time. I'm thinking memory leak, not port stuff?

Edit: Please see my post at [post=69099][/post] for a suggestion.