You want to change the way the system behaves. If you want to control access to the server by shutting down network authentication services, change service security settings, or turn applications on and off, you can do so from the services management tool.
You need to shut down services to install applications or system updates. Sometimes you need to use the services management tool to shut down services and install various applications or system updates. For example, you must terminate all services that use ODBC before you can install the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) update.
You need to install new services or applications. Before installation, some applications, services, and system updates require you to stop a server application. For example, before you can apply an MDAC update, you must shut down all ODBC-dependent services.
Installing and Uninstalling Services
If you installed and then removed applications from pre-Win2K Windows installations, the uninstallation process invariably left little program gremlins on your system. In Win2K, Microsoft has significantly improved this situation by designing the OS to maintain much tighter control over application components and their code. The result is that you can use Win2K's native packaging and development tools to minimize the instances of nonfunctional services remaining in your configuration.
In many cases, applications manage their components by themselves, configuring or creating new services as needed. When you use an application's original installer tool to remove the application, the tool can usually clean up and remove any remaining pieces. However, if you've changed the application's configuration since you installed the tool, you might have to manually change the configuration back to the original for the installer tool to successfully remove the application.
Win2K uses the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet to add and remove application, network, and data services. However, I strongly recommend that you don't try to manually remove a service by tracking down its code in the \winnt directory and deleting it. Doing so can have unpredictable but negative effects on your server's operation. Alternatively, the resource kit provides an array of tools that you can use for service-management tasks. Table 3 provides a list of resource kit tools for managing system and application services.
If you prefer to manage from a command prompt, the resource kit offers command-line versions of service-management tools that let you install and uninstall services' executable files, but only on the local machine. In addition, these tools require you to use the Service Controller (sc.exe) tool to start and set services' attributes. The Service Installation Wizard is a GUI tool that lets you install, start, and set services' attributes from one interface, even on remote servers. However, you should use this tool only with applications and services that don't have an install/uninstall program.
The resource kit's Srvany tool lets you run an end-user or other Windows application as a system service. (Some applications install as system services, but you have to force others to run this way.) Running Windows applications as system services lets you set an application to load automatically when the server boots, without requiring a user to log on. (However, you should test this configuration on a nonproduction system first—some applications don't function properly when forced to run as services.) The application runs in the background regardless of the security attributes of the current user. The resource kit includes instructions for how to install and use Srvany. For more information about Win2K's resource kit tools, invest in the resource kit and pay close attention to the Win2K core Help files and the resource kit's documentation.
Learn the Basics
Take time to gain an understanding of Win2K Server services and become familiar with the auxiliary Win2K service-management tools available to you. This knowledge will help you analyze Win2K's default services configuration to determine your server's optimal configuration.
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