Home
LanScape VOIP Media Proxy™ - User's Reference
LanScape VOIP Media Proxy®
Tile Page
Part Number
Software License Agreement
Preface
Getting Started
Overview
Prerequisites
The LanScape VOIP Media Proxy®
General Description
Media Proxy Configuration
Performing Configuration
Configuration Dialogs
Basic Settings
Network Configuration
SIP Proxy Configuration
Wan IP/NAT Detection
Event Logging
Authentication
Backing up and restoring configuration information
Backing up the proxy configuration
Restoring the proxy configuration
Running Multiple Instances
Running more than one proxy on the same machine
Running the proxy server as a service
Running the proxy server as a service
Deployment Scenarios
Deploying in the global IP address space
Deploying in your private IP address space
Help File Version
Help File Version

Running the VOIP Media Proxy Server as a service

The VOIP Media Proxy® server can be executed on the server host machine as an NT service or a Windows service. The primary advantage of running the proxy server as a service is that the VOIP Media Proxy® server will be started when the host machine is started. It does not matter if a user logs into the server machine or not. The VOIP Media Proxy® server will also automatically shutdown gracefully when the server host machine shuts down.

There are many other advantages of running the VOIP Media Proxy® server as a service. When you run your LanScape VOIP server software as a service, your VOIP server software can be monitored for execution faults and can be restarted if required. Deploying the VOIP Media Proxy® server as a service will assist you in deploying a "high availability" VOIP system that will experience minimal down time as compared to VOIP server products from other vendors.


Note:

The proxy server can be installed as a service if you use Windows NT 4.x (Service Pack 6a), 2000, XP, 2003 or higher. The proxy server cannot be installed as a service if you are using Windows 95, 98, or Me operating systems.

 

Benefits of running as a service:

Automatically start and stop the proxy server when the host machine starts/stops.

Monitor the proxy server for fault situation.

Automatically restart the proxy server if faults occur.

Periodically restart the proxy server software if need be to help preserver long term overall server stability.

Create log file data that reflects the fault monitoring activity of the proxy server.

Running VOIP server software as a service is generally required in secure network environments.



Introduction: The
LanScape Service Manager™

In order to obtain the highest level of control and fault tolerant behavior from the VOIP Media Proxy® server and the server host machine, the VOIP Media Proxy® server is controlled, monitored and managed by LanScape's Service Manager software. The VOIP Media Proxy® server and the LanScape Service Manager have been designed to function seamlessly together to offer a level of up time performance not achievable by using a stand alone server process or a stand alone NT or Windows service. The term "service manager" will be used throughout this document to describe the LanScape Service Manager product suite.

The service manager is used to support all of the added capabilities normal native Windows operating system services cannot support. The LanScape Service Manager product suite consists of three program executables:
 

LsServiceManagerTray.exe

A Win32 application that allows you to display a system tray icon for the service manager console. This system tray program can be configured to launch the service manager console if the system tray icon is double clicked. Its use is optional.

LsServiceManagerConsole.exe

A Win32 application that is used to install and uninstall the service control manager service. It is also used to configure the processes that are managed by the service control manager. All configured processes run a child processes of the service manager service.

LsServiceManager.exe

A Win32 service that is the heart of the service manager. This service performs all server software initiation, termination, process monitoring, fault detection, server process restarting and event logging.

 
 

The service manager must be installed on the same host machine that will be running your LanScape VOIP server software. The following graphic below shows the graphical user interface of the LanScape Service Manager console:







The LanScape Service Manager is included with the VOIP Media Proxy® server product distribution. It will be installed in the same product directory that you installed your proxy software. For complete details associated with using the service manager software, please refer to the electronic help file for that product.

If you have installed multiple LanScape VOIP server products to the same host machine, you can use a single service manager to control and manage all of your server software. This means installing the LanScape Service Manager service once for all server applications. You do not have to run more than one instance of the service manager service on the same host machine.



Configuring the VOIP Media Proxy server as a service

This section will show you the "short" procedure you must follow to allow your VOIP Media Proxy® server to run as a Windows service. Please refer to the complete LanScape Service Manager user documentation for additional details.



Creating a proxy server master configuration file:


When you run your VOIP server software as a service, it must use a configuration file instead of using the Windows registry for its configuration information. This section will tell you how to create a master configuration file.


Step 1:

Log in to your server machine using an administrator user account. Run your VOIP Media Proxy® server as a normal process and configure it as required for your deployment.


Step 2:

When you have completed your proxy server configuration, you must create a configuration file containing all of the proxy settings (normally an *,ini file image). To learn how to create a proxy server "settings" file image, please see Backing up the proxy configuration.

Use the procedure for "Backing up the proxy configuration" so you create a server configuration file named "MediaProxyService.ini". This file should be saved to the same directory that contains the EXE file image for the VOIP Media Proxy® server (MediaProxy.exe).


Step 3:

Terminate your VOIP Media Proxy® server.




Configure your proxy server as a service:


Now you must start the LanScape Service Manager console application and configure your proxy server to run as a service. The following steps will show you how to do this.



Step 1:

Start the service manager console application (LsServiceManagerConsole.exe). The user interface should look like the following:







Step 2:

Select the service manager service executable (LsServiceManager.exe). To do this, press the "browse" button for the "Service executable" edit field. After you select the proper EXE file image your GUI should look similar to the following:







Step 3:

Enable fault monitoring. Having fault monitoring enabled will allow the service manager service to automatically restart your VOIP server software in the event that it crashes or unexpectedly terminates.

As an option, you can also specify that the service manager service create a text log file of its operations. Enable one or all check boxes if desired. A log file may be useful for debugging system service problems if they arise. Leave disabled if you do not require service debugging information.







Step 4:

Add your VOIP Media Proxy® server to the managed process list. To do this, press the "Add" button. When you press the Add" buton, a dialog similar to the following will be displayed:







Step 5:

Select the EXE file image for the VOIP Media Proxy® server (MediaProxy.exe). Do this by pressing the "Command Line" edit control's file browse button.


Important:

After you select your VOIP Media Proxy® server EXE image, add the -f command line switch to the EXE file's command line. The -f command line switch specifies the name of your *.ini configuration file you previously created.

Your dialog should now look similar to the following:







Step 6:

Set appropriate check boxes and process timing parameters:


Looking at the dialog image from Step 5, change the check boxes as follows:

Enable this application: Checked.
Show user interface: NOT checked.
Use named event for process termination: Checked.
Restart the process on critical failure: Checked.
Monitor unhandled application exceptions: Checked.

Notes:
You do not have to change the default exception types that will be trapped when you enable the "Monitor unhandled application exceptions" setting.

Also, you should set the "Milliseconds to pause before terminating this process" to 10000 Ms or greater.



Optional:


The service manager service can periodically restart your server software at the specified interval. Enable this as you require. To keep a clean server, it may be a good idea to allow your VOIP server software to be restarted in the middle of the night when it is least likely to be in operation.

Once you complete this step, your dialog should look similar to the following:







Step 7:

Save your settings by pressing the OK button. Your Service Manager Console will look similar to the following:







Step 8:

Install the LanScape Service Manager Service. To do this, press the "Install Service" button. The service manager service will be installed into your host's service database.



Step 9:

Your LanScape VOIP server software is now installed as a service. Any time your host machine is started, your LanScape VOIP server software will start automatically without a user having to login to the machine. If you want to start your VOIP server software now, either restart your host machine or press the "Start" button in the LanScape Service Manager Console.




Stopping your VOIP server from running as a service:



If for some reason you need to stop your VOIP server software from running as a service, you can do the following:

Step 1:

Log into the server machine using an administrator account.



Step 2:

Start the LanScape Service Manager Console application (LsServiceManagerConsole.exe).



Step 3:

Press the "Stop" button to stop the service manager service. Doing this will shut down your VOIP server software.



Step 4:

Press the "Uninstall Service" button to uninstall the LanScape Service Manager service.



Step 5:

The service manager is now uninstalled and your VOIP server software will not automatically start when your server machine starts.