Control Panel vs Aware_as_Service on Servers, 8.4 issue?

[Jaymer]

Couple of topics here:

NOTE: Without making this too complicated, lets just say for a single company, you write an Aware App. Only 1 app running on the server. You (the aware developer) manage the server.

1) On a windows server, I usually run Aware Control Panel "as a user", not as a service.
One major reason for this is that I use the Server Output and Tomcat Output massively for development debugging and to see exactly whats happening (although this is tougher on a production server where stuff is flying by constantly).

1a) If that user gets logged off, then aware is shut down. System is dead. How do yall get around this?
1b) If the server reboots, and Aware doesn't start automatically, and a customer calls and says the system is down, if they log in the server (RDP with their own credentials) and THEY start Aware control panel, then when I log in, I can't see the Control Panel.

2) Assume your answer to 1a is to "Run Aware as a Service"... then what about 8.4 new feature:

5. A number of improvements have been implemented for the Rule Log Viewer:
a) Rule Log Viewer is now part of the Control Panel, there is no standalone version

So that means Aware needs to run in a logged in windows user session - so you can see the control panel.
And this is fine, except for issue 1a & 1b, which is why I'm asking.

3) And how does the Unix version operate now with the new RULE VIEWER improvements, cause I though it didn't have a control panel and always ran in the background.

looking forward to your replies.

[hpl123]

Couple of topics here:

NOTE: Without making this too complicated, lets just say for a single company, you write an Aware App. Only 1 app running on the server. You (the aware developer) manage the server.

1) On a windows server, I usually run Aware Control Panel "as a user", not as a service.
One major reason for this is that I use the Server Output and Tomcat Output massively for development debugging and to see exactly whats happening (although this is tougher on a production server where stuff is flying by constantly).

1a) If that user gets logged off, then aware is shut down. System is dead. How do yall get around this?
1b) If the server reboots, and Aware doesn't start automatically, and a customer calls and says the system is down, if they log in the server (RDP with their own credentials) and THEY start Aware control panel, then when I log in, I can't see the Control Panel.

2) Assume your answer to 1a is to "Run Aware as a Service"... then what about 8.4 new feature:

5. A number of improvements have been implemented for the Rule Log Viewer:
a) Rule Log Viewer is now part of the Control Panel, there is no standalone version

So that means Aware needs to run in a logged in windows user session - so you can see the control panel.
And this is fine, except for issue 1a & 1b, which is why I'm asking.

3) And how does the Unix version operate now with the new RULE VIEWER improvements, cause I though it didn't have a control panel and always ran in the background.

looking forward to your replies.

I use a variation of strategies to manage this on Windows servers as I have also gone the control panel instead of service route (mainly due to logging etc.). NB: I would love to have both options though so hopefully something support can improve in the future i.e always run Aware as a service and have the option to also have the controlpanel or logs etc. running.

On a Windows server, first of all you should never run something like Aware under a regular user account. It should be a dedicated system or admin account only used for Aware otherwise you invite a lot of potential problems (and if you need a user to manage Aware or do stuff in Aware, it´s better to create a solution for that and ideally not even give them access to the system/admin account). The system/admin account should always be up and running and logged in and doesn´t really ever get "logged out" unless the server is restarted (or the admin physically logs out via the Windows menu). If the server is restarted, I use the following tool to log the system/admin user in again: https://www.logonexpert.com/ and then I use the task scheduler (or just plain Windows autostart) to start up the various things again e.g AwareIM etc. (I also use a tool called "Actual Window Minimizer" (https://www.actualtools.com/windowminimizer/) to automatically minimize the AwareIM control panel to the Windows tray when starting up.). I also use a tool called UptimeRobot (https://uptimerobot.com/) to monitor potential server crashes i.e with this tool it´s possible to get notified if server is down, Aware is down and/or a lot of other stuff (it´s also possible to setup webhooks as "notifications" i.e with this tool, if one server is done I can use a webhook connected to some other server or app that then does x and y which is a cool advanced feature).

[rocketman]

I assume from your description that the server is on the customers premises and they use it for other things? why else would somebody else be logging into it?.

I have the default Administrator account disabled - because it's a security risk anyway. I have one account set up with a unique (and long) username which in itself acts as a strong password, and a strong password.

Nobody - but nobody - has access to my account apart from one other person for when I'm on holiday or incapacitated.

I use RDP to remote in and always just "Disconnect" when finished. I have RDP software on both my phone and my tablet so can do a remote restart from more or less anywhere there is a 4G signal. The A.N Other person is because I holiday in Cuba where communication is via two tin cans and a long piece of string