Inter-Tel AXXESS Manual page 1457

11. INTER-TEL CALL PROCESSING AND WATCHDOG SERVICES
11.1 The Inter-Tel Call Processing service is started by the Watchdog service. The Watchdog
service starts up automatically and does not require a user to log on to Windows in order to
start it. The system administrator has the ability to start and stop the Inter-Tel Call Processing
service through the Services applet in the Control Panel.
When the software is installed or upgraded, the Software Watchdog service is set for
"manual" startup by default. It is very important for you to change the startup type to "auto-
matic" after the new software is installed and is working properly.
11.2 The Software Watchdog is a service that runs independently of the Inter-Tel Call Pro-
cessing service. Its job is to monitor the Inter-Tel Call Processing service through the use of the
following:
•
Service Control Manager: The software watchdog reads a list of target services it is to
monitor from the registry. It then asks the Service Control Manager (SCM) the status of
each target service. If the target service is stopped, it will ask the SCM to signal the ser-
vice to start. This service starts automatically upon system power-up.
•
Event Signaling: For each service the software watchdog monitors, it creates a watch-
dog event. If this event is not signaled for a given period of time, the target service is
assumed stopped, and the software watchdog attempts to start the service again.
•
File Existence: The watchdog service also checks for particular files to be in existence
when checking the status of a target service. If the target service writes out a "User Ter-
minated" file (~usertrm.svc), the watchdog service does not automatically start the
target service, because the service was probably stopped manually for a software
upgrade or other type of maintenance. There is also a "Restart" file (~restart.svc).
This signals the watchdog service that the target service is waiting to be restarted as
soon as possible. This is the file written during a Major Reset. The third file is the
"Can't Connect" file (~cantcon.svc). This file signals the watchdog that the CP
Server is unable to connect to the equipment chassis. If the CP Server is part of a redun-
dant system, the "Can't Connect" file tells the watchdog service that the CP Server may
be the backup server and that the watchdog service should attempt to connect to the
other CP Server as a backup. If the system is not redundant, the watchdog service treats
this file as a "Restart" file.
•
Hardware Watchdog: The watchdog service also performs a global function of main-
taining signaling to a hardware watchdog timer on the Audio Interface Card (AIC) or
the PCI Watchdog Card. If the hardware watchdog is not signaled within a given time
frame, the hardware device signals the reset circuitry on the motherboard and the sys-
tem goes through a hard reset. This is used to safeguard against the PC from locking up
and disabling the system for an extended period of time.
11.3 The software watchdog also keeps track of how many times it has had to do a soft
restart of a service. If the service does not come up after a number of restarts, then a system
shutdown is scheduled. Also, there are initial grace periods for allowing services to start up and
begin signaling the software watchdog event.
Inter-Tel Call Processing and Watchdog Services
® ®
INTER-TEL AXXESS MANUAL VERSION 11.0 – May 2008
CAUTION
Appendix C — CP Server
Page C-9