Running iCal as an NT Service

A frequently asked question, is how to run iCal as an NT Service. iCal is not able to initiate itself as a service, but there are software tools available for this purpose. The most widely know tool is srvany.exe. This software program is available on the CD that comes with the Microsoft Windows NT Resource Kit. Invoker is a lesser known software tool that can launch iCal as an NT service, and is extremely easy to use. Invoker is a free program, and you can obtain more information from http://www.idetix.com/support_files.htm. If you are an NT administrator, you may already be familiar with srvany.exe and this would be a good choice. If all of this is a bit new to you I would use Invoker. It is the easiest way to go.

General iCal setup for use with Srvany or Invoker

There are several options on the Linker tab of iCal. These settings need to be changed from their default settings before iCal is launched as a service. To modify these you need to start iCal and go to the application property sheet. You will see three tabs titled Status, Listener and About. Perform the following steps. Status Tab You need to stop the iCal server. Click on the button that says Idle Server. Listener Tab On this tab check the Auto Start Listener and Start Minimized boxes. Uncheck the Auto Start Browser box. Status Tab Now click the Shutdown to close iCal. The settings will be saved in the registry.

Using INVOKER to start iCal as an NT Service

The first step is to obtain the invoker.zip (29k) program. This zip file contains only three files: invoker.exe, invoker_license.txt and invoker_readme.txt. The installation is to put the the invoker.exe somewhere in your command path. Once Invoker is in your command path the following line would install iCal as a service. invoker install ical iCal3.6 "c:\Program Files\iCal 3.6 Web Calendar\ical" automatic That is all there is to it, but you will want to read the documentation sheet that comes with Invoker. Simple. very simple! Note: Our testing has shown Invoker to work properly with Windows 2000 and XP.

Using SRVANY to start iCal as an NT Service

The srvany.exe program is available on the Microsoft Windows NT Resource Kit. It is well documented. If you are a seasoned NT Administrator, you are probably well familiar with this program. If, however, you have difficulties, feel free to use our step by step reference guide.

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