Running MailRules as a Service

Microsoft Windows Services are processes that are designed to run without requiring a user to be logged on to the system. By convention, Microsoft Windows Services are designed to be non-interactive. That is, in most cases, they do their work without any user interaction. Therefore it is recommended that you only configure MailRules to run as a service once Inbound and Outbound Rules have been configured and tested. Also all other relevant MailRules settings, such as mail transport, working folder location, and administration settings must be configured before configuring the MailRules service.

Using MailRules to install itself as a Service

If your system is capable of running MailRules as a Service then the option Service will be available from the Tools menu. It is strongly recommended that you use MailRules to install itself as a service, rather than using any other utility.

The general requirements for running as a Service are:

Operating Systems:

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation or Server (we recomm that NT service pack 4 or greater is installed).
Windows 2000 Professional or Advanced Server

User Rights.

When MailRules is installed as a Service the user currently logged in requires the Administration right.
If the MailRules service is installed to login using a user account, the selected user will also require the right to "Log on as a service".
If you are unsure of the user rights please contact your Network Administrator.

MAPI Requirements

If your mail protocol is MAPI, you will require Microsoft Collaboration Data Objects (CDO, supplied with Microsoft Outlook 2000 and greater) installed on the MailRules PC. Microsoft Outlook must be connected to a Microsoft Exchange server 5.0 (or greater) to enable the sending and receiving of e-mail messages.

Additionally, MailRules requires the name of the Microsoft Exchange Server on your Domain that you wish to send and receive e-mail via, as well as the mailbox name to connect to. Please note that if the user being used to connect to Exchange is different from the user account being used to start the service, then you need to check the permissions on the Exchange mailbox.

Other Information

The MailRules Service Configuration is a static screen and only retains and loads the settings that the service was installed with. This means that any modification to the MailRules service settings through any other application will not be reflected in the MailRules service configuration form.

MailRules Service using the LocalSystem account

Services log on to Microsoft Windows NT under the LocalSystem account, which is a predefined local account used by system processes.

A service that runs in the context of the LocalSystem account inherits these characteristics:

The service has limited access to network resources, such as shares and pipes, because it has no credentials and must connect using a null session.
If the service opens a command window and runs a batch file, the user could hit CTRL+C to terminate the batch file and gain access to a command window with LocalSystem permissions.

It is possible to allow the MailRules service to interact with the desktop. This will allow the MailRules icon to appear in the system tray. If the option to interact with the desktop is not selected then the icon may not appear in the system tray.

MailRules Service using a User account

Services log onto Microsoft Windows NT using a User account, will inherit the selected users security context. Enabling MailRules to access all system resources that would be available to that user normally, including system registry and network shares. However because of the design of this type of Windows service there is no access to the system tray for MailRules to place its icon.

Other issues regarding MailRules running as a service arise by using the Windows service control panel. By using this applet it is possible to stop the MailRules service however this can course undesirable behavior if MailRules was checking for new mail messages or in the midst of sending an outbound rule.

However to allow MailRules to bypass this behavior we created the MailRules Service Manager (“MRSM”).

If MailRules was configured for Automatic Startup the MRSM will be launched once a user logs onto the machine. Please note that if the MailRules service is running and a user tries to launch the MailRules application the MRSM will be launched instead.

MailRules Service Manager

The function the MailRules Service Manager (“MRSM”) is at allow a user the ability to interact with the MailRules service effectively

MRSM .

MRSM displays the current status of the MailRules service, and along with this allows the service controls of Start, Stop, Pause, and Continue. This is just like the Windows service control service. However when the user selects Stop from MRSM, the MRSM attempts to communicate with the MailRules service with instructions to stop processing once the current action has been completed, as a Service Stop instruct is about to be issued.

Other tasks the MRSM is capable of include:

The ability to view what actions the MailRules service is performing via its own log window similar to that in MailRules.
Able to instruct the MailRules service to perform a check for new mail messages.
The ability to issue a stop service command and then automatically launch the MailRules application, incase modification to the settings or rules are required. Then detect that the user has shut down MailRules and re-start the MailRules service. This of course will only work properly if the currently logged in user has enough rights to stop and start system services.

Some machines may experience the following behavior when issuing this command:

The MailRules service stops successfully however the MRSM restarts instead of the MailRules application being launched.

This occurs when the MailRules service process has not been completely removed from system resources before the MRSM attempts to launch the MailRules application. By re-selecting the Edit MailRules option MailRules will successfully launch.

Possible Installation Issues

If the MailRules service configuration is unable to install MailRules as a service, please check the following.

The user trying to install the MailRules service has enough rights to perform the task.
There is not a MailRules service already installed on the system. The actual service name is “MailRulesSvr”. Whereas the service name displayed is a combination of “MailRules” and the edition of MailRules at the time of installation.
Your operating system is capable of running services.

If the MailRules service is unable to start then please check the following.

Check the password that was entered with the user account. This can be performed from the Windows service control panel applet.
Make sure that the account being used to start the service has the right to ‘Log on as a service’.
If starting the service manually, check that the currently logged in user has enough permissions to start or stop system services.
If the MailRules working folder is located on a network drive, then please make sure that this is normally available to the user account before login. As when the service starts it will not run a login script.

Possible Un-installation Issues

If you wish to un-install the MailRules service, it is highly recommended that this is performed by using the MailRules service configuration form. As this form will reset some internal MailRules settings that are service specific.

If you experience issues regarding the un-install of the MailRules service, please check the following.

Make sure that the MailRules service is not currently running. This should only happen if your MailRules service is set to use the LocalSystem account.
Make sure the currently logged in user has enough rights to interact with the Windows service control panel applet.
Make sure that the MailRules service hasn’t already been un-installed by a third party utility, as by doing so this will course undesirable behavior.