I have 78 tasks and only 74 are running, all of them need to run as Windows Services in USER CONTEXT (Logon as: DOMAIN\Administrator).
Windows Server 2003 R2 and WD Pro 4.2.5
When I try to start task nr. 75 I get this message:
StartService fails: Error Code:1053
Description: The service did not respondto the start or control request in a timely fashion.

What can I do beside the fact that I stopped Windows Licensing (not sure if this is the problem).
Is there any limitation on windows service runninh in USER CONTEXT?

TIA
Armando

Hello Armando,

That sounds like an awful lot of tasks you have running. It may very well be that you are pushing some Windows limits. Perhaps not on the computer where WD runs, but on the network computer(s) that WD is monitoring....
It may be better to look at this problem "the other way around".... Lets see if we can minimize the number of tasks you are running.
I would like to know what these tasks are doing, I guess a lot of these tasks are basically the same, except for 1 detail? Can you describe them for me? If you want you can email me the details, and I will see if we can simplify your setup.

Gert

I have follow your directions and created an "Automatically Sort Files Task" like this:

If file matches:
*\ftpuser1\IN\*;*\ftpuser2\IN\*;...;*\ftpuser20\IN\*
Then copy:
C:\MIRROR\ftp\users\IN\{firstdir}_{year}{month}{day}{hour24}{min}{sec}.{extension}
Directory monitored for changes:
\\localhost\root\ftp

With this we can have 20 directory monitored for changes and get files bak in the inside in one task!

Nothing like trying a diferente approach, as you said.

Thank you very much

Thanks for sharing the results, Armando.
Note that you can also let the files copy to a directory:

C:\MIRROR\ftp\users\IN\{firstdir}\{year}{month}{day}\{hour24}{min}{sec}.{extension}

and the task will automatically create those directories when needed.

Gert

Hello there -

I am getting the same error message, and I only have 28 tasks running (all running as a service).  I am monitoring 19 folders each on 3 separate server, and the filters I have in place (as far as I can tell after much thought) require separate tasks.

When I got to creating/starting the 29th task, I got the same message.  I do not believe it has anything to do with the server being monitored, as I could start the 29th task (on second server) if I stopped on of the first 19 tasks being monitored on the first server.

I am running XP SP2, and I am only using 837MB Ram of my available 1.5GB. It doesn't appear to be a resource issue.  at least not memory-wise.

Even after a reboot - 28 is the limit.

If there is any other information you might need to help troubleshoot, please let me know...

Many thanks...

Hi,

The number of tasks you can run as a service does not only depend on available memory, but also on other (limited) system resources. One of them is the Desktop Heap.

Several save ways to increase the number of tasks you can run:
* Stop other unneeded Windows Services (approx. every service you stop, will give you an extra watchDirectory task that can run as a service)
* Run some of your watchDirectory tasks "normally" (not as a service).

WARNING: REGISTRY HACKS AHEAD
Change registry settings AT YOUR OWN RISK


I just did some experiments, based on this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/184802/en-us
(start at "Cause 2", halfway the page).

There Microsoft describes a way to increase/decrease the SharedSection value, so it allows for more or less Windows Services to run. I did a few tests, and am a little surprised by the outcome (the results are opposite to what I expected).

Please read the above article, before continuing.

I created 44 tasks, all with "run as a service" as the "how to run" method. Those tasks all used the default user (LocalSystem) and did NOT have the service option "allow service to interact with the desktop" checked. The tasks all monitored C:\Test.

First test, with SharedSection=1024,3072,512 (default setting on my XP SP2 computer).
I am able to start 36 tasks. Task 37 will always give me the 1053 error.

Second test, with SharedSection=1024,3072,384
It was my understanding from the Microsoft article, that this would allow for more services to run.
However, now I am able to run 26 tasks (less!).


Third test, with SharedSection=1024,3072,640
I could start all 44 tasks. Maybe it would be possible to start more tasks (did not try).

If I understand the article correctly, the 3rd value of SharedSection, the one I varied in my tests, is only applicable to Services that run as LocalSystem without the option "interact with the desktop" checked. If your services use another account to run, you may need to alter the second value. Please read the article carefully!!!

Hope this helps,

Gert

Note that you can also combine several tasks into one with the new "Run Multiple SubTasks" plugin: http://www.watchdirectory.net/wdhelp/plugins/wdopMultiPlugin.html