How do I run a Java .jar file as a Windows service on Windows Server 2008?

Question

How do I run a Java .jar file as a Windows service on a Windows 2008 server? I have a jar file called SomeJavaFile.jar located under the C:\SomeDirectory directory on a Windows Server 2008 box. I usually just run this jar manually in the command line with: java –cp SomeJavaFile.jar com.ctg.SomeJavaFile and I let it run 24/7.

The problem with our Windows Server is if it restarts I need to run it as a service so it will automatically start as a service upon startup, because our processing for Vistakon runs 24/7. I have Googled around and tried to use a service wrapper and the sc.exe command to create the service.

I put the wrapper service.exe in the C:\SomeDirectory\. I use the following command to create it: sc.exe SomeJavaService binPath= “C:\SomeDirectory\service.exe \”java –jar C:\SomeDirectory\SomeJavaFile.jar\”” type= own start= auto error= ignore. This creates the SomeJavaService service correctly but when I try to start it I get an error that says the service on Local Computer started then stopped.

Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs. Do I need to alter my sc.exe command to have the exact previous working command line maybe, by adding in the com.ctg.SomeJavaFile? So should I change This jar should just run in the background and constantly poll/ping the C:/poll directory then if there is data present it processes the data and sends an export file to another directory.

I have used this same .jar file for years successfully and it hasn't changed, but I cannot get it to run as a Windows service. This is the site I use to get the service wrapper http://code.google.com/p/simple-service-wrapper/. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

"winsw" is the standalone version of the Windows Service installer shipping with the Glassfish Java EE reference implementation.

Works well, but is not a fully polished product - I have used it for exactly this purpose for a couple of years. Requires .NET in some recent version on the Windows machine.

https://github.com/kohsuke/winsw