Install the Controller as a Windows Service

On Windows platforms, AppDynamics strongly recommends that you set up the AppDynamics Controller to run as a Windows service. See Windows operating guidelines in Install the Controller on Windows for more information about this recommendation.  As a Windows service, the Controller runs in the background and starts up automatically on the host machine. 

Before Starting

Before following these steps to install the Controller as a service, we suggest that you verify that the Controller is not already installed as a service on the host. To do so, open the Services viewer from the Administrative Tools and look for two services, AppDynamics Controller and AppDynamics Database.

To install the Controller as a Windows service

1. If the Controller is not already installed, install the Controller. See Install the Controller on Windows.
2. Shut down the Controller as follows:
   1. Open a Command Prompt window.
   2. Navigate to the /bin directory of the Controller installation directory.

   3. Stop the Controller processes:

      stopController.bat
      

3. In the Windows Start menu, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and choose Run as administrator. 

4. At the command prompt, run the <Controller-Installation-Directory>/bin/installControllerSvcs.bat script.
   The script installs the Controller Windows service and configures the service to start automatically.
5. Reboot the host machine after the Controller is shut down.
   The Controller Windows service starts automatically.

To stop and start the Controller as a Windows service

1. In the Windows Start menu, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and choose Run as administrator. 

2. At the command prompt: 
   • Stop the Controller as a service by executing the <Controller-Installation-Directory>/bin/stopControllerSvcs.bat script.
   • Start the Controller as a service by executing the <Controller-Installation-Directory>/bin/startControllerSvcs.bat script.

To upgrade the Controller as a Windows service

1. Back up the Controller data. See Upgrade the Controller for more information on backing up the Controller for an upgrade. 
2. Stop the Controller, as described above.  

3. In the Windows Start menu, right-click on the Command Prompt icon and choose Run as administrator. 

4. At the command prompt, uninstall the Windows service by running the <Controller_Installation_Directory>/bin/uninstallControllerSvcs script.
5. Restart the computer to clear the services cache on the system.
6. Install the latest version of the Controller and then configure the Controller as a Windows service, as described above.

Learn More

• Install the Controller on Windows
• Start the Controller Automatically on Linux