nxwrapper, error: starting service nxfilter (coudn't find Java)

[gblue]

Hello
I am currently using NXF v.4.6.6.4 (Windows, Server 2016). I am having an issue with automatic startup of the service, nxfilter. The service startup is set to automatic (path: c:\nxfilter\nxwrapper.exe). However, on restart of machine, NXF will not automatically start the service. I have to manually start the service in order to log into the dashboard. As I was looking more into this issue, the nxwrapper log file has three entries at the last startup.

ERROR: Couldn't find Java in system path. We try to start the service anyway.
INFO: Starting Nxfilter
INFO: Path = c:/nxfilter/bin/startup.bat

One thing that makes me wonder is the Java line. I don't have Java installed. Per tutorial documentation: As of v4.6.0.8 of NxFilter, we included an embedded JRE into its Windows packages. When you install it using Windows installer, you don't need to install Java or JRE. Thus, I do not have Java installed as there is no need. Within the startup.bat file, there is reference to IF statement about Java.

Anyway, as I want to push this filtering system to the small office clients, I'm troubled that on startup the nxfilter service is not automatically starting thus the admin has to remember to manually start the service each time. Am I missing something? Can someone please provide assistance or help?

Thank you for listening. Note: I do plan on updating to latest version, v.4.6.7.9.

[support200]

Did you install it using .exe package? Do you see c:/nxfilter/jre4win64 directory?

[gblue]

Yes, I believe I installed with .exe package originally. I updated via zip (copy/paste) to c:\nxfilter directory. I do see, jre4win64 directory.

[support200]

Just tested with our Windows 2012 server. Works fine. Can you test it with another system?

[gblue]

Thank you for the explanation. How would you advise me to test this with startup.bat file? Should I stop nxfilter first, then run the startup.bat file? What I'm trying to diagnose is why isn't nxfilter service starting after restart/reboot of server. You got any further troubleshooting advise?

[support200]

Try it on another system first. See if it's only for the specific system or everyone.

[gblue]

I don't really have another system to test the install and service of nxfilter on. I did stop the service and manually ran, startup.bat. A cmd window opened and ran the file. It pretty much looked like the nxfilter log file. I was able to log into the portal. One thing I did notice, the nxfilter within services.msc was not showing 'running' in the status. There was no status. Seems odd that nxfilter was actually running even though the service stated is was not. Also, the cmd window that opened when I ran startup.bat did not close. I manually closed the window which shutdown the service and ended nxfilter.

Since the service points to nxwrapper.exe, I tried to manually run that within nxfilter directory. I got a quick cmd popup that went away as soon as it opened. I checked the logs and didn't see any evidence that nxfilter was started. The portal was not running therefore the service was not running. Not sure what nxwrapper.exe is doing. It doesn't seem to work and perhaps the issue with the service starting as it is pointing to the nxwrapper in the startup path for the service.

So a few things happening that I don't know why. Any further help? Thank you.

[support200]

When you run it on CMD, it's not a Windows Service. Just a regular process. You have to register it as a service and NxWrapper is a Windows service and it runs startup.bat file.

Why don't you test it on your Windows system then? Nothing different from your Windows server for running service.

[support200]

If you know batch programming, you can write some log from startup.bat file to see if it's started or where it exited.

[gblue]

Thank you. My issue is, the nxfilter service is not automatically starting. The service is set to automatic but when the server starts, reboots, etc. the nxfilter service is not starting. This is the issue I'm trying to resolve. If I manually run the service it works fine. But I don't want to do that everytime the server restarts, etc. I may not be here or available. So, why isn't the service automatically starting? I have set the startup as 'delayed automatic' which will delay the start by 2 mins. after all other essential services have started. Not sure that will do anything but it is hard to test on production machine as I will need to restart the server.

I'm not sure if nxwrapper is the hangup or what. Could I create a new service and have it run, startup.bat directly and skip the nxwrapper executable?

[support200]

As I already have told you, it works find on our machines. And you are the only one reporting such a problem. We have many users running NxFilter on Windows server and if it's 2016, there are others running NxFilter on it.

If you can create a new service executing startup.bat that'd be OK. You can uninstall NxWrapper service by running 'c:/nxfilter/unstsvc.bat'.

[gblue]

I looked through the Event Logs and it appears NXF is starting 10 secs around reboot. That is before many other services are starting. I also notice, that NXF entered stopped state, 45 secs after it was started by the system. Therefore, this tells me the service was automatically started about 10 secs after reboot but it was stopped 45 secs after it was started. That is odd to me. I will try to restart the server with the edited startup type = delayed start and see the results.

I am puzzled to. I'm not sure I can create a new service, it looks like all Window services are executable files, hence nxwrapper.exe pointing to the startup.bat. I'll get back to you with results of the delayed automatic start setting.

[support200]

Did you look into to its log file? c:/nxfilter/log/nxfilter.log.

[gblue]

I think I'm onto something. I was looking at the nxf log from last startup and saw the running state then I go to the log and it said, 'couldn't bind udp/53'. The next line in the log was, shutdown. This resembles what I said, it started but 45 seconds later is stopped. Background: I thought I had the listening IP port set BUT WS DNS defaults back to listening to all IPs. This is an issue I was wrestling with too. I only want to listen to 1 IP but on restart, DNS Server listens to all by default. I created a batch file to run at startup via Task Scheduler but just found out that the task was not running. It was to set the listening IP but the task appears to be not running. So...the problem lies with setting the listening IP I believe.

Therefore the other issue I'm trying to resolve which appears to be the primary issue is, why is Windows DNS Server defaulting to listen to all IPs at startup/reboot? I am changed the task scheduler to run whether the use is logged on or not. My first setting was, run only when user is logged on. That seemed not to be working.

Thanks for listening to me. I was able to track down the issue via nxfilter log from the last restart, which was on Wed (installed new UPS). I'll report back my findings on the two issues.

[gblue]

Good news. NXF service is running automatically following a reboot and I am able to log into the portal. The issue at hand was setting the listening IP. I had a task schedule set to run at startup BUT the task was running before DNS Server had started therefore the .bat file that was set to run at startup was not working as it was running to early. I figured that out and set the task to run 30 secs after the DNS Server had started. And with the NXF service being delayed, the startup.bat from the nxwrapper started after the DNS Server so all is well.

DNS Server started: 16:21:53
Task (Set listening IP) started: 16:22:23 (30 sec delay)
NXF started: 16:23:53 (delayed automatic, 120 sec, which appears to be from DNS Server start time)

I think the monster has been tamed. Thanks for your help, even though the dialogue was secondary to the primary issue at hand with the setting the IP for DNS.