What is LaunchPad?

LaunchPad is a program allowing you to run just about any program or script as a native Windows Service.
It runs as a wrapper around your existing program, manages how and when your program will be run and ensures that your program is available 100% of the time. LaunchPad is unique in the market because it takes advantage of the multi core CPUs, large memory models, available today in Microsofts' 64 bit versions of its operating system. To date, we are the only company offering this feature.

Key Features

• No need to be logged on as an administrator to modify services.
• Uses both Active Directory and Local Machine authentication.
• Able to run more than one program under a single LaunchPad instance.
• Runs as both a native 32 or 64 bit service, taking advantage of large memory configurations.
• Simple XML configuration, write once, deploy everywhere.

Why do I want to run as a Service?

Running a program as a service has existed as long as Windows NT has been around. Services were typically system level processes which kept your computer running without the need for a user to interact with them. Such examples would include the Network Service, the Audio Service and more recently from XP and above, the Theming Service. Developers traditionally wrote programs to interact with the user, or as a simple command line program (one which ran from the command window). This model worked fine if someone was always logged into the Desktop, but what about remote servers? This is where LaunchPad comes in: Using LaunchPad to manage your programs, there is no need to invest in re-writing your tried and proven applications just to run them as a service. LaunchPads' advanced monitoring and scheduling allows you to get the full benefits of being a native Windows Service without the headaches of developing one yourself. With LaunchPad running your programs, you are guaranteed that your program is being looked after.

Running as a Windows Service provides you with the following benefits:

• No need to login to run your program.
• Your program automatically starts when the computer starts.
• Simple crash recovery by the Windows Service Control Manager.

Running as a LaunchPad Service provides you with these extra benefits:

• LaunchPad will run one or more programs under the same LaunchPad service, each independently configurable.
• LaunchPad will restart any of your programs should they crash, overload the CPU or memory.
• LaunchPad defines when your programs should be run via scheduling.
• LaunchPad defines how your programs should be treated if they misbehave.
• LaunchPad notifies you via email if there is a problem.
• LaunchPad defines multiple rules on occurring events.
• LaunchPad allows you to redirect a program's output to multiple log files, rotating files based on size and/or date.
• LaunchPad will respond to your popup dialogs if necessary.
• LaunchPad will gracefully close your Windows Application, preserving open file integrity.
• LaunchPad will bind your program to a single core of a multi-core machine.
• And a lot, lot, lot, lot more....

What does LaunchPad look like?

Below is a screenshot of the main program, More detailed shots are here.

Is LaunchPad easy to use?

LaunchPad has been designed to be user-friendly and simple to use. If you do find something confusing, please let us know so we can improve it in future versions.