Configure the Windows Service

To ensure that the interface insurance starts whenever the interface node is rebooted, configure the instance as an automatic Windows service, as follows:

1. In PI ICU, select Service.

2. To ensure that buffering is running when the interface starts, select bufsrv (pre 3.4 Data Archive Servers) or pibufss (3.4 and higher) in the Installed services list, then select the left-arrow button to add it to the Dependencies list. If prompted, update service dependencies.

3. Set Startup Type to Auto.

4. Select the Create button.

5. To start the service, select .

   To verify that the service is created and is running, launch the Windows Administrative Tools Services control panel and verify that the service is listed.

   To ensure that the interface restarts when the machine hosting the interface restarts, configure it as a Windows service. To configure the service, go to the PI ICU Services tab and enter the required settings, then create and start the service. On 64-bit platforms, configure the PI Performance Monitor interface service to depend on the Performance Counter DLL Host service, and configure the Performance Counter DLL Host service startup type as Automatic.

   In order to monitor performance counters on a remote computer, you must configure security settings on the target machine to allow the interface to access it. There are two options:

   1. This is the more secure option. Create a standard user (i.e., non-admin) account on your Windows domain for the interface service to use. Alternatively, choose a pre-existing user-level domain account. On the machine running the Performance Monitor interface, open the ICU, navigate to the Service tab, select Log on as: [Domain\]UserName, and provide the user name and password of the account.

      On the target machine, open lusrmgr (search Edit local users and groups from the Start menu), select the Groups folder in the left-hand pane, double-click Performance Monitor Users in the central pane, and add the account that the interface will use to this group.

   2. By default, as with all PI interfaces based on UniInt 4.6, the interface service runs using a Windows virtual service account with limited privileges. To grant the interface permission to access performance counters using this account, navigate to the Performance Monitor Users group on the target machine (see option for instructions), and add the name of the machine running the Performance Monitor interface to the list. In order to do so, you might need to first select the Object Types button in the Add dialog and check the Computers option.

      Either one of these options will allow the interface to access performance counter data from the target machine. However, option 2 will also allow any program on the computer running PI Performance Monitor to access the performance data of the target machine.

To configure the account for the service

6. Launch the Windows Services control panel.

7. Right-click the Performance Monitor interface service and choose Properties. The Properties dialog is displayed.

8. Display the Log On tab, enable This account and enter the user name and password for the account.

9. To save your changes, select OK.