community.windows.win_nssm – Install a service using NSSM

Note

This plugin is part of the community.windows collection (version 1.3.0).

To install it use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.windows.win_nssm.

Synopsis

  • Install a Windows service using the NSSM wrapper.

  • NSSM is a service helper which doesn’t suck. See https://nssm.cc/ for more information.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
app_environment
dictionary
added in 1.2.0 of community.windows
Key/Value pairs which will be added to the environment of the service application.
app_parameters
string
A string representing a dictionary of parameters to be passed to the application when it starts.
DEPRECATED since v2.8, please use arguments instead.
This is mutually exclusive with arguments.
app_rotate_bytes
integer
Default:
104858
NSSM will not rotate any file which is smaller than the configured number of bytes.
app_rotate_online
integer
    Choices:
  • 0
  • 1
Default:
0
If set to 1, nssm can rotate files which grow to the configured file size limit while the service is running.
app_stop_method_console
integer
Time to wait after sending Control-C.
app_stop_method_skip
integer
    Choices:
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
To disable service shutdown methods, set to the sum of one or more of the numbers
1 - Don't send Control-C to the console.
2 - Don't send WM_CLOSE to windows.
4 - Don't send WM_QUIT to threads.
8 - Don't call TerminateProcess().
application
path
The application binary to run as a service
Required when state is present, started, stopped, or restarted.
arguments
string
Parameters to be passed to the application when it starts.
This can be either a simple string or a list.
This is mutually exclusive with app_parameters.

aliases: app_parameters_free_form
dependencies
list / elements=string
Service dependencies that has to be started to trigger startup, separated by comma.
DEPRECATED, will be removed in a major release after 2021-07-01, please use the ansible.windows.win_service module instead.
description
string
The description to set for the service.
display_name
string
The display name to set for the service.
executable
path
Default:
"nssm.exe"
The location of the NSSM utility (in case it is not located in your PATH).
name
string / required
Name of the service to operate on.
password
string
Password to be used for service startup.
DEPRECATED, will be removed in a major release after 2021-07-01, please use the ansible.windows.win_service module instead.
start_mode
string
    Choices:
  • auto ←
  • delayed
  • disabled
  • manual
If auto is selected, the service will start at bootup.
delayed causes a delayed but automatic start after boot.
manual means that the service will start only when another service needs it.
disabled means that the service will stay off, regardless if it is needed or not.
DEPRECATED, will be removed in a major release after 2021-07-01, please use the ansible.windows.win_service module instead.
state
string
    Choices:
  • absent
  • present ←
  • started
  • stopped
  • restarted
State of the service on the system.
Values started, stopped, and restarted are deprecated and will be removed on a major release after 2021-07-01. Please use the ansible.windows.win_service module instead to start, stop or restart the service.
stderr_file
path
Path to receive error output.
stdout_file
path
Path to receive output.
user
string
User to be used for service startup.
DEPRECATED, will be removed in a major release after 2021-07-01, please use the ansible.windows.win_service module instead.
working_directory
path
The working directory to run the service executable from (defaults to the directory containing the application binary)

aliases: app_directory, chdir

Notes

Note

  • The service will NOT be started after its creation when state=present.

  • Once the service is created, you can use the ansible.windowswin_service module to start it or configure some additionals properties, such as its startup type, dependencies, service account, and so on.

See Also

See also

ansible.windows.win_service

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_service module.

Examples

- name: Install the foo service
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: foo
    application: C:\windows\foo.exe

# This will yield the following command: C:\windows\foo.exe bar "true"
- name: Install the Consul service with a list of parameters
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: Consul
    application: C:\consul\consul.exe
    arguments:
      - agent
      - -config-dir=C:\consul\config

# This is strictly equivalent to the previous example
- name: Install the Consul service with an arbitrary string of parameters
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: Consul
    application: C:\consul\consul.exe
    arguments: agent -config-dir=C:\consul\config


# Install the foo service, and then configure and start it with win_service
- name: Install the foo service, redirecting stdout and stderr to the same file
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: foo
    application: C:\windows\foo.exe
    stdout_file: C:\windows\foo.log
    stderr_file: C:\windows\foo.log

- name: Configure and start the foo service using win_service
  ansible.windows.win_service:
    name: foo
    dependencies: [ adf, tcpip ]
    username: foouser
    password: secret
    start_mode: manual
    state: started

- name: Install a script based service and define custom environment variables
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: <ServiceName>
    application: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe
    arguments:
      - <path-to-script>
      - <script arg>
    app_environment:
      AUTH_TOKEN: <token value>
      SERVER_URL: https://example.com
      PATH: "<path-prepends>;{{ ansible_env.PATH }};<path-appends>"

- name: Remove the foo service
  community.windows.win_nssm:
    name: foo
    state: absent

Authors

  • Adam Keech (@smadam813)

  • George Frank (@georgefrank)

  • Hans-Joachim Kliemeck (@h0nIg)

  • Michael Wild (@themiwi)

  • Kevin Subileau (@ksubileau)

  • Shachaf Goldstein (@Shachaf92)