# Service Hosting ## Overview The service runs as a Windows service or console application using TopShelf for lifecycle management. It targets .NET Framework 4.8 with an x86 (32-bit) platform target, which is required for MXAccess COM interop with the ArchestrA runtime DLLs. ## TopShelf Configuration `Program.Main()` configures TopShelf to manage the `OpcUaService` lifecycle: ```csharp var exitCode = HostFactory.Run(host => { host.UseSerilog(); host.Service(svc => { svc.ConstructUsing(() => new OpcUaService()); svc.WhenStarted(s => s.Start()); svc.WhenStopped(s => s.Stop()); }); host.SetServiceName("LmxOpcUa"); host.SetDisplayName("LMX OPC UA Server"); host.SetDescription("OPC UA server exposing System Platform Galaxy tags via MXAccess."); host.RunAsLocalSystem(); host.StartAutomatically(); }); ``` TopShelf provides these deployment modes from the same executable: | Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | `LmxOpcUa.Host.exe` | Run as a console application (foreground) | | `LmxOpcUa.Host.exe install` | Install as a Windows service | | `LmxOpcUa.Host.exe uninstall` | Remove the Windows service | | `LmxOpcUa.Host.exe start` | Start the installed service | | `LmxOpcUa.Host.exe stop` | Stop the installed service | The service is configured to run as `LocalSystem` and start automatically on boot. ## Working Directory Before configuring Serilog, `Program.Main()` sets the working directory to the executable's location: ```csharp Environment.CurrentDirectory = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory; ``` This is necessary because Windows services default their working directory to `System32`, which would cause relative log paths and `appsettings.json` to resolve incorrectly. ## Startup Sequence `OpcUaService.Start()` executes the following steps in order. If any required step fails, the service logs the error and throws, preventing a partially initialized state. 1. **Load configuration** -- The production constructor reads `appsettings.json`, optional environment overlay, and environment variables, then binds each section to its typed configuration class. 2. **Validate configuration** -- `ConfigurationValidator.ValidateAndLog()` logs all resolved values and checks required constraints (port range, non-empty names and connection strings). If validation fails, the service throws `InvalidOperationException`. 3. **Register exception handler** -- Registers `AppDomain.CurrentDomain.UnhandledException` to log fatal unhandled exceptions with `IsTerminating` context. 4. **Create performance metrics** -- Creates the `PerformanceMetrics` instance and a `CancellationTokenSource` for coordinating shutdown. 5. **Create and connect MXAccess client** -- Starts the STA COM thread, creates the `MxAccessClient`, and attempts an initial connection. If the connection fails, the service logs a warning and continues -- the monitor loop will retry in the background. 6. **Start MXAccess monitor** -- Starts the connectivity monitor loop that probes the runtime connection at the configured interval and handles auto-reconnect. 7. **Test Galaxy repository connection** -- Calls `TestConnectionAsync()` on the Galaxy repository to verify the SQL Server database is reachable. If it fails, the service continues without initial address-space data. 8. **Create OPC UA server host** -- Creates `OpcUaServerHost` with the effective MXAccess client (real, override, or null fallback), performance metrics, and an optional `IHistorianDataSource` obtained from `HistorianPluginLoader.TryLoad` when `Historian.Enabled=true` (returns `null` if the plugin is absent or fails to load). 9. **Query Galaxy hierarchy** -- Fetches the object hierarchy and attribute definitions from the Galaxy repository database, recording object and attribute counts. 10. **Start server and build address space** -- Starts the OPC UA server, retrieves the `LmxNodeManager`, and calls `BuildAddressSpace()` with the queried hierarchy and attributes. If the query or build fails, the server still starts with an empty address space. 11. **Start change detection** -- Creates and starts `ChangeDetectionService`, which polls `galaxy.time_of_last_deploy` at the configured interval. When a change is detected, it triggers an address-space rebuild via the `OnGalaxyChanged` event. 12. **Start status dashboard** -- Creates the `HealthCheckService` and `StatusReportService`, wires in all live components, and starts the `StatusWebServer` HTTP listener if the dashboard is enabled. If `StatusWebServer.Start()` returns `false` (port already bound, insufficient permissions, etc.), the service logs a warning, disposes the unstarted instance, sets `OpcUaService.DashboardStartFailed = true`, and continues in degraded mode. Matches the warning-continue policy applied to MxAccess connect, Galaxy DB connect, and initial address space build. Stability review 2026-04-13 Finding 2. 13. **Log startup complete** -- Logs "LmxOpcUa service started successfully" at `Information` level. ## Shutdown Sequence `OpcUaService.Stop()` tears down components in reverse dependency order: 1. **Cancel operations** -- Signals the `CancellationTokenSource` to stop all background loops. 2. **Stop change detection** -- Stops the Galaxy deploy polling loop. 3. **Stop OPC UA server** -- Shuts down the OPC UA server host, disconnecting all client sessions. 4. **Stop MXAccess monitor** -- Stops the connectivity monitor loop. 5. **Disconnect MXAccess** -- Disconnects the MXAccess client and releases COM resources. 6. **Dispose STA thread** -- Shuts down the dedicated STA COM thread and its message pump. 7. **Stop dashboard** -- Disposes the `StatusWebServer` HTTP listener. 8. **Dispose metrics** -- Releases the performance metrics collector. 9. **Dispose change detection** -- Releases the change detection service. 10. **Unregister exception handler** -- Removes the `AppDomain.UnhandledException` handler. The entire shutdown is wrapped in a `try/catch` that logs warnings for errors during cleanup, ensuring the service exits even if a component fails to dispose cleanly. ## Error Handling ### Unhandled exceptions `AppDomain.CurrentDomain.UnhandledException` is registered at startup and removed at shutdown. The handler logs the exception at `Fatal` level with the `IsTerminating` flag: ```csharp Log.Fatal(e.ExceptionObject as Exception, "Unhandled exception (IsTerminating={IsTerminating})", e.IsTerminating); ``` ### Startup resilience The startup sequence is designed to degrade gracefully rather than fail entirely: - If MXAccess connection fails, the service continues with a `NullMxAccessClient` that returns bad-quality values for all reads. - If the Galaxy repository database is unreachable, the OPC UA server starts with an empty address space. - If the status dashboard port is in use, the dashboard logs a warning and does not start, but the OPC UA server continues. ### Fatal startup failure If a critical step (configuration validation, OPC UA server start) throws, `Start()` catches the exception, logs it at `Fatal`, and re-throws to let TopShelf report the failure. ## Logging The service uses Serilog with two sinks configured in `Program.Main()`: ```csharp Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration() .MinimumLevel.Information() .WriteTo.Console() .WriteTo.File( path: "logs/lmxopcua-.log", rollingInterval: RollingInterval.Day, retainedFileCountLimit: 31) .CreateLogger(); ``` | Sink | Details | |------|---------| | Console | Writes to stdout, useful when running as a console application | | Rolling file | Writes to `logs/lmxopcua-{date}.log`, rolls daily, retains 31 days of history | Log files are written relative to the executable directory (see Working Directory above). Each component creates its own contextual logger using `Log.ForContext()` or `Log.ForContext(typeof(T))`. `Log.CloseAndFlush()` is called in the `finally` block of `Program.Main()` to ensure all buffered log entries are written before process exit. ## Multi-Instance Deployment The service supports running multiple instances for redundancy. Each instance requires: - A unique Windows service name (e.g., `LmxOpcUa`, `LmxOpcUa2`) - A unique OPC UA port and dashboard port - A unique `OpcUa.ApplicationUri` and `OpcUa.ServerName` - A unique `MxAccess.ClientName` - Matching `Redundancy.ServerUris` arrays on all instances Install additional instances using TopShelf's `-servicename` flag: ```bash cd C:\publish\lmxopcua\instance2 ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Host.exe install -servicename "LmxOpcUa2" -displayname "LMX OPC UA Server (Instance 2)" ``` See [Redundancy Guide](Redundancy.md) for full deployment details. ## Required Runtime Assemblies The build uses Costura.Fody to embed all NuGet dependencies into the single `ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Host.exe`. The only native dependency that must sit alongside the executable in every deployment is the MXAccess COM toolkit: | Assembly | Purpose | |----------|---------| | `ArchestrA.MxAccess.dll` | MXAccess COM interop — runtime data access to Galaxy tags | The Wonderware Historian SDK is packaged as a **runtime-loaded plugin** so hosts that will not use historical data access do not need the SDK installed. The plugin lives in a `Historian/` subfolder next to `ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Host.exe`: ``` ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Host.exe ArchestrA.MxAccess.dll Historian/ ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Historian.Aveva.dll aahClientManaged.dll aahClientCommon.dll aahClient.dll Historian.CBE.dll Historian.DPAPI.dll ArchestrA.CloudHistorian.Contract.dll ``` At startup, if `Historian.Enabled=true` in `appsettings.json`, `HistorianPluginLoader` probes `Historian/ZB.MOM.WW.LmxOpcUa.Historian.Aveva.dll` via `Assembly.LoadFrom` and instantiates the plugin's entry point. An `AppDomain.AssemblyResolve` handler redirects the SDK assembly lookups (`aahClientManaged`, `aahClientCommon`, …) to the same subfolder so the CLR can resolve them when the plugin first JITs. If the plugin directory is absent or any SDK dependency fails to load, the loader logs a warning and the server continues to run with history support disabled — `LmxNodeManager` returns `BadHistoryOperationUnsupported` for every history call. Deployment matrix: | Scenario | Host exe | `ArchestrA.MxAccess.dll` | `Historian/` subfolder | |----------|----------|--------------------------|------------------------| | `Historian.Enabled=false` | required | required | **omit** | | `Historian.Enabled=true` | required | required | required | `ArchestrA.MxAccess.dll` and the historian SDK DLLs are not redistributable — they are provided by the AVEVA System Platform and Historian installations on the target machine. The copies in `lib/` are taken from `Program Files (x86)\ArchestrA\Framework\bin` on a machine with the platform installed. ## Platform Target The service must be compiled and run as x86 (32-bit). The MXAccess COM toolkit DLLs in `Program Files (x86)\ArchestrA\Framework\bin` are 32-bit only. Running the service as x64 or AnyCPU (64-bit preferred) causes COM interop failures when creating the `LMXProxyServer` object on the STA thread.