Running Calibre 3.6 as a Service

[GreyFreeman]

I've been running Calibre as a service on my Windows server. I've been using NSSM to wrap the command and register the service and it's been working great.

This week, I upgraded to 3.6 and those services were no longer functional. I checked out the documentation, and it quickly became obvious that the calibre-server interface had changed. So I rebuilt my service using the new parameter and I thought I'd be good. Unfortunately, I keep failing with an error that it can't find my library.

I can start the service manually with this command:

calibre-server --port 9999 --enable-auth "D:\Full"

... but when I use those same parameters in NSSM, and try to start the resulting service, the error shows:

There is no calibre library at: D:\Full.

I've tried about a dozen ways to say "D:\Full" but none of them work. Does anyone have an idea why this isn't working? Is there a similar service wrapper that works better? What I'm trying to accomplish is an automatic service start that doesn't require me logging onto the server.

Thanks!

[kovidgoyal]

I have no experience with nssm but couple of things to try:

1) D:/Full

2) Check that whatever user NSSM runs the server as has permission to access D:\Full

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by GreyFreeman

Is there a similar service wrapper that works better?

I've seen a couple of posts that mention AlwaysUp,

So, I searched for 'calibre alwaysup' and found this ==>> How to Run Calibre Server as a Windows Service | AlwaysUp

AlwaysUp ain't free.

BR

[GreyFreeman]

FWIW, I was not able to make this work with NSSM and any version of the folder name or permissions changes. I even tried to get it running in other folders to make it simpler, but no dice. I'm theorizing that NSSM simply doesn't like that some of the parameters are now simply flags and not name/value pairs.

For now, I'm just using the built in auto-start server that comes with the UI, and I simply placed Calibre in the start-up group. I guess it won't kill me to log in, but I might try AlwaysUp if it becomes a problem.

[PeterT]

Since nssm documentation mentions it supports a script, why not make a batch or cmd file to launch Calibre server?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[aCIDsLAM]

Originally Posted by GreyFreeman

FWIW, I was not able to make this work with NSSM and any version of the folder name or permissions changes. I even tried to get it running in other folders to make it simpler, but no dice. I'm theorizing that NSSM simply doesn't like that some of the parameters are now simply flags and not name/value pairs.

For now, I'm just using the built in auto-start server that comes with the UI, and I simply placed Calibre in the start-up group. I guess it won't kill me to log in, but I might try AlwaysUp if it becomes a problem.

Maybe my config line will help you.
This is how i run calibre thorugh nssm:

nssm install CalibreServer "C:\Program Files\Calibre2\calibre-server.exe" --enable-auth B:\Calibre-Bibliothek --ssl-certfile B:\Calibre-Bibliothek\calibre-crt.pem --ssl-keyfile B:\Calibre-Bibliothek\calibre.key.pem --disable-use-bonjour --max-jobs 64 --worker-count 64 --max-job-time 600 --timeout 600

The user u specify in running the service will be used for the configuration pfad:
AppData\Roaming\calibre So using the default system user, will fail to read the settings.

You should use a dedicated service user, in which you set your calibre settings and give it full access to your Library Folder on Harddisk.

I used a user called service_calibre and all the configs are stored here:
C:\Users\service_calibre\AppData\Roaming\calibre

Gave it full rights to harddisk folder and there you go and start the service as that user

[GreyFreeman]

Okay, I got this running. I'm pretty sure it was a permissions issues like Kovid suggested. Maybe several. I have a few lessons learned:

1. If you specify an account to run the service, you have to include the full machine name (e.g. SERVER01\user01).
2. If there is an "&" in your password, it will probably break the command string. If the UI is just constructing and running a command string, it'll probably have the same issues.
3. Each user profile on the machine has its own Calibre user database. I used the nifty UI tool to build my user database and their restrictions, logged in as an Admin account. I then tried to run the service with a service account. Those users no longer existed for that account.

That last one really threw me for a loop. I'm not sure I understand why that's the chosen architecture but, obviously, once you know it, you can work with it.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

EDIT: I should note that aCIDsLAM attempted to explain some of that to me. Apparently, I had to figure it out myself for it to stick. :-)

[arcegabriel]

Anybody has some instructions on how to do this. I tried the commands from aCIDsLAM but I am getting an error on starting the service. NSSM commands complete successfully, no issue
I am not using a "service account" (I don't have one). I simply didn't enter one and assume it will use the current user. Works well for node-red.
The error I get
"Windows Could not start the calibreserver service on local computer. The server did not return an error.
Do I also need nssm ... AppDirectory or AppParameters lines
Appreciate assistance, thanks

Update. Got it working
1. Run manually calibre server to ensure all your parameters are good and any other issues. I had a typo and also a Firewall permission request to accept
2. Remember to quit calibre GUI
3. I did enter login information for the service for it to work
4. No need to enter AppDirectory or AppParameters