====Running a Python Script as a Service====

These instructions cover how you can set up a Python script - such as a ModelHost script - so that it runs as a service.

===Windows Instructions===

On Windows, you can use a tool called the Non-Sucking Service Manager or NSSM to create a Windows service that runs a specified application.

This can be found in the **drivers\nssm\win64** folder.

To register a script at **C:\Scripts\model.py** to run as a service, you'd go through the following steps...

1) Open an //Administrative// command-prompt,
2) Type **c:\ardi\drivers\win64\nssm install "Service Name"**
3) Under Path, choose **C:\Python314\python.exe**
4) Under 'Startup Directory', choose the folder where your script is stored,
5) Under Arguments, enter the path to your Python file (remember to add double-quotes if there are spaces in your file name), followed by any optional arguments.
6) Set an appropriate user account to run as,
7) Under I/O, add a file-name for the Output and Error logs (these can point to the //same file//).

Then click 'Install Service'. You should then be able to see and start the service from the normal Windows 'Services' app.

===Linux===

On Linux servers, you will usually need to create a //service// file. On Ubuntu and most systems, this will be in the **/etc/systemd/system** folder.

The file should be named **<service-name>.service** (for example, a model might be 'datamodel.service'.

It should contain the following, replacing 'service-name' with your service name...

<code>
[Unit]
Description=Service Description
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
ExecStart=python3 [SCRIPT LOCATION] [ARGUMENTS]
StandardOutput=file:/var/log/service-name.log
StandardError=file:/var/log/service-name.log
Environment=PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
</code>

Once you've created your service file, you'll need the following two commands run as root/sudo...

<code bash>
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable <service-name>
</code>

Your service should now be running. You can check its status using...

<code bash>
sudo service <service-name> status
</code>