# About the Polling Services

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**Access to the System Polling Services is only available from the ASM Application Server.** 

**On-Premise Installations:** 

For On-Premise installations, you will need to have access to the ASM Application Server.

**Cloud Installations:**  

For Cloud installations, you will need to submit a "Services" request to have services started or restarted.

1. <https://alemba.help/production/Portal.aspx>
2. Access the Service Catalog or Global Search and enter the term "Services"

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#### **What is a Polling Service?**

A **polling service** is a background process that periodically checks for updates, new data, or changes in a system and then takes action based on those findings. Instead of waiting for external events to notify the system, polling services actively **"ask"** a resource at regular intervals whether new information is available.

#### **Why Does Alemba Service Manager Use Polling Services?**

Alemba Service Manager (ASM) is a highly configurable IT Service Management (ITSM) tool that integrates with multiple external systems, requiring continuous data synchronization. Polling services ensure that various components of ASM stay up-to-date by retrieving necessary data, triggering workflows, and maintaining system health.

The following ASM services are installed automatically when you run the installer:

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All ASM services must use the same service account, which must have access to the database.
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<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="208">ASM Service Name</th><th>Service Details</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Administrative</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong>  ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Enabled by default</p><p></p><p>This is the <strong>parent service</strong> for all ASM Core services, meaning it oversees and manages the other services.  Stopping this service, or restarting this service, will stop or restart any dependent services, such as the Core and integration services (if configured).  </p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>AI Ops</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State</strong> (if using AI Ops) <strong>:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State</strong> (if not using AI Ops) <strong>:</strong> OFF, Manual</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Manual</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p></p><p>This service handles <strong>AI-driven operations</strong>, such as automatically applying AI rules to help optimize IT processes.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Config Portability</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Disabled by default</p><p></p><p>This manages <strong>configuration exports and imports</strong>, allowing system settings to be transferred between environments (e.g., from a test environment to production).</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Connector</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Manual (Unless you are using connectors)</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Manual</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p></p><p>This service is responsible for <strong>connecting ASM to external systems</strong>, such as:</p><ul><li><strong>Federated CMDB</strong> (a system that integrates configuration data from multiple sources)</li><li><strong>Event Management</strong> (which collects and processes system events for monitoring and automation).</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Core</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Enabled by default</p><p></p><p>This service manages multiple essential tasks, including:</p><ul><li>Handling <strong>escalation and depreciation</strong> tasks (e.g., alerting staff when tickets become overdue).</li><li><p>Sending notifications for:</p><ul><li><strong>Knowledge review</strong> (reminding users to update knowledge base articles).</li><li><strong>Bulletin Board activation</strong> (notifying users when an announcement is posted).</li></ul></li><li>Creating <strong>scheduled requests</strong>, which are tickets or processes set to run automatically at a future time.</li><li>Managing <strong>activity logs and session expirations</strong> to track user actions and enforce security policies.</li><li>Generating new tickets when <strong>CMDB thresholds</strong> (limits set on infrastructure assets) are exceeded.</li></ul><p></p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Custom</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Disabled by default</p><p></p><p>This is a custom polling service that allows <strong>custom polling functionality</strong>, meaning businesses can create specialized automated processes that check for updates or changes in the system.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Data Purge</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Disabled (Unless you are using Purge)</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p><em>Introduced in HERMES 10.6.8.15038</em></p><p></p><p>The <strong>Data Purge Windows Service</strong> manages the automated removal of records flagged for purging in two stages:</p><ol><li><strong>Purge Scheduling</strong> – Identifies records for deletion and assigns a purge date.</li><li><strong>Purge Execution</strong> – Permanently deletes records once their purge date has passed.</li></ol><p>The final deletion process runs outside of core business hours, typically on <strong>Saturdays and Sundays</strong>.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Escalation</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Enabled by default</p><p></p><p>This polling service ensures that <strong>Service Level Agreements (SLAs)</strong> are enforced by automatically escalating tickets that approach or exceed their deadlines.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>HTML Processor</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Enabled by default</p><p><em>Introduced in HERMES 10.6.8.15348</em></p><p></p><p>The <strong>HTML Processing Service</strong> is a Windows service that processes HTML content in system records to facilitate anonymous access via the self service portal.</p><p></p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Integration</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Manual</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p></p><p>Prior to ASM HERMES 10.6.8.13624, WebHooks would not always be triggered correctly with large payloads or when other ASM web services were causing load on the system. The <strong>Webhook polling service</strong> processes Webhooks to ensure they are processed in a timely fashion.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>KB Import</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Disabled by default</p><p></p><p>This document import polling service imports <strong>files to create Knowledge Base articles</strong>, allowing documentation and troubleshooting guides to be added to the system.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Messaging</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p></p><p>The messaging polling service handles communication tasks such as:</p><ul><li>Sending <strong>user surveys</strong> for feedback.</li><li>Sending and receiving <strong>emails and pager messages</strong> (used for automated notifications and alerts).</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Search Indexing</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> OFF, Disabled</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Manual by default</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Search Indexing Windows Service</strong> maintains and updates the search index for faster and more efficient searches within the system. It continuously processes and organizes data, ensuring that newly added or updated records are searchable.</p><p>Key functions include:</p><ul><li>Indexing new and modified records for quick retrieval.</li><li>Removing outdated or deleted records from the index.</li><li>Optimizing search performance by keeping the index structured and up to date.</li></ul><p>This service operates in the background and ensures that users can find relevant data quickly using the system’s search functionality.</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Workflow</strong></td><td><p><strong>Recommended State:</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Recommended State (Test/DEV):</strong> ON, Automatic</p><p><strong>Installer Action:</strong> Installed and Enabled by default</p><p></p><p>The workflow service manages <strong>task generation and automation for your workflows as they are submitted, updated and completed</strong>, ensuring that workflows proceed smoothly.  The system will process up to 10 Requests at a time when creating tasks in the background for Portal submissions. This allows multiple Requests to be handled in parallel. </p></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Setting the Polling Service Startup Type

A service can start automatically or manually. You set this up on the **Services** window on the ASM Application Server.&#x20;

1. Open **Control Panel** from the Windows Start menu.
2. Select **System and Security** and then **Administrative Tools**.
3. From the **Administrative Tools** list, select **Services** to bring up the Services window.
4. Right-click the service you want to set, and select **Properties** from the menu displayed.

   The **\<Service Name> Properties** window appears.
5. From the **Startup type** list, select:
   * **Automatic** to start the service automatically
   * **Manual** to enable system admins to run the service when required&#x20;
   * **Disabled** to prevent the service from running

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Some services will start automatically when the ASM Core server is re-started or if the ASM Administrative Service is restarted, if the startup type is set to **Automatic**.
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### Stopping a Polling Service

To manually stop a service:

1. Open **Control Panel** from the Windows Start menu.
2. Select **System and Security** and then **Administrative Tools**.
3. From the **Administrative Tools** list, select **Services** to view the Services window.
4. Right-click the service you want to stop, then select **Stop** on the shortcut menu.

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**Some services will stop automatically when the ASM Administrative service is stopped.**&#x20;

When you stop the **Administrative Service**, certain other services also stop because they are set as **dependent services**. In Windows Services, this is controlled through **service dependencies**, which define which services rely on another service to function properly.

#### **Service Dependencies**

* Some services in Alemba Service Manager (ASM) rely on the **Administrative Service** to initialize configurations, manage processes, or provide essential functions.
* If a service is marked as **dependent** on the Administrative Service, stopping it will also stop all services that rely on it.
* Not all services are affected because only those explicitly set as dependencies will stop.

#### **How to View Dependencies**

To check and control which services depend on the **Administrative Service**:

1. **Open Windows Services (services.msc):**
   * Press `Win + R`, type **services.msc**, and press **Enter**.
2. **Find the Administrative Service:**
   * Locate the **Alemba Administrative Service** in the list.
3. **Check Dependencies:**
   * Right-click the service and select **Properties**.
   * Go to the **Dependencies** tab.
   * Here, you'll see which services **depend on it** and which services **it depends on**.
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