NI services

From LabVIEW Wiki

This page attempts to document the Windows Services installed by National Instruments products.

Contents 1 Details 1.1 National Instruments Domain Service 1.2 National Instruments PSP Server Locator 1.3 National Instruments Time Synchronization 1.4 National Instruments Variable Engine 1.5 NI Configuration Manager 1.6 OpcEnum 1.7 Lookout Citadel Server 1.8 NILM License Manager 1.9 NI-488.2 Enumeration Service 1.10 NI Service Locator 2 See also 3 Footnotes

Service Name	Summary Description
National Instruments Domain Service	Security account system for network-connected instrumentation; optional
National Instruments PSP Server Locator	Publish/Subscribe Protocol server for network-connected instrumentation
National Instruments Time Synchronization
National Instruments Variable Engine	used for "network published shared variables"
NI Configuration Manager
NI Service Locator	NI proprietary port-mapper
NILM License Manager	used for network "floating licenses"
OpcEnum	"OLE for Process Control" protocol
Lookout Citadel Server	data logging database used by older/legal software (?)
NI-488.2 Enumeration Service	Finds GPIB devices

Details

National Instruments Domain Service

• Appears to be a NI proprietary user/group account system ^[1]
• Does not appear to have any relationship to Microsoft NT/Active Directory domains (Windows network accounts/logons)
• Uses NI-PSP to find domains ^[2]
• If you're not using NI domain accounts, you can disable this service

National Instruments PSP Server Locator

• NI-PSP = Publish/Subscribe Protocol ^[3]
• Presumably lets software find PSP servers on the network
• If you're not using networking or inter-process communication, you can disable this service

National Instruments Time Synchronization

• Presumably lets network computers/equipment keep their clocks in sync
• Note that many OSes have their own time sync service, which may "fight" with other time sync systems
• If you don't need/want NI to sync clocks for you, you can disable this service

National Instruments Variable Engine

• FIXME document this
• If you're not using "network published shared variables", it appears you can disable this service without ill effects

NI Configuration Manager

• What exactly this does is unclear, but many NI components stop working if it isn't running
  • MAX will complain "There was a problem connecting to the database"

OpcEnum

• OPC = "OLE for Process Control", a protocol commonly used with industrial automation equipment (e.g., PLCs)
• Wikipedia: OLE for Process Control
• If you're not using OPC, you can disable this service

Lookout Citadel Server

• FIXME document this

NILM License Manager

• This is part of the network license manager
• Apparently a semi-custom version of FLEXlm/FLEXnet ^[4]
• If you're not using network licenses, you can disable this service. Stand-alone machine licenses do not need it.

NI-488.2 Enumeration Service

• Populates the GPIB.INI file ^[5]

NI Service Locator

• This appears to be an NI proprietary port-mapper
• A "port mapper" is a type of service which lets programs find other services by name, rather than using a fixed TCP port number.
• Try http://localhost:3580/dumpinfo on the computer running the NI Service Locator
• NI KB 37BF79OH, What Is The NI Service Locator And How Do I Troubleshoot?"
• Wikipedia: Portmap - Another port-mapper (no relation to the NI one)
• You can disable this service, but anything that uses NI Locator will fail
  • The "Example Finder" feature of several NI products needs this

See also

• LAVA Forum post "Reducing NI Footprint (Disabling Services and Un-necessary Tasks)"

Footnotes

1. ↑ LabVIEW 8 Help, "Security Domains and the Domain Account Manager (Windows)"
2. ↑ LabVIEW 8.2 Help, "Managing Domains Using the Domain Account Manager (Windows)"
3. ↑ LabVIEW 8.2 Help, "NI-PSP Networking Technology"
4. ↑ NI KB 489FTAXT, "Why Does "NILM License Manager" Show Up in LMTOOLS?"
5. ↑ NI KB 2NPCDRAL, "Using NI-488.2 Troubleshooting Wizard"