HostService Settings

Starting with appRulesPortal v9.0 (.NET 8 / Wisej 4), the former appRules.HostService.exe has been replaced by the appRulesPortal kernel engine — a self-hosted Kestrel Windows Service that runs natively without IIS.

The portal now runs as four coordinated Windows Services that must all be installed and started together.

Note: IIS is not required. See IIS Settings if you want to put IIS in front of Kestrel as a reverse proxy for SSL termination or port 80/443 routing.

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Prerequisites

Requirement	Details
OS	Windows Server 2019 / 2022 and higher
.NET 8 Runtime	ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.x — Download
Garnet/Redis	Required by appRules.CachingService
SQL Server	Required for the appRules metadata database

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The Four Services

Service Executable	Display Name	Role
appRulesPortal.exe	appRules Portal	Kestrel web host — serves the Wisej application
appRules.CachingService.exe	appRules Caching Service	Redis-backed session and data cache
appRules.WebApiService.exe	appRules WebApi Service	REST API layer
appRules.SchedulerService.exe	appRules Scheduler Service	Background job scheduler

All four executables are located in the bin\ subfolder of the install directory (e.g. [InstallationPath]\bin\).

where [InstallationPath]= appRulesPortal Folder Path

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Command-Line Arguments

appRulesPortal.exe

The portal executable uses standard ASP.NET Core hosting arguments:

Argument	Description
--urls http://0.0.0.0:{port}	Sets the listening URL and port. Default port is 8080. Use 0.0.0.0 to accept all connections, or localhost to accept local connections only.
--environment Production	Sets the runtime environment. Equivalent to ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production.

Example — listen on all interfaces, port 8080:

appRulesPortal.exe --urls http://0.0.0.0:8080

Example — local connections only, custom port:

appRulesPortal.exe --urls http://localhost:9000

The companion services (CachingService, WebApiService, SchedulerService) take no command-line arguments. All their configuration is via appsettings.json / appRules.WebApiService.appsettings.json.

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Service Registration

Automated

Use the provided PowerShell deployment script to install, configure, and start all four services in one step:

# Deploy from Release folder to [InstallationPath] (default)
.\deploy_appRulesPortal.ps1

# Deploy to a custom path and port
.\deploy_appRulesPortal.ps1 -TargetDir "E:\appRulesPortal" -Port 8081

The script registers all services, sets ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production, and starts them in the correct order.

Manual

Register each service using sc.exe. All executables must use their full path:

set INSTALL_DIR=[InstallationPath]
set BIN_DIR=%INSTALL_DIR%\bin

sc.exe create "appRulesPortal" binPath= "\"%BIN_DIR%\appRulesPortal.exe\" --urls http://0.0.0.0:8080" DisplayName= "appRules Portal" start= auto
sc.exe create "appRules.CachingService" binPath= "\"%BIN_DIR%\appRules.CachingService.exe\"" DisplayName= "appRules Caching Service" start= auto
sc.exe create "appRules.WebApiService" binPath= "\"%BIN_DIR%\appRules.WebApiService.exe\"" DisplayName= "appRules WebApi Service" start= auto
sc.exe create "appRules.SchedulerService" binPath= "\"%BIN_DIR%\appRules.SchedulerService.exe\"" DisplayName= "appRules Scheduler Service" start= auto

Set ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production for each service via the registry:

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\appRulesPortal" /v Environment /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\appRules.CachingService" /v Environment /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\appRules.WebApiService" /v Environment /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\appRules.SchedulerService" /v Environment /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production" /f

Starting and stopping

Services must be started in order — the portal depends on the three companion services being ready:

REM Start
sc.exe start "appRules.CachingService"
sc.exe start "appRules.WebApiService"
sc.exe start "appRules.SchedulerService"
sc.exe start "appRulesPortal"

REM Stop (reverse order)
sc.exe stop "appRulesPortal"
sc.exe stop "appRules.SchedulerService"
sc.exe stop "appRules.WebApiService"
sc.exe stop "appRules.CachingService"

Uninstalling

sc.exe delete "appRulesPortal"
sc.exe delete "appRules.CachingService"
sc.exe delete "appRules.WebApiService"
sc.exe delete "appRules.SchedulerService"

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Configuration Files

File	Location	Purpose
appsettings.json	[InstallationPath]\	ASP.NET Core connection strings and settings
appsettings.Production.json	[InstallationPath]\	Production overrides (merged at runtime)
appRules.WebApiService.appsettings.json	bin\	WebApi service endpoint configuration
Default.json	[InstallationPath]\	Wisej license key, default theme, startup class

Minimum appsettings.json:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=.;Database=appRules;Trusted_Connection=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;"
  }
}

Minimum Default.json settings to verify:

• Wisej.LicenseKey — production license key

• Wisej.DefaultTheme — e.g. Bootstrap-4

• startup — must be "appStrategy.appRulesPortal.Program.WisejInit, appRulesPortal"

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Changing the Port

Pass a different --urls argument when registering the service:

sc.exe create "appRulesPortal" binPath= "\"[InstallationPath]\bin\appRulesPortal.exe\" --urls http://0.0.0.0:9000" DisplayName= "appRules Portal" start= auto

To change the port on an already-registered service, delete and re-create it, or use sc.exe config:

sc.exe config "appRulesPortal" binPath= "\"[InstallationPath]\bin\appRulesPortal.exe\" --urls http://0.0.0.0:9000"

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Post-Installation Verification

Check	Command / How
All services running	sc.exe query appRulesPortal — should show RUNNING
Portal accessible	Browse to http://server:8080/ — should show login page
WebSocket active	Browser DevTools → Network → WS: 101 Switching Protocols
deps.json patched	findstr "runtimes/win" bin\*.deps.json returns nothing
JSON files blocked	GET /appsettings.json returns HTTP 403
License active	No Wisej license warning banner

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Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
Service starts then immediately stops	Startup exception	Check Windows Event Log: eventvwr.msc → Windows Logs → Application
FileNotFoundException: System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController	deps.json not patched	See WindowsService-DepsJson-Patching.md
PlatformNotSupportedException	Portable DLL build in bin\ instead of Windows-specific build	Copy from NuGet cache runtimes\win\lib\net8.0\ — see deployment guide
Portal not accessible on port 8080	Firewall blocking port	netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="appRules" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=8080
JS / static assets not loading	staticwebassets.runtime.json ContentRoots path wrong	Patch the bin\ file manually to the correct install path
Access Denied on start	Service account lacks folder permissions	Grant the service account (e.g. LocalSystem) read/write access to [InstallationPath]\

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