Welcome to Kofax RPA > Reference > RoboServer > Start RoboServer

Start RoboServer

You can start the RoboServer using the following actions.

  • Click the RoboServer program icon (or the Start Management Console program icon which starts both the Management Console and RoboServer).
  • Start the RoboServer from the command line.
  • Run the server as a service. For more information about running RoboServer as a service, see Starting Servers Automatically.

To invoke RoboServer from the command line, open a Command Prompt window, navigate to the bin folder in the Kofax RPA installation folder and type:

RoboServer

If all necessary parameters are specified in the roboserver.settings configuration file, the RoboServer starts.

If any of the necessary parameters is missing, the RoboServer specifies an error and displays the usage help and available parameters.

RoboServer Parameters

The command line for starting a RoboServer may include the following parameters: 

RoboServer [-cl <arg>] [-cpuThreads <arg>] [-h]
       [-maxConcurrentRobots <arg>] [-maxQueuedRobots <arg>] [-MC] [-mcUrl
       <arg>] [-p <arg>] [-pauseAfterStartupError] [-s <arg>] [-sslPort
       <arg>] [-v] [-V]

Regardless of how you start RoboServer, it accepts the parameters in the following table. Note that you can edit all the parameters in the RoboServer Settings utility. See RoboServer Configuration for more details.

Parameter

Description

-cpuThreads <arg>

Specifies the number of CPU threads to use.

-h

--help

Displays help.

-maxConcurrentRobots <arg>

Specifies the maximum number of concurrently executed robots.

-maxQueuedRobots <arg>

Specifies the maximum number of robots in the queue.

-mcUrl <arg>

Specify which Management Console to register to in the following format:

http[s]://<username>:<password>@<hostname>:<port number>

Example: -mcUrl http://admin:password@localhost:8080/ManagementConsole

-pauseAfterStartupError

-v |

-verbose

This optional parameter causes RoboServer to output status and runtime events.

-V |

-version

This optional parameter causes RoboServer to output the version number, and then exit.

-MC

--scheduler

This optional parameter triggers the Management Console to be started as part of RoboServer. The Management Console runs on an embedded web server configured through the Settings application.

-cl

--cluster <arg>

This optional parameter automatically registers the roboserver with the specified cluster on the Management Console. In the following example the roboserver registers itself with the Production cluster.

Example: -cl Production

Example: -mcUrl http://admin:password@localhost:8080/ManagementConsole -cl Production

-s <service-name:service-parameter> |

-service <service-name:service-parameter>

This parameter specifies a RQL or JMX service that RoboServer should start. This parameter must be specified at least once, and may be specified multiple times to start multiple services in the same RoboServer. The available services depend on your installation.

Example: -service socket:50000

Example: -service jmx:50100

-p <port-number> |

-port <port-number>

This is shorthand for calling -s socket:<port-number>

Example: -port 50000

-sslPort <arg>

This is a shorthand for writing -s ssl:<port number>

Available services

-service socket:<portNumber>

<portNumber>: The port number for the socket-service to listen on.

-service ssl:<portNumber>

<portNumber>: The port number for the socket-service to listen on.

-service jmx:<jmx_port_Number>,<jmx_rmi_url>

<jmx_port_Number>: The port number for the JMX service to listen on.

<jmx_rmi_url>: Optional RMI host and port for the JMX service. Use if you need to connect through a firewall.

Example: example.com:51001

Note that to set passwords, you must either use the RoboServer Settings utility or the ConfigureRS tool. For more information, see RoboServer Configuration and RoboServer Configuration - Headless Mode.

Starting Servers Automatically

If your installation includes any server functionality, you can configure it to start the servers automatically.

When referring to "server functionality", we mean RoboServers and the Management Console (license server). In fact these two components are provided by the RoboServer, depending on the arguments supplied to it when it starts.

The RoboServer Parameters topic contains a detailed description of the command-line arguments for the RoboServer program. To enable the RoboServer program to execute robots, specify the -service argument. Similarly, the -MC argument enables the Management Console functionality (see Management Console (License Server) in the Installation Guide).

The following topics details how to make RoboServer start automatically on Windows and Linux.

Shutting Down RoboServer

RoboServer can be shut down using the command line tool ShutDownRoboServer. Run ShutDownRoboServer without arguments to see the various options for how to shut down the server, particularly how to handle any robots currently running on the server.