How to Run SpamAssassin as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp

Apache SpamAssassin is a popular open-source spam filter.

The folks at JAM software ported SpamAssassin to Windows and we'll be working with their free version in this tutorial.

To install SpamAssassin as a Windows Service:

1. If necessary, download and install SpamAssassin for Windows:

   

   Make sure that the spamd.exe daemon works as expected. If it doesn't function now, it won't work as a Windows Service either.

2. Download and install AlwaysUp, if necessary.

3. Start AlwaysUp.

4. Select Application > Add to open the Add Application window:

   

5. On the General tab:

   • In the Application field, enter the full path to the SpamAssassin daemon executable, spamd.exe. Since we installed SpamAssassin in the default location, we entered:

     C:\Program Files\JAM Software\SpamAssassin for Windows\spamd.exe

   • In the Arguments field, enter any parameters you have for the SpamAssassin daemon.

     This page documents the available command line flags for spamd. You can set the path to your config files, specify the listening port, enable LDAP, and much more, but we'll stick with the defaults for this tutorial and not add any parameters.

   • In the Name field, enter the name that you will call the application in AlwaysUp. We used Spamd (the default) but you can specify another name if you prefer.

   

6. Move to the Startup tab and check the Ensure that the Windows Networking components have started box. This informs AlwaysUp that SpamAssassin needs the TCP/IP networking stack to operate.

   We also recommend checking both the Stop all copies of the application running on this computer and the Also whenever the application is restarted boxes. With those options, AlwaysUp will always be able to start spamd.exe even if another copy is active.

   

7. Click the Save button. In a couple of seconds, an entry called Spamd will show up in the AlwaysUp window. It's not yet running though, and the state will be "Stopped":

   

8. To start SpamAssassin, choose Application > Start "Spamd". After a few seconds the state will transition to "Running" and spamd.exe will be working in the background (on the isolated Session 0 desktop):

   

9. That's it! Next time your computer boots, SpamAssassin will start up immediately, before anyone logs on.

   We encourage you to edit the SpamAssassin entry in AlwaysUp and check out the many other settings that may be appropriate for your environment.

   For example, you can:

   • set up a sanity check to restart spamd.exe if network components fail;
   • save the daemon's console output to a file
   • configure email alerts and reports; and more.

SpamAssassin not working properly as a Windows Service?

• Consult the AlwaysUp Troubleshooter — our online tool that can help you resolve the most common problems encountered when running an application as a Windows Service.

• From AlwaysUp, select Application > Report Activity > Today to bring up an HTML report detailing the interaction between AlwaysUp and SpamAssassin. The AlwaysUp Event Log Messages page explains what each message means.

• Browse the AlwaysUp FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions and troubleshooting tips.

• Contact us and we will be happy to help!