Obtaining APM

Here is the Link to APM for Download:

Application Performance Monitor

Thank you, Sean. Am I understanding it correctly that this application is needed to set up the type of alert I described?

I appreciate your help!

                                                   jk

Yes, with Orion APM, you can use the Find Processes, Services, and Performance Counters wizard, and then select Windows Service Monitor. This allows you to set up monitoring for windows services of interest. If you like, you can even create an alert which will restart the service if it is down.

Take a look at the "Monitoring and Restarting Stopped Windows Services" section in the "Common Tasks with Orion" chapter of the Orion APM Administrator Guide for detailed information. You can find the document here:

http://www.solarwinds.com/support/apm/docs/APMAdministratorGuide.pdf

yes, in order to alert on services you need APM.

you could probably create a UnDP in NPM to do that as well but it is much easier to set up and much more comfortable to check and alert on in APM. If you have less than a handful of servers you need to check a service on that might be an option but if thats a general requirement I would suggest checking out Orion APM (the new version just came out today so you're lucky!) there is a free trial you can install to see if it fits your needs