Erlang application launch on a Windows server

Question

I have an Erlang application that is deployed on a server with Windows Server 2008.

The way I do this:

1. Copy application folder in Erlang lib directory.
2. Open command line (cmd). Execute erl.
3. Execute application:start(app_name) in Erlang shell.

Are there any better approaches to launch the application? How to make the application to launch on Windows startup?

Answer 1

I have no experience with Windows but...

`1. First of all, you might want to have a look to the concept of release in Erlang. Essentially,

When we have written one or more applications, we might want to create a complete system consisting of these applications and a subset of the Erlang/OTP applications. This is called a release.

`2. Then, you might want to create a script that contains something like:

erl -boot ch_rel-1

Where essentially you're starting Erlang/OTP using a boot script that you created above (just follow the instructions in the releases page)

`3. This article explains how to create startup scripts in Windows Server 2008 (not tested, just googled):

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd630947.aspx

Hope this helps. Nice question.