Can I run Envoy on Windows under SCM?

.. include:: ../../_include/windows_support_ended.rst

.. note::

This feature is still in Experimental state.

You can start Envoy as Windows Service that is managed under Windows Service Control Manager <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/services/using-services/>_. First, you need to create the service. Assuming you have a custom configuration in the current directory named envoy-custom.yaml. After you create the service you can start it.

From an administrator prompt run the following commands (note that you need replace C:\EnvoyProxy\ with the path to the envoy.exe binary and the config file):

.. code-block:: console

  > sc create EnvoyProxy binpath="C:\EnvoyProxy\envoy.exe --config-path C:\EnvoyProxy\envoy-demo.yaml" start=auto depend=Tcpip/Afd
     [SC] CreateService SUCCESS
  > sc start EnvoyProxy
     SERVICE_NAME: envoyproxy
        TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
        STATE              : 2  START_PENDING
                                (NOT_STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x7d0
        PID                : 3924
        FLAGS              :
  > sc query EnvoyProxy
     SERVICE_NAME: envoyproxy
        TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

...

Use sc.exe <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/sc-create/>_ to configure the service startup and error handling.

.. tip::

The output of sc query envoyproxy contains the exit code of Envoy Proxy. In case the arguments are invalid we set it to E_INVALIDARG. For more information Envoy is reporting startup failures with error messages on Windows Event Viewer.