The service control manager (SCM) is started by Windows NT at system boot. It is a remote procedure call (RPC) server, so that service configuration and service control programs can manipulate services on remote machines.
The Win32 API includes a set of functions that provide an interface for the following tasks performed by the SCM:
ˇMaintaining the database of installed services.
ˇStarting services and driver services either upon system startup or upon demand.
ˇEnumerating installed services and driver services.
ˇMaintaining status information for running services and driver services.
ˇTransmitting control requests to running services.
ˇLocking and unlocking the service database.
The following sections describe the SCM in more detail.
ˇDatabase of Installed Services