A multi-node processing system includes a plurality of nodes in which various software components may be executed. To coordinate the control of the software components in the plural nodes, an instance of a manager module may be started in each of the nodes. In one example arrangement, the manager module may include a WINDOWS® NT or WINDOWS® 2000 service control manager. In the WINDOWS® NT or WINDOWS® 2000 environment, the software components that are controlled through the service control manager may be services. To perform control of the various software components, requests may be sent to the manager module instance in each of the nodes. The manager module then launches one or more server services in each node to perform the desired control task, which may be start the software component, monitor the software component, or terminate the software component.