Simplest way to restart service on a remote computer

What's the easiest programmatic way to restart a service on a remote Windows system? Language or method doesn't matter as long as it doesn't require human interaction.

As of Windows XP, you can use sc.exe to interact with local and remote services. Schedule a task to run a batch file similar to this:

sc \\server stop service
sc \\server start service

Make sure the task runs under a user account privileged on the target server.

psservice.exe from the Sysinternals PSTools would also be doing the job:

psservice \\server restart service

DESCRIPTION: SC is a command line program used for communicating with the NT Service Controller and services. USAGE: sc [command] [service name] ...

    The option <server> has the form "\\ServerName"
    Further help on commands can be obtained by typing: "sc [command]"
    Commands:
      query-----------Queries the status for a service, or
                      enumerates the status for types of services.
      queryex---------Queries the extended status for a service, or
                      enumerates the status for types of services.
      start-----------Starts a service.
      pause-----------Sends a PAUSE control request to a service.
      interrogate-----Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service.
      continue--------Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service.
      stop------------Sends a STOP request to a service.
      config----------Changes the configuration of a service (persistant).
      description-----Changes the description of a service.
      failure---------Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure.
      qc--------------Queries the configuration information for a service.
      qdescription----Queries the description for a service.
      qfailure--------Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure.
      delete----------Deletes a service (from the registry).
      create----------Creates a service. (adds it to the registry).
      control---------Sends a control to a service.
      sdshow----------Displays a service's security descriptor.
      sdset-----------Sets a service's security descriptor.
      GetDisplayName--Gets the DisplayName for a service.
      GetKeyName------Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service.
      EnumDepend------Enumerates Service Dependencies.

    The following commands don't require a service name:
    sc <server> <command> <option>
      boot------------(ok | bad) Indicates whether the last boot should
                      be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration
      Lock------------Locks the Service Database
      QueryLock-------Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database

EXAMPLE: sc start MyService

If it doesn't require human interaction which means there will be no UI that invokes this operation and I assume it would restart at some set interval? If you have access to machine, you could just set a scheduled task to execute a batch file using good old NET STOP and NET START

net stop "DNS Client"
net start "DNS client"

or if you want to get a little more sophisticated, you could try Powershell

There will be so many instances where the service will go in to "stop pending".The Operating system will complain that it was "Not able to stop the service xyz." In case you want to make absolutely sure the service is restarted you should kill the process instead. You can do that by doing the following in a bat file

taskkill /F /IM processname.exe
timeout 20
sc start servicename

To find out which process is associated with your service, go to task manager--> Services tab-->Right Click on your Service--> Go to process.

Note that this should be a work around until you figure out why your service had to be restarted in the first place. You should look for memory leaks, infinite loops and other such conditions for your service to have become unresponsive.