Question

OK, I know how to start and stop ALBD, but how do I determine whether it is currently running?
This is something I want to put in a Perl or DOS script, so it would have to be a non-GUI solution.

Answer 1

See this technote "Start and stop ClearCase from the Windows command line", and note that albd isn’t the only service you should be checking.
And if you have trouble starting albd on Windows, see "Troubleshooting ALBD startup failures on Windows".

CLEARCASE

The ClearCase server processes (Location Broker, Lock Manager, and Credentials Manager services) can be started and stopped from the command line; however, the MVFS is loaded directly into the kernel and cannot be shut down from the command line.

To reload the MVFS, restart the host; see technote 1230196 for more details About the MultiVersion File System (MVFS).

Run the following command to see ClearCase ALBD, Lock Manager, and Credentials Manager services are running on the host:

>NET START

A list of programs will scroll on the screen, and you want to look for a derivative of the following entries:

Atria Location Broker
IBM Rational Lock Manager
Rational Cred Manager

To start/stop the ALBD, LOCKMGR, and CCCREDMGR services, issue the following commands:

NET START(or STOP) ALBD
NET START(or STOP) LOCKMGR
NET START(or STOP) CCCREDMGR

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Note those net start commands might require administrative privileges:
See this thread:

We have non-administrator CC users. So they can start and stop CC, when they have CC installed as admin we also run some commands the change the CC services to allow non-admins to start and stop them. Here are the commands out of the bat file that makes the service changes. Once upon a time I understood what the service_opts string did.

@ECHO.
@ECHO Purpose: Configure ClearCase Services for non-Admin rights management

set service_opts="D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)"

@ECHO.
@ECHO ++ Processing ALBD service
SC SDSET Albd %service_opts%
SC config Albd start= demand
@ECHO.
@ECHO ++ Processing Credentials Manager service
SC SDSET cccredmgr %service_opts%
SC config cccredmgr start= demand
@ECHO.
@ECHO ++ Processing Lock Manager service
SC SDSET LockMgr %service_opts%
SC config LockMgr start= demand

@ECHO.
@ECHO ++ Processing MVFS service
SC SDSET mvfs %service_opts%
SC config mvfs start= auto

@ECHO.
@ECHO The following ClearCase services:
@ECHO ALBD
@ECHO Cred Manager (CCCREDMGR)
@ECHO Lock Manager (LockMGR)
@ECHO MVFS
@ECHO have been configured to allow non-Administrator privilege users
@ECHO to start and stop these services
@ECHO.
@ECHO You must reboot this PC before attempting to start or
@ECHO stop the ClearCase services without being an Administrator
@ECHO.
@PAUSE

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As the OP uhclem comments, the SDSET Albd %service_opts% part is explained in Microsoft tech note "ee":

The security descriptor definition language (SDDL) uses ACE strings in the DACL and SACL components of a security descriptor string.

As shown in the Security Descriptor String Format examples, each ACE in a security descriptor string is enclosed in parentheses. The fields of the ACE are in the following order and are separated by semicolons (;).

Note: There are alternate formats for access control entries (ACEs) and conditional ACEs.
For conditional ACEs, see Security Descriptor Definition Language for Conditional ACEs.

ace_type;ace_flags;rights;object_guid;inherit_object_guid;account_sid; resource_attribute