You can add services and implementation packages to an enterprise server instance, and update and delete them whether or not the enterprise server instance is running.
If the enterprise server instance is running (that is, if it has the status "Started") when you are adding services and packages, the changes are immediately reflected in the enterprise server. As long as the service is not currently responding to a client request, any updates are also accepted and take immediate effect.
You cannot delete a service, package or request handler if the resources are in use by a client request. You cannot delete a package if it is associated with a service, whether or not the service is running. If a service has operations, you can delete a service and all its operations and packages in one step, or you can delete individual operations and packages.
When you delete services, packages and request handlers, you are deleting objects in the Directory Server repository, not physical files. Every time a developer deploys a service using the Deploy tool or the imtkmake command, a new directory is created in the enterprise server's deploy directory to hold all the deployed files. If a developer redeploys a service that has already been deployed, the old deployment directory is no longer referenced, since the old service and package objects will have been deleted. You might want to delete old deployment directories from time to time.
If an enterprise server instance is running and you add, edit or delete resources, administration messages are sent to the enterprise server console indicating the success or otherwise of your changes.
It is possible for the Directory Server repository to become out-of-step with an enterprise server instance if the Directory Server accepts updates that the enterprise server instance rejects. If this happens you should stop the server and restart it to enable it to pick up the updates.