Multiple Managed Metadata Service Instances

Question

I am seeing multiple Managed Metadata Web Services in my farm and am not sure what to make of it. I was expecting to see one instance why are there others?

    Get-SPServiceInstance | ?{$_.TypeName -like 'Managed*'}

    TypeName                         Status   Id
--------                         ------   --
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 440e5f9e-09d5-4c61-926b-160053e56cce
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 32e11b2a-14a9-4edb-9631-3f6a41595ecb
Managed Metadata Web Service     Online   abf0af96-9531-4495-8108-cd15a68684ae
Managed Metadata Web Service     Online   209f0218-b50d-4cc3-bfa6-0c2f6bc3e096
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 22d0f10f-9922-4362-9e38-d6e5578ed4b7
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 125193fb-484e-4751-9e97-fe146a9e81c3
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 88275971-aa58-42cb-9801-2399f3cea2a0
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 471122eb-02b3-40d3-881a-c46201502dfd
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 64b802be-7273-4896-90c2-2fbd1f8f69ca
Managed Metadata Web Service     Disabled 1f56e162-97ab-4862-b6d3-71d4574cbbd2

Answer 1

How many servers belong to your farm? SharePoint installs on every server an instance of a service by default. So, if you have as many service instances as servers then it is normal. And for the status of a service instance: Online means running. You can manage the service instances under Application Management -> Manage services on server in the Central Administration of your farm.