What is the preferred approach to building server background processes on the .NET stack?

I have a requirement to build features that perform certain background tasks on a server. Things like queue monitoring (which polls constantly) and scheduled tasks for ba开发者_Go百科tch jobs. These processes need to have basic functionality such as; restarting if they fail; being configured to have only one process running or multiple processes; maintaining state when idle etc. Azure worker roles seem to tick a lot of boxes - is there an on premise equivalent?

My current plan is to build a set of Windows services in .NET, but they seem so 90's. Is there a better approach that people are using, from MS or Open Source? Are windows services just so darn good that there is no need to use anything else?

Windows services are still the preferred technology.