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michaelr93788398
Participant
January 31, 2023
Question

503 Error on Server migration

  • January 31, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 408 views

We have a failing web server, and legacy Coldfusion Application I am trying to migrate to a new server.So I have a new server I am installing on and going from CF 2016 to 21. Things for the most part are working fine, but I am stumped on one error. I am not a CF guy , just inherited an app. Years ago I had to do an upgrade form one older version to another and found it was due to variable case sensitivity changing so I have hunted around in the past as well. I keep thinking the behavior means something small is missing like that variable I have seen in the past

 

Out of a few menu choices, one lets me run a few queries and export to excel. The queries run fine but I get an immediate 503 error when I try to export. One of the other tabs has export code and works with no problem.

if I hit the website(its an internal website) using http://192.XXX.X.XX:8500/WEBSITE, I get no errors at all, even on the menu that perviously errors.

 

The 503 error is if I hit it by name http://intranetnamehere , or browse from IIS. I have tried reinstalling CF, copying the code back over and starting over, and numerous hacks.

There is no logging of any errors. Curious if this is something anyone else has run into and may know?

 

Both downloads are server by cfcontent and to the user downloads folder. Any hekp or direction on where to check would be greatly appreciated. The install was not super clean and I had to manually add handlers, isapi etc., if that changes anything. What I am struggling with is how one menu works , and both work if is use ip address. Errors are not replicated in current production and I see no issues of AppPool recycling or stopping, which seems to be the cause of a lot of 503 errors. 

Thanks

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    1 reply

    Charlie Arehart
    Community Expert
    Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2023

    Michael, are you saying that any requests for any cfm pages made via that domain alone (and thus via iis) are getting the 503? Or just this one page?

     

    If it's all, then your issue may be due to a change not new to cf2021 but that arose in March 2020--affecting then cf2018 and 2016, but which cf2021 and later will have inherited. 

     

    Put simply, you may need to add or modify the address attribute on the AJP connector line in cf's server.xml. There's much more that could be said, as I do in a post:

     

    https://www.carehart.org/blog/2020/3/20/how_and_why_sites_may_break_after_Mar_2020_CF_updates

     

    But let me try to simplify things: if you look at cf's coldfusion-error.log, look for "starting protocol handler", and the ip address on that line. Does that match the address value on that Ajp line? If not, or if there's none, you'd want to add that (and restart cf).

     

    But it's a like doing surgery on yourself, so be very careful, and if it doesn't work it may be that you made some mistake. If you need it solved and it's worth you paying for assistance, I can probably solve it in as little as 15 mins. For more on my services (rates, approach, satisfaction guarantee, and more), see carehart.org/consulting.

     

    Or I or others may have more we can share here. 

    /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
    M
    michaelr93788398Author
    Participant
    January 31, 2023

    Thanks so much Charlie. I am going to give my jr another day to try and figure this and learn it, I will spend some time going over what you wrote to see if I missed anything and will reach out soon for work if I can't. Appreciate it.

     

    For the record, everything works on both the current site and the new one, except the one page (of two separate ones) that export to excel.

    Charlie Arehart
    Community Expert
    Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 31, 2023

    So to be clear, a cfm page in the same folder that just outputs the current time (for example) DOES work if placed on the same folder as the one doing the export, and requested with the same domain? If not, the problem's more clearly not the download process. 

    /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
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