ColdFusion 11 Update 14 OS Migration

The answer is not a simple yes or no. There are two aspects to this question: the CF installer and the web server configuration tool, and then out of that flow other things to consider.

1) A first big question is whether you will be updating the OS in place, or moving to a new machine running 2016.

To be clear, while Adobe created a new CF2016 installer in Apr 2017 to run on Windows 2016, they never created an updated CF11 installer for that (because as you may know, once CF2016 came out, they no longer offered an installer for CF11—just like now that CF2018 is out, they no longer even offer the installer for CF2016.)

So if you are installing onto a NEW server, you could have trouble. (When I first replied here in Sept 2018, I said "CF11 won’t install" but that's not so, as Aquitaine later reported he did it successfully. The rest of what I say stands.)

But if instead you UPDATE a current Windows edition below Server 2016 or Windows 10 to that version, then of course you don’t NEED to install CF11, and won’t have that problem.  But you will now run into another problem.

2) The second issue is about the web server configuration tool. That looks at the IIS version you have installed, and if you are on a version of CF that does NOT yet support the newer version of IIS (which newer versions of Windows always have), then you will find that you can’t run the tool.

So here again, if you are updating a box already running an older Windows to Server 2016 or 10, then your site will still “work”, but if you try to use the web server config tool, it will complain that it can’t support that version of IIS.

Good news with this is that Adobe DID offer new updates for CF11 (and 10) that DID add that needed support for the newer IIS version. It was update 7 for CF11, and update 18 for CF10, as discussed here:

https://coldfusion.adobe.com/2015/11/coldfusion-11-update-7-and-coldfusion-10-update-18-are-now-available/

But note that that post does NOT distinguish things as well as it could. Again the update supports running the web server connector (on Windows 10 or 2016) but it does NOT modify the INSTALLER for CF10 or 11 on Windows 10 or 2016. CF updates affect a currently installed CF, they do NOT affect the CF installer.

Again, only in Windows 2016 (in Apr 2017) did Adobe create a new INSTALLER for Windows 10 or Server 2016:

https://coldfusion.adobe.com/2017/04/coldfusion-2016-support-for-windows-server-2016/

So bottom line: if you update your current Windows to 2016 or 10, then CF11 or 10 will “work”. And your IIS sites will “work”. But if you try to use the CF web server config tool (to add or remove CF integration with IIS sites), that will fail until you get the update 7 (for 11, or update 18 for CF10).

And to your last point, there should be no change in “back end database connection”, as long as that DB itself is not changing. That said, again, if you move to a NEW box, then you could find DB connection problems if the DB has a firewall that prevents access to the new server, etc. That of course is not about CF and can be readily corrected.

I will say finally that if you have trouble with things, I offer CF server troubleshooting consulting (including tuning, updating, security, and more). See the consulting page at carehart.org for more. But I hope the above may be enough help you and future readers who have your question.

/charlie