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DanielTheProgrammer
Inspiring
August 10, 2020
Answered

ColdFusion 2018 Enterprise application server starts then stops abruptly. CentOS 7 64-bit

  • August 10, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 1661 views

I'm having an issue with a ColdFusion 2018 Enterprise application server starting then stopping after a few seconds after a fresh install on a CentOS 7 server.  for the runtime user, I used nobody, and the installation was ran under root.  I can start the application server by navigating to the opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin folder and running the ./coldfusion start script.  I get a message from the terminal that the ColdFusion 2018 server has been started, but after a few seconds if I attempt to stop it: ./coldfustion stop, I get a message that the server is not running.  Also, as soon as I start the coldfusion server, I can attempt to get to the adminstrator web console on firefox on the server (127.0.0.1:8500/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm), and it goes for a few seconds but then gives me a connection error assuming because the application server stops running.  One last thing, after the installation completes, I get a checkbox that says: "I understand that there were errors" that i need to check to click the Done button.  Are there installation log files that I can view to find the errors during installation this message is referring to?  I'm attaching this message.  Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer DanielTheProgrammer

    Good morning, 

     

        BKBK you nailed it, I set the /tmp variable as you instructed, and the installation went through error free.  I was then able to successfully start the coldfusion server with no issues.  I want everyone to take note, incase someone may experience this issue in the future or are looking for a possbile remedy:

    1. If a /tmp space error arises during the ColdFusion installtion, you need to set the IATEMPDIR variable to a folder that has sufficient size for the installation, as BKBK mentioned.

    2. I noticed, while I was experiencing the above error with installation, when I ran and completed the ColdFusion installation and started it for the first time, I had to chmod the /opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/coldfusion file for it to run.  After I installed ColdFusion without the /tmp size error, I did not have to chmod the coldfusion start file.  Just an FYI.

     

    Thank you Charlie and BKBK.  Your help is much appreciated!

     

    -Daniel

    5 replies

    D
    DanielTheProgrammerAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    August 12, 2020

    Good morning, 

     

        BKBK you nailed it, I set the /tmp variable as you instructed, and the installation went through error free.  I was then able to successfully start the coldfusion server with no issues.  I want everyone to take note, incase someone may experience this issue in the future or are looking for a possbile remedy:

    1. If a /tmp space error arises during the ColdFusion installtion, you need to set the IATEMPDIR variable to a folder that has sufficient size for the installation, as BKBK mentioned.

    2. I noticed, while I was experiencing the above error with installation, when I ran and completed the ColdFusion installation and started it for the first time, I had to chmod the /opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/coldfusion file for it to run.  After I installed ColdFusion without the /tmp size error, I did not have to chmod the coldfusion start file.  Just an FYI.

     

    Thank you Charlie and BKBK.  Your help is much appreciated!

     

    -Daniel

      BKBK
      Community Expert
      BKBKCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 12, 2020

      Glad to hear, DanielTheProgrammer. The best to you!

        D
        DanielTheProgrammerAuthor
        Inspiring
        August 12, 2020

        Update, I can do a ps -ef |  grep coldfusion immediately when I start server and get a confirmation it was started, but after a few seconds i run the command again and confirmation is gone.:

         

        Immediately after i start server:

        "

        coldfus+ 11537     1 99 21:00 ?        00:00:11 /opt/coldfusion2018/jre/bin/java -classpath /opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../runtime/bin/tomcat-juli.jar:/optcoldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../bin/cf-bootstrap.jar:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../bin/cf-startup.jar:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../runtime/lib/*:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/lib:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/lib/*:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/classes:/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/classes/*: -server --add-opens=java.rmi/sun.rmi.transport=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/sun.util.cldr=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/sun.util.locale.provider=ALL-UNNAMED -Xms256m -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=192m -XX:+UseParallelGC -Xbatch -Djdk.attach.allowAttachSelf=true -Dcoldfusion.home=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/.. -Djava.security.egd=/dev/urandom -Djava.awt.headless=true -Duser.language=en -Dcoldfusion.rootDir=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/.. -Dcom.sun.xml.bind.v2.bytecode.ClassTailor.noOptimize=true -Djava.security.policy=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/coldfusion.policy -Djava.security.auth.policy=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/neo_jaas.policy -Dcoldfusion.classPath=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/updates,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/axis2,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../gateway/lib/,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../wwwroot/WEB-INF/cfform/jars,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../wwwroot/WEB-INF/flex/jars,/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/lib,/opt/coldfusio2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/oosdk/classes -Dcoldfusion.libPath=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib -Dorg.apache.coyote.USE_CUSTOM_STATUS_MSG_IN_HEADER=true -Dcoldfusion.jsafe.defaultalgo=FIPS186Random -Dorg.eclipse.jetty.util.log.class=org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.JavaUtilLog -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/opt/coldfusion2018/cfusion/bin/../lib/logging.properties -Djava.locale.providers=COMPAT,SPI -Dsun.font.layoutengine=icu com.adobe.coldfusion.bootstrap.Bootstrap -start

        root     13734 10791  0 21:15 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto coldfusion

        "

        a few seconds after:

        "

        root     13734 10791  0 21:15 pts/1    00:00:00 grep --color=auto coldfusion

        "

        -Daniel

        BKBK
        Community Expert
        BKBKCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        August 12, 2020

        "WARNING: /tmp does not have enough disk space!" implies that the installation was probably incomplete. I therefore think there is no use going further with it.

         

        I would:

        1. Uninstall ColdFusion;

        2. Free more space in /home or specify a different directory as the tmp directory. For example:

            IATEMPDIR=/home/yourUsername/tmp
            export IATEMPDIR
            echo $IATEMPDIR

        3. Reinstall ColdFusion.

          D
          DanielTheProgrammerAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 11, 2020

          Thank You Charlie, I'll just be adding on to the original post from now on.  Attempted to re-run installation and still cannot keep the coldfusion server running after I start it from command line.  Please see below for the message I get when I run the install.  It still completes but I'm starting to think this message is somehow related to the issue with the server not staying on after attempting to start.

           

          "

          Preparing to install

          WARNING: /tmp does not have enough disk space! Attempting to use /root for install base and tmp dir.

          Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...

          Unpacking the JRE...

          Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...

          Configuring the installer for this system's environment...

           

          Launching installer..."

           

          -Daniel

          D
          DanielTheProgrammerAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 10, 2020

          Thanks for the input Charlie, I'm going to start investigating from the information you provided.  I'll be posting again once I have more information.  One more thing I forgot to mention, the server is running Plesk Obsidian 18.0 for its web application control panel.  Have you ran into anyone that may have encountered issues with Plesk and ColdFusion not interacting well on the same server?

           

          Thanks,

          Daniel

          Charlie Arehart
          Community Expert
          Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 10, 2020

          Looking forward to hearing what you may find. As for Plesk, I can say that I have only ever seen issues related to it and web connectors (and nearly always only with IIS).

           

          But there could be other folks here (or elsewhere) who might identify some known issue with Plesk that could lead to the problems you are seeing.  Even if somehow it may be at the root, looking at the install log and then other logs (about the startup/dying issue) should help. There are any number of reasons CF can "die", nearly always related to configuration.

           

          While we await your further exploration, can you at least say if you think that the CF configuration should be "stock" (subject to potential plesk mods)? Or do you think you or anyone did a) import previous CF install settings during install or b) changed anything in the jvm.config since installing?

          /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
          D
          DanielTheProgrammerAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 10, 2020

          Thanks Charlie, I've gathered some information and I'll update later today with what I found.  The CF configurations are stock, there was no previous CF install or import of previous settings, and nothing has been changed on the jvm.config file.  

           

          -Daniel

          Charlie Arehart
          Community Expert
          Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 10, 2020

          So a few things to consider there, Daniel:

          • the error indicated during the installation may well be significant. And while that screen sadly does not tell you, there is indeed an installation log. It is NOT in the "logs" folder under the CF cfusion folder (like other logs). Instead it's in the ROOT of the CF installation folder, so /opt/coldfusion2018 for you, per what that screenshot shows. You will see a very long-named log file, with the date and time of the install.
            • In that log, look within the top 5o-100 lines, and there will be a count of "successes" and "fatalerrors", etc. What counts does yours show? And after that table may be some lines indicating key errors, but then they can also appear later in that log.
            • You say the installation "ran under root". That would have been a first concern, in case it was a permissions issue for your user you were logged in as
          • As for CF starting and then failing so quickly, that may or may not have to do with any problems in the installation
            • For instance, being on Linux, you may have CF failing because your box is low on memory, and gets worse when CF starts, and the Linux "oom killer" has identified CF is the largest user of memory at the time. If that happens, CF will indeed "just die", but Linux will track that it did that oom kill. For more, see resources such as this.
            • FWIW, by default, CF is set to use only 1g max heap. But if you have imported settings from anywhere, or changed the CF jvm.config, you may find that the xmx there is larger.
          • As for other reasons that CF may "just stop, you should also look at the coldfusion-out.log and coldfusion-error.log (both in CF's cfusion/logs folder), to see if they may identify any additional info 
            • and believe it or not, you should also look in the cfusion/bin folder, to see if there any logs there. If the jvm itself is what "dies", then it would create a log in that folder (not the CF logs folder)

           

          Let's see how far this gets you, and we can keep going as needed.

          /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
          D
          DanielTheProgrammerAuthor
          Inspiring
          August 10, 2020

          Hi Charlie, please see below for my findings:

          • In that log, look within the top 5o-100 lines, and there will be a count of "successes" and "fatalerrors", etc. What counts does yours show? And after that table may be some lines indicating key errors, but then they can also appear later in that log.
            • 5,546 Successes, 1 NonFatalErrors: Required Disk Space: 714,429,754 Bytes Free Disk Space: 274,813,677,568 Bytes.  When I run the installation in the beginning, I receive a message stating that there is not enough space in the /tmp/ folder, so it uses my users home directory to place the temporary files.
          • You say the installation "ran under root". That would have been a first concern, in case it was a permissions issue for your user you were logged in as
            • I tried to run the installation under my regular user, but the wizard flags it and says I have to be logged in as root to install ColdFusion 2018.  I'm xRDP into my Cento OS 7 box, logging in as my user, then opening the command line to su into root to run the installation.
          • As for other reasons that CF may "just stop, you should also look at the coldfusion-out.log and coldfusion-error.logs (both in CF's cfusion/logs folder), to see if they may identify any additional info 
            • I looked at those directories but did not find the log files that are specified above: coldfusion-out.log and coldfusion-error.logs.
          • and believe it or not, you should also look in the cfusion/bin folder, to see if there any logs there. If the jvm itself is what "dies", then it would create a log in that folder (not the CF logs folder).
            • No logs that I can see in the bin folder either.
          • I'll be looking into the URL you copied, for the "oom killer".

           

          Thanks,

          Daniel

          Charlie Arehart
          Community Expert
          Charlie ArehartCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          August 10, 2020

          OK on all that. But when you say you didn't find those coldfusion-*.log files in the cfusion/logs folder, did you find any OTHER logs in that folder? There should be several (and yes, the two files I mentioned should be there even in Linux). 

           

          While you wait to see what you may find about the OOM killer, what do you see if you do a top, for the values in the line looking like this:

          KiB Mem : xx total, yy free

           

          Of course, this is just a point in time, but as I assume you can't start CF now without that problem, it would still be informative.

          /Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
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