cf 2023 install on windows server, web server choose

[Marco Colombo]

Hi,

I'm installing cf 2023 standard edition on a windows server.

I have installed apache web server.

At this link:

https://helpx.adobe.com/it/coldfusion/installing/installing-the-server-configuration.html

I found the installation steps.

How do I start this builder? because I downloaded the GUI version but when choosing the webserver it only shows me the build-in 

I hope I was clear

Many thanks

Marco

[Charlie Arehart]

Marco, the doc you point to is for installing cf. As for configuring cf to connect to a web server, that has indeed required separate steps since cf2016 (whereas it used to be offered WITHIN the install of CF).

And that process (and using the  wsconfig tool) is discussed in a separate document. While the doc has A LOT tonsay, I'm providing here a link to a section near the bottom which should be a good starting point for you, the section "Web server configuration", at:

https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/configuring-administering/web-server-management.html#Webservercon...

Finally, maybe this tool is the "builder" you refer to, but do beware, there is Adobe ColdFusion Builder, which is an IDE or editor. You should not refer to "builder" with regard to web server configuration, as some readers will be misled or may mislead you in their replies. 🙂

Let us know if this gets you going. 

[Marco Colombo]

Thanks  Charlie. 

in fact the last time I installed cf on a server was the 2016 version. 🙂

I have now configured (correctly I think) the connector with Apache 2.4.

However, I have another problem: if I create an index.cfm page it is displayed as an html page and therefore a simple instruction is not executed (I assigned a value to a variable and made a cfoutput). I see the variable name #test#

What could it depend on?

Marco

[Marco Colombo]

Further info: apache resides on the same server as cf.

[Charlie Arehart]

Well it sounds like the connector did NOT get "configured correctly ". 🙂  And you'll find this problem you refer to (cf pages not rendering) is discussed frequently in the cf community, regardless of whether one is using apache or iis, on windows or *nix. And there can be different causes. 

So let's start with one simple question: w as you say you're on windows, when you ran the wsconfig tool, did you get a windows popup asking to confirm elevation to administrator? Or do you think were logged in AS the user called administrator? Sometimes problems are that your running of the tool can't modify the files in apache (or iis) or even cf (though since YOU installed cf you should have write permissions to the cf directory). As such, sometimes simply right-clicking the wsconfig tool to "run as admin" can solve problems. 

Second, in your apache setup do you have multiple virtual hosts? Do you know in what file they're defined? Apache can be a rat's nest of config files, which are "included" off the main config file either explicitly or implicitly, which makes things all the more challenging. Sometimes the problem is that the config lines that cf wsconfig tool adds (connecting apache to cf) don't make it into the correct file.

It doesn't help that deployment of apache on different OS's and/or different apache versions have different file and folder names.  Of course, you were asked in the tool to point to the starting location for apache configuration. Look at that folder you named: does its recently modified config file have lines related to cf? If so, does it have include lines pointing to still others?

There's a doc from Adobe that discusses the steps that one could do to configure apache, if they did not use the tool. It's rather dated and incorrect (in its reference to CFIDE), and I've filed a bug report on that, but it still may help you some:

https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/kb/coldfusion-apache-manual-connector-configuration.html

Let us know either way. There's much more I could say, but I don't want to overwhelm you or readers here. 

[Marco Colombo]

Hi Charlie,

I'm logged in as admin and i have all the privileges. To be safe, I redid the procedure with wsconfig by opening the tool as administrator.

in the apache configuration I currently only have one virtual host that points to the root directory and is defined in the general configuration file (httpd.conf).

"Look at that folder you named: does its recently modified config file have lines related to cf? If so, does it have include lines pointing to still others?"

yes, they are there: 

<VirtualHost 194.76.116.40:80>
ServerName 194.76.116.40
DocumentRoot C:/www
ErrorLog C:/logs/_error.log
CustomLog C:/logs/_access.log common
Include "C:\ColdFusion2023\config\wsconfig\1\mod_jk_vhost.conf"
</VirtualHost>

Include "C:\Apache24\conf\mod_jk.conf"

I don't know if the configuration performed by cf is correct.
I attach a pdf file with some screenshots so that the situation is clearer.

Could it be due to the antivirus or closed firewall ports? only 80 and 443 are open at the moment.

Marco

[Charlie Arehart]

Marco, given what you've shared, it seems clear that the site you're visiting (the request you're making, showing the CFML) is running somehow WITHOUT running through the Apache configuration that is enabling the connection to CF.

My simplest guess is that the domain name or IP address of the request you're making is NOT using that 194.76.116.40 indicated in the Servername of the virtualhost in your httdp.conf, as shown in your 4th image of the PDF. You do say it's your only onw. As such, I suspect instead it's ending up being processed NOT by that virtualhost but instead by the main settings of the httd.conf. And THAT would be how it would not connect to CF.

One solution would be to copy that include of the mod_jk_vhost.conf file to OUTSIDE that virtualhost directive. That way it WOULD apply to requests that reach Apache but do NOT match that virtualhost directive. 

Another would be to do a ping of that domain name (whatever you're using), and make sure it resolves to that IP address listed in the virtual host (first line). Assuming it does not, maybe THAT is the ip address you should be putting there. Or you might want to change the virtualhost line to name that domain name instead. (There are indeed also that ServerName and related ServerAlias directives you can ALSO set within a virtualhost.)

There's also a helpful command-line tool you could run from that Windows apache bin folder, httpd -D DUMP_VHOSTS, which will show you what vhosts are indeed defined (across all included files off the httpd.conf file). Another that could help understand that is httpd -D DUMP_INCLUDES. (People finding this who work on OSs where there is no httd in the Apache bin may find instead they can use these same sort of diagnostic args with whatever is the binary in that folder that runs Apache, whether it's apachectl, apache2ctl, apache2, or even http.)

Finally, there's one more thing that's a bit confusing about your screenshots. In your 4th image, with the connector created, shows on the left, server125115.serverkeliweb.it. In my experience, what shows there is the value you enter in the first "Appserver name" field of the connector (in what's shown in your second image of the PDF). Yet you show second image that you entered there an IP address instead--indeed the same one as you selected in the "Apache Virtual Host" field.

Indeed, since you say above (previous reply) that Apache and CF are on the same machine, why didn't you just leave that "Appserver name" field at its default of "localhost"? I'm not saying that this using a different IP address in the add connector field has anything to do with your new problem of seeing CFML. I just raise it as something I noticed.

But again, the bottom line is that your request is NOT ending up in that virtualhost, and since that's what you told the CF wsconfig tool to setup. So you either need to change that virtualhost to process your request, or copy that include outside the virtualhost so that it affects  such other requests. Let us know how that goes.

[Marco Colombo]

Hi Charlie,
after various attempts and tests, I reinstalled CF and Apache and configured the connector as localhost.
At this point in the logs it gave me an error connecting to the port not accessible. I configured the firewall and it was fine.
However, it gave me another error which I solved thanks to your article:
https://coldfusion.adobe.com/2020/03/three-reasons-sites-may-break-fix-applying-mar-2020-update-cf20...

Finally cf pointed to its directory instead of using the one configured in Apache.
After a while I realized that it was due to the mod_jk_vhost.conf file that created the connector. With that out of the way, everything seems to be ok now.

I wonder why it became so complicated to install cf.

Thanks again for the help.

Marco

[Charlie Arehart]

Glad you got things sorted. I have a couple of clarifications to your comments: one may seem picky, but it leads to an elaboration that I hope may help you or others. 

First you conclude the problem was "was due to the mod_jk_vhost.conf file that created the connector". Perhaps that was a finger fumble on your part but to be clear, the file was created by the connector rather than the other way around. 🙂 

Second, as for your final lament, this is indeed how the wsconfig tool has worked for many versions.

What was the version you came from? I wonder if it was cf11 or earlier. If so, it's indeed true that your need to USE THE WSCONFIG TOOL may itself be new. Prior to cf2016, the cf installer ended with a prompt asking whether to implement the cf built-in web server or to configure use of an "external" web server ("external" to cf) like iis or apache.

But as of cf2016, that final prompt was removed: the installer now ALWAYS enables the built-in web server (as the only way to use with the cf admin, by default). And it NO LONGER even offers the option to configure such external servers, leaving folks to need to deal with that themselves. Though it's been the case now for nearly 8 years, there are indeed many making the move to cf2023 (or 2021 )for whom this is "new". 

And while using  the cf wsconfig tool is generally straightforward, when things don't work that can be confusing--and there are again many recommendations out on the web of how to deal with things, some valuable, many not so much. 

And things were indeed made still more challenging with the Tomcat "ghostcat" issue that Cf had to deal with in early 2020 (which prompted the post of mine you kindly mention). While the ramifications of that (and changes needed) became more "known" to those using affected cf versions then, again those moving from earlier versions may only encounter those matters now (like the localhost/ipv6 matter), or only when moving to a new machine (as people often do in upgrading cf). 

Finally, documenting the steps to diagnose/resolve issues with cf's configuration of apache can be further complicated by what I'd noted above: how the folders where apache lives and stores its config (and even the command to manage it) can differ per os and even between different distros of linux.

As in your case, once someone is "over the hump" getting their install working, they tend not to need to dig any further--and we don't tend to see any generic discussions online of the troubleshooting process.

Hope the above may help others who find it. And I'll give thought to doing a presentation or two on the topic (both about the wsconfig in general, and troubleshooting it, and dealing with the many apache variants  in particular). 

[Marco Colombo]

I hoped I had solved it but it didn't.

The situation now is this:
If I insert in the apache configuration file
Includes "C:\ColdFusion2023\config\wsconfig\1\mod_jk_vhost.conf"
in addition to what is already present
Includes "C:\Apache24\conf\mod_jk.conf"

The webroot points to
C:/ColdFusion2023/cfusion/wwwroot/
even if in Apache the webroot is set to C:/www
the pages in cf are interpreted correctly.
However, if I add virtualhosts they are not considered and always point to the CF webroot

If in the apache conf file I remove
Includes "C:\ColdFusion2023\config\wsconfig\1\mod_jk_vhost.conf"
the apache configuration all works correctly, but the cfm files don't work, i.e. they are shown to me as html
(as if the connector didn't work, and that might be correct since I didn't insert the relevant line).

Now I'm wondering: there must be something wrong with the connector configuration.
I thought it might be that being in cf (e.g. when I access cfide) the webroot C:/ColdFusion2023/cfusion/wwwroot/ would change something if I "told" cf that the webroot is C:/www ?

Where do I find how to set the parameter?

Or do you have other solutions?

Thank you
Marco