CF 9 Distributed Mode

[TinaNewhouse]

Hello CF Gurus,

We have been running CF 9 in a mult-server setup using IIS on Windows 2008 R2 without problems in our test environment. One server running all.

My boss would like for me to setup our production environment using a distributed mode setup.  He wants to have the CF Admin site on one server and the IIS site on a separate server.  The only documentation I can find is from CF 5.

http://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/administration/cfmx_in_distributed_mode/cfmx_in_distributed_...

Does anyone have any documentation for this process or should the CF 5 documents be fine to use?  Also, what files need to reside on the CF Admin server and the web server?  I'm a CF newbie.  Our web team manages CF but I am tasked with setting up the server.

Thank you very much!

Tina Newhouse

[Dave Watts]

That documentation is actually for CF 6 (CFMX), not CF 5. So it'll probably work, as CF 6 and 9 are fairly similar in many respects.

That said, why do you want to do this? For most purposes, I'd recommend that you don't use this. Instead, if your goal is to separate the application server from the web tier, use a reverse proxy on the web tier. This lets you isolate the application server, but it doesn't rely on CF's specific implementation details - you could do it with any application server.

We're using this approach with several large clients, and it works very nicely. You can use Apache on Unix for the web tier, and CF on Windows for the app server tier, for example - something you can't do with distributed mode.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

Fig Leaf Software is a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) on

GSA Schedule, and provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized

instruction at our training centers, online, or onsite.

Read this before you post:

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/607238

[rickhellewell]

Also interested in investigating a reverse proxy setup (with Server A = IIS7.5 web server, Server B = CF9 application server, cfm files on Server A).

Our previous configuration (with IIS6/CFMX) was set up by a 'previous administration' in distributed environment. But, given the advice here and elsewhere, it looks like a reverse proxy setup is actually better. And since these are new servers, with content eventually moving over from the old servers (Server 2003/CFMX), it is a good opportunity to set up things correctly.

So, looking for advice/docs on the best way to set up a reverse proxy configuration .

Thanks...Rick...

[Dave Watts]

I'm a bit confused by your description - which may well be my problem rather than yours. Typically, you'd have a reverse proxy (IIS or more commonly Apache) on one server, and your CF application, a web server, and its files on another server. I've never used IIS for a reverse proxy, but I have used it behind a reverse proxy quite a bit.

As for setting it up, the beauty of it is that there's nothing really CF-specific. Just Google "reverse proxy IIS" or "reverse proxy Apache" and you'll find everything you need.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/