CF Admin inaccessible after upgrading to ColdFusion2021

[jeffw43645657]

I have upgraded ColdFusion from 2016 to 2021.  The installation log file shows only successes without any warnings or errors.  CF Admin launched after the installation and I was able to confirm the settings migrated correctly and I created 2 of the 3 datasources with the Oracle driver(I don't have good password for 1 of them).  I also manually installed update 4.  I disconnected all the IIS sites from version 2016 with its Web Ser Config Tool and then connected all of them to the new version.  I've disabled the old CF2016 services to ensure there's no confusion

Unfortunately now, I can't get into the CF Admin.  IE reports ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT.  The 1 site the server is hosting responds with a CF error because one of the datasources is broken.  So at least I know CF is running and responding to requests.  The pathes of 2 of the virtual directories were correctly updated to the new CF version's path. However, CFIDE was still pointing to the old version.  Manually updating it to the new version's path  had no effect on the browser error.

The port has not changed, so it's not a firewall issue.  Event viewer, IIS and CF log files are not catching any errors.  Other than a McAfee issue shutting down a call to a dll in the new version's path, I'm stumped.

Any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Charlie Arehart]

Jeff, you've done a great job laying out details. I'm sure it's a frustrating situation. That said, it may be something simple, or it may be something more esoteric. Let me offer several ideas, from most likely (yet easy to rule out) to more challenging.

• First, you may want to make 100% sure cf2021 is running. That error would usually mean the browser could not reach the server indicated in the url. And I'm assuming you're accessing the admin on the cf machine as localhost, right? 
• I know you said other sites "work" in returning a cf error. Could that be a cached page? Try it from another browser. 
• And you are accessing that site through iis, while the cf Admin is being accessed through cf's built in web server, such as at port 8500, right?
• Even then, note that if cf2016 was running at the time you installed 2021, then the latter would use port 8501 instead. Which are you using now, when it fails?  (FWIW, you didn't technically "update" cf2016. Rather cf2021 is a separate install, with its own service, folder, etc. as you may have noticed or already realize.) 

• You're sure you're using the same url for that admin when it fails as when it worked right after the install, right?

If it's not something like the above, then it seems something's gone amiss. It's not some inherent result of installing cf, as it was working at first install. 

Moving on, when you say the first launch of the cf admin migrated settings from the old one, do beware that at that moment, had you restarted cf, perhaps this error would have happened. Why? Because the import could have brought in changes (especially jvm ones) that may not work well with the new version. But that's just a guess, maybe not the issue. (And I doubt you have the original files from before the migration, as cf does not protect them.)

Some more questions that could help us, in that case:

1. what is the url you're using for the admin?
2. And have you tried watching the browser dev tools (even in the  recently obsoleted IE you have?) What does that show, in its network tab? 
3. Have you considered using a more recent browser? It might show better diagnostics. (Or is that "out of the question" in your shop? And if so, do the overlords realize the MS finally EOLed IE last month? Time to revisit those old rules against "any other browser".) 

Let us know how things go. And if you get to needing this fixed without lots of back and forth here (I'm sure others will chime in with more thoughts), note that I could help via a remote consulting session. I doubt it would take 15 mins to sort this out.

That's not a crass sales pitch or bait and switch: it's simply a lot easier to just follow a series of diagnostic steps together live than to elaborate further on each, and the permutations of what they may show, and what next steps would be for each result. If interested, check out the consulting page at carehart.org.

I do hope I may have offered you a solution among all else above, but I'll be following along here either way to hear how it turns out. 

[jeffw43645657]

Thank you so much for your response.

Initially yes. I was accessing cfadmin from a browser on the server which
launched after the installation was down. Which surprised me, since
typically that doesn't work in our environment. Browsers on the servers
are locked down. It's such a pain, but I'm told its a STIG.

I've attempted to hit the cfadmin and default site with both edge and
chrome with the same results: the first times out and the second gives the
blue dot error with black ribbon banner on a grey background. Was
that design in CF2016?. The edge browser had never hit the site prior to
the upgrade, so I believe CF is responding and it's not a cache.

Yes, CF2021 cfadmin is configured for port 8500. I'd turned off CF2016
services prior to the installation specifically because this port is open
on our firewalls and I didn't want to open another.

After doing some more probing with Powershell's Test-netconnection command,
I've found that port 8500 from my workstation is now blocked. I'm not
clear how, but it's open for the other 3 servers in other environments.
I've rolled the server back and forth from one snapshot to another to
double check. Somehow the installation resulted in the port being shutdown
somewhere. Netstat from the server back on itself says the server is
listening to the port.

Local firewall rules have not changed. McAfee doesn't report any activity
related to this.

I've put in a call to the firewall guys. Fingers crossed they can see
something.

Thank again.

[BKBK]

Suggestion:

1.  Open the Command Prompt (CMD) as Administrator;
2.  Type ipconfig /flushdns and press ENTER;
3.  Run the Web Server Configuration Tool, C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\runtime\bin\wsconfig.exe;
4.  Open the ColdFusion Administrator in a browser other than Internet Explorer. Say, Chrome or Firefox.

[Priyank Shrivastava.]

Hi @jeffw43645657 

Can you please paste the URL that you are using to access the CF Admin?

[jeffw43645657 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all the help. It turns out to be missing windows firewall rules. Explicit allows over both tcp and udp were in for v2016.  I'm OOO at the moment and will post the exact rules when I'm back working next week.

[Charlie Arehart]

Glad you solved it. It sounds like someone setup the windows firewall rules (on the cf machine) to be tied to the program (cf2016) rather then its port (8500). You may want them to reconsider just connecting them.now to cf2021--otherwise you or others after you will hit the same issue on the next cf version. 🙂