CF18 Installation - Guide me, please

[John_Allred]

I've been developing small web sites, mostly for personal use, since Coldfusion 4.0.1. Throughout that time, I have run them on an IIS server under various versions of Windows. I am not highly technical; don't have much knowledge of servers.

I have always been able to create and manage multiple sites with coldfusion by setting ports to match the directory structure under inetpub/wwwroot/site_1; inetpub/wwwroot/site_2, etc.

Last year, I installed CF18 under Win10, and the usual J2EE installation didn't go through the old process of provisioning under IIS. Sorry if I'm using the wrong terminology. After reaching out on the forums for help, I finally installed under the Standalone Server option, which put my files under cfusion folder with port 8500.

I've been totally lost on how to create new sites under this setup.

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The help I'm reaching out for here is to understand the two installation options. 1) can I create multiple local sites with different ports under the standalone installation; 2) can I get Coldfusion 18 to configure itself under IIS, like I've done for many years? I want to be able to set up and manage multiple local sites. I'm not locked into a particular way of doing it.

An extra question in this. Can I accomplish this by using ColdfusionBuilder by itself? Can it set up a development server environment? Or does it just work with Coldfusion Server?

Thanks for your guidance!

John

[Dave Watts]

First, you can still create multiple sites with IIS and CF 2018 like you have in the past, but there are more options and as a result it can be a little more complicated. The process for this is pretty straightforward. Second, when you're installing CF 2018, I would recommend using the standalone option, then using the Web Server Configuration Tool to set up individual IIS sites with your existing CF 2018 instance. You can also create multiple instances from Enterprise Manager within the CF Administrator of the first instance, and then use the Web Server Configuration Tool to associate individual IIS sites with specific CF 2018 instances. That said, you probably don't need to bother with multiple instances unless you're doing some complicated things.

Once you're done with the Web Server Configuration Tool, you will be able to access the CF Administrator on TCP/8500, but you'll be able to run CFM and CFC files located in your IIS site's root directory.

I don't think you can do all this stuff from within CF Builder. But I don't use CF Builder so what do I know?

Dave Watts, Eidolon LLC

[BKBK]

I am a bit confused by one of your questions:

Jack_Allred2  wrote

... 1) can I create multiple local sites with different ports under the standalone installation;

To my understanding, a standalone installation implies installation of 1 ColdFusion instance. Hence 1 site and 1 port. It could also imply the Standard version of ColdFusion. Do you have a Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition license for ColdFusion 2018?

2) can I get Coldfusion 18 to configure itself under IIS, like I've done for many years?

Yes. I second @Dave Watts' suggestion on how to do it: using the Web Server Configuration Tool.

ColdFusion Help | Connect to web servers

ColdFusion Help | Configure your system

An extra question in this. Can I accomplish this by using ColdfusionBuilder by itself? Can it set up a development server environment? Or does it just work with Coldfusion Server?

You cannot create ColdFusion instances using ColdFusion Builder. Nevertheless, CF Builder is a great Integrated Development Environment for ColdFusion development. It has an advantage over other IDEs in that it is especially dedicated to ColdFusion. For example, you may configure in it separate projects, hence separate development environments, corresponding to each of the sites / instances that you have created.