Cold Fusion upgrade 11 Patch 19 versus upgrade to CF 2016 , 2018

[josed56603254]

Team, I am new member to Admin team. I have been tasked to upgrade all windows servers to CF11/patch 19.

I do understand V11 is EOL. I need to understand if this would be a major lift planning for CF 2016? or CF2018 from V11. Because of some important seurity fixes and to familirie myself with product. planning on update going in next 3-4 weeks.

I am keeping in mind other players involved in my env:

Oracle current ver 12c

MySql V 5.7

PowerPDF v3

IIS 8.5

Java....

Thank you

Jose Duenas

Lead Systems Administrator

[haxtbh]

This all depends on the code base. We migrated pretty seamlessly, but then we did not use a lot of things that were deprecated in later versions.

You will need to move to 2018. The easiest way is just get the trial / dev edition and run things on it and see where it falls down. 

The CF Admin has a code analyzer  to check your code for potential issues. Its a good start but you would still want to test it all.

[BKBK]

haxtbh  has covered the basics. I would also suggest you move to ColdFusion 2018. 

While you're at it, install the latest ColdFusion 2018 update. Take a look the ColdFusion 2018 Support Matrix. It shows you the latest versions of the commonest technologies that integrate with ColdFusion. Talking of integration, nowadays ColdFusion no longer includes the MySQL driver. You have to download the Connector/J JAR file and copy it to ColdFusion's lib directory.

[josed56603254]

ty you all for your input. Is there anything specific I

need to check on Licensing?

Much appreciated

Jose Duenas

[Charlie Arehart]

Well, as for licensing, do note that you will NOT be able to get any upgrade discount to go from CF11 up. Adobe (and resellers) only currently offer a discount for CF2016 folks going to 2018. (And Adobe no longer sells CF2016. You'd have to buy 2018 and "backwards license" it to 2016.)

But here's one more reason you should go to 2018 instead: when CF2020 comes out, they will then (if tradition follows) ONLY offer upgrade pricing to those on CF2018. (And they would stop selling or even offering the download of CF2018 on their public site, like currently only CF2018 is offered. Licensees get a special site and login where they  can download older versions they have licensed, even past when they are no longer supported.) 

[josed56603254]

Thanks again.

I just came from CapX meeting and we look to possibly go to Windows Server 2019. Other than

need to go to MySql 8 because 5.7 not supported on 2019. Any gotchas/performance issues, one

verifying no virus scanning config setup? or newer Java that hopefully codeanalyzer will catch?

much appreciated.

Jose Duenas

Lead System Admin

[Charlie Arehart]

Jose, I can report that Adobe created only a new installer supporting Windows 2019 for CF2018, not 2016 (if that may be a question). To be clear, do get a installer released after Feb 2019. The original one (in 2018) did not support it. 

FWIW, it's not that you CANNOT install CF2016 on 2019, only that it's not formally supported by Adobe, and there was no new installer. I shared more in a comment on the topic in another thread.

You mention Java, but there's nothing (I know of) that would make Java "not work' on Windows 2019. Of course, there's a difference between an Oracle Java installer for Windows and an Oracle Java zip (no installer).

Finally, you mention a concern about what "codeanalyzer" might catch. If you mean the CF code compatibility analyzer in the CF Admin, that would definitely not detect anything about Java, nor anything about the OS on which CF is to be installed. It ONLY looks at code, and tries to identify if there are compabibility issues in your code for the selected new CF version. Some find it helpful, others do not.

Let us know if that's helpful.

[josed56603254]

Thanks Charlie, was indeed helpful.

As I now go back to original patch 19 for V11. Knowing we are currently at 14.

I have concerns with cumulative 15-19 because of some large issues raised with CF tasks etc.

I am spendnig much time documenting each version jump to prepare for any potential issues.

Other than possibly performing a snapshot of Dev server and applying Patch 19, any recommendations

for this being my first CF update/patch fix as i work in tandem with 2018 upgrade scenarios?

txs again Jose

[josed56603254]

Main note on upgrade pre  for 19

Note:

For the security fixes  in Update 15 and above to take effect, ColdFusion must be on JDK 1.7.0_131 or JDK 1.8.0_121 or higher.

i ran java -version   should be good.

will backup main web.config. 

DEV

C:\Windows\system32>java -version
java version "1.8.0_172"  

UAT
C:\Windows\System32>java -version
java version "1.8.0_25"

New Prod
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>java -version
java version "1.8.0_131"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_131-b11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.131-b11, mixed mode)

[josed56603254]

Team to my surprise I was doing a final validation and found that although c:\windows\system32\java -version i ran on couple of servers showed 1.8.0.172 and above. CF Admin not pointing using new JDK.......

This was because of a JAVA install on those VM's. Kicking myself for not finding/digging into where CF looks for its Java path/files. 

Still using f:\coldfusion\jre folder that has java 1.8.0._25 indicated in CF Admin.  I had to pull plug on starting rollout because i need

to ensure our servers using latest version as well as steps I found to repoint to server Java install.

I want to ensure all is well with later Java before i perform Update 19 so that server is fully secure.etc.   I have double checked jvm.config file as well and matches CF Admin screen. 

Any words of wisdom/version of Java recommened?  I am working on being consistent from our Dev/UAT/PRod/Hosted External web server. 

Thanks in advance

Jose

[BKBK]

Yes, the DOS command,

    c:\windows\system32\java -version

shows you the Java version of the server, not of ColdFusion. ColdFusion comes with its own Java built in.

To see ColdFusion's Java version, use the DOS command,

    f:\coldfusion\jre\bin\java -version

The Java version of your ColdFusion, 1.8.0_25, is too old. 

The general rule in ColdFusion is to use the highest update of the Java version that is supported. The Java version that ColdFusion 11 supports is 8. The latest update of Java 8 is 261.

Hence the suggestion:

you should update the Java that ColdFusion 11 Update 19 uses to the current update of Java 1.8.0_261.

You could proceed as follows. Note that updating Java involves temporarily stopping your ColdFusion services. Also, remember to do backups before you install.

Steps to update Java for ColdFusion 11 Update 19:

1. Go to the ColdFusion downloads page and download the file jdk-8u261-windows-x64.exe (assuming you're on 64-bit Windows). 
2. Launch and install the file, accepting the defaults. The Java Development Kit (JDK) will then be installed on the path C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-1.8.0_261.
3. Update the Java for each and every ColdFusion instance as follows:
   (i) Open the jvm.config file of the instance and change the path, like this:        
          # java.home={CURRENT_PATH_TO_COLDFUSION_DIRECTORY}\\jre
           java.home=C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jdk-1.8.0_261\\jre 
   (ii) Save the jvm.config.
   (iii) Restart the instance.

Return to the forum with any questions that arise.

[josed56603254]

Thank you so much for your assistance. Much appreciated.

Jose

[josed56603254]

Sorry 1 last question.

Can you specify backups needed before install? Not sure on Java side

I made sure before Update 19 to backup \scripts folder, Wsconfig folder, web.config etc.

ty jose

[Dave Watts]

Hi, Jose!

The only thing you'll need to back up is the jvm.config file, and you really only have to do that if you manually change it instead of changing it via the CF Administrator. You're not overwriting the old JVM or any of the other files you mention, and in the worst-case scenario you'd just go into the folder where it's located, [cf install directory]\cfusion\bin on my personal machine here, find jvm.config.bak, copy it to jvm.config (which will overwrite your bad jvm.config if you're concerned about that), and restart CF.

Dave Watts, Eidolon LLC

[josed56603254]

Dave, I reached out to CF Support for what is the latest tested/supported Java for V11 and

they came back with 1.8.0_181. I am curious, recommendation to let Java JDK install to  default C:\program....

or have it installed to other folder f:\ColdFusion11...........

I do see under our current configuration. F: is used for application.

Although maybe using default to C:... because Java JDK installs to other c: folders?

fyi, Also found because of some recent work and finally remembered all our CF Keystore 

certs need to be reimported to new location.  

ty Jose

[josed56603254]

Team, any concerns on installing JDK/JRE to network path ?   I will ensure this folder has service account

which is account used for CF services. If concensus is to use default c:\ I will look to add service account to that install folder.

txs again Jose

[josed56603254]

Dave any last comments before I move forward with Update this afternoon?

Hoping to hear back if  on network install of JDK/JRE.

much appreciated.

jose

[Dave Watts]

I'd just let the Java installer put it wherever it would normally put it. There isn't a huge amount of value in overriding that choice. But you can if you want. I would NOT put it in the CF directory or any subdirectories of that though.

Dave Watts, Eidolon LLC

[josed56603254]

Understood. I will keep defaults, i believe Group Policy i check earlier today has that service account that starts up

CF services i was concerned about. I was little weary of installing on f:\.... folder. Second thoughts i was not going put under ColdFusion11 where other subs are etc.

I appreciate confirm Dave. This does put my mind at ease.

ty as always for your input.

jose