Fully installed but now stuck.

[TheSilverSmith]

Hi,

I have just installed the Developer version of ColdFusion 9.0.1 on one web site on IIS7/Vista Ultimate. Initially I had a 404 error but I followed the instructions on http://www.codecurry.com/2009/09/installing-coldfusion-on-iis-7.html, now when I try to access the site on http://127.0.0.12/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm I get a 500 - Internal Server Error. I have also added the Script Handler Mappings for .cfc and .cfm as recommended on http://forums.iis.net/t/1005992.aspx.

The core of the problem appears to be that on running wsconfig to try to add a ColdFusion Web Server. However, when I run wsconfig I get the response: "Could not connect to and JRun/ColdFusion servers on host 127.0.0.12." when I choose 127.0.0.12 as the JRun Host.

I have looked in the services and I have four ColdFusion services running: ColdFusion 9 .NET Service, ColdFusion 9 Application Server, ColdFusion 9 Search Server and ColdFusion 9 Solr Service. I am assuming that one of these is the ColdFusion 9 server that the "Could not connect" alert message says must be running (in any case there are no services labelled as ColdFusion that are stopped).

I have tried running both with my firewall stopped and with it running but observing the active ports (and none is blocked). In both cases the problem persists.

Now I have run out of ideas except to say that I can connect to http://127.0.0.12/CFIDE/administrator/test.htm perfectly successfully so this is not a folder permissions issue.

This should have no relevance to ColdFusion but I have IIS successfully running with .NET and PHP already. The only impact I can see is that on installing 9.0.1, there was a recommendation to turn off certain windows features in order to take full advantage of the changes but when I looked at changing those settings, as warning message came up that ASP.NET needed them so I left them in place. As it was only a recommendation, I assume that it should still allow ColdFusion to work (if not as efficiently as possible).

Can anyone either guide me or point me towards relevant online  information to help me towards a functioning ColdFusion installation  because right now it's just dead weight slowing my computer down and I'm  keen to get this going?

Many thanks.

[Dave Watts]

Well, first, you probably shouldn't be using 127.0.0.12, which almost certainly doesn't resolve to any host at all. Instead, you should be using 127.0.0.1, which is the default loopback address for your own machine. Or, you can use the name "localhost", which is typically already mapped to that IP address in your hosts file. If you've actually used 127.0.0.12 (rather than making a typo here) that is the most likely cause of your problem.

Second, those instructions from Codecurry are no longer entirely relevant. ColdFusion 9.0.1 does not require that you install IIS 6 Compatibility, although I believe it does still require you to install ISAPI.

Third, you can save yourself a lot of headache by not even hooking CF up to IIS on your development workstation, unless you need to use a specific IIS feature during your CF development. CF includes its own web server, and no connector is required for that. You can configure that post-install using the instructions here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/adv_development/config_builtin_webserver/

During the install, I generally recommend that people choose the built-in web server, then configure IIS or Apache after the install, but it's easy enough to go back and turn this on anyway. By default, CF's web server will listen on port 8500 or 8300 depending on whether you chose standalone or full JRun version.

Finally, the CF services don't really slow your computer down unless you're actually using them. If they're just waiting in the background for requests, they have very little effect. I used to turn my CF services on and off depending on whether I needed them, but frankly it's not worth the effort.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

[TheSilverSmith]

Thanks for your response. I'll look at the CF web server as an option.

I do mean 127.0.0.12 because it is the twelfth site I have configured in my hosts file and running locally. During the installation I was asked whether I wanted it installed to all or for a specific site so I chose the specific site and supplied the IP address as requested... I have notice in looking at various config files that "localhost" is still defined. Are you saying that, though it is offering me the option to diverge from the norm, it isn't wise to go there  (like so many other installations)?

As to the speed of my computer - jrun.exe is taking roughly 150Mb of memory (the largest memory allocation of any single process) that is the most likely cause of the impact. However, physical memory usage is still only at 71% so it shouldn't be struggling too much.

Thanks again, I'll go away and study some more.

[Dave Watts]

That's not how IP addresses work, though. There is no such address as 127.0.0.12. If you open a command prompt and attempt to ping it, you will get no response unless you have explicitly bound that address to your NIC - and as that range is not supposed to be accessible, I don't know if that would even work.

You can have multiple names bound to the same IP address in your hosts file, but you can't just make up IP addresses.

Memory allocation doesn't really make your computer any slower unless you run out of memory.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

[TheSilverSmith]

For information on the loopback range of IP addresses, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loopback.

[Dave Watts]

I didn't know that! I'd never heard of anyone using any other addresses within that range for loopback addresses, and I just assumed it wouldn't work. But I just tried pinging another address within the range, and it worked fine! I'm wrong about a lot of things all the time, but I'm usually not that wrong, so thanks!

That said, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if other software didn't work properly with other loopback addresses, and I don't really see any need to use additional loopback addresses with CF - you can simply bind your web server to the standard loopback address, and apply multiple hostnames to it in your hosts file.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

[JR__Bob__Dobbs]

Things to try/check to narrow down your problem's scope.

Option 1: See if you are able to run CF using the built-in web server.

If CF's built-in web server works, but CF does not work with IIS this may indicate an issue with IIS+CF.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/9.0/Admin/WSc3ff6d0ea77859461172e0811cbf364104-7fd8.html

Option 2: Check the logs

Look in the Windows logs and in the CF logs for any information that might be related to your issue.  You *should* be able to find the CF log files at: C:\ColdFusion9\logs\  and C:\ColdFusion9\runtime\logs\.  These paths may not match your installation.  If they do not then look for *.log files in your ColdFusion directory.

Option 3: IIS Configuration

The CodeCurry article you reference may not apply to CF 9.0.1.  In version 9.0.1 the IIS configuration for CF removed the need for the IIS 6 compatibility option in IIS.

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/847/cpsid_84725.html

You might try using the command line to remove your CF to IIS mappings, then restore them. 
I also suggest that you enable logging with the -l switch and check the log file.  The log file *should* be found at C:\ColdFusion9\runtime\lib\wsconfig\wcsconfig.log.

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/9.0/Admin/WSc3ff6d0ea77859461172e0811cbf364104-7fd9.html

Does the IIS and/or WWW Publishing service run under a Windows account other than the default on your machine?  Do you have any non-standard file/folder permissions configured on your machine?

[TheSilverSmith]

Hi Bob,

As you have both pointed me in the direction of the built-in web server, that has to be the way to go!

I get annoyed at software that is "for Windows" but doesn't behave like windows software (like the terrible Photoshop interface) so I installed to C:\Progra~1\ColdFusion9  (...but that shouldn't have caused a problem) so that's where the logs live.

IIS and the folder permissions are all standard for running as the true Administrator in Vista.

Thanks for your pointers, I'll clearly need to go back to study more. I  had looked at the logs but found nothing that was clearly failing.

Anthony

[Dave Watts]

In general, you don't install services to Program Files on Windows, but I suspect CF will work just fine in there. As far as behaving like Windows software, CF doesn't have a UI, and it conforms to the standard services interface.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/