hf901-00001 won't install at all on some instances.

[jfrobishow]

Hi,

We have multiple servers with CF 9.0.1 installed, all with the multiple servers configuration and all with multiple instances.

Yesterday I started patching to hf901-00001 (http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/890/cpsid_89094.html).  It worked properly on 30 some instances over 4 servers but for a few instances on one server it just won't install.

The server in question has 7 instances + 1 main cfusion instance.  The patching worked fine for 4 of them, but with the others it blew up the CF admin and I had to restore my CFIDE from a backup.

Right now I am trying to get cfusion up-to-date here's what I see.

Server Product: ColdFusion

Version: 9,0,1,274733

Edition: Enterprise

Serial Number ******

Operating System: Windows 2003  OS Version  5.2

Adobe Driver Version: 4.0 (Build 0005)

JVM Details Java Version: 1.6.0_17

Java Vendor: Sun Microsystems Inc.

When I try to update with the hf901-00001.jar file, everything seems to work as it should. I get the "For the hotfix to get applied, you must restart the ColdFusion Service." so I restart Macromedia JRun CFusion Server and it starts up fine.

However when I go back to the CFAdmin I still see

Version 9,0,1,274733.

I don't see Update Level /C:/JRun4/servers/CF_Academic2a/cfusion.ear/cfusion.war/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib/updates/hf901-00001.jar 

So I assume that patch isn't going through.  If I look in C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\lib\updates\ I can see the hf901-00001.jar files though.  At this point if I proceed with the rest of the patching (Copying CFIDE, WEB-INF, etc) the CFAdmin starts throwing error --- class def not found on some critical CF parts.

As anyone else had issue with this patch or have any suggestion as what to try next? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[carl type3]

Hi,

Difficult place to be - works on one instance and not another for the same update process.

Wonder if anything useful gets logged in \JRun4\logs\instance-out.log?

Would it be hard to make another instance and swap over to the new instance (given the new instance patches up ok) then stop or delete old instance?

HTH, Carl.

[jfrobishow]

Hi Carl,

Good idea to check the log, I didn't think of it as the service appears to be starting fine.

I checked and it might lead to something, I see "Ignoring invalid file in updates directory: hf901-00001.jar" nothing else related to the update though.  Recreating another instance and swapping would be an option if only the main cfusion wasn't affected.

EDIT: From what I have found this would mean that my server is not up-to-date as far as CF 9.0.1 goes but it is reporting the correct version number.  Furthermore this being the main instance, wouldn't all the other instances created after be affected as well?

EDIT 2: The correctly patched instance showed the jar for CF 9.0 hotfix 1 still there.  I tried copying it to the updates directory of cfusion to no avail. when I did that it showed up in the CF admin but we can't get it to patch up to hf901-00001

Message was edited by: jfrobishow

[carl type3]

Hi,

Wish I had a solution. Wonder if patching the instances via CF Server Manager will work for you? Roughly what to do:
-install AIR on your desktop
-open CFadmin Server Monitoring > Server Monitor > Launch Server Manager
-using Server Manager add each instance
-right click instance select apply update

Server Manager does not do the manual steps of the Cumulative Hot Fix - so you will still need to perform those steps on the server.

HTH, Carl.

[jfrobishow]

Hey,

Sorry for the long delay in responding, got pulled to another task

Just tried using the Server Manager, neat tool! didn`t even know it existed until you mentioned it.

Didn't help though same result, the update isn't applied.

One thing we did notice is that the instances that aren't patching properly are fairly recent one and we also have a problem with the main instance.  IIRC correctly, the main instance is used as a "skeleton" when creating new ones, so it looks like something is wrong with the main, which was transferred to the newer instances.  Right now I don't see much other route than a full CF re-install, the logs aren`t helping much.

[Charlie Arehart]

Jfrobishow, here are a few thoughts on all this that perhaps may help:

1) when you say that you don't see the hotfix showing up in the admin "update level" display, but it is in the proper lib\updates for the instance, are you maybe being confused by the fact that the "update level" display only shows 1 file, even if there are many? Just want to check.

2) you may say, "no, it doesn't seem to be taking because when I apply the changes to the CFIDE folders, that's when it breaks, which tells me that the HF jar must not be loaded". Well, maybe. But you could also have a problem where for some reason, you have applied the CFIDE changes to a directory that is in fact NOT the one related to this instance.

For instance, if you're using an external web server, you could define a virtual directory there to point to a location of CFIDE that is NOT the one within the instance. That could explain why you've seen things "work in some instances and not in others". It's worth checking. To confirm what location a given instance really thinks is its CFIDE location, see the CF Admin mappings page.

And if your problem is that you want to check it for an instance where for now you can't get into the Admin, see the neo-runtime.xml file for an element named with the path to the CFIDE. Is that the path that you've been updating with the manual steps in the hotfix?

3) Since this is a multiserver deployment, which by default implements the built-in web server for CF, are you browsing the CF Admin using that port (such as 8301 or 8302, whatever is defined and shown for the instance in the Instance Manager of the cfusion instance)? Or are you using the external web server (IIS or Apache)? If trying one, what happens if you try the other?

4) As for the cfusion instance being used as a model for new instances, that's true, with respect to CF Admin settings. But I don't know if it's true with respect to propagating files in the lib\updates, or even changes to the CFIDE as might be done per the hotfix. I've just not considered it. Maybe someone else here has and can report/confirm.

/charlie arehart

charlie@carehart.org

Providing fast, remote, on-demand troubleshooting services for CF (and CFBuilder)

More at http://www.carehart.org/consulting

[jfrobishow]

Charlie,

Thanks for the reply, ok going to double check everything point by point.  Going to use my main cfusion instance for my testing.

Before patching:

• My CFIDE is mapped to C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE (from the mapping section)
• C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\lib\updates has only one file empty.txt
• ColdFusion version is                  9,0,1,27473 from the CF administrator information section.
• Version confirmed by dumping server.coldfusion.productversion (9,0,1,27473)

Patching process:

1. Using hf901-00001.jar from update (http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/890/cpsid_89094.html#main_ColdFusion_9_0_1)
   
2. Successful, I get "For the hotfix to get applied, you must restart the ColdFusion Service"
3. Restarting "Macromedia JRun CFusion Server"
4. C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\lib\updates\ now has 2 files, empty.txt and hf901-00001.jar
5. Checking log for the restart in C:\JRun4\logs\cfusion-out.log, everything start up as it should but there's an error.  No details though, see dump below.
   

Starting Macromedia JRun 4.0 (Build 108858), cfusion server
02/25 09:18:42 info JRun Naming Service listening on *:2904
02/25 09:18:43 info No JDBC data sources have been configured for this server (see jrun-resources.xml)
02/25 09:18:43 info JRun Web Server listening on *:8300
02/25 09:18:43 info JRun Proxy Server listening on *:51020
02/25 09:18:43 info Deploying enterprise application "cfusion-ear" from: file:/C:/JRun4/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/
02/25 09:18:43 info Deploying web application "Adobe ColdFusion 9" from: file:/C:/JRun4/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/
Ignoring invalid file in updates directory: hf901-00001.jar
02/25 09:18:45 INFO License Service: Flex 1.5 CF Edition enabled
02/25 09:18:45 INFO Starting Flex 1.5 CF Edition
02/25 09:18:45 user FusionReactor: FusionReactor Rev. 3.5.0, Build: FusionReactor.74.14844
02/25 09:18:45 user FusionReactor: Initializing configuration

At this point if I continue with the manual steps and copy the file in CFIDE and WEB-INF it break the instance and I can't access it without restoring from a backup.  (ClassDefNotFound errors).  So the jar isn't being applied for some reason, the log is quiet as to why it's rejecting the file or think it's invalid.  It's the same file used to patch the other instances.  I suspected a corrupted jar and redownloaded it, same result for those 4 instances only after I patched another production server, our development, acceptance and lab servers the same way.

One thing that I noticed, the one that did patch correctly have chf9000001.jar in their /lib/updates directory which is hotfix1 for CF 9.0.0.  I am under CF 9.0.1 so it shouldn't be required right? Not sure why it's missing from the cfusion instance.

I tried copying  chf9000001.jar and restarted and it shows up as my update level in CFAdmin.  I still get the invalid file error for hf901-00001.jar though.

I never installed Cumulative Hotfix 1 (CHF1) for ColdFusion 9.0.1 (http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/862/cpsid_86263.html) as Adobe only recommend it if you experience one or more of the issue listed.

Other points I checked following your post:

1) neo-runtime.xml does have <var name='/CFIDE'><string>C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE</string></var> so as far as I can tell I am using the correct /CFIDE

2) You say "Or are you using the external web server (IIS or Apache)? If trying one, what happens if you try the other?"

I am using IIS default website to access it (it's currently bound to port 8080).  How do I try the other? In JRun Launcher I see my Web port as 8300 for cfusion but if I go to http://localhost:8300/ I get a blank site (it just shows Index of /)

The only thing I have to go on is that the jar isn't loaded as per the log, but there is no error or anything so I am kind of at a lost as to what I can try next.

[Charlie Arehart]

As for the error, Ignoring invalid file in updates directory: hf901-00001.jar, that sure would seem to suggest that the JAR is corrupted. I hear you saying "it's the same file I used in other deployments". Just for good measure, here's one trick: a jar is just a zip file. What happens if you try to open it either with a zip tool (like winzip or IZArc or windows' compressed folders feature)? If it fails to open, that would be confirmation. If it opens ok, you may want to compare what you see on this instance to the others. I realize it may seem pointless, but it's just a sanity check.

As for how with that problem, you then find that things fail for the Admin when "I continue with the manual steps and copy the file in CFIDE and WEB-INF it break the instance", well, let's make sure you're being absolutely clear. You have confirmed that your CFIDE mapping is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CFIDE, so you are making the changes there, and not in C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\wwwroot\CFIDE, right?

That said, since you say that trying to visit the built-in web server (which would use that cfusion\wwwroot) provides a blank page (the index), it seems to confirm it's not there. (Whether CF puts a CFIDE there is all controlled during installation of CF initially, whether you told it you would be using the external web server or not. Sounds like you said you would. Some choose to tell it to use the built-in web server at first, and then later they run the web server config tool to connect IIS to the instances. That's where things can get potentially confusing, as sometimes people then ant the Admin to respond on IIS, so they manually copy the CFIDE to the iis docroot, and that's when they now have the easy chance of problems keeping all in sync when doing such updates.) As a sanity check, you could just check to confirm that there are no directories in the cfusion/wwwroot except for WEB-INF. Sounds like that's the case.

As for whether there's a connection with this problem and your having applied CHF 1 for 9.01, I don't know. I have only applied it to a server that had the CHF. Maybe someone else can chime in and say if they did it on a naked 9.0.1 deployment.

This is indeed odd. I'm afraid I have to leave for the day now and will be out Mon-Tues, so can't even propose to run a test for you on a naked 9.0.1 deployment. Maybe someone else can, or will have other ideas.

/charlie arehart

charlie@carehart.org

Providing fast, remote, on-demand troubleshooting services for CF (and CFBuilder)

More at http://www.carehart.org/consulting

[jfrobishow]

I initially thought about corruption as well which is why I redownloaded the file it didn't help.

As Dave Watts suggested I tried running jar tf jar-file which produced no error, it only listed the content of the archive.  You're never too sure though, you're right so I tried just now to extract it using WinRAR and go not error and it extracted fine so the file appears to be fine integrity wise.

Correct, I am working of c:\inetpub\wwwroot\cfide\ where my mapping is.  I don't have a wwwroot under C:\JRun4\servers\cfusion\cfusion-ear\cfusion-war\WEB-INF\cfusion\.  I did choose external webserver when installing and chose my own root IIRC.  Thanks for that info, I didn't know (at least I am learning something out of this, other than patching a production server can give you gray hair, ).

I just remembered that I do have a naked CF 9.01 install on my local dev machine.  I never patched to 9.0 CHF 1 before upgrading to 9.0.1.  I tried patching it just now and it worked fine there .

Could it be that even though the server is reporting its under 9.0.1.274733 that it's actually not and it's rejecting the file since it's for the wrong version?

[Dave Watts]

Have you checked the permissions of the file in that folder? It's kind of a long shot.

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

[carl type3]

Hi,

Sorry I do not have much more value to add for the patching problem.

CF Server Manager is bit of a surprise almost like an “Easter Egg”. Is good or handy in some ways and falls short in others.

Regards, Carl.

[Adam Cameron.]

Sorry I do not have much more value to add for the patching problem.

CF Server Manager is bit of a surprise almost like an “Easter Egg”. Is good or handy in some ways and falls short in others.

Sounds more like a curate's egg than an easter egg...

--

Adam

[Dave Watts]

You might want to check the integrity of that copy of the JAR file. You can do that at the command line:

jar tf jar-file

Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software

http://www.figleaf.com/

http://training.figleaf.com/

[jfrobishow]

Hi Dave,

I ran the command and the jar file looked fine, I just got an output of the .class files it contained no error.

It's the same file I used to patch the other instances so it should be fine.  I copied it to the c:\ drive and deployed it from there on all the instances.

[katielingling]

Hi,

I wonder if you have resolved your problem. I am applying hf901-0001 to the 9,0,1,274733  CF on my local  machine and can't get it to work. The symptoms are very much similiar to yours, except mine is on a Mac. I am also getting invalid file error message.

Hope to hear from you.

Thanks

[jfrobishow]

Hi Katie,

Sorry I didn't notice the reply to this thread when you posted it.  No I was never able to resolve the issue, I am not patching to HotFix 2 and am debating wether or not to take the opportunity to completely scrap CF and re-install 9 from scratch.

[katielingling]

Hi,

I have re-installed my CF9 and patched it to hotfix 2. Things seem to be OK now. Thanks for your reply though.

Katie.