How to set up a Cold Fusion website?

[davidmichaelt]

Hello there,

I have finally managed to complete a website using the coldfusion developer eddition in dreamweaver, i also used mysql database to store information. I downloaded a free version of mysql. Now i have my website fully working and i am testing it in local host followed by my port number, i want to upload my website to the world wide web.

I am so so so confused on how to do this i cannot seem to find a good tutorial online at all. before with just a standard html static website i just uploaded the files to my host with file zilla. i take it that it is not going to be that easy with coldfusion because i need various other things.

Could somebody talk me through a step by step instructions on how to get my website on the web??

Do i need to buy coldfusion, i have seen how much it costs witch is over 1 grand. if so are they any free options or cheaper options?? 

Thanks david

P.s will i also need to buy mysql?

Im only running a small website with a small store and a member login..

[Adam Cameron.]

I think you need to back-up a bit, and familiarise yourself with the tools you're wanting to use before charging into things.  There is quite a leap between "creating HTML pages" and "creating a CF-driven site".

This section of the CF doc should explain to you how CF works:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/9.0/Developing/WSc3ff6d0ea77859461172e0811cbec09883-7fff.html

You don't need to buy ColdFusion, no, but you do need to have a ColdFusion server running so that it can process your CF templates.  There are plenty of hosting providers that offer CF.

I am not sure about the licensing of MySQL these days, but I'm sure it's explained throughly on the MySQL website.  However I think their basic, community-supported version is still free.

--

Adam

[davidmichaelt]

Hello Adam, thanks for the feedback.

so i think ive got it after reading through it hald a dozen times. i was just wondering if you or anybody else could clarify this up for me?

1. the browser requests a page from the webserver

2. if the page ends with a .cfm or .cfc ect. The webserver will request the file from the webapplication server

3. from there the info will get sent back to the webserver and then to the browsser?

for the application server should i use apache because it is free and can be used from mac pc and various other operating systems?

and also what do i upload my coldfusion website to? at the moment the coldfusion website is stored in the c drive/ coldfusion / wwwroot/ mywebsite/

and also how does my yearly webhosting i have brough come into this?

Thnaks David 

[Adam Cameron. · Accepted solution]

[...] i was just wondering if you or anybody else could clarify this up for me?

1. the browser requests a page from the webserver

2. if the page ends with a .cfm or .cfc ect. The webserver will request the file from the webapplication server

3. from there the info will get sent back to the webserver and then to the browsser?

Yup.  That's pretty much it.

So this should clarify why you need to have the CF server in your live environment, as well as in your dev environment, yeah?

for the application server should i use apache because it is free and can be used from mac pc and various other operating systems?

All things being equal: yes.  However you'll probably need to look at what your hosting provider of choice offers.  IIS is perhaps slightly easier to use, but there's not much in it.  And, of course, as you say Apache will run on anything.  IIS binds you to Windows.  I use Windows on my dev machine @ home, and I use both Apache and IIS, I guess (IIS for Bluedragon.NET, Apache for Open BlueDragon... and just the build-in JRun web server for my CF development).  Left to my own devices, I'd use Apache.

and also what do i upload my coldfusion website to? at the moment the coldfusion website is stored in the c drive/ coldfusion / wwwroot/ mywebsite/

The answer is "it depends".  Most people seem to just bung all their CF files in the web root, like they would HTML files.  Personally, I only like to have the files people actually need to browse to to be exposed in the web root, and I keep the bulk of my CF files outside the webroot.  But it depends on how you architect your app, and at least to start with, I think perhaps just putting them in your web root is fine.  You can kinda consider the CFM files to be analogous to HTML files... for the user to be able to browse to products.cfm, products.cfm needs to be web browseable, and accordingly in your web root, just as if it was products.html.

and also how does my yearly webhosting i have brough come into this?

Well they have to host CF for a start.  Do they?  CF hosting is a service these hosting companies might offer just like basic website hosting, or PHP hosting or whatever.  Except it's far less common to have a hosting company provide CF hosting though.  Best you find out if they do it before you get too much further down the road on this mission, I reckon.

--

Adam

[davidmichaelt]

Sorry to bother people again, but im still a little confused, im using windows 7

i enabled iis and when i went to local host in the brows

er it just said "oops that didnt go well" ???. i downloaded appache and it wouldnt let me start it??

its just soo fristrating how i spent ages trying to complete my site now that i have i cannot get it on the web...

Does anybody know of just a step by step dummys guide i could follow that shows you what to install Appache or iis, where to put your directory and soo on??

Thanks David

[ilssac]

Are you planning on HOSTING a public web server?  It sure sounds like you have a lot to learn if you plan on running and administrating a fully functional public web server.

A lot of your questions become very simple if you go with a ColdFusion hosting provider.  Then it is simply following your provider's of choice instructions on how to publish your content.  Usually just FTPing it to their server with third party and|or web based tools.

Plus some type of comunication with them for ColdFusion settings such as Data Source Names, which is often through E-Mails or other web based tools.

But if you want to start learning it yourself, the Ben Forta's "Web Application Construction Kit" books start at square one "What is a Web Server" and builds from there.

[davidmichaelt]

i dont think i intend on doing creating that, what would be pratical for me is just to get my coldfusion site uploaded to my domain. ive brought my domain and 1 year basic hosting, will i need to coldfusion hosting to make thinks simpler, and if so what would you recomend (host wise?)

Thnaks David

[ilssac]

davidmichaelt wrote:

I've brought my domain and 1 year basic hosting,

The first suggestion is to start with the company that you got 1 year basic hosting with.  Do they offer ColdFusion hosting as well.  You ARE NOT GOING TO GET ColdFusion on to a shared hosting provider's computer that does not want to support it.

You MAY be able to get ColdFusion if you buy an entire server, virtual or physical (not a shared server) that you control.  But then you are back to probably having to learn a great deal on how to properly configure and maintain a public web server, though a large hosting provider may be williing to contract those skills for a goodly amount of money.

If you have an basic hosting account with a company that does not support ColdFusion, you may be out of a year's worth of contract money if you MUST have ColdFusion.  You will have to make another contract with a company that does support it.  There are lots out there, searching the intranet with your favorite search engine should turn up plenty.  It is a frequent topic of discussion on this forum as well as the House of Fusion lists (www.houseoffusion.com).

I personally use CFDynamics for my professional site and GoDaddy for my personal vanity site.  GoDaddy is very inexpensive, but buyer beware, you get what you pay for, and will probably not get great ColdFusion based customer support from their help desk lackeys.  But there are dozens of other companies to consider.