Multiple users for local CF server

[Guest]

Hi, I have created several administration pages for our company website to be used for simple CRUD processes. Our company, which is strictly an online wholesaler, has an office network, but no in house server so to speak. We do have a computer that is used for data back up and I guess acts as a central hub for the network. My questions is this. Eventually at least one, maybe two other people will need to perform theses CRUD duties using cfm templates locally. I downloaded CF 9 on the "hub" pc thinking that other pc's in the office could connect to it and use cfm pages to work from. I know with CF9, it says that two other IP addresses can work from the same CF server, but am unsure how to set all this up. Or maybe this is not the best approach to this issue. I just know I wouldn't want to be doing updates and deletes right on the live remote server we will eventually be utilizing. Please, can someone advise me on the best solution to this question. Thanks for any help in advance!

[tclaremont]

You don't configure the two IP addresses. It simply claims the first two IP addresses that hit the server, and that is what you get. If you want to

use a different IP address, reboot the server (or restart the CF server service), and the first two IP addresses will be allowed.

It is not meant for production. It is meant for testing, in which case hitting the server from multiple IP addresses is seldom an issue.

[Guest]

Thanks for the infotclaremont. I understand what you are saying. This is a testing environment, but data entry should be left to local files and backups, other wise you runt he risk of bad data going live, correct? Having said that, again, I just need a way for one or two more people to be able to perform database entries using cf templates locally, then those will be backed up to our remote server running CF enterprise. Can you offer some suggestions to point me in the right direction?

[ilssac]

Make ABSOLUTELY sure that those "one or two" people are the first people to connect to the server after a ColdFusion startup.

But, I'm suspect you are really not going to like this limitation for the long run..

[ilssac]

You have never said what version of CF you are using?

With CF9, Adobe changed the licensing agreement.  Your production license is now valid to also use on a QA, Testing and Development server.  This form of server is not IP restricted as the development server license is.

[Guest]

I downloaded CF9 development edition. Let me make something clear though. We DONT have a server. We have a network of computers. I was under the impression when I downloaded CF9 to this pc, that it was running as a server. So now all we have is my pc and a pc in a room that noone occupies that has CF9 server installed. How do I get a person who is working on PC "B",  PC "C", or PC "D" to be able to work on pages in the local:8500 server that is running on PC "A". Or another option would be just let people perform data entry directly to the remote server using the cf templates I created.

ilssac wrote:

You have never said what version of CF you are using?

With CF9, Adobe changed the licensing agreement.  Your production license is now valid to also use on a QA, Testing and Development server.  This form of server is not IP restricted as the development server license is.

So what exactly do you mean. ANY computer can access the CF9 server? No restriction to the first two pc's accessing the server that day?

[ilssac]

A user on PC "B", PC "C" or PC "D" would type in to their URL bar in a browser something like "PC A:8500"  OR possibly "{ip address of pc A}:8500".  This does presume that PC A has been configured to accept requests like this and understand what to do with them.

Only the first two will be sucessfull.  Once those two have accessed the CF resources, their IP addresses will be stored and be the only ones allowed to connect until another start of the ColdFusion service|deamon.  All the others will receive an error message indicating that the licenesing limit has been reached.  Until the service|deamon is again restarted, then the next two users will be able to connect and so on and so on

[ilssac]

teedoffnewbie wrote:

I downloaded CF9 development edition. Let me make something clear though. We DONT have a server.

I just have to ask.  What did you intend to do with an application designed to work on a server?

You seem to be asking how to get around the licensing agreements and break the rules.  You are probably not going to get a lot of support for that on the forum provided by the company that owns those licensing agreements.

[Guest]

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ilssac wrote:

teedoffnewbie wrote:

I downloaded CF9 development edition. Let me make something clear though. We DONT have a server.

I just have to ask.  What did you intend to do with an application designed to work on a server?

You seem to be asking how to get around the licensing agreements and break the rules.  You are probably not going to get a lot of support for that on the forum provided by the company that owns those licensing agreements.

No NO, .let me be clear Exactly opposite. I am trying to find out what I can do with a developer edition server WITHOUT breaking any licensing rules. I am under the impression that as long as you are using CF server as a testing server locally, then any templates are published to a legitimate enterprise CF server...ie our hosting company we have signed a contract with, then no licensing infringements have occured. I would never, and for that matter the owner of my company has expressly voiced the fact that we stay within legal realms and no copyright infrigement occurs within the business. Again, my point is as a local small business that is trying to use a server side application (Cold Fusion) to perform database CRUD processes would naturally need to do these processes locally and not remotely, which is live web pages and databases. I hope this clears this matter up...lol And I hope noone thinks I am trying to get something for free illegally.

btw, when we do go live with our new templates site, we will be using www.crystaltech.com At the moment, this is where I am uploading the cf templates I have created thus far. I am using a friends site simply to show my boss the files as they would be live. When I applied for this job I had to create a working search feature ffor his current site, and so needed to publish these templates somewhere. (Just to again let you know I am doing nothing shady...lol)

[Charlie Arehart]

OK, I think this discussion is getting confused among matters related to the dev edition, the new CF9 license key, and hosting.

Let me see if I can help you, "teedoffnewbie". It might even be useful info for some other readers of this thread.

About the new CF9 licensing terms, those are for folks who buy a license of CF9 (which would usually to be deployed on a production server). For them, they can take the license key from that production server and use the same key on a local or test/dev server. It's this permission to use the one key on multiple machines (one dev/test for each prod key) that is new in CF9.

So here's a key question for you: you refer to a hosted server. Are you saying you bought a CF license that's deployed there? Or do you just mean the host bought a CF license and you're just one of many customers on that shared host? In that latter case, then as far as I understand things, you would NOT be able to use their key on a local/dev server. I mean, in such a shared hosting setup, one can't even see the license key, typically, as the host doesn't let such hosting customers have access to the CF admin.

But it does raise an interesting question, of whether this was at all something Adobe had considered. I am inclined to think that perhaps they did not. Hosting deployments often get kind of short shrift (some would say).

I think they would also assert, though, that what you are trying to do is to use CF on your "local" machine as effectively a production deployment. Would you say otherwise? It's not really clear what you're trying to do. I know you've tried to make it clear, but it may be useful to clarify. If you mean you want to have some "local" db/file to be updated by CFML code running on a "local" machine, but to be hit by multiple users, then that would seem a separate "production" use of CF. It's not really significant that it's local vs remote, or a "PC" versus a "server".

Finally, you downloaded the "development" edition of CF, and that's what people have been responding to from your initial note. The free development edition is specifically limited to no more than a few IP addresses for people to hit that CF instance, and that's why some noted that you could restart CF to refresh that list. That's how to technically get around that limit, which might be legit, for instance, if a development company might make the server be open to web access and they used it to first show customer X the work they were doing for them, and then they later needed to show customer Y their code on the same CF server. In that case, a restart of CF would permit that.

But as everyone has been getting at, this development edition not intended for production use.

Does that help?

/charlie

Providing CF troubleshooting services at carehart.org/consulting

charlie@carehart.org

[Guest]

Hi Charlie, thanks for your insight and help. Ok let me see if I can make all things perfectly clear. I know what I want to say and need, but translating to a post I guess has proven more difficult it seems.

First, I was hired to do website management and work on site projects for a very small web based company about 7 weeks ago. The owner has up until now created all the pages on his site on his own. It's a static html site with a page for every product he sells...light bulbs..of which I would guess he has 10's of thousands of. You may look at HIS live site here to get an idea of what I am facing..lol www.replacementlightbulbs.com .

I consulted with him in the beginning about what he wanted, which was a dynamic search feature to be utilized on his current site instead of the standard Google search feature he has presently. WIth our initial meeting, I asked if his products were already in a database, and he said no they were not. So, I suggested that, if hired, I would first work on creating a database using MySQL, then this would allow the use of ColdFusion to run queries and perform the search features he was hoping for.

His current, static site is host with AT&T here in the town we live in. I starting working for him, and first created a shell of a database and inserted x number of records for initial testing of the cf templates I had created. On my personal laptop, I have CF9 Developer Edition which I run strictly as a local testing server. Intitially, when starting work, I assumed the PC in the "server" room was actually an in house server, so never thought about discussing that issue further with him until the need arose. Originally he told me that eventually, instead of having me to perform data entry, he would have one of the girls working here to do that. I assume he didnt want to pay me whats he is to do something that someone else could do for a little less money, and of course someone else would "know" the products better as well.

I also at our first consultation, suggested since I will be using Coldfusion, that we would need to find a hosting company that supports CF. He had no problem with that because he was very unhappy with his current hosting provider anyway.

That pretty much brings us up to date. Now the need has arisen to somehow start utilizing the other girl for data entry. I have myself entered almost 1600 products in the database, but am pretty much at a stand still now when it comes to data entry. I have created several templates on my local laptop running CF9 to perform the routine CRUD processes. Obviously, the girl that will perform data entry from now on will not be using my laptop. SO, since I thought the pc in the "server" room was actually a server..lol I just assumed I would download a developer edition of CF9 to THAT server, and the data entry girl could perform the CRUD processes in the comfort of her server connected pc in her office. The server was not in fact a server, but just a pc that is used, as far as I can tell, for data backup. The owner has a networking guy that comes in as needed, so I'm not sure how, but I would think if he set it up correctly, then a pc could connect by way of remote desktop to the pc/server running CF9 Dev.

Again, this instance of CF9 on the "server" machine(for lack of a better word) is NOT a production server. Daily backups would I guess be performed to our remote server (www.crystalteck.com) once we have purchased the hosting server package which YES has CF9 running legally on their servers. They are located in Arizona and we are in North Carolina. Just to clear that up lol.

I know this is long and drawn out, but surely there is a simple solution to my problem. I also wanted to clear up any questions of copyright infringement. Again, maybe it would just be better to perform inserts and updates TO a live production CF9 server. I know someone mentioned that the database didn't have to be live, but not quite sure what that means or what steps that would entail. Whew. I hope this is cleared up, I would hate to have to type all this again...lol Thanks for all the help!

ps, you can view the templates I have created for the upcoming new site here: www.michael-sexton.com/rlb/index.cfm . Styled rather simple at the moment, but functionality was the most important thing at first. lol

[Guest]

I guess I confused everyone. lol Still need to get all this cleared up and figure out the best way to solve my issue. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Adam Cameron.]

I can't be arsed wading through all the rest of the verbosity (bloody hell Charlie, there's never a short answer with you, is there?!?! 😉 on this thread, but here's a thought.

Don't have the expectation to install CF centrally and have other people use it without having some sort of licence.  This will not work.  If you want to have one CF server and more than one person using it, you need a licence.  The end.

However say you have three people needing to run these scripts you've got.  There's no reason you can't install the dev version of CF on their machine, and point their webroots (and DSNs) to some centralised location, so at least the CF files are "centralised".  This would work.  However whilst this would not be breaking the wording of the CF licence, I do think it's breaking the spirit of it.  A dev licence is for development.  You would actually be using your code in a production environment, if "users" are getting benefit from it.  Up to you as to how you want to consider that, though.

Why don't you just buy a licence?  CF standard is not exactly expensive.  You're certainly expecting to get the benefits of using CF, but you don't seem prepared to pay for it, which I think is a bit on the nose.

Failing that, go grab Railo or OpenBluedragon.  I believe OBD is completely free, and Railo certainly has some free options.

--

Adam

[ilssac]

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion around this question.  I beleive Adam has given the basic answer to license or not-to license.

I'm going to address the idea of PC vs Server and local vs remote.

You say there is a PC that you thought was a server but is actually a database backup system.  The way I am understanding the process you have described.  You want your application to update the data that lives on this system, which will then be replicated out to a production database.

If that is what you want, that can be done.  You can EITHER turn that PC into a "Server", that should only involve turning on and|or installing some basic server software, depending on exactly what OS is running on that PC.  I would not necessarily say this is the best idea, but is should not be a difficult idea.

While most of us prefer to keep our database systems and web server systems seperate, they don't have to be.  IF you do this, you will want a ColdFusion server as part of the server software suite.  This should be a licensed version of CF for the way you seem to be describing how you intend use this.  But technically a developer version might just accomplish what you seem to be trying to accomplish.  Just don't complain to us who have told you why this is not really the way it is supposed to be used, if Adobe tells you to stop using it that way!  OR--  as Adam suggested -- use an alternate CFML server such as Railio or Blue Dragon.

Going back to the point that most of us prefer to keep our webserver and database server's seperate.  It is quite possible to get a contract with a hosting provider such as Crystal Tech.  If they are a good provider who knows their ColdFusion, it is not that difficult to have them configure a Datasource Name that point to your database PC in that back room.  Just as long as a remote connection can be made to it.  This may be a bit advanced for the technical skills availble it sounds like, but it is a possible.

[Guest]

Ok thanks for all the info. Once again I AM NOT trying to get around any licensing or copyright infringements whatsoever. I have not nor will I complain about any suggestionsor advice made here by anyone including Adobe. I again simply wanted to know my options and best ways to be able to perform the tasks needed in this instance. I guess maybe I was misinterpreting the terms "developer" and "production" servers when thinking of Coldfusion. I thought as long as you didn't run your OWN in house server, then developer edition was fine to run locally, hence the 2 IP allowances for CF9. And since the site WILL be in a production environment on a remote hosting site and WILL be utilizing a licensed copy of CF9, then all was legal and on the up and up. The ONLY reason for my question once again was for data entry to a database using the CF templates here in the office instead of doing data entry on a live site. I know nothing about server architecture, and am only trying to do my best in keeping my employer happy and satisfied with what work I have done and will do and that means also ensuring not creating issues and higher costs than absolutely neccessary.

So, with that said, I have a few options. Thanks again for all the help.

[Guest]

Why don't you just buy a licence?  CF standard is not exactly expensive.  You're certainly expecting to get the benefits of using CF, but you don't seem prepared to pay for it, which I think is a bit on the nose.

--

Adam

one more thought, just because...lol I DO expect to pay for it. Thats why our shared hosting plan will be charging us $30 a month instead of $10. They footed the bill for CF9 and passed the cost on to 500,000 customers to compensate.

[Adam Cameron.]

one more thought, just because...lol I DO expect to pay for it. Thats why our shared hosting plan will be charging us $30 a month instead of $10. They footed the bill for CF9 and passed the cost on to 500,000 customers to compensate.

Sure.  But that only permits the hosting provider to use CF on their servers.  It has no bearing whatsoever on what you do regarding CF on any other server / computer.  The CF licence on the hosted servers licenses the hosting company, not you.  What you are paying the hosting company is for the right to use their equipment, bandwidth, and any other services they offer (like CF hosting), but it does not imply you yourself have any CF licence.

Make sense?

Conversely, if you went to a hosting service that provided "blank" boxes, and you bought and installed your own CF9 licence on that box, then you'd be licenced for production usage on that box.  As far as I understand it, as of CF9, having that licence would also allow you to do shared development on a separate box, with no IP restrictions, as well as having CF installed and ready to go on a cold-standby production box (ie: installed and ready to do, but not actually serving any traffic).  I think that's how the new CF9 licensing model works.  But don't quote me on it.

Even in that situation, I'd still be going over the EULA to see if it defines what constitutes "development".

--

Adam

[Guest]

Yes Adam it does make sense. Thanks. I didn't think because I was paying for a premium for hosting that it entitled me a license to CF9. Again, I guess i didn't understand the term and all the context of "development server". I simply thought that if you didnt use that dev edition to "produce" a live site in house, you were free to develop and use templates and the Cf server as you needed within the contraints of a local, non-published site until such site was placed on a CF server that was a production server.

Is there a link to the EULA page that you can point me too. I do want to read up on it and try to understand completely the limits of CF dev edition. Thanks again!

Tony

nevermind I found the EULA..lol thanks

[Charlie Arehart]

Adam, I was just answering his question. It wasn't a simple question, and simple answers didn't seem to be doing it for him, as had been demonstrated in many more words before I wrote my one reply.

And to be honest, you've said as much in two subsequent replies as I did in my single 6-paragraph answer. And one of your notes repeated a point I'd already made.

I'm only ever just trying to help.

[Guest]

I appreciate everyone's help. I didn't mean to cause an uproar. lol I suppose my LONG answer was to blame as well, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't violating the rules or copyright laws. Anyway thanks Charlie and Adam and anyone else who posted some helpful info on this matter. Now, Adam mentioned a hosting company that "knew" their Coldfusion. Just for future reference, do any of you guys have a hosting company to recommend? I mean CF supported hosting sites aren't exactly jumping out of the internet when googled. I like Crystal tech, but I always like to have options, especially when someone else is paying for it.

and btw...I mean hosting companies that are reasonable for a very small company. Crystal tech is $29 a month. Not cheap by any stretch of imagination as compared to 80% of the hosting sites. I have seen many sites that offer plans for much much more. Rackspace is one, but I think it was quite a bit higher. Thanks again!

Tony

[Charlie Arehart]

Well, that really ought to be a new forum thread (CF hosting alternatives).

But I will point out that I have a page of them (and pointers to other such pages of them) as a category in my CF411 site:

ColdFusion Hosting Alternatives

http://www.cf411.com/#cfhost

I can also personally recommend both EdgeWeb Hosting (https://www.edgewebhosting.net/) and FusionLink (http://www.fusionlink.com/) as two hosts who definitely know their CF Stuff and with whom I (or people I work with) have sites.

/charlie

[Adam Cameron.]

Hey, Charlie, the smiley @ the end of my statement was there on purpose. You are a godsend on these forums. I was just making an oblique observation about the volume of words on this thread cf how much progress we're making.

--

Adam

[Charlie Arehart]

Thanks so much for that. I didn't want to think you were slamming me, Adam, but it is a point of contention for some (anytime a message is more than a couple of sentences).

Some problems simply call for longer explanations. I'm going to address my own desire to offer that in the form of a new podcast/call-in webradio show for CF troubleshooting that I plan to start. It will be at www.cf911.com, though for now it just redirects to a temporary landing page on my carehart.org site.

/charlie

[ilssac]

Or I am confused by this line from a previous post.

teedoffnewbie wrote:

then those will be backed up to our remote server running CF enterprise

So does this mean that you don't have a remote server running CF enterprise?  Or that you don't OWN the remote server and it belongs to some hosting provider you have contracted with.

The earlier point was that if it is YOUR remote server running CF enterprise AND that CF enterprise is ColdFusion 9, THEN the licensing agreement would allow you to use the same license key on your TESTING server and that this server would NOT suffer the two user limit.

[Guest]

ilssac wrote:

Or I am confused by this line from a previous post.

teedoffnewbie wrote:

then those will be backed up to our remote server running CF enterprise

So does this mean that you don't have a remote server running CF enterprise?  Or that you don't OWN the remote server and it belongs to some hosting provider you have contracted with.

The earlier point was that if it is YOUR remote server running CF enterprise AND that CF enterprise is ColdFusion 9, THEN the licensing agreement would allow you to use the same license key on your TESTING server and that this server would NOT suffer the two user limit.

I mean that any time now, I can and will be paying for a hosting company...www.crystaltech.com to host our new site on. They are running CF9. I think I am beginning to think it would be less trouble to perfomr db updates and inserts via the remote server. lol I just always thought that was a very poor way of doing it. It's like editing pages directly on the remote server.