ColdFusion 2018 cannot remove or add web servers using the web server configuration tool

[DanielTheProgrammer]

Good morning,

      I am having an issue when attempting to add a new or remove an existing web server via the ./wsconfig -i gui command on my CentOS 7 box.  I am getting a message when attempting to add or remove: "This web server is already configured by some other version of ColdFusion.".  This is a new install of ColdFusion 2018 and the server has never had another instance of ColdFusion installed.  However, I have had to un-installal/re-install ColdFusion on a couple of occasions.  I would really appreciate any insight on how I can fix this issue as I am currently testing some test web applications before moving production applications over to this new server.

Daniel

[Charlie Arehart]

Daniel, first, in your previous attempts to install/uninstall CF on this box (which I assume you mean was CF2018), did you ever run the wsconfig tool then, to add connectors to Apache? If so, you should have run the tool to remove those connectors. If you did not, they will remain in the Apache configuration (and perhaps in related CF files that the wsconfig creates and may store there in Apache), and that would lead to this error.

Or even if you may say, "no, I didn't run the wsconfig tool" with those previous implementations of CF on this box, there's still the question of whether you (or anyone) may have copied into this box the Apache conf (and perhaps related CF connector files in the Apache conf folders) that would ALSO cause the cf wsconfig tool to complain that it finds those already there. 

I appreciate it's frustrating, and you may feel "no, neither I nor anyone did any of that". but that's what this message is about, so even if we can't nail down the "how" (how it happened), you can at least use this as a clue to find what may be amiss. What you want to do is assess the apache conf files to see if they have ANY remnants of references to CF.

Some good news is that Adobe has a technote that outlines what the wsconfig tool SHOULD be doing, and that may help you find and resolve things, assessing if any of that is "already there". I'll just say I won't be surprised if you check it all out and say "nothing about CF is there". I have seen different environments vary from those standard indications, wheteher because of different versions of CF, Apache, and even perhaps Linux distros.  But still, it's something to start with.

In the worst case, you could re-install Apache in a new folder, and see if the wsconfig tool works then. You should be prepared to get that new Apache install configured for your sites "from scratch", without bringing in previous config files, otherwise that may just re-introduce the problem. Or at least try it with the default site in Apache, and if that works, then bring in other apache config settings after that.

Let us know if this gets you going.

[DanielTheProgrammer]

Hi Charlie,

     Thanks for the information you provided.  Based off of the tech note you provided, I did spot a few things that were not off:

On step 4 from the tech note, There is no workers.properties file under the /opt/coldfusion2018/config/wsconfig/1 directory.

On step 5, in the Apache config directory, there is no mod_jk.conf file under /etc/httpd/conf.  There is a mod_jk_vhosts.conf file under the /opt/coldfusion2018/config/wsconfig/1 directory that look similiar to the contents in step 5, however it is missing the first three lines of code from the tech note: 

LoadModule jk_module "{CF-HOME}\config\wsconfig\{magic_no}\mod_jk.so"
# Where to find workers.properties
JkWorkersFile "{CF-HOME}\config\wsconfig\{magic_no}\workers.properties"

One last thing, for step 6 that looks like a windows command not a linux one.  Does this not apply to a linux installation?

Thanks,

Daniel

[DanielTheProgrammer]

Correction from above entry, "I did spot a few things that were off"

[Charlie Arehart]

So, yes, those things are "off". It's not clear: are you going to correct things or are you still feeling stuck?

As for your last question, it's not a windows "command" but yes a windows path. Just change it to the corresponding Linux equivalent and location.

If you feel you can't get things going and want/need to, I can help resolve things via consulting. I can't tell from what you've shared how to correct things from afar, but I'm sure we could get things working in a shared desktop session, if interested. 

[DanielTheProgrammer]

Thank you Charlie, I feel at this point, I will need your professional assitance to get things resolved.  Let me talk to my supervisors about a consult session.  We will be reaching out via your home page.  We will be in touch.

Thanks,

Daniel

[BKBK]

In the meantime, it might help to compare notes with this Stackoverflow post, "coldfusion-2018-on-centos-7-failing-to-setup-apache-connector".

[DanielTheProgrammer]

Thank you BKBK,

Daniel

[DanielTheProgrammer · Accepted solution]

Good afternoon everyone,

      I quick update to this ticket, I was able to resolve the issue.  Due to my lack of understanding, when running the web configuration tool, I was pointing it to the wrong directory, not the Apache config directory: /etc/httpd/conf.  The company that we purchased our ColdFusion 2018 licence from had given us 4 hours of support hours, so I reached out to them first.  I explained to their engineer team what the issue was, the steps I had taken to attempt to remedy, and also referenced this thread to give them as much information as possible to recieve the best feedback.  They were able to provide additional information, and fill in the missing piece of the puzzle to help me completely understand the issue and how to correct it.  The next steps I took were:  Un-install ColdFusion, remove an references or files related to CF in the Apache config diretory, and clean-up an remanants of ColdFusion.  After, I re-installed CF, downloaded the latest update JAR file, updated CF to update 10, Set my Context path and Pre-Resources in the server.xml file, and ran the wsconfig tool via command line: ./wsconfig -ws Apache -dir /etc/httpd/conf -v, my issue was resolved.  I Navigated to my test site and verified that CF tags were now being recognized externally.

      I wan to thank the community, BKBK, Charlie, and Coalesce Solutions for offereing assistance that eventually got me to see the big picture with the setup of ColdFusion and get past this issue.  You guy's are amazing!

Happy Friday,

Daniel