Adobe Configuring Cold Fusion 8.0 And Administering Coldfusion 8

User Manual: adobe ColdFusion - 8.0 - Configuring and Administering Free User Guide for Adobe ColdFusion Software, Manual

Open the PDF directly: View PDF .
Page Count: 228

Download
Open PDF In Browser	View PDF

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8
CONFIGURING AND ADMINISTERING COLDFUSION
®

™

© 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
Adobe® ColdFusion® Configuring and Administering ColdFusion
If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is
furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such
license, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Please note that the content
in this guide is protected under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement.
The content of this guide is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a
commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or
inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.
Any references to company names in sample templates are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual
organization.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, ColdFusion, Dreamweaver, Flash, FlashPaper, Flex, HomeSite, LiveCycle, and Macromedia are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Java, Solaris, and
Sun are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Linux is the registered
trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Solaris is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in
the United States and other countries. UNIX is a trademark of The Open Group in the US and other countries. Microsoft is either a
registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/)
This product contains either BISAFE and/or TIPEM software by RSA Data Security, Inc.
Portions include technology used under license from Autonomy, and are copyrighted.
Verity and TOPIC are registered trademarks of Autonomy.
Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA.
Notice to U.S. Government End Users. The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R.
§2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are
used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1
through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are
being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end
users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. For U.S.
Government End Users, Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if appropriate, the provisions of
Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (38 USC 4212),
and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and
60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference.
Part Number: 90084501 (06/07)

iii

Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Administering ColdFusion 3
Chapter 2: Administering ColdFusion
About the ColdFusion Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter 3: Using the ColdFusion Administrator
Initial administration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Accessing user assistance

................................................................. 9

Server Settings section

.................................................................... 9

Data & Services section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Debugging & Logging section
Server Monitoring section
Extensions section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Event Gateways section
Security section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Packaging and Deployment section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Enterprise Manager section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Custom Extensions section

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Administrator API

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Chapter 4: Data Source Management
About JDBC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adding data sources

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Connecting to Apache Derby Client

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Connecting to Apache Derby Embedded
Connecting to DB2 Universal Database
Connecting to Informix

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Connecting to Microsoft Access

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Connecting to Microsoft Access with Unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server
Connecting to MySQL

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

iv CONTENTS

Connecting to ODBC Socket
Connecting to Oracle

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Connecting to other data sources
Connecting to PostgreSQL
Connecting to Sybase

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Connecting to JNDI data sources

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Connecting to an external JDBC Type 4 data source

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 5: Web Server Management
About web servers in ColdFusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using the built-in web server

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Using an external web server

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Web server configuration
Multihoming

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 6: Deploying ColdFusion Applications
Archive and deployment options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Packaging applications in CAR files

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Packaging applications in J2EE archive files
Using the cfcompile utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Chapter 7: Administering Security
About ColdFusion security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Using password protection
Using sandbox security

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter 8: Using Multiple Server Instances
About multiple server instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Defining additional server instances
Enabling application isolation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Enabling clustering for load balancing and failover

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Defining remote server instances to the ColdFusion Administrator

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Chapter 9: Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor
Gathering information about ColdFusion servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Starting the ColdFusion Server Monitor
Viewing Server Monitor Reports
Specifying Server Monitor Settings

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

ColdFusion Server Monitor API

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Using the Server Monitor to improve server performance

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Administering Verity 141
Chapter 10: Introducing Verity and Verity Tools
Collections and the ColdFusion Verity architecture
About Verity Spider

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

About the Verity utilities

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 11: Indexing Collections with Verity Spider
About Verity Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
About Verity Spider syntax
Core options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Processing options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Networking options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Path and URL options
Content options
Locale options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Logging options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Maintenance options
Setting MIME types

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Chapter 12: Using Verity Utilities
Overview of Verity utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Using the mkvdk utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Using the rck2 utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Using the rcvdk utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Using the didump utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Using the browse utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Using the merge utility

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Index

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

vi CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion is intended for anyone who needs to configure and manage their
Adobe® ColdFusion 8 development environment.

About ColdFusion documentation
The ColdFusion 8 documentation is designed to provide support for the complete spectrum of participants.

Documentation set
The ColdFusion documentation set includes the following titles:
Book

Description

Installing and Using ColdFu- Describes system installation and basic configuration for Windows, Macintoch, Solaris,
sion
Linux, and AIX.
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Part 1 describes how to manage the ColdFusion environment, including connecting
to your data sources, configuring security for your applications, and monitoring server
activity. Part 2 describes Verity search tools and utilities that you can use for configuring the Verity Search Server engine, as well as creating, managing, and troubleshooting Verity collections.

ColdFusion Developer’s
Guide

Describes how to develop your dynamic web applications, including retrieving and
updating your data, using structures, and forms.

CFML Reference

Provides descriptions, syntax, usage, and code examples for all ColdFusion tags, functions, and variables.

Viewing online documentation
All ColdFusion documentation is available online in HTML and Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format
(PDF) files. Go to the documentation home page for ColdFusion on the Adobe website:
www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/coldfusion/. In addition, you can view the documentation in
LiveDocs, which lets you add comments to pages and view the latest comments added by Adobe, by going to
www.adobe.com/go/livedocs_cf8docs.

2 CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Part 1: Administering ColdFusion
You can use ColdFusion to manage the ColdFusion environment, including using the ColdFusion Administrator,
connecting to your data sources, managing your web server, deploying your applications, and configuring security
for your applications.
The following topics are included:
Administering ColdFusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Using the ColdFusion Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Data Source Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Web Server Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Deploying ColdFusion Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Administering Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Using Multiple Server Instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 2: Administering ColdFusion
Although you use the ColdFusion Administrator to perform most ColdFusion administration tasks, you can also
manage databases, web server configurations, and Verity Search Server.
Contents

About the ColdFusion Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About web server administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
About Verity administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About the ColdFusion Administrator
The ColdFusion Administrator provides a browser-based interface for managing your ColdFusion environment.
You can configure many settings to provide optimal levels of security and functionality. The available options are
based on your edition of ColdFusion 8—Standard or Enterprise—as well as your configuration: server, multiserver, or J2EE. For more information on ColdFusion configurations, see “About the ColdFusion installation” on
page 3 in “Preparing to Install ColdFusion” on page 3 in Installing and Using ColdFusion.
The default location for the ColdFusion Administrator login page is:
http://servername[:portnumber]/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm
Where servername is the fully qualified domain name of your web server. Common values for servername are
localhost or 127.0.0.1 (each refers to the web server on the local computer).
If you are using the ColdFusion built-in web server, include the port number as part of the servername. The
default port number for the server configuration is 8500; for example, http://servername:8500/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm. The default port number for the multiserver configuration is 8300. If you are using the J2EE
configuration, include the port number that the J2EE application server’s web server uses.
If you were using the built-in web server in a version earlier than ColdFusion MX 7 and upgraded to ColdFusion
8, the installer automatically finds an unused port for the built-in web server (typically 8501).
If your ColdFusion Administrator is on a remote computer, use the Domain Name Services (DNS) name or
Internet Protocol (IP) address of the remote host.
To access the ColdFusion Administrator, enter the password specified when you installed ColdFusion.

6 CHAPTER 2
Administering ColdFusion

Note: If you are running ColdFusion in a multihomed environment and have problems displaying the ColdFusion
Administrator, see “Web Server Management” on page 79 for configuration information.
For more information, see “Using the ColdFusion Administrator” on page 7.

About web server administration
ColdFusion applications require a web server to process ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) pages. The server
and multiserver configurations provide a built-in web server along with support for external web servers, such as
Apache, IIS, and Sun ONE Web Server (formerly known as iPlanet).
For more information, see “Web Server Management” on page 79.

About Verity administration
ColdFusion includes Verity K2 Server search technology. Verity K2 Server is a high-performance search engine
designed to process searches quickly in a high-performance, distributed system.
For more information, see “Introducing Verity and Verity Tools” on page 143.

Chapter 3: Using the ColdFusion
Administrator
Use the ColdFusion Administrator to perform basic administration tasks. You can also use the Administrator
application programming interface (API) to perform Administrator functionality programmatically.
Contents

Initial administration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Accessing user assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Server Settings section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Data & Services section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Debugging & Logging section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Server Monitoring section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Extensions section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Event Gateways section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Security section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Packaging and Deployment section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Enterprise Manager section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Custom Extensions section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Administrator API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Initial administration tasks
Immediately after you install ColdFusion, you might have to perform some or all of the administrative tasks
described in the following table:

8 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Task

Description

Establish database connec- ColdFusion applications require data source connections to query and write to datations
bases. To create, verify, edit, and delete database connections, use the Data Sources
page.
For more information, see “Data Source Management” on page 47.
Specify directory mappings Directory mappings redirect relative file paths to physical directories on your server.
To specify server-wide directory aliases, use the Mappings page.
For more information, see “Mappings page” on page 17.
Configure debugging
settings

Debugging information provides important data about CFML page processing. To
choose the debugging information to display, and to designate an IP address to
receive debugging information, use the Debugging & Logging section.
For more information, see “Debugging Output Settings page” on page 26.

Set up e-mail

E-mail lets ColdFusion applications send automated e-mail messages. To configure an
e-mail server and mail options, use the Mail Server page.
For more information, see “Mail page” on page 17.

Change passwords

You might have to change the passwords that you set for the ColdFusion Administrator and Remote Development Service (RDS) during ColdFusion installation. To
change passwords, use the Security section.
For more information, see “Administrator page” on page 38 and “RDS page” on
page 38.

Define user-specific access To grant user-specific access to the ColdFusion Administrator, you create users and
to the ColdFusion Adminis- specify a username, password, applicable sandboxes, and the sections of the ColdFutrator
sion Administrator that each user can access. For more information, see “Security
section” on page 37.
Configure Java settings

(Server configuration only) You might have to customize Java settings, such as classpath information, to meet the needs of your applications. To change Java settings, use
the Java and JVM page.
For more information, see “Extensions section” on page 33.

Restrict tag access

Some CFML tags might present a potential security risk for your server. To disable
certain tags, use the Sandbox Security page.
For more information, see “Administering Security” on page 101.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 9
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Accessing user assistance
You can use the buttons on the top left of the ColdFusion Administrator to access online Help, information about
additional resources, and system information.
Online Help You can access the context-sensitive online Help by clicking the question-mark icon on any
ColdFusion Administrator page. The online Help has procedural and brief overview content for the ColdFusion
Administrator page that you are viewing. This information appears in a new browser window and contains
standard Contents, Index, and Search tabs.
System Information Click System Information to see information about the ColdFusion server, including version

number, serial number, and JVM details.
Resources Click Resources to display the Resources page, which provides links to the Getting Started experience,
example applications, product information, technical support and training, additional installers, product updates,
community resources, and information about security.

Server Settings section
The Server Settings section lets you manage client and memory variables, mappings, charting, and archiving. You
also configure e-mail and Java settings in this section.
The Server Settings section contains the following pages:
• Settings page
• Caching page
• Client Variables page
• Memory Variables page
• Mappings page
• Mail page
• Charting page
• Font Management page
• Java and JVM page
• ColdFusion Archives page

10 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

• Settings Summary page

Settings page
The Settings page of the ColdFusion Administrator contains configuration options that you can set or enable to
manage ColdFusion. These options can significantly affect server performance. The following table describes the
options:
Option

Description

Timeout Requests After
(Seconds)

Prevents unusually lengthy requests from using up server resources. Enter a limit
to the time that ColdFusion waits before terminating a request. Requests that take
longer than the time-out period are terminated.

Enable Per App Settings

Lets developers programmatically define ColdFusion settings such as mappings
and debugging per application.

Use UUID For cftoken

Specify whether to use a universally unique identifier (UUID), rather than a
random number, for a cftoken.

Enable HTTP Status Codes

Configures ColdFusion to set a status code of 500 Internal Server Error for an
unhandled error. Disable this option to configure ColdFusion to set a status code
of 200 OK for everything, including unhandled errors.

Enable Whitespace Management

Compresses repeating sequences of spaces, tabs, and carriage returns and linefeeds. Compressing whitespace can significantly compact the output of a ColdFusion page.

Disable CFC Type Check

Turns off verifying the CFC type when calling methods with CFCs as arguments.
This option also disables verifying an object that implements the right interface.
Although enabling this option can improve your application's performance,
enable it only on a production server when you are not making changes to your
application.

Disable Access To Internal Cold- Prevents CFML code from accessing and creating Java objects that are part of the
Fusion Java Components
internal ColdFusion implementation. This prevents a non-authenticated CFML
template from reading or modifying administration and configuration information for this server.
Watch Configuration Files For
Changes (Check Every n
Seconds)

Sets ColdFusion to monitor its configuration files and automatically reload them
if they change. This action is required if you deploy ColdFusion in a Websphere ND
vertical cluster, because multiple instances of ColdFusion share the same configuration files. Most installations should not enable this feature.

Enable Global Script Protection Protects Form, URL, CGI, and Cookie scope variables from cross-site scripting
attacks. Select this option if your application does not contain this type of protection logic.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 11
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Option

Description

Default CFFORM ScriptSrc
Directory

Specify the default path (relative to the web root) to the directory that contains
the cfform.js file. Developers reference this file in the ScriptSrc attribute of the
cfform tag.
In a hosted environment, you might need to move the cfform.js file to a directory
other than CFIDE.

Missing Template Handler

Specify a page to execute when ColdFusion cannot find a requested page. This
specification is relative to the web root.
Note: If the user is running Microsoft Internet Explorer with "Show Friendly HTTP

error messages" enabled in advanced settings (the default), Internet Explorer will
only display this page if it contains more than 512 bytes.
Site-Wide Error Handler

Specify a page to execute when ColdFusion encounters an error while processing
a request. This specification is relative to the web root. When you define a sitewide error handler or missing template handler, ColdFusion does not log pagenot-found errors and exceptions.
Note: If the user is running Internet Explorer with Show Friendly HTTP Error

Messages enabled in Advanced Settings (the default), Internet Explorer only
displays this page if it contains more than 512 bytes.
Maximum Size Of Post Data

Limits the amount of data that can be posted to the server in a single request.
ColdFusion rejects single requests larger than the specified limit.

RequeSt Throttle Threshold

Requests smaller than the specified limit are neither queued nor counted as part
of the total memory. Requests larger than the specified limit are counted as part
of total memory and are queued if the request throttle-memory size is exceeded.

Request Throttle Memory

Limits total memory size for the throttle. If sufficient total memory is not available,
ColdFusion queues requests until enough memory is free.

Request Tuning page
The Request Tuning page of the Administrator contains configuration options that you use to specify the number
of different types of requests and threads that ColdFusion can handle simultaneously.

12 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Option

Description

Maximum Number Of Simultaneous Template Requests

The number of CFML page requests that can be processed concurrently. Use this
setting to increase overall system performance for heavy-load applications.
Requests beyond the specified limit are queued.

Maximum Number Of Simulta- The number of Adobe Flash® Remoting requests that can be processed concurneous Flash Remoting Requests rently.
Maximum Number Of Simultaneous Web Service Requests

The number of Web Service requests that can be processed concurrently.

Maximum Number Of Simultaneous CFC Function Requests

The number of ColdFusion Component methods that can be processed concurrently through HTTP. This does not affect starting CFC methods from CFML, only
methods requested through an HTTP request.

Maximum Number Of Simultaneous Report Threads

The maximum number of ColdFusion reports that can be processed concurrently.

Maximum Number Of Threads
Available For CFTHREAD

CFTHREAD that runs concurrently. Threads that CFTHREAD creates in excess of
this are queued.

Timeout Requests Waiting In
Queue After n Seconds

If a request has waited in the queue for this long, time out the request. This value
should be at least as long as the Request Timeout setting (currently 60 seconds).

Request Queue Timeout Page

Specify a relative path to an HTML page to send to clients when a template
request times out before getting a chance to run. For example
"/CFIDE/timeout.html.” This page cannot contain CFML. If a page is not specified
here, clients will receive a 500 Request Timeout error if their request does not get
a chance to run.

Maximum Number Of Running
JRun Threads

Maximum number of JRun handler threads that will run concurrently. This is the
number of request threads that the underlying JRun J2EE application server will
run at the same time. This includes any non-ColdFusion requests such as JSP or
HTML pages served through JRun.

Maximum Number Of Queued
JRun Threads

Maximum number of requests that JRun will accept at any one time. This is the
number of requests that the underlying JRun J2EE application server will accept
at the same time.

Caching page
The Caching page of the Administrator contains configuration options that you can set or enable to cache
templates, queries, and data sources. These options can significantly affect server performance. The following
table describes the settings:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 13
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Option

Description

Maximum Number Of Cached
Templates

Enter a value that specifies the number of templates that ColdFusion caches. For
best performance, set this to a value that is large enough to contain your application’s commonly accessed ColdFusion pages, yet small enough to avoid excessive
reloading. You can experiment with a range of values on your development
server; a suitable starting point is one page per MB of Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
size.

Trusted Cache

Use cached templates without checking whether they changed. For sites that are
not updated frequently, using this option minimizes file system overhead.

Save Class Files

Saves to disk the class files that the ColdFusion bytecode compiler generates.
During the development phase, it is typically faster if you disable this option.

Cache Web Server Paths

Caches ColdFusion page paths for a single server. Clear this option if ColdFusion
connects to a web server with multiple websites or multiple virtual websites.

Maximum Number Of Cached
Queries

Enter a value to limit the maximum number of cached queries that the server
maintains. Cached queries allow retrieval of result sets from memory rather than
through a database transaction. Because queries reside in memory, and query
result set sizes differ, you must provide a limit for the number of cached queries.
You enable cached queries with the cachedwithin or cachedafter attributes
of the cfquery tag. When the maximum number of cached queries is reached,
the oldest query is dropped from the cache and replaced with the specified query.
If you set the maximum number of cached queries to 0, query caching is unlimited.

Clear Template Cache Now

Empties the template cache. ColdFusion reloads templates into memory the next
time they are requested and recompiles them if they have been modified.

Client Variables page
Client variables let you store user information and preferences between sessions. Using information from client
variables, you can customize page content for individual users.
You enable client variable default settings in ColdFusion on the Client Variables page of the Administrator.
ColdFusion lets you store client variables in the following ways:
❖ In database tables

Note: If your data source uses one of the JDBC drivers bundled with ColdFusion 8, ColdFusion can automatically
create the necessary tables. If your data source uses the ODBC Socket or a third-party JDBC driver, you must
manually create the necessary CDATA and CGLOBAL database tables.
• As cookies in users’ web browsers

14 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

• In the operating system registry

Important: Adobe recommends that you do not store client variables in the registry because it can critically degrade
performance of the server. If you do use the registry to store client variables, you must allocate sufficient memory and
disk space.
To override settings specified in the Client Variables page, use the Application.cfc file or the cfapplication tag.
For more information, see the ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.
The following table compares the client variable storage options:
Storage type

Advantages

Disadvantages

Data source

• Can use existing data source

• Requires database transaction to read/write

• Portable: not tied to the host system or
operating system
Browser cookies

• Simple implementation
• Good performance
• Can be set to expire automatically
• Client-side control

System registry

• Simple implementation
• Good performance
• Registry can be exported easily to
other systems

• Server-side control

variables

• More complex to implement
• Users can configure browsers to disallow
cookies

• Cookie data is limited to 4 KB
• Netscape Navigator allows only 20 cookies
from one host; ColdFusion uses three cookies
to store read-only data, leaving only 17
cookies available

• Possible restriction of the registry’s maximum
size limit in Windows in the Control Panel

• Integrated with the host system: not practical
for clustered servers

• Not available for UNIX

Migrating client variable data

To migrate your client variable data to another data source, you should know the structure of the database tables
that store this information. Client variables stored externally use two simple database tables, like those shown in
the following tables:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 15
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

CDATA Table
Column

Data type

cfid

CHAR(64), TEXT, VARCHAR, or equivalent

app

CHAR(64), TEXT, VARCHAR, or equivalent

data

MEMO, LONGTEXT, LONG VARCHAR, or equivalent

CGLOBAL Table
Column

Data type

cfid

CHAR(64), TEXT, VARCHAR, or equivalent

data

MEMO, LONGTEXT, LONG VARCHAR, or equivalent

lvisit

TIMESTAMP, DATETIME, DATE, or equivalent

Creating client variable tables

Use the following sample ColdFusion page as a model for creating client variable database tables in your own
database. However, keep in mind that not all databases support the same column data type names. For the proper
data type, see your database documentation.
Note: The ColdFusion Administrator can create client variable tables for data sources that use one of the bundled
JDBC drivers. For more information, see the online help.
Sample table creation page

CREATE TABLE CDATA
(
cfid char(20),
app char(64),
data memo
)

16 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX id1
ON CDATA (cfid,app)

CREATE TABLE CGLOBAL
(
cfid char(20),
data memo,
lvisit date
)

CREATE INDEX id2
ON CGLOBAL (cfid)

CREATE INDEX id3
ON CGLOBAL (lvisit)

Memory Variables page
Use the Memory Variables page of the ColdFusion Administrator to enable application and session variables
server-wide. By default, application and session variables are enabled when you install ColdFusion. If you disable
either type of variable in the Memory Variables page, you cannot use them in a ColdFusion application.
You can specify maximum and default time-out values for session and application variables. Unless you define a
time-out value in an Application.cfc or Application.cfm file, application variables expire in two days. Session
variables expire when user sessions end. To change these behaviors, enter new default and maximum time-out
values on the Memory Variables page of the Administrator.
Note: Time-out values that you specify for application variables override the time-out values set in the Application.cfc
or Application.cfm file.
You can also specify whether to use J2EE session variables. When you enable the J2EE session variables,
ColdFusion creates an identifier for each session and does not use the CFToken or CFID cookie value. For more
information, see the ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 17
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Note: When using J2EE sessions, ensure that the session time out, specified in the WEB-INF/web.xml sessiontimeout element, is longer than the session time out that you specify in the ColdFusion Administrator, and longer

than any sessiontimeout attribute specified in a cfapplication tag.

Mappings page
Use the Mappings page of the ColdFusion Administrator to add, update, and delete logical aliases for paths to
directories on your server. ColdFusion mappings apply only to pages that ColdFusion processes with the
cfinclude and cfmodule tags. If you save CFML pages outside of the web_root directory (or whatever directory
is mapped to "/"), you must add a mapping to the location of those files on your server.
Assume that the "/" mapping on your server points to C:\coldfusion8\wwwroot, but that all of your ColdFusion
header pages reside in C:\2002\newpages\headers. For ColdFusion to find your header pages, you must add a
mapping in the ColdFusion Administrator that points to C:\2002\newpages\headers (for example, add a mapping
for /headers that points to C:\2002\newpages\headers). In the ColdFusion pages located in
C:\coldfusion8\wwwroot, you reference these header pages using /headers in your cfinclude and cfmodule
tags.
Note: ColdFusion mappings are different from web server virtual directories. For information on creating a virtual
directory to access a given directory using a URL in your web browser, consult your web server’s documentation.

Mail page
Use the Mail page of the ColdFusion Administrator to specify a mail server to send automated e-mail messages.
ColdFusion supports the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for sending e-mail messages and the Post Office
Protocol (POP) for retrieving e-mail messages from your mail server. To use e-mail messaging in your ColdFusion
applications, you must have access to an SMTP server and a POP account.
The ColdFusion Enterprise Edition supports mail-server failover, as well as additional mail delivery options.
The ColdFusion implementation of SMTP mail uses a spooled architecture. This means that when a cfmail tag
is processed in an application page, the messages generated might not be sent immediately. If ColdFusion is
extremely busy or has a large queue, delivery could occur after some delay.
Note: For more information about the cfmail tag, see “Sending SMTP e-mail with the cfmail tag” on page 1420 in
“Sending and Receiving E-Mail” on page 1417 in the ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.
Mail Server Settings area

The following table describes basic mail server settings:

18 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Option

Description

Mail Server

Enter a valid mail server for sending dynamic SMTP mail messages in the text box.
You can enter an Internet address, such as mail.company.com, or the IP address of the
mail server, such as 127.0.0.1.

Username

Enter the username for the mail server, if required.

Password

Enter the password for the mail server, if required.

Verify Mail Server Connection

Verifies that ColdFusion can connect to your specified mail server after you submit
this form.
Whether or not you use this option, send a test message to verify that your mail
server connection works.

Server Port

Enter the number of the port on which the mail server is running. Contact your server
administrator if you are unsure of the appropriate port number.

Backup Mail Servers (Enterprise Edition only)

Enter zero or more backup servers for sending SMTP mail messages. You can enter an
Internet address, such as mail.company.com, or the IP address of the mail server, such
as 127.0.0.1. Separate multiple servers with a comma.
If the mail server requires authentication, prepend the mail server with the username
and password, as follows: username:password@mailserveraddress
To use a port number other than the default (25), specify mailserveraddress:portnumber

Maintain Connection To Mail Keeps mail server connections open after sending a mail message. Enabling this
Server
option can enhance performance when delivering multiple messages.
(Enterprise Edition only)
Connection Timeout
(seconds)

Enter the number of seconds that ColdFusion should wait for a response from the
mail server before timing out.

Enable SSL Socket Connections To Mail Server

Enables SSL encryption on the connections to the mail server.

Enable TLS Connection To
Mail Server

Enables Transport Level Security (TLS) on the connection to the mail server.

Mail Spool Settings area

The following table describes mail server spool settings:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 19
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Option

Description

Spool Interval (Seconds)

Enter the interval, in seconds, at which you want the mail server to process spooled
mail.

Mail Delivery Threads

Enter the maximum number of simultaneous threads used to deliver spooled mail.

(Enterprise Edition only)
Spool Mail Messages For
Delivery To
(Memory spooling available
for Enterprise Edition only)

Routes outgoing mail messages to the mail spooler. If you disable this option, ColdFusion delivers outgoing mail messages immediately. In ColdFusion Enterprise
Edition, you can spool messages to disk (slower, but messages persist across shutdowns) or to memory (faster, but messages do not persist).
You can override this setting in the cfmail tag.

Maximum Number Of
Messages Spooled To
Memory

Enter the maximum number of messages that spool to memory before switching to
disk spooling.

(Enterprise Edition only)

Mail Logging Settings area

Select preferences for handling mail logs, as described in the following table:
Option

Description

Error Log Severity

From the drop-down list box, select the type of SMTP-related error message to write
to a log file. The options are the following:

• Debug (contains Information, Warning, and Error)
• Information (contains Warning and Error)
• Warning (contains Error)
• Error
Log All Mail Messages Sent
By ColdFusion

Saves to a log file the To, From, and Subject fields of all e-mail messages.

ColdFusion writes sent-mail and mail-error logs to the following directories:
• \coldfusion8\logs (Windows server configuration)
• /opt/coldfusion8/log (Solaris and Linux server configuration)
• cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/logs (multiserver and J2EE configurations, all platforms)

The following table describes the e-mail log files:

20 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Log

Description

mailsent.log

Records sent e-mail messages.

mail.log

Records general e-mail errors.

Mail Character Set Settings area

Select preferences for the default mail character set, as described in the following table:
Option

Description

Default CFMail CharSet

From the drop-down list box, select the default character set that the cfmail tag
uses. The default value is UTF-8. If the majority of your e-mail clients use a specific
character set, you can use this setting to switch to that locale-specific character set.
For example, Japanese mail is typically sent using the ISO-2022-JP character set.

Charting page
The ColdFusion charting and graphing server lets you produce highly customizable business graphics, in a variety
of formats, using the cfquery tag. Use the Charting page in the Administrator to control characteristics of the
server.
The following table describes the caching and thread settings for the ColdFusion charting and graphing server:
Option

Description

Cache Type

Set the cache type. Charts can be cached either in memory or to disk. Memory
caching is faster, but more memory intensive.

Maximum Number Of
Cached Images

Specify the maximum number of charts to store in the cache. After the cache is full, if
you generate a new chart, ColdFusion discards the oldest chart in the cache.

Max Number Of Charting
Threads

Specify the maximum number of chart requests that can be processed concurrently.
The minimum number is 1 and the maximum is 5. (Higher numbers are more
memory-intensive.)

Disk Cache Location

When caching to disk, specify the directory in which to store the generated charts.

Font Management page
The Font Management page lets you review and define fonts for use with Adobe® FlashPaper™ and Acrobat® PDF
output formats. ColdFusion generates FlashPaper and PDF output through the cfdocument tag and through the
cfreport tag, when used to call a report created with the ColdFusion Report Builder.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 21
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

ColdFusion automatically registers Acrobat built-in fonts and fonts located in typical font locations (such as the
Windows\fonts directory). However, if your server has additional fonts installed in nonstandard locations, you
must register them with the ColdFusion Administrator so that the cfdocument and cfreport tags can locate and
render PDF and FlashPaper reports.
This page contains the following sections:
Register New Font with ColdFusion Lets you browse to a directory that contains fonts, or select a specific font.
User Defined Fonts Displays the fonts that have been registered explicitly.
Current System Fonts Displays fonts stored in platform-specific system font directories.

For more information on font management, see the ColdFusion Administrator online Help. For more information
on reporting in ColdFusion, see “Creating Reports and Documents for Printing” on page 1075 in the ColdFusion
Developer’s Guide.

Java and JVM page
The Java and JVM page lets you specify the following settings, which enable ColdFusion to work with Java:
Option

Description

Java Virtual Machine Path

The absolute file path to the location of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) root directory.
The default is cf_root/runtime/jre.

Minimum JVM Heap Size

The JVM initial heap size.

Maximum JVM Heap Size

The JVM maximum heap size. The default value is 512 MB.

ColdFusion Class Path

The file paths to the directories that contain the JAR files that ColdFusion uses.
Specify either the fully qualified name of a directory that contains your JAR files or a
fully qualified JAR filename. Use a comma to separate multiple entries.

JVM Arguments

The arguments to the JVM. Use a space to separate multiple entries (for example, Xint -Xincgc).

Note: This page is available in the server configuration only.
Before ColdFusion saves your changes, it saves a copy of the current cf_root/runtime/bin/jvm.config file as
jvm.bak. If your changes prevent ColdFusion from restarting, use the jvm.bak file to restore your system. For more
information, see the online help.

22 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Settings Summary page
The Settings Summary page shows all ColdFusion configuration settings. Click a group name to open that group’s
Administrator section, where you can edit settings. This page is not enabled in the Standard Edition.

Data & Services section
The Data & Services section of the Administrator is the interface for ColdFusion, data sources, and Verity search
and indexing features. The following table describes some common tasks that you can perform in the Data &
Services section of the Administrator:
Task

Description

Create and manage JDBC
data sources

The Data Sources page lets you establish, edit, and delete JDBC data source connections for ColdFusion. For more information, see “Data Source Management” on
page 47.

Create and maintain Verity
collections

The Verity Collections page lets you create and delete Verity collections and perform
maintenance operations on collections that you create. For more information, see
“Verity Collections page” on page 23.

Define mappings for web
services

The Web Services page lets you produce and consume remote application functionality over the Internet. For more information, see “Web Services page” on page 24.

Specify settings to integrate
with Adobe® Flex™ applications

The Flex Integration page lets you specify which Flex integration features to enable
and which IP addresses can perform data service operations. For more information,
see “Flex Integration page” on page 24.

The Data & Services section contains the following pages:
• Data Sources page
• Verity Collections page
• Verity K2 Server page
• Web Services page
• Flex Integration page

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 23
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Data Sources page
The Data Sources page lets you create, edit, and delete JDBC data sources. Before you can use a database in a
ColdFusion application, you must register the data source in the ColdFusion Administrator. For more information, see “Data Source Management” on page 47.

Verity Collections page
ColdFusion includes Verity, which provides indexing and searching technology to create, populate, and manage
collections of indexed data that are optimized for fast and efficient site searches.
A collection is a logical group of documents and metadata about the documents. The metadata includes word
indexes, an internal documents table of document field information, and logical pointers to the document files.
For more information about building search interfaces, see “Building a Search Interface” on page 665 in the
ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.
ColdFusion lets you manage your collections from the Administrator. You can index, optimize, purge, or delete
Verity collections that are connected to ColdFusion. You use the icons in the Actions column to perform the
following actions:
Action

Description

Index

Analyzes the files in a collection and assembles metadata and pointers to the files.

Optimize

Reclaims space left by deleted and changed files by consolidating collection indexes for
faster searching. You should optimize collections regularly.

Purge

Deletes all documents in a collection, but not the collection itself. Leaves the collection
directory structure intact.

Delete

Deletes a collection.

Verity Search Server must be running. If this page is unable to retrieve collections, ensure that Verity Search Server
is running. For more information, see “Collections and the ColdFusion Verity architecture” on page 143.

Verity K2 Server page
You can install Verity on a different host computer from the computer that ColdFusion is running on. If you do
so, you can configure the host that ColdFusion will use when it performs search operations. If you have purchased
the Verity product, you may need to use advanced settings to configure the aliases and ports of the services that
ColdFusion uses. You should not need to change these values if you are running with the ColdFusion installed
version of Verity.

24 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Web Services page
You can use web services to produce and consume remote application functionality over the Internet. The
ColdFusion Administrator lets you register web services so that you do not have to specify the entire Web Services
Description Language (WSDL) URL when you reference the web service. The first time you reference a web
service, ColdFusion automatically registers it in the Administrator.
When you register a web service, you can shorten your code and change a web service’s URL without editing your
code. For more information, see “Using Web Services” on page 1291 in the ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.

Flex Integration page
Use this page to specify which Flex integration features to enable and which IP addresses can perform data-service
operations. If you enable Adobe LiveCycle Data Services ES support, but do not specify any IP addresses, only
processes on the local computer can connect to the LiveCycle Data Services ES server in ColdFusion.
Option

Description

Enable Flash
Remoting Support

Specifies whether to enable Flash clients to connect to this ColdFusion server and invoke
methods in ColdFusion components (CFCs).

Enable Remote LiveCycle Data Management Access

Specifies whether to enable a LiveCycle Data Services ES server to connect to this ColdFusion
server and invoke methods in CFCs to fill, sync, get, or count records in a result set used in a
Flex application. Enable this option only if you are running LiveCycle Data Services ES
remotely.

Server Identity

Specifies the ColdFusion server on which you want to enable Flex Data Management
Support.

Enable RMI Over SSL
For Data Management

To encrypt communication between ColdFusion and Flex, enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Select IP Addresses
Where LiveCycle
Data Services Are
Running

Specifies which LiveCycle Data Services ES servers can connect to the LiveCycle Data
Services ES support in ColdFusion. If you do not specify a list of allowed IP addresses, only
processes on the local computer can connect to the LiveCycle Data Services ES support in
ColdFusion

To use SSL, create a keystore file. The keystore is a self-signed certificate. (You do not need a certificate signed by
a Certificate Authority, although if you do use one, you do not need to configure Flex as indicated in the following
steps.) The information in the keystore is encrypted and can be accessed only with the password that you specify.
To create the keystore, use the Java keytool utility, which is included in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 25
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Enable SSL
1 Create the keystore.
2 Configure Flex.
3 Enable SSL in the ColdFusion Administrator.
Create the keystore

To generate the SSL server (ColdFusion) keystore file, use the keytool utility, with a command similar to the
following:
keytool -genkey -v -alias FlexAssembler -dname "cn=FlexAssembler" -keystore cf.keystore keypass mypassword -storepass mypassword

The following table describes the parameters of the keytool utility:
Parameter

Description

-alias

The name of the keystore entry. You can use any name for this, as long as you are consistent
when referring to it.

-dname

The Distinguished Name, which contains the Common Name (cn) of the server.

-keystore

The location of the keystore file.

-keypass

The password for your private key.

-storepass

The password for the keystore. The encrypted storepass is stored in ColdFusion configuration files.

-rfc

Generates the certificate in the printable encoding format.

-file

The name of the keystore file.

-v

Generates detailed certificate information

Place the certificate you created in the file that the JVM uses to determine what certificates to trust. The file in
which you put the certificate, (usually named cacerts), is located in the JRE, in the lib/security folder.
Configure Flex
1 To export the keystore to a certificate, use the keytool utility, with a command similar to the following:
keytool -export -v -alias FlexAssembler -keystore cf.keystore -rfc -file cf.cer

2 To import the certificate into the JRE cacerts file for your server, use the keytool utility, with a command similar
to the following:

26 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

keytool -import -v -alias FlexAssembler -file cf.cer -keystore
C:\fds2\UninstallerData\jre\lib\security\cacerts

The preceding example specifies the location of the keystore for LiveCycle Data Services ES with integrated JRun,
installed by using the default settings. If you are using a different server, specify the location of the cacerts file for
the JRE that you are using. For example, if you are using JBoss, specify the keystore location as
$JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/security/cacerts.
Enable SSL in the ColdFusion Administrator
1 Select Data & Services > Flex Integration, and specify the keystore file in the Full Path To Keystore box.
2 Specify the keystore password in the Keystore Password box.
3 Select Enable RMI Over SSL For Data Management, and then click Submit Changes.

If you specify an invalid keystore file or password, ColdFusion does not enable SSL, and disables LiveCycle Data
Management Support.

Debugging & Logging section
The Debugging & Logging section contains the following pages:
• Debugging Output Settings page
• Debugging IP Addresses page
• Debugger Settings page
• Logging Settings page
• Log Files page
• Scheduled Tasks page
• System Probes page
• Code Analyzer page
• License Scanner page

Debugging Output Settings page
Use the Debugging Settings and Debugging IPs pages to configure ColdFusion to provide debugging information
for every application page that a browser request. Specify debugging preferences by using the pages as follows:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 27
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

• On the Debugging Settings page, select debugging output options. If debugging is enabled, the output appears

in block format after normal page output.
• On the Debugging IPs page, restrict access to debugging output. If a debugging option is enabled, debugging

output is visible to all users by default.
Note: Enabling debugging affects performance. You should not enable debugging on a production server.
The Debug Output Settings page provides the following debugging options:
Option

Description

Enable Robust Exception Information

Displays detailed information in the exceptions page, including the
template’s physical path and URI, the line number and snippet, the SQL
statement used (if any), the data source name (if any), and the Java stack
trace.

Enable Request Debugging Output

Enables the ColdFusion debugging service.

Select Debugging Output Format

Controls debugging format. Select either of the following formats:

• classic.cfm The format available in ColdFusion 5 and earlier. It provides
a basic view and few browser restrictions.

• dockable.cfm A dockable tree-based debugging panel. For details
about the panel and browser restrictions, see the online Help.
Report Execution Times

Reports execution times that exceed a specified time limit.

General Debug Information

Show general information about the ColdFusion MX version, template,
time stamp, user locale, user agent, user IP, and host name.

Database Activity

Shows the database activity for the SQL Query events and Stored Procedure events in the debugging output.

Exception Information

Shows all ColdFusion exceptions raised for the request in the debugging
output.

Tracing Information

Shows trace event information in the debugging output. Tracing lets you
track program flow and efficiency using the cftrace tag.

Timer Information

Shows output from the cftimer tag.

Flash Form Compile Errors And
Messages

(Development use only) Displays ActionScript errors in the browser when
Flash forms are compiling, and affects the display time of the page.

28 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Option

Description

Variables

Displays information about parameters, URL parameters, cookies, sessions,
and CGI variables in the debugging output.

Enable Performance Monitoring

Enables the standard NT Performance Monitor application to display information about a running server.

(Server configuration only)

TIP: Restart ColdFusion after you change this setting.
Enable CFSTAT
(Server configuration only)

Shows performance information on platforms that do not support the NT
Performance Monitor. For more information, see “Using the cfstat utility” on
page 28.
TIP: Restart ColdFusion after you change this setting.

Using the cfstat utility

The cfstat command-line utility provides real-time performance metrics for ColdFusion. Using a socket
connection to obtain metric data, the cfstat utility displays the information that ColdFusion writes to the System
Monitor without actually using the System Monitor application. The following table lists the metrics that the
cfstat utility returns:
Metric abbreviation Metric name

Description

Pg/Sec

Page hits per second

The number of ColdFusion pages processed per second.
You can reduce this by moving static content to HTML
pages.

DB/Sec

Database accesses per second

The number of database accesses per second that ColdFusion makes. Any difference in complexity and resource
load between calls is ignored.

Req Q'ed

Number of queued requests

The number of requests that are currently waiting for
ColdFusion to process them. Lower values, which you
can achieve with efficient CFML, are better.

Req Run'g

Number of running requests

The number of requests that ColdFusion is currently
actively processing.

Req TO'ed

Number of timed out requests

The total number of ColdFusion requests that have timed
out. Lower values, which you can achieve by aggressive
caching, removing unnecessary dynamic operations and
third-party events, are better.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 29
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Metric abbreviation Metric name

Description

AvgQ Time

Average queue time

A running average of the time, in milliseconds, that
requests wait for ColdFusion to process them. Lower
values, which you can achieve with efficient CFML and
enhanced caching, are better.

AvgReq Time

Average request time

A running average of the time, in milliseconds, that it
takes ColdFusion to process a request (including queued
time). Lower values, which you can achieve with efficient
CFML, are better.

AvgDB Time

Average database transaction
time

A running average of the time that ColdFusion spends on
database-related processing of ColdFusion requests.

Bytes In/Sec

Bytes incoming per second

The number of bytes that ColdFusion read in the last
second (not an average).

Bytes Out/Sec

Bytes outgoing per second

The number of bytes that ColdFusion wrote in the last
second (not an average).

Before you use the cfstat utility, ensure that you selected the Enable Performance Monitoring option in the
ColdFusion Administrator (on the Debugging & Logging > Debugging Settings page). If you select this option,
you must restart ColdFusion for this change to take effect.
cfstat options

The cf_root/bin directory contains the cfstat utility. From that directory, type cfstat and use the following
switches:
Switch

Description

Comment

-n

Suppress column headers.

Useful for saving output to a file.

-s

Display output in a single line.

Display a single line and delay display of the first line so
the cfstat utility can display meaningful values in the
per-second counters.

Where # is an integer, display
output every # seconds.

If you do not specify an integer, the cfstat utility
returns one line. Specify this switch with or without the -s
switch.

This example runs the cfstat utility and displays a new line every 20 seconds:
cfstat 20

30 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Debugging IP Addresses page
You use the Debugging IP Addresses page to restrict debugging output to one or more IP addresses. You can add
and remove IP addresses.
Note: If you do not specify IP addresses, and debugging options are active, ColdFusion displays debugging output for
all users.

Debugger Settings page
To use the ColdFusion Debugger that runs in Eclipse, select the Allow Line Debugging option.
Specify the port and the maximum number of simultaneous debugging sessions. Specify the debugger port in the
JVM settings of your application server, for example:
-Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=#portNum#

To stop a currently running debugging session, click Stop Debugging.
To make the changes you specify on this page take effect, restart the ColdFusion server.

Logging Settings page
Use the Logging Settings page of the Administrator to change ColdFusion logging options. The following table
describes the settings:
Option

Description

Log Directory

Specifies the directory to which error log files are written.
TIP: Restart ColdFusion after you change this setting.

Maximum File Size (kb)

Sets the maximum file size for log files. When a file hits this size, it automatically
is archived.

Maximum Number Of Archives

Sets the maximum number of log archives to create. When they reach this limit,
files are deleted in the order of oldest to newest.

Log Slow Pages Taking Longer
Than [n] Seconds

Logs the names of pages that take longer than the specified interval to process.
Logging slow pages can help you diagnose potential problems or bottlenecks in
your ColdFusion applications. Entries are written to the server.log file.

Log All CORBA Calls

Logs all CORBA calls.

Enable Logging For Scheduled
Tasks

Logs ColdFusion Executive task scheduling.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 31
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Log Files page
The Log Files page lets you perform operations on log files, such as searching, viewing, downloading, archiving,
and deleting.
Click on a Log File icon, located in the Actions column of the Available Log Files table, to search, view, download,
archive, or delete a log file.
For more information, see the ColdFusion Administrator online Help.
The following table describes the ColdFusion log files:
Log file

Description

rdservice.log

Records errors that occur in the ColdFusion Remote Development Service (RDS).
RDS provides remote HTTP-based access to files and databases.

application.log

Records every ColdFusion error reported to a user. Application page errors,
including ColdFusion syntax, ODBC, and SQL errors, are written to this log file.

exception.log

Records stack traces for exceptions that occur in ColdFusion.

scheduler.log

Records scheduled events that have been submitted for execution. Indicates
whether task submission was initiated and whether it succeeded. Provides the
scheduled page URL, the date and time executed, and a task ID.

eventgateway.log

Records events and errors related to event gateways.

migration.log

Records errors related to upgrading from a previous version of ColdFusion.

migrationException.log

Records errors related to running ColdFusion applications after upgrading from
a previous version of ColdFusion.

server.log

Records errors for ColdFusion.

customtag.log

Records errors generated in custom tag processing.

car.log

Records errors associated with site archive and restore operations.

mail.log

Records errors generated by an SMTP mail server.

mailsent.log

Records messages that ColdFusion sends.

flash.log

Records entries for Flash® Remoting.

32 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Scheduled Tasks page
You use the Scheduled Tasks page to schedule the execution of local and remote web pages, to generate static
HTML pages, send mail with the cfmail tag, update database tables, index Verity collections, delete temporary
files, and any other batch-style processing. The scheduling facility is useful for applications that do not require
user interactions or customized output. ColdFusion developers use this facility to schedule daily sales reports,
corporate directories, statistical reports, and so on.
Information that is read more often than written is a good candidate for scheduled tasks. Instead of executing a
query to a database every time the page is requested, ColdFusion renders the static page with information that the
scheduled event generates. Response time is faster because no database transaction takes place.
You can run scheduled tasks once; on a specified date; or at a specified time, daily, weekly, or monthly; daily; at a
specified interval; or between specified dates.
The Scheduled Task page lets you create, edit, pause, resume, and delete scheduled tasks. For more information,
see the online help.

System Probes page
System probes help you evaluate the status of your ColdFusion applications. Like scheduled tasks, they access a
URL at a specified interval, but they can also check for the presence or absence of a string in the URL. If the URL
contents are unexpected, or if an error occurred while accessing the URL, the probe can send an e-mail alert to
the address specified on the System Probes page. The probe can also execute a script to perform a recovery action,
such as restarting the server. All probe actions are logged in the logs/probes.log file. The System Probes page also
displays the status of each probe.
You use the buttons in the Actions column in the System Probes table to perform the following actions:
Action

Description

Edit

Lets you edit the probe.

Run

Runs the probe immediately, even if it was previously disabled.

Enable/Disable

Starts and stops the probe from automatically executing at its specified interval.

Delete

Deletes the probe.

Because probes run as scheduled ColdFusion tasks, they will not run if the server on which they are hosted
crashes, or if the host web server crashes or otherwise does not respond.
System probes are available in ColdFusion Enterprise Edition only.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 33
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Code Analyzer page
The Code Analyzer page evaluates your ColdFusion pages for potential incompatibilities between ColdFusion 8
and previous versions of ColdFusion. It reviews the CFML pages that you specify and informs you of any potential
compatibility issues. Additionally, the Code Compatibility Analyzer detects unsupported and deprecated CFML
features, and outlines the required implementation changes that ensure a smooth migration

License Scanner page
The License Scanner page searches the local subnet to find other running instances of ColdFusion. You can use
this information to determine whether the ColdFusion instances within the subnet are licensed appropriately.
The ColdFusion Administrator uses universal datagram protocol (UDP) multicast to collect license and version
information from all ColdFusion instances running within the subnet.

Server Monitoring section
The Server Monitoring section lets you run the following:
• Server Monitor
• Multiserver Monitor

The Server Monitor is an Adobe Flash application that lets you track activities on a ColdFusion Server. You can
identify information about the server, including requests, queries, memory usage, and errors. You can start and
stop collecting server information and take snapshots of the server.
The Multiserver Monitor is another Flash application. It lets you track the status of several servers.

Extensions section
Use the Extensions section of the Administrator to configure ColdFusion to work with other technologies, such
as Java and CORBA.
The Extensions section contains the following pages:
• Java Applets page
• CFX Tags page

34 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

• Custom Tag Paths page
• CORBA Connectors page

Java Applets page
The Java Applets page of the Administrator lets you register applets and edit and delete applet registrations. Before
you can use Java applets in your ColdFusion applications, you must register them in the Java Applets page.
When your applet is registered with ColdFusion, using the cfapplet tag in your CFML code is simple, because
all parameters are predefined: Enter the applet source and the form variable name to use.
Note: Parameters set with the cfapplet tag override parameters defined on the Java Applets page.
For more information, see the online help.

CFX Tags page
Before you can use a CFX tag in ColdFusion applications, you must register it. Use the CFX Tags page to register
and manage ColdFusion custom tags built with C++ and Java.
You can build CFX tags in the following two ways:
• Using C++ as a dynamic link library (DLL) on Windows or as shared objects (.so or .sl extension) on Solaris

and Linux
• Using Java interfaces defined in the cfx.jar file

For more information, see the online help.

Custom Tag Paths page
Use the Custom Tag Paths page of the Administrator to add, edit, and delete custom tag directory paths. The
default custom tag path is under the installation directory. To use custom tags in another path, register the path
on this Administrator page.
For more information, see the online Help.

CORBA Connectors page
Use the CORBA Connectors page to register, edit, and delete CORBA connectors. You must register CORBA
connectors before you use them in ColdFusion applications. You must also restart the server when you finish
configuring the CORBA connector.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 35
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

ColdFusion loads object request broker (ORB) libraries dynamically by using a connector, which does not restrict
ColdFusion developers to a specific ORB vendor. The connectors depend on the ORB runtime libraries provided
by the vendor. A connector for Borland Visibroker is embedded within ColdFusion. Make sure that the ORB
runtime libraries are in cf_root/runtime/lib (server configuration) or cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib
(multiserver and J2EE configurations).
The following table contains information about the libraries and connectors:
Operating
System

Vendor

ORB

ColdFusion connector

ORB library

Windows NT
and later

Borland

VisiBroker 4.5

coldfusion.runtime.corba.VisibrokerConnector
(embedded)

vbjorb.jar

Solaris

Borland

VisiBroker 4.5

coldfusion.runtime.corba.VisibrokerConnector
(embedded)

vbjorb.jar

The following lines are an example of a CORBA connector configuration for VisiBroker:
ORB Name
ORB Class Name
ORB Property File
Classpath

visibroker
coldfusion.runtime.corba.VisibrokerConnector
c:\ColdFusion8\runtime\cfusion\lib\vbjorb.properties
[blank]

ColdFusion includes the vbjorb.properties file, which contains the following properties that configure the ORB:
org.omg.CORBA.ORBClass=com.inprise.vbroker.orb.ORB
org.omg.CORBA.ORBSingletonClass=com.inprise.vbroker.orb.ORB
SVCnameroot=namingroot

Event Gateways section
The Event Gateways section of the Administrator lets you configure event gateway settings, gateway types, and
gateway instances.
This Event Gateways section contains the following pages:
• Event Gateways Settings page
• Gateway Types page
• Gateway Instances page

36 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Event Gateways Settings page
The Event Gateways Settings page lets you configure settings for all event gateways, and start or stop the Short
Message Service (SMS) test server. The following table describes the settings:
Option

Description

Enable ColdFusion Event
Gateway Services

Specifies whether the service is enabled. Changing this setting restarts the service.

Event Gateway Processing
Threads

Specifies the maximum number of threads used to execute ColdFusion functions
when an event arrives. A higher number uses more resources, but increases event
throughput.

Maximum Number Of
Events To Queue

Specifies the maximum number of events allowed on the event queue. If the queue
length exceeds this value, gateway events will not be added to the processing queue.

Start/Stop SMS Test Server

Starts and stops the short message service (SMS) test server.

Gateway Types page
The Gateways Types pages lets you configure the types of gateways available on your system. After you configure
a type, you can create any number of gateway instances of that type. The following table describes the event
gateway types that ColdFusion includes:
Gateway type

Description

CFML

Triggers asynchronous events from ColdFusion.

DataManagement

Lets a ColdFusion application notify a Flex destination about changes in the data
that the destination manages.

DataServicesMessaging

Sends messages to and receive messages from Flex applications.

FMS Gateway

Modifies data through the ColdFusion application or the Flash client, and reflects
the change in the Flash Media Server shared object.

SMS

Used to send and receive SMS messages.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 37
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Gateway type

Description

SAMETIME

Used to send and receive instant messages through Lotus SameTime.

XMPP

Used to send and receive instant messages through the Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol (XMPP).

Samples

Sample gateway types, including the following:

• DirectoryWatcher Watches a directory for file changes.
• JMS Acts as a Java Messaging Service consumer or producer.
• Socket Listens on a TCP/IP port.

Gateway Instances page
The Gateway Instances page lets you configure ColdFusion event gateway instances to direct events from various
sources to ColdFusion components (CFCs) that you have written. The following table describes the settings:
Option
Gateway ID

Description
A name for the event gateway instance. You use this value in the ColdFusion
GetGatewayHelper and SendGatewayMessage functions.

Gateway Type

The event gateway type.

CFC Path

The absolute path to the listener CFC that handles incoming messages.

Configuration File

(Optional) Configuration file, if required for the event gateway instance.

Startup Mode

The event gateway startup status, as follows:

• Automatic Start the event gateway when ColdFusion starts.
• Manual Do not start the event gateway with ColdFusion, but allow starting it
from the Gateway Instances page.

• Disabled Do not allow the event gateway to start.

Security section
The Security section of the Administrator lets you configure the security frameworks of ColdFusion.
For more information on security, see “Administering Security” on page 101.

38 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

The Security section contains the following pages:
• Administrator page
• RDS page
• Sandbox Security page
• User Manager page

Administrator page
Use the Administrator page of the Administrator to enable and disable password-restricted access to the Administrator, and to change the Administrator password. Restrict ColdFusion Administrator access to trusted users.
You can also specify whether to have all users use a single ColdFusion Administrator password or to allow only
users defined in the User Manager and the root administrative user to have access to the ColdFusion Administrator.

RDS page
Use the RDS page to enable and disable password-restricted RDS access to server resources from Macromedia
Dreamweaver MX from Adobe, Macromedia HomeSite+ from Adobe Systems Incorporated, ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse, or the ColdFusion Report Builder, and to change the RDS password. You can also specify
whether to have all users use a single RDS password, or to allow only users defined in the User Manager to have
access through RDS.

Sandbox Security page
You use the Sandbox Security page (called Resource Security in the Standard Edition) to specify security permissions for data sources, tags, functions, files, and directories.
Sandbox security uses the location of your ColdFusion pages to determine functionality. A sandbox is a designated
area (CFM files or directories that contain CFM files) of your site to which you apply security restrictions. By
default, a subdirectory (or child directory) inherits the sandbox settings of the directory one level above it (the
parent directory). If you define sandbox settings for a subdirectory, you override the sandbox settings inherited
from the parent directory.
Use sandbox security to control access to the following:
• Data sources
• Tags

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 39
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

• Functions
• Files and directories
• IP addresses and ports

Note: If you have enabled sandbox security and want to use the Administrator API, you must enable access to the
CFIDE/adminapi directory.

User Manager page
Use the User Manager page to specify the username, password, description, access rights, sandboxes, and allowed
roles for individual users. This page is especially useful for web hosting when multiple ColdFusion applications
are on one server, each maintained by a different user or organization.
You can grant access to the ColdFusion Administrator, which also grants access to the Administrator API.
If the administrator revokes a user’s role while the user is logged in, there is no effect; the revocation takes effect
when the user logs in again.
The default administrator user ID is admin. To change the administrator user ID, add the following in the neosecurity.xml file, replacing admin with the user ID to use:

admin

Packaging and Deployment section
The Packaging and Deployment section of the Administrator lets you create and deploy CAR files and create J2EE
EAR or WAR files that include an existing ColdFusion application and the ColdFusion runtime system
This Packaging and Deployment section contains the following pages:
• ColdFusion Archives page
• J2EE Archives page

40 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

ColdFusion Archives page
The ColdFusion Archives page includes tools that let you archive and deploy ColdFusion applications, configuration settings, data source information, and other types of information to back up your files quickly and easily.
The complete list of archivable information includes the following:
• Name and file location
• Server settings
• ColdFusion mappings
• Data sources
• Verity collections
• Scheduled tasks
• Event gateway instances
• Java applets
• CFX tags
• Archive to do lists

After you archive the information, you can use the Administrator to deploy your web applications to the same
ColdFusion server or to a ColdFusion server running on a different computer. Additionally, you can use these
features to deploy and receive any ColdFusion archive file electronically.
The Archive Settings page lets you configure various archive system settings that apply to all archive and
deployment operations. For more information, see the online help.

J2EE Archives page
The J2EE Archives page lets you create an enterprise application archive (EAR) file or web application archive
(WAR) file that contains the following items:
• The ColdFusion web application.
• Server settings, such as data sources and custom tag paths.
• Your application’s CFML pages, stored in the ColdFusion web application’s root directory.

With this EAR or WAR file, a J2EE administrator can deploy your ColdFusion MX application to a J2EE application server.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 41
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

If you are creating a cluster of server instances when running the multiserver configuration, use this page to create
the WAR or EAR file to be used when creating each of the servers in the cluster.
You can create a J2EE archive regardless of whether you are running ColdFusion MX in the server configuration
or the J2EE configuration. However, you must be running the J2EE configuration to deploy an EAR or WAR file.

Enterprise Manager section
The Enterprise Manager section of the Administrator lets you create JRun server instances with ColdFusion
already deployed, register remote JRun server instances, and create clusters of JRun server instances.
Note: The Enterprise Manager section appears only if you install the multiserver configuration. It does not display in
the server configuration. Nor does it display when running in a J2EE configuration (other than that deployed in the
cfusion server of the multiserver configuration).
The Enterprise Manager section contains the following pages:
• Instance Manager page
• Cluster Manager page

Instance Manager page
The Instance Manager page lets you view the local and remote JRun servers that can be accessed by a cfusion
server running in the multiserver configuration.
From this page you can access pages that define new, local, JRun servers and register existing JRun servers running
on remote computers, as follows:
Add New Instance Create a new JRun server and automatically deploy a copy of the current ColdFusion MX

application into that server. Alternatively, you can deploy ColdFusion MX applications packaged using the J2EE
Archives page.
Register Remote Instance Define an existing remote JRun server to the Instance Manager for the purpose of

adding these servers to a cluster. The remote JRun server instance need not be running when you define it to the
Instance Manager, however, it must be running before you can add it to a cluster.

42 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Cluster Manager page
The Cluster Manager page in ColdFusion MX Administrator lets you create and manage clusters of JRun servers,
each containing the same ColdFusion MX application.

Custom Extensions section
You can extend the functionality of the ColdFusion Administrator by adding links to other web applications and
sites. These links appear under the Custom Extensions section in the left navigation pane of the Administrator.
Extend the Administrator
1 Create a file that contains the HTML link code, followed by a
, with a separate line for each link. Do not

include other HTML code, such as or tags.
The target attribute is required for each link; if you specify target="content", the page appears in the
main pane of the Administrator. If you specify any other value for the target attribute, the page appears in a
new window.
2 Save this file as extensionscustom.cfm in the Administrator root directory (/CFIDE/administrator/).

For example, the following file adds links for Bowdoin College, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and La
Sapienza:
Bowdoin College

Universidad Complutense de
Madrid

La Sapienza

When you click a link, the page appears.
Alternatively, you can extend the ColdFusion Administrator by editing the wwwroot/CFIDE/administrator/custommenu.xml file.

Administrator API
You can use the Administrator API to perform most ColdFusion Administrator tasks programmatically. The
Administrator API consists of a set of ColdFusion components (CFCs) that contain methods you call to perform
Administrator tasks. For example, you use the setMSQL method of datasource.cfc to add a SQL Server data source.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 43
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

The CFCs for the Administrator API are located in the cf_web_root/CFIDE/adminapi directory, and each CFC
corresponds to an area of the ColdFusion Administrator, as the following table shows:
CFC

Description

accessmanager.cfc

Specify the username, password, description, access rights, sandboxes, and allowed
roles for individual users.

administrator.cfc

Contains basic Administrator functionality, including login, logout, the Migration
Wizard, and the Setup Wizard. You must call the login method before calling any
other methods in the Administrator API.

base.cfc

Base object for all other Administrator API CFCs.

datasource.cfc

Add, modify, and delete ColdFusion data sources.

debugging.cfc

Manage debug settings.

eventgateway.cfc

Manage event gateways.

extensions.cfc

Manage custom tags, mappings, CFXs, applets, CORBA, and web services.

mail.cfc

Manage ColdFusion mail settings.

runtime.cfc

Manage runtime settings for fonts, cache, charts, configuration, and other settings.

security.cfc

Manage passwords, RDS, and sandbox security.

serverinstance.cfc

Start, stop, and restart JRun servers. This CFC only works when running the multiserver
configuration.

servermonitoring.cfc

Perform many of the Server Monitor tasks programmatically.

The adminapi directory also contains an Application.cfm file and two subdirectories.
Note: If you are using sandbox security, you must enable access to the cf_web_root/CFIDE/adminapi directory to use
the Administrator API.
There are two styles of methods in the Administrator API:
• Method arguments When setting complex or varied values, the Administrator API uses method arguments.
• Getting and setting simple values When setting simple values, such as true or false debug settings, the Administrator API uses get and set property methods.

To view the methods, method arguments, and documentation for the Administrator API CFCs, use the CFC
Explorer. For example, to view datasource.cfc when running in the server configuration, open a browser to
http://localhost:8500/CFIDE/adminapi/datasource.cfc.

44 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

Use the Administrator API
1 Instantiate administrator.cfc:

// Login is always required.
adminObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator");

Note: You can instantiate administrator.cfc and call the login method in a single line of code, as the following
example shows:
createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator").login("admin");

2 Call the administrator.cfc login method, passing the ColdFusion Administrator password or the RDS

password:
adminObj.login("admin");

3 Instantiate the desired CFC:
myObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.debugging");

4 Call the desired CFC method (this example enables debugging):
myObj.setDebugProperty(propertyName="enableDebug", propertyValue="true");

Examples
The following example adds a SQL Server data source:

// Login is always required. This example uses two lines of code.
adminObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator");
adminObj.login("admin");
// Instantiate the data source object.
myObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.datasource");
// Create a DSN.
myObj.setMSSQL(driver="MSSQLServer",
name="northwind_MSSQL",
host = "10.1.147.73",
port = "1433",
database = "northwind",
username = "sa",
login_timeout = "29",
timeout = "23",

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 45
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

interval = 6,
buffer = "64000",
blob_buffer = "64000",
setStringParameterAsUnicode = "false",
description = "Northwind SQL Server",
pooling = true,
maxpooledstatements = 999,
enableMaxConnections = "true",
maxConnections = "299",
enable_clob = true,
enable_blob = true,
disable = false,
storedProc = true,
alter = false,
grant = true,
select = true,
update = true,
create = true,
delete = true,
drop = false,
revoke = false );

The following example adds the same SQL Server data source, but uses the argumentCollection attribute to
pass all method arguments in a structure:

// Login is always required. This example uses a single line of code.
createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator").login("admin");
// Instantiate the data source object.
myObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.datasource");
// Required arguments for a data source.
stDSN = structNew();
stDSN.driver = "MSSQLServer";
stDSN.name="northwind_MSSQL";
stDSN.host = "10.1.147.73";
stDSN.port = "1433";
stDSN.database = "northwind";
stDSN.username = "sa";
// Optional and advanced arguments.

46 CHAPTER 3
Using the ColdFusion Administrator

stDSN.login_timeout = "29";
stDSN.timeout = "23";
stDSN.interval = 6;
stDSN.buffer = "64000";
stDSN.blob_buffer = "64000";
stDSN.setStringParameterAsUnicode = "false";
stDSN.description = "Northwind SQL Server";
stDSN.pooling = true;
stDSN.maxpooledstatements = 999;
stDSN.enableMaxConnections = "true";
stDSN.maxConnections = "299";
stDSN.enable_clob = true;
stDSN.enable_blob = true;
stDSN.disable = false;
stDSN.storedProc = true;
stDSN.alter = false;
stDSN.grant = true;
stDSN.select = true;
stDSN.update = true;
stDSN.create = true;
stDSN.delete = true;
stDSN.drop = false;
stDSN.revoke = false;
//Create a DSN.
myObj.setMSSQL(argumentCollection=stDSN);

Chapter 4: Data Source Management
A data source is a complete database configuration that uses a JDBC driver to communicate with a specific
database. In Adobe ColdFusion, you must configure a data source for each database that you want to use. After
you configure a data source, ColdFusion can then communicate with that data source through JDBC.
For basic information on data sources and connecting to databases, click Resources in the ColdFusion Administrator, and then select Getting Started Experience.
Contents

About JDBC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Adding data sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Connecting to Apache Derby Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Connecting to Apache Derby Embedded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Connecting to DB2 Universal Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Connecting to Informix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Connecting to Microsoft Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Connecting to Microsoft Access with Unicode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Connecting to MySQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Connecting to ODBC Socket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Connecting to Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Connecting to other data sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Connecting to PostgreSQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Connecting to Sybase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Connecting to JNDI data sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

About JDBC
JDBC is a Java Application Programming Interface (API) that you use to execute SQL statements. JDBC enables
an application, such as ColdFusion, to interact with a variety of database management systems (DBMSs), without
using interfaces that are database- and platform-specific.

48 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

The following table describes the four types of JDBC drivers:
Type

Name

Description

JDBC-ODBC bridge

Translates JDBC calls to ODBC calls, and sends them to the ODBC driver.
Advantages Allows access to many different databases.
Disadvantages The ODBC driver, and possibly the client database libraries,
must reside on the ColdFusion server computer. Performance is slower than other
JDBC driver types.
Adobe does not recommend this driver type unless your application requires
DBMS-specific features.

Native-API/partly
Java driver

Converts JDBC calls to database-specific calls.
Advantages Better performance than Type 1 driver.
Disadvantages The vendor’s client database libraries must reside on the
same computer as ColdFusion.
ColdFusion includes a Type 2 driver for use with Microsoft Access Unicode databases.

JDBC-Net pure Java
driver

Translates JDBC calls to the middle-tier server, which then translates the request
to the database-specific native-connectivity interface.
Advantages No need for vendor’s database libraries to be present on client
computer. Can be tailored for small size (faster loading).
Disadvantages Database-specific code must be executed in the middle tier.
ColdFusion includes an ODBC socket Type 3 driver for use with Microsoft Access
databases and ODBC data sources.

Native-protocol/allJava driver

Converts JDBC calls to the network protocol used directly by the database.
Advantages Fast performance. No special software needed on the computer
on which you run ColdFusion.
Disadvantages Many of these protocols are proprietary, requiring a different
driver for each database.
ColdFusion includes Type 4 drivers for many popular DBMSs; however, not all
DBMSs are supported in ColdFusion Standard Edition.

JDBC drivers are stored in JAR files. For example, the JDBC drivers that are supplied with ColdFusion are in the
_drivers.jar file. If you are using another JDBC driver, you must store it in the ColdFusion classpath. For example,
cf_root/cfusion/lib (server configuration) or cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib (multiserver or J2EE configuration).

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 49
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Supplied drivers
The following table lists the database drivers supplied with ColdFusion and where you can find more information
about them:
Driver

Type

For more information

Apache Derby Client

“Connecting to Apache Derby Client” on page 52

Apache Derby Embedded

“Connecting to Apache Derby Embedded” on page 53

DB2 Universal Database

“Connecting to DB2 Universal Database” on page 55

DB2 OS/390

“Connecting to other data sources” on page 71

Informix

“Connecting to Informix” on page 56

Microsoft Access

“Connecting to Microsoft Access” on page 58

Microsoft Access with Unicode support 2

“Connecting to Microsoft Access with Unicode” on page 60

Microsoft SQL Server

“Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server” on page 62

MySQL

“Connecting to MySQL” on page 65

ODBC Socket

“Connecting to ODBC Socket” on page 67

Oracle

“Connecting to Oracle” on page 69

Other
Sybase

“Connecting to other data sources” on page 71
4

“Connecting to Sybase” on page 74

To see a list of database versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf.
When running in the J2EE configuration, the ColdFusion Administrator also lets you configure a data source that
connects to a JNDI data source. A Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) data source is equivalent to a
ColdFusion data source, except you define it by using your J2EE application server. After it’s defined, ColdFusion
applications use it as they would any data source. For information on defining a JNDI data source, see
“Connecting to JNDI data sources” on page 76.

50 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Adding data sources
In the ColdFusion Administrator, you configure your data sources to communicate with ColdFusion. After you
add a data source to the Administrator, you access it by name in any CFML tag that establishes database connections; for example, in the cfquery tag. During a query, the data source tells ColdFusion which database to connect
to and what parameters to use for the connection.
The ColdFusion Administrator organizes all the information about a ColdFusion server’s database connections
in a single, easy-to-manage location. In addition to adding new data sources, you can use the Administrator to
specify changes to your database configuration, such as relocation, renaming, or changes in security permissions.

Adding data sources in the Administrator
You use the ColdFusion Administrator to quickly add a data source for use in your ColdFusion applications.
When you add a data source, you assign it a data source name (DSN) and set all information required to establish
a connection.
Note: ColdFusion includes data sources that are configured by default. You do not need the following procedure to
work with these data sources.
Add a data source
1 In the ColdFusion Administrator, select Data & Services > Data Sources.
2 Under Add New Data Source, enter a data source name; for example, MyTestDSN. The following names are
reserved; you cannot use them for data source names:
•

service

•

jms_provider

•

comp

•

jms

3 Select a driver from the drop-down list box; for example, Microsoft SQL Server.
4 Click Add.

A form for additional DSN information appears. The available fields in this form depend on the driver that
you selected.
5 In the Database field, enter the name of the database; for example, Northwind.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 51
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

6 In the Server field, enter the network name or IP address of the server that hosts the database, and enter any
required Port value; for example, the bullwinkle server on the default port.
7 If your database requires login information, enter your Username and Password.

Note: The omission of required username and password information is a common reason why a data source fails
to verify.
8 (Optional) Enter a Description.
9 (Optional) Click Show Advanced Settings to specify any ColdFusion specific settings; for example, to configure
which SQL commands can interact with this data source.
10 Click Submit to create the data source.

ColdFusion automatically verifies that it can connect to the data source.
11 (Optional) To verify this data source later, click the verify icon in the Actions column.

Note: To check the status of all data sources available to ColdFusion, click Verify All Connections.
Specifying connection string arguments

The ColdFusion Administrator lets you specify connection-string arguments for data sources. In the Advanced
Settings page, use the Connection String field to enter name-value pairs separated by a semicolon. For more information, see the documentation for your database driver.
Note: The cfquery connectstring attribute is no longer supported.
Guidelines for data sources

When you add data sources to ColdFusion, keep the following guidelines in mind:
• Data source names should be all one word.
• Data source names can contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, and the underscore character (_).
• Data source names should not contain special characters or spaces.
• Although data source names are not case-sensitive, you should use a consistent capitalization scheme.
• Depending on the JDBC driver, connection strings and JDBC URLs might be case-sensitive.
• Use the Administrator to verify that ColdFusion can connect to the data source.
• A data source must exist in the ColdFusion Administrator before you use it on an application page to retrieve

data.

52 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Connecting to Apache Derby Client
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to Apache Derby Client:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The name of the database.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database is local,
enclose the word local in parentheses.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).
The user name must have CREATE PACKAGE privileges for the database, or the database
administrator must create a package. Consult the database administrator when configuring
this type of data source.

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data source.
If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data source
connection.

CLOB

Returns the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for this data source. If
unchecked, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer
setting. For UDB 7.1 and 7.2, there is a 32K limit on CLOBs.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 53
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

BLOB

Returns the entire contents of any BLOB/Image columns in the database for this data source.
If unchecked, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer
setting. BLOBs are not supported on UDB 7.1 and 7.2.

LongText Buffer
(chr)

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer (bytes)

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time because
an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before restarting the database
to verify all connections, but remove the validation query after restarting the database to
avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to Apache Derby Embedded
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to Apache Derby Embedded:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database folder

The folder where the database is located.

Create Database

Select this option to create a database. The new database exists in the path specified in the
Database Folder. If the database already exists, a SQL warning is generated, and a connection
to the existing database is established.

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

ColdFusion Username

The username you use to log in to the ColdFusion Administrator.

ColdFusion Password

The password you use to log in to the ColdFusion Administrator.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data source.

54 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data source.
If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the maximum.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

Max Pooled Statements

Select this option to reuse prepared statements (that is, stored procedures and queries that
use the cfqueryparam tag). Although you tune this setting based on your application, start by
setting it to the sum of the following:

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data source
connection.

CLOB

BLOB

LongText Buffer
(chr)

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer (bytes)

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 55
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Connecting to DB2 Universal Database
For information on defining data sources that work with DB2 for OS/390 or iSeries, see “Connecting to other data
sources” on page 71. To see a list of DB2 versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf.
Note: DB2 Universal Database (UDB) refers to all versions of DB2 running on Windows, UNIX, and Linux/s390
platforms.
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to DB2:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The name of the database.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database is local,
enclose the word local in parentheses.

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data source.
If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

56 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

Max Pooled Statements

Enables reuse of prepared statements (that is, stored procedures and queries that use the
cfqueryparam tag). Although you tune this setting based on your application, start by
setting it to the sum of the following:

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data source
connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data source
connection.

CLOB

Returns the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for this data source. If
unchecked, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer
setting. For UDB 7.1 and 7.2, there is a 32K limit on CLOBs.

BLOB

LongText Buffer
(chr)

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer (bytes)

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Connecting to Informix
To see a list of Informix versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf. Use the settings
in the following table to connect ColdFusion to Informix data sources:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 57
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The database to which this data source connects.

Informix Server

The name of the Informix database server to which you want to connect.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database. If the database is local, enclose the word
local in parentheses.

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data
source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data
source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the
maximum.

Restrict Connections
To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

Max Pooled Statements

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data source
connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

58 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the data source connection login
attempt.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for this data
source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long
Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for this data
source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB
Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before restarting the
database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to Microsoft Access
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to Microsoft Access data sources:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) used by ColdFusion to connect to the data source.

Database File

The file that contains the database.

System Database File To secure access to the specified database file, click Browse Server to locate and enter a database that contains database security information. The system database is usually located in
the same directory as the MDB file or in the windows\system32\system.mdw directory.
Use Default Username

If selected, ColdFusion does not pass a user name or password when requesting a connection. The Microsoft Access driver uses the default user name and password.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 59
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

ColdFusion Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

ColdFusion Password The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).
Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Page Timeout

The number of milliseconds before a request for a ColdFusion page times out. The default is
600. If you observe excessive network activity when using this driver, increase the page timeout value.

Max Buffer Size

The size of the internal buffer, in kilobytes, that Access uses to transfer data to and from the
disk. The default buffer size is 2048 KB. Specify an integer value divisible by 256.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data
source.

Default Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Default Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Return Timestamp as Enable this setting if your application retrieves Date/Time data and then reuses it in SQL
String
statements without applying formatting (using functions such as DateFormat,
TimeFormat, and CreateODBCDateTime).
Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data
source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the
maximum.

Restrict Connections
To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data source
connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the data source connection login
attempt.

60 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

CLOB

Returns the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for this data source.
If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text
Buffer setting.

BLOB

Returns the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for this data source.
If unchecked, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer
setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before restarting the
database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to Microsoft Access with Unicode
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to Microsoft Access with Unicode data sources (this
is a Type 2 driver):
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database File

The file that contains the database.

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

ColdFusion Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

The time (in tenths of a second) before a request for a ColdFusion page times out.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 61
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

Max Buffer Size

The size of the internal buffer, in kilobytes, used by Microsoft Access to transfer data to and
from the disk. Can be any integer value divisible by 256.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data
source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data
source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the
maximum.

Restrict Connections
To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data source
connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the data source connection login
attempt.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for this data
source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long
Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/Image columns in the database for this data
source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB
Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the CLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before restarting the
database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

62 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Note: This driver uses the Microsoft Jet list of reserved words, including the word Last. For a complete list, see
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=248738.

Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server
To see a list of SQL Server versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf. Use the settings
in the following table to connect ColdFusion to SQL Server:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source
Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The database to which this data source connects.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database is local,
enclose the word local in parentheses. If you are running SQL Server locally (or using MSDE),
specify 127.0.0.1 for the
server name instead of the actual instance name.

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data source if a
ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the data
source.

Select Method

Determines whether server cursors are used for SQL queries.

• The Direct method provides more efficient retrieval of data when you retrieve record sets
in a forward-only direction and you limit your SQL Server connection to a single open SQL
statement at a time. This is typical for ColdFusion applications.

• The Cursor method lets you have multiple open SQL statements on a connection. This is
not typical for ColdFusion applications, unless you use pooled statements.
Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the data
source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify the
maximum.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 63
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

Restrict Connections
To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use this
restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that requires one.
Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source connection.

String Format

Enable this option if your application uses Unicode data in DBMS-specific Unicode
datatypes, such as National Character or nchar.

Max Pooled Statements

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data source
connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the data source connection login
attempt.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for this data
source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long
Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size, used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The default
value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size, used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is 64000
bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before restarting the
database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

64 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Settings for the Northwind sample database
Previous versions of SQL Server included a sample database named Northwind. Establishing a connection to the
Northwind database can help you learn ColdFusion while using a familiar database.
To establish a connection to the SQL Server Northwind database, you must set up the database int he SQL Server
Enterprise manager and in the ColdFusion MX Administrator.
Set up the database in the SQL Server Enterprise manager
1 Expand the server group.
2 Expand the server.
3 Under the Security folder, right-click on Logins.
4 Select New Login.
5 Select Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication settings.
6 Select the Northwind database, and specify the language.
7 Ensure that the database server is using mixed authentication. While in Enterprise Manager, right click on the
server, select Properties > Security and then select the Security tab. Ensure that the SQL Server and Windows
radio button is clicked.
8 Click OK.
Set up the database in the ColdFusion Administrator
1 Open the ColdFusion Administrator.
2 Click Data & Services > Data Sources.
3 Type northwind in the Data Source Name field, and select Microsoft SQL Server in the Driver drop-down list

box.
4 Click Add.
5 Type Northwind in the Database Name field, 127.0.0.1 (or the database server IP address) in the Server field,
and 1433 in the Port field.

Note: Do not specify a user name or password when defining the data source.
6 Save the data source.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 65
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Troubleshooting SQL Server connections
If you are having trouble establishing a connection to SQL Server, review the following considerations:
1 If you installed SQL Server using a server name other than the default, you must use your chosen
domain\servername wherever there’s a reference to (local).

The following situations can cause a Connection Refused error:
• If you specified authentication information in SQL Server, ensure that you have not defined a username and

password in the ColdFusion data source.
• You are running a connection-limited version of SQL Server and the request exceeds the limit for TCP/IP

connections.
You can prevent this exception by setting the Limit Connections and Restrict Connections To options in
ColdFusion Administrator on the Advanced Settings page for the data sources, and specifying a number less
than the SQL Server maximum.
2 SQL Server does not enable the TCP/IP protocol. This problem can happen when SQL Server is on the same
computer as ColdFusion. To fix this problem, perform the following steps:
a In SQL Server Enterprise Manager, right-click on the name of your SQL Server and click Properties.
b Click Network Configuration and the General Tab.
c Move TCP/IP from the Disabled Protocols section to the Enabled Protocols section.
d Click OK.
e Restart the SQL Server services.
f Verify your data source.
3 If you have are having trouble connecting, consider using mixed-mode authentication for SQL Server
(Windows and SQL) and removing the user name and password from the ColdFusion data source.

Connecting to MySQL
To see a list of MySQL versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf.
Note: By default, queries to MySQL data sources return isCaseSensitive = NO for each column in the return structure
from the GetMetaData function. Set the system property -Dcoldfusion.mysql.enableiscasesensitive=true
to turn on the calls to isCaseSensitive.

66 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to MySQL data sources:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The database to which this data source connects.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database
is local, enclose the word local in parentheses.

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source, if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source, if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to
specify the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data
source connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection
before destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the data source connection
login attempt.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 67
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response
time because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before
restarting the database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query
after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to ODBC Socket
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to ODBC Socket data sources (this is a Type 3
driver):
Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

ODBC DSN

Select the ODBC DSN to connect to ColdFusion.

Trusted Connection

Specifies whether to use domain user account access to the database. Only valid for
SQL Server.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

68 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Return Timestamp as String

Enable this option if your application retrieves Date/Time data and then re-uses it in
SQL statements without applying formatting (using functions such as
DateFormat, TimeFormat, and CreateODBCDateTime).

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to
specify the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data
source connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection
before destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the
data source connection.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB /Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 69
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response
time because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before
restarting the database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query
after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to Oracle
To see a list of Oracle versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf. Use the settings in
the following table to connect ColdFusion to Oracle data sources:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

SID Name

The Oracle System Identifier (SID) that refers to the instance of the Oracle database
software running on the server. The default value is ORCL.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database
is local, enclose the word local in parentheses.

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify
the maximum.

70 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source
connection.

Max Pooled Statements

Enables reuse of prepared statements (that is, stored procedures and queries that
use the cfqueryparam tag). Although you tune this setting based on your application, start by setting it to the sum of the following:

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
The default value is 300.
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data
source connection.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response
time because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before
restarting the database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query
after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 71
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Connecting to other data sources
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to data sources through JDBC drivers that do not
appear in the drop-down list of drivers:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

JDBC URL

The JDBC connection URL for this data source.

Driver Class

The fully qualified class name of the driver. For example, com.inet.tds.TdsDriver. The
JAR file that contains this class must be in a directory defined in the ColdFusion classpath.

Driver Name

(Optional) The name of the driver.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify
the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source
connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

72 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data
source connection.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/Text columns in the database for this
data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified
in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

For example, you can use the Other Data Sources option to define a data source for DB2 OS/390 or iSeries, using
the following settings:
JDBC URL jdbc:datadirect:db2://dbserver:portnumber
Driver class .jdbc.Driver
Driver name DB2
Username A user defined to the database
Password The password for the username
Connection string Specify one connection string for the first connection, and then modify it for use in subsequent

connections, as follows:
1 On the initial connection, specify LocationName, CollectionId, CreateDefaultPackage, and sendStringParametersAsUnicode (with no spaces) as the following example shows:
LocationName=SAMPLE;CollectionId=DEFAULT;CreateDefaultPackage=TRUE;sendStringParamete
rsAsUnicode=false

Note: If the database uses Unicode, specify true for the sendStringParametersAsUnicode parameter.
2 On subsequent connections, specify LocationName, CollectionId, and sendStringParametersAsUnicode, as the
following example shows:
LocationName=SAMPLE;CollectionId=DEFAULT;sendStringParametersAsUnicode=false

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 73
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Note: DB2 OS/390 refers to all supported versions of DB2 on OS/390 and z/OS platforms; DB2 iSeries refers to all
supported versions of DB2 on iSeries and AS/400.
For more information on DB2, see “Connecting to DB2 Universal Database” on page 55.

Connecting to PostgreSQL
To see a list of PostgreSQL versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com. Use the settings in the
following table to connect ColdFusion to PostgreSQL data sources:
Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The database to which this data source connects.

Server

The name of the server that hosts the database that you want to use. If the database
is local, enclose the word local in parentheses. This name must be either a fully qualified domain name (resolvable through DNS) or an IP address. It cannot be a netbios
name (even if you are running NBT), or an alias you set up using the client connectivity wizard (both of these approaches worked in earlier ColdFusion versions).

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify
the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

74 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source
connection.

Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data
source connection.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before
restarting the database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query
after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to Sybase
To see a list of Sybase versions that ColdFusion supports, go to www.adobe.com/go/sysreqscf. Use the settings in
the following table to connect ColdFusion to Sybase data sources:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 75
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

Database

The database to which this data source connects.

Server

Port

The number of the TCP/IP port that the server monitors for connections.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a user name (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to the JDBC driver to connect to the data
source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a
cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

Connection String

A field that passes database-specific parameters, such as login credentials, to the
data source.

Select Method

Determines whether server cursors are used for SQL queries.

• The Direct method provides more efficient retrieval of data when you retrieve
record sets in a forward-only direction and you limit your Sybase connection to a
single open SQL statement at a time. This is typical for ColdFusion applications.

• The Cursor method lets you have multiple open SQL statements on a connection.
This is not typical for ColdFusion applications, unless you use pooled statements.
Limit Connections

Specifies whether ColdFusion limits the number of database connections for the
data source. If you enable this option, use the Restrict Connections To field to specify
the maximum.

Restrict Connections To

Specifies the maximum number of database connections for the data source. To use
this restriction, you must enable the Limit Connections option.

Maintain Connections

ColdFusion establishes a connection to a data source for every operation that
requires one. Enable this option to improve performance by caching the data source
connection.

76 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Setting

Description

Max Pooled Statements

Enables reuse of prepared statements (that is, stored procedures and queries that
use the cfqueryparam tag). Although you tune this setting based on your application, start by setting it to the sum of the following:

• Unique cfquery tags that use the cfqueryparam tag
• Unique cfstoredproc tags
Timeout (min)

The number of minutes that ColdFusion MX maintains an unused connection before
destroying it.

Interval (min)

The time (in minutes) that the server waits between cycles to check for expired data
source connections to close.

Disable Connections

If selected, suspends all client connections.

The number of seconds before ColdFusion times out the attempt to log in to the data
source connection.

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Validation query

Called when a connection from the pool is resued. This can slow query response time
because an additional query is generated. You should specify this just before
restarting the database to verify all connections, but remove the validation query
after restarting the database to avoid any performance loss.

Connecting to JNDI data sources
Use the settings in the following table to connect ColdFusion to JNDI data sources that are defined for a J2EE
application server (multiserver and J2EE configurations only):

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 77
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Setting

Description

CF Data Source Name

The data source name (DSN) that ColdFusion uses to connect to the data source.

JNDI Name

The JNDI location in which the J2EE application server stores the data source.

Username

The user name that ColdFusion passes to JNDI to connect to JNDI if a ColdFusion
application does not supply a user name (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Password

The password that ColdFusion passes to JNDI to connect to the data source if a ColdFusion application does not supply a password (for example, in a cfquery tag).

Description

(Optional) A description for this connection.

JNDI Environment Settings

Specifies additional JNDI environment settings, if required by the JNDI data source.
Use comma separated list of name/value pair. For example if you must specify a username and password to connect to JNDI, specify the following:
SECURITY_PRINCIPAL="myusername",SECURITY_CREDENTIALS="mypassw
ord"

CLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any CLOB/ Text columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the Long Text Buffer setting.

BLOB

Select to return the entire contents of any BLOB/ Image columns in the database for
this data source. If not selected, ColdFusion retrieves the number of characters specified in the BLOB Buffer setting.

LongText Buffer

The default buffer size; used if Enable Long Text Retrieval (CLOB) is not selected. The
default value is 64000 bytes.

BLOB Buffer

The default buffer size; used if the BLOB option is not selected. The default value is
64000 bytes.

Allowed SQL

The SQL operations that can interact with the current data source.

Note: The ColdFusion Administrator does not display the JNDI data source option when running in the server configuration.

Connecting to an external JDBC Type 4 data source
To use a JDBC driver that is not included with ColdFusion (such as SQLAnywhere) you must configure it and add
a data source for it.

78 CHAPTER 4
Data Source Management

Connect to an external JDBC data source:
1 Copy the database driver .jar file to one of the following directories:
•

(server configuration only) cf_root/lib

•

(multiserver or J2EE configuration) cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib

2 Restart ColdFusion.

Note: In Windows, ensure that you restart all of the ColdFusion 8 services.
3 In the ColdFusion Administrator, add the other JDBC Type 4 data source, selecting Other from the Driver
drop-down list box.

For more information, see the chapter on data source management in Configuring and Administering
ColdFusion.
You can now connect to an external JDBC Type 4 data source.

Chapter 5: Web Server Management
You can connect ColdFusion to the built-in web server and to external web servers, such as Apache, IIS, and Sun
ONE Web Server (formerly known as iPlanet).
ColdFusion lets you manage web servers when running in the server configuration, in the multiserver configuration, and when deploying on Macromedia JRun in the J2EE configuration. (Some J2EE application servers
include web server plug-ins that provide similar functionality.)
Contents

About web servers in ColdFusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using the built-in web server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using an external web server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Web server configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Multihoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

About web servers in ColdFusion
The web server is a critical component in your ColdFusion environment, and understanding how ColdFusion
interacts with web servers can help you administer your site. ColdFusion provides the following web server
options:
Built-in web server A lightweight, all-Java, HTTP 1.0 web server. Suitable for development but not intended for
use in production applications. For more information, see “Using the built-in web server” on page 79.
External web server A customized web server connector module that forwards requests for ColdFusion pages
from an external web server to ColdFusion. For more information, see “Using an external web server” on page 81.

Using the built-in web server
The ColdFusion server configuration is built on top of JRun, which includes the JRun web server (JWS), also
called the built-in web server. Although not intended for use in a production environment, the built-in web server
is particularly useful in the following cases:

80 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

Coexistence/transition The built-in web server lets you run a previous version of ColdFusion (using an external

web server) and ColdFusion (using the built-in web server) on the same computer while you migrate your existing
applications to ColdFusion.
Development If your workstation runs ColdFusion but does not run an external web server, you can still develop
and test ColdFusion applications locally through the built-in web server.

All web servers listen on a TCP/IP port, which you can specify in the URL. By default, web servers listen for HTTP
requests on port 80 (for example, http://www.adobe.com and http://www.adobe.com:80 are the same). Similarly,
port 443 is the default port for HTTPS requests.
By default in the server configuration, the built-in web server listens on port 8500. For example, to access the
ColdFusion Administrator through the built-in web server, specify http://servername:8500/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm. In the multiserver configuration, the default port for the built-in web server is 8300.
Note: URLs are case-sensitive on UNIX operating systems.
If you enable the built-in web server during the installation process and the port is already in use, the installer
automatically finds the next-highest available port and configures the built-in web server to use that port. To
determine the port number used by the built-in web server, open the
cf_root/runtime/servers/coldfusion/SERVER-INF/jrun.xml file in a text editor and examine the port attribute of
the WebService service. In the multiserver configuration, the path is jrun_root/servers/cfusion/SERVERINF/jrun.xml.
Note: When you install ColdFusion Enterprise Edition using the multiserver configuration, the installation wizard
always configures the built-in web server, even if you select an external web server.
Keep in mind the following when using the built-in web server:
• Whenever possible, configure your external web server as part of the ColdFusion installation, except for the

two cases mentioned at the beginning of this section (coexistence with a previous ColdFusion version, and
when the computer has no web server). If you select the built-in web server by mistake, run the Web Server
Configuration Tool manually to configure your external web server after the installation. For information
about the Web Server Configuration Tool, see “Web server configuration” on page 82.
• The default web root when using the built-in web server is cf_root/wwwroot (server configuration) or

jrun_root/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/cfusion-war (multiserver configuration). By default, the ColdFusion
Administrator (CFIDE directory) is under this web root.
• If you want the built-in web server to serve pages from a different web root directory, define a virtual mapping

in the cf_root/wwwroot/WEB-INF/jrun-web.xml file (jrun_root/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/cfusionwar/WEB-INF/jrun-web.xml in the multiserver configuration), as the following example shows:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 81
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

/*
C:/myApps/wwwroot

Important: If you have CFML pages under your external web server’s root, ensure that ColdFusion is configured to
serve these pages through the external web server. If you did not configure ColdFusion to use an external web server,
your external web server will serve ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) source code for ColdFusion pages saved
under its web root.

Using an external web server
ColdFusion uses the JRun web server connector to forward requests from an external web server to the
ColdFusion runtime system.
When a request is made for a CFM page, the connector on the web server opens a network connection to the JRun
proxy service. The ColdFusion runtime system handles the request and sends its response back through the proxy
service and connector. The web server connector uses web-server-specific plug-in modules, as the following table
describes:

82 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

Web server

Connector details

Apache

The Web Server Configuration Tool adds the following elements to the Apache
httpd.conf file:

• A LoadModule directive defines the connector.
• An AddHandler directive tells Apache to route requests for ColdFusion pages
through the connector.
For Apache 1.3.x, the connection module is mod_jrun.so; for Apache 2.x, the connection module is mod_jrun20.so.
IIS

The Web Server Configuration Tool adds the following elements at either the global
level (default) or website level:

• An ISAPI filter (available on IIS 5 only).
• Extension mappings that tell IIS to route requests for ColdFusion pages through the
connector.
With IIS 5, the IIS connection module is jrun.dll. IIS 6 uses a connection module named
jrun_iis6.dll and a helper DLL named jrun_iis6_wildcard.dll.
Sun ONE Web Server,
The Web Server Configuration Tool adds the following elements to Sun ONE Web
including iPlanet and
Server configuration files:
Netscape Enterprise Server
• obj.conf A PathCheck directive for the JRun filter and ObjectType directives to
(NES)
route requests for ColdFusion pages through the connector.

• magnus.conf Init directives to load and initialize the connector.
In Windows, the Sun ONE Web Server connection module is jrun_nsapi.dll; on UNIX,
the Sun ONE Web Server connection module is jrun_nsapi.so.
With iPlanet 4.x, the Web Server Configuration Tool places all settings in the obj.conf
file.

Web server configuration
ColdFusion uses the Web Server Configuration Tool to configure an external web server with the modules and
settings that the connector needs to connect to ColdFusion. You can run the Web Server Configuration Tool
through either the command-line interface or the graphical user interface (GUI). In either case, the Web Server
Configuration Tool configures your external web server to interact with a ColdFusion server.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 83
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Using GUI mode
The Web Server Configuration Tool includes a GUI mode, which you can use to specify external web server
configuration settings through a graphical interface.
Note: When you use the Web Server Configuration Tool in GUI mode, you must select the Configure Web Server for
ColdFusion Applications check box.
Run the Web Server Configuration Tool in GUI mode
1 Open a console window.

Note: In Windows, to start the Web Server Configuration Tool, select Start > Programs > Adobe > ColdFusion
8 > Web Server Configuration Tool.
2 Change to the cf_root/runtime/bin (server configuration) or jrun_root/bin (multiserver configuration)

directory.
3 Start the Web Server Configuration Tool using the wsconfig.exe (Windows) or wsconfig (UNIX) command.

The Web Server Configuration Tool window appears.
4 Click Add.
5 Select Configure Web Server For ColdFusion Applications.
6 In the Server drop-down list box, select the server or cluster name that you want to configure. (Individual
server names in a cluster do not appear. Clustering support is only available on the multiserver configuration.)

Note: The server or cluster does not have to reside on the web server computer. In this case, enter the IP address
or server name of the remote computer in the JRun Host field.
7 In the Web Server Properties area, enter web-server-specific information, and click OK.
8 (Optional) Move the CFIDE directory and other directories (such as cfdocs) from the built-in web server’s web
root to your web server root directory. In addition, you can copy your application’s CFM pages from the built-in
web server’s web root to your web server root directory.

Note: When a page is requested, the web server connector first looks for the ColdFusion page in the
cf_root/wwwroot (server configuration) or jrun_root/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/cfusion-war (multiserver
configuration) directory, and then looks under the web server root. Alternatively, you can use the command-line
interface and specify the -cfwebroot option.

84 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

9 (Optional) The web server connector does not serve static content (such as HTML files and images) from the
built-in web server’s root directory. If your ColdFusion web application has an empty context root (/) and you
want to serve pages from the built-in web server’s root directory, you can create a web server mapping to the corresponding directory under the built-in web server.

Using the command-line interface
You can also run the Web Server Configuration Tool through a command-line interface.
Run the command-line interface
1 Open a console window.
2 Change to the cf_root/runtime/bin (server configuration) or jrun_root/bin (multiserver configuration)

directory.
3 Execute the wsconfig.exe (Windows) or wsconfig (UNIX) command:
wsconfig.exe [-options]
./wsconfig [-options]

The following table describes the options:
Option

Description

-ws

Specifies the web server, as follows:

• IIS
• Apache
• SunOne
• iPlanet
• NES
The web server name you supply is not case-sensitive.
-dir

Specifies the path to the configuration directory (Apache conf or NES/iPlanet
config).

-site

Specifies the IIS website name (case-sensitive). Specify All or 0 to configure the
connector at a global level, which applies to all IIS websites.

-host

Specifies the ColdFusion server address. The default value is localhost.

-server

Specifies the ColdFusion server name.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 85
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Option

Description

-username

Specifies a username defined to the JRun server. The default value is guest
account.

-password

Specifies a password that corresponds to -username. The default value is
guest account.

-norestart

Specifies not to restart the web server.

-cluster

Specifies the JRun cluster name. Use this option to define a connection to a
JRun cluster instead of a single server.

-l

Enables verbose logging for the connector.

-a

Enables native OS memory allocation.

-map .cfm,.cfc,.cfml,.cfr,
.cfswf,.jsp,.jws

Specifies the extension mappings list. (To use the web server connector with
ColdFusion, specify .cfm, .cfc, .cfml, .cfr, .cfswf, .jsp, .jws.)

-filter-prefix-only

(IIS 5 only) Sets ignoresuffixmap=true in the jrun.ini file. This means that
the connector module runs as an IIS extension.

-coldfusion

Ensures that the proper ColdFusion mappings are set (.cfm, .cfml, .cfc, .cfswf,
.cfr, .jsp, .jws), and, if IIS, filter-prefix-only is implicitly specified.
Always use this option when you configure a web server for use with ColdFusion.

-upgrade

Upgrades existing configured connectors with newer modules from a newer
wsconfig.jar file.

-service

Specifies the Apache Windows service name. The default value is Apache.

-bin

Specifies the path to the Apache server binary file (apache.exe in Windows,
httpd on UNIX).

-script

Specifies the path to the Apache UNIX control script file (apachectl, but
slightly different with certain Apache variants, such as Stronghold).

-v

Enables verbose output from the Web Server Configuration Tool.

-cfwebroot

Specifies the directory corresponding to cf_root/wwwroot. If you use this
option, the Web Server Configuration Tool creates web server mappings for
/CFIDE and /cfdocs, each of which points to the corresponding directories
under cf_root/wwwroot. This option is useful in a multihoming or hosting
environment where you want multiple applications to share the ColdFusion
Administrator.

-list

Lists all configured web servers.

86 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

Option

Description

-list -host server-host

Lists all JRun servers on the specified host.

-remove

Removes a configuration. Requires the -ws and either the -dir or -site
options.

-uninstall

Uninstalls all configured connectors.

-h

Lists all parameters.

Using the batch files and shell scripts

The ColdFusion server configuration includes batch files and shell scripts that implement typical command-line
connector configurations. These files are in the cf_root/bin/connectors directory. For example, the
IIS_connector.bat file configures all sites in IIS to site 0, which establishes a globally defined connector so that all
sites inherit the filter and mappings.
If you use Apache or Sun ONE Web Server, use these files as prototypes, editing and saving them as appropriate
for your site.
Command-line interface examples

This section provides examples of multiple use-cases for different web servers:
1 Configure a specific IIS site:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig.exe -server coldfusion -ws iis -site "web31" -coldfusion
-v

On systems where all sites run ColdFusion, there is generally no need to configure an individual site.
2 Configure all existing IIS sites (ISPs):
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig.exe -server coldfusion -ws iis -site 0 -coldfusion
-cfwebroot C:\Inetpub\wwwroot -v

The -cfwebroot option allows all sites to share the ColdFusion Administrator that runs under
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot. This example does not automatically configure newly added sites after the first -site
0 run, but you can rerun with -site 0 at a later time, and the Web Server Configuration Tool configures new
sites only.
3 Configure Apache on UNIX #1:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig -server coldfusion -ws Apache -bin /opt/apache2/bin/httpd
-script /opt/apache2/bin/apachectl -dir /opt/apache2/conf -coldfusion -v

4 Configure Apache on UNIX #2:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 87
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig -server coldfusion -ws Apache-bin /usr/bin/httpd -script
/usr/bin/httpd -dir /etc/httpd/conf -coldfusion -v

5 Configure Apache in Windows:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig.exe -server coldfusion -ws apache -dir
"c:\program files\apache group\apache2\conf" -coldfusion -v

6 Configure Netscape on UNIX:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig -server coldfusion -ws nes -dir [path to config] coldfusion -v

7 Configure Sun ONE Web Server on UNIX:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig -server coldfusion -ws sunone -dir [path to config] coldfusion -v

Configuration files
The Web Server Configuration Tool stores properties in configuration files, as follows:
IIS In the jrun.ini file, typically found in a subdirectory of the cf_root/runtime/lib/wsconfig (server configuration)

or jrun_root/lib/wsconfig (multiserver configuration) directory. For IIS 5 only, it also defines filter and extension
mappings in the IIS metabase.
Apache In the httpd.conf file, typically found in the apache_root/conf directory.
Sun ONE Web Server/iPlanet In the obj.conf and magnus.conf files, typically found in the ws_root/server-http-

xxx/config directory.
The following table describes the web server connector properties in the web server configuration files. The web
server connector uses these settings to help it find the ColdFusion server and know which servers to connect to.

88 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

Property

Description

bootstrap

Specifies the IP address and port on which the JRun server’s proxy service is listening for
connector requests. JRun must also be configured to listen on this port and address
combination, the ProxyService must be activated, and the JRun server must be running.
Specify ipaddress:portnumber (for example, 127.0.0.1:51011).

serverstore

Specifies the full path and filename of the file that contains information for the associated
JRun server. The connector creates this file automatically. The default filename is jrunserver.store.

verbose

Creates more detailed web server log file entries for the connector. Enabling this option
can cause the web server’s log files to fill quickly. Specify true or false; the default value
is false. In Apache and Sun ONE Web Server, the connector writes to the error log configured for the web server; on IIS, the connector writes to its own log in the related wsconfig
subdirectory.

scriptpath

(IIS only) Points to the virtual /JRunScripts directory on the web server.

errorurl

(Optional) Specifies the URL to a file that contains a customized error message. This property is commented out by default. You must restart the web server after enabling this
setting.

ssl

(Optional) Enables secure sockets layer (SSL) between the web server and the JRun server.
You must set this setting to false.

apialloc

Enables native operating-system memory allocation rather than the web server’s allocator
(for use on Solaris with Sun ONE, at the direction of Adobe Support staff ).

ignoresuffixmap

(IIS only) Forces the connector to use application mappings.

proxyretryinterval

Specifies the number of seconds to wait before trying to reconnect to an unreachable
clustered server.

connecttimeout

Specifies the number of seconds to wait on a socket connect to a JRun server.

recvtimeout

Specifies the number of seconds to wait on a socket receive to a JRun server.

sendtimeout

Specifies the number of seconds to wait on a socket send to a JRun server.

Each time you run the Web Server Configuration Tool, it creates a new configuration file and directory. For
example, the first time you run the tool in the server configuration, it creates files under
cf_root/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1; the second time, it creates cf_root/runtime/lib/wsconfig/2; and so on. Each of
these subdirectories contains the appropriate platform-specific connector module and web-server-specific
supporting files.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 89
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Sample configuration files

To help describe the web server configuration file parameters, this section provides examples of connectorspecific web server properties. These examples assume that JRun and the web server are on the same computer.
Apache configuration file

The following is a typical httpd.conf file for an installation of ColdFusion on the same computer as an Apache 2.0
web server:
# JRun Settings
LoadModule jrun_module "C:/coldfusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/mod_jrun20.so"

JRunConfig Verbose false
JRunConfig Apialloc false
JRunConfig Ssl false
JRunConfig Ignoresuffixmap false
JRunConfig Serverstore "C:/coldfusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/jrunserver.store"
JRunConfig Bootstrap 127.0.0.1:51011
#JRunConfig Errorurl
#JRunConfig ProxyRetryInterval
#JRunConfig ConnectTimeout 15
#JRunConfig RecvTimeout 300
#JRunConfig SendTimeout 15
AddHandler jrun-handler .jsp .jws .cfm .cfml .cfc .cfr .cfswf

IIS configuration file

For IIS, the connector uses the jrun.ini file to initialize the jrun.dll file (jrun_iis6.dll on IIS 6). The following is a
typical jrun.ini file:
verbose=false
scriptpath=/JRunScripts/jrun.dll
serverstore=C:/coldfusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/jrunserver.store
bootstrap=127.0.0.1:51011
apialloc=false
ssl=false
ignoresuffixmap=true
#errorurl=
#proxyretryinterval=
#connecttimeout=

90 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

#recvtimeout=
#sendtimeout=

Netscape, iPlanet, or Sun ONE configuration file

The following is a typical obj.conf file for Netscape, iPlanet, or Sun ONE Web Server:
Note: Java must be disabled for the virtual server class that contains the server configured for JRun.
...

...

The following is a typical magnus.conf file for Netscape, iPlanet, or Sun ONE Web Server:
...

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 91
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Init fn="load-modules" shlib="C:/coldfusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/jrun_nsapi.dll"
funcs="jruninit,jrunfilter,jrunservice"
Init fn="jruninit" serverstore="C:/coldfusion8/runtime/lib/wsconfig/1/jrunserver.store"
bootstrap="127.0.0.1:51011" verbose="true" apialloc="false" ssl="false"
ignoresuffixmap="false" #errorurl=""
connecttimeout="15" recvtimeout="300" sendtimeout="15"

Multihoming
You typically use the Web Server Configuration Tool to configure a connection between the web server and
ColdFusion server running on the same computer. However, you can use the web server connector to route
requests to multiple virtual sites to a single ColdFusion server. This is known as multihoming.
In a multihomed environment, you have multiple virtual hosts (also known as virtual sites) connected to a single
ColdFusion server. You might use these virtual hosts for separate applications, such as Human Resources (HR),
payroll, and marketing, or for separate users in a hosting environment.
Note: You use web-server-specific methods to create separate virtual websites for each use.
Multihoming configuration tasks include the following:
Enabling access to the ColdFusion Administrator If any of the applications under a virtual host need to access the
ColdFusion Administrator, you must create a web server mapping (Alias directive in Apache) for /CFIDE that
points to the original CFIDE directory. Alternatively, you can copy the entire CFIDE directory to the virtual
website.

You can also configure the web server using the command-line Web Server Configuration Tool -cfwebroot option,
which allows access to the CFIDE directory under the specified web root.
Enabling access to the cfform.js file If you do not create a web server mapping for /CFIDE, and any of the appli-

cations under a virtual host use the cfform tag, you must enable the virtual host to find the JavaScript files under
the CFIDE/scripts directory. To enable access to the these scripts, use one of the following options:
• Copy the original_web_root/CFIDE/scripts directory to a CFIDE/scripts directory on your virtual host.
• Modify all cfform tags to use the scriptsrc attribute to specify the location of the cfform.js file.
Disabling the cacheRealPath attribute To ensure that ColdFusion always returns pages from the correct server,
disable Cache Web Server Paths in the Caching page of the ColdFusion Administrator. (When you use the multiserver configuration, set the cacheRealPath attribute to false for the ProxyService in the
jrun_root/servers/servername/SERVER-INF/jrun.xml file.)

92 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

The procedures you perform to enable multihoming differ for each web server.

IIS
When you use IIS, you run the IIS Administrator to create additional websites and run the Web Server Configuration Tool. You store ColdFusion pages under the web root of each virtual website.
Connect multiple virtual sites on IIS to a single ColdFusion server
1 Use the IIS Administrator to create virtual websites, as necessary. The web root directory should enable read,

write, and execute access. For more information, see your IIS documentation.
2 Configure DNS for each virtual website, as described in your IIS documentation.
3 Test each virtual website to ensure that HTML pages are served correctly.
4 Run the Web Server Configuration Tool, as follows:
• GUI - Select IIS for the Web Server, select All from the IIS Web Site drop-down list box, and select the
Configure Web Server for ColdFusion Applications check box.
• Command line - Specify the -site 0 and -cfwebroot options, as the following server configuration
example shows:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig.exe -ws iis -site 0
-cfwebroot cf_root/wwwroot -coldfusion -v

5 Test each virtual website to ensure that ColdFusion pages are served correctly.

Apache
When you use Apache, you modify the apache_root/conf/httpd.conf file to create virtual hosts and run the Web
Server Configuration Tool. You store ColdFusion pages under the web root of each virtual website.
Connect multiple Apache virtual hosts on a web server to a single ColdFusion server
1 Configure DNS for each virtual website, as described in your web server documentation.
2 Open the apache_root/conf/httpd.conf file in a text editor and create virtual hosts, as necessary. For more information, see your Apache documentation. For example:
...
NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1

ServerAdmin admin@yoursite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 93
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

ServerName SERVER02
ErrorLog logs/error.log

ServerAdmin admin@yoursite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs2"
ServerName mystore
ErrorLog logs/error-store.log

ServerAdmin admin@yoursite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs3"
ServerName myemployee
ErrorLog logs/error-employee.log

...

3 Test each virtual host to ensure that HTML pages are served correctly.
4 Run the Web Server Configuration Tool, as follows:
• GUI - Specify Apache for the Web Server, specify the directory that contains the httpd.conf file, and select
the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion Applications check box.
• Command line - Specify -ws apache and the directory that contains the httpd.conf file, as the following
example shows:
cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig.exe -ws apache
-dir "c:\program files\apache group\apache2\conf"
-cfwebroot cf_root/wwwroot -coldfusion -v

For additional UNIX command-line examples, see “Using the command-line interface” on page 84.
The Web Server Configuration Tool updates the httpd.conf file. For a sample, see “Apache” on page 92.
5 Restart Apache. You store ColdFusion files for each virtual host in the directory specified by the DocumentRoot directive.
6 Test each virtual host to ensure that ColdFusion pages are served correctly.

Sun ONE Web Server, iPlanet, and Netscape
When you use Sun ONE Web Server version 6, you use the Server Administrator to create virtual servers and run
the Web Server Configuration Tool. You store ColdFusion pages under the web root of each virtual server.
Note: For earlier versions of Sun ONE/iPlanet and Netscape Enterprise Server (NES), you must create separate server
instances for each site and run the Web Server Configuration Tool once for each site.

94 CHAPTER 5
Web Server Management

Connect multiple Sun ONE Web Server virtual hosts to a single ColdFusion server
1 Using the Sun ONE Web Server Administrator, create virtual web servers for ColdFusion to use. For more

information, see your Sun ONE Web Server documentation.
2 Configure DNS for each virtual website, as described in your web server documentation.
3 Test each virtual server to ensure that HTML pages are served correctly.
4 Run the Web Server Configuration Tool, as follows:
• GUI - Specify Netscape Enterprise Server/Sun ONE for the web server, specify the directory that contains
the obj.conf and magnus.conf files, and select the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion Applications check
box.

Command line - Specify -ws sunone and the directory that contains the obj.conf file, as the following
example shows:

•

cf_root/runtime/bin/wsconfig -ws sunone -dir [path to config]
-cfwebroot cf_root/wwwroot -coldfusion -v

5 Test each virtual server to ensure that ColdFusion pages are served correctly.

Chapter 6: Deploying ColdFusion
Applications
ColdFusion includes archive and deployment options that let you package applications and create archive files.
Contents

Archive and deployment options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Packaging applications in CAR files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Packaging applications in J2EE archive files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Using the cfcompile utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Archive and deployment options
ColdFusion includes the following archive and deployment options.
ColdFusion archive files You can package your ColdFusion application’s pages, data sources and settings in a

ColdFusion Archive (CAR) file. For more information, see “Packaging applications in CAR files” on page 95.
J2EE archives You can package your ColdFusion application as an Enterprise Application Archive (EAR) or Web
Application Archive (WAR) file for easy deployment to a J2EE application server. For more information, see
“Packaging applications in J2EE archive files” on page 96.
Cfcompile utility The cfcompile utility lets you precompile your application’s ColdFusion pages into Java class

files. In addition you can compile ColdFusion pages to bytecode and save this bytecode in files with the CFM,
CFC, or CFR extension. For more information, see “Using the cfcompile utility” on page 98.

Packaging applications in CAR files
CAR files let you archive and deploy website configuration information, files, and applications. Use this feature to
deploy your website applications to another location or to back up your files quickly and easily. You manage CAR
files using the Packaging & Deployment > ColdFusion Archives area of the ColdFusion Administrator.

96 CHAPTER 6
Deploying ColdFusion Applications

Note: CAR file archiving and deployment is different from J2EE archiving and packaging through EAR and WAR
files.
Perform the following steps when you archive and deploy site information:
1 Create the archive definition.

Identify the type of information to archive about a site. You can archive almost anything about the site,
including directories, files, CFX tags, ColdFusion mappings, Verity collections, automated tasks, and server
settings. Each archive definition that you create is assigned a name. You use this name each time you build or
deploy its content.
2 Build the archive.

Select the name of the archive definition and specify a location to which you store the CAR file.
3 Deploy the archive.

Specify the location of the CAR file and the location to which you restore the contents.
Note: ColdFusion does not deploy Administrator and RDS passwords, nor does it unpack archives created in
earlier versions of ColdFusion.
For more information on creating, building, and deploying CAR files, see ColdFusion Administrator online Help.

Packaging applications in J2EE archive files
When running ColdFusion in the multiserver and J2EE configurations, you deploy the ColdFusion application,
in enterprise application archive (EAR) or web application archive (WAR) format, on a J2EE application server.
You then create your ColdFusion application, configuring resources (such as data sources), and storing CFM,
CFC, and CFR files in the web application root or in the web server root. In earlier ColdFusion versions, your J2EE
administrator had to redo each of these steps when deploying your ColdFusion application onto a production
J2EE server.
The ColdFusion Administrator lets you create an EAR or WAR file that contains the entire application. This
archive file contains the ColdFusion web application, settings for ColdFusion (such as data source definitions),
and the CFM, CFC, and CFR files that your application uses.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 97
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

If you are using the multiserver configuration, you can combine J2EE archiving with the instance creation
functionality of the ColdFusion Administrator Enterprise Manager. First, create an EAR file that contains your
application and all of its settings, and then use that EAR file in the Create From EAR/WAR option of the Instance
Manager. For more information on the Enterprise Manager, see “Defining additional server instances” on page 111.

Application packaging
The J2EE Archive feature lets you quickly create an archive file that a J2EE administrator can use to deploy your
ColdFusion application.
Add a new archive definition and create an archive file
1 Open the ColdFusion Administrator.
2 Specify a unique name for the archive file (no extension) in the Archive Name field.
3 Click Add. The Add New Archive screen appears.
4 Specify archive settings on the Add New Archive screen.
5 Click Create. ColdFusion creates an EAR or WAR file in the specified application distribution directory.

The following table describes the settings you make when creating or modifying an archive:
Setting

Description

Archive Type

Select EAR or WAR.

Context Root (EAR only)

Each J2EE web application running in a server is rooted at a unique base URL, called
a context root (or context path). The J2EE application server uses the initial portion of
the URL (that is, the portion immediately following http://hostname) to determine
which web application services an incoming request.
For example, if you are running ColdFusion with a context root of cfmx, you display
the Administrator using the URL http://hostname/cfmx/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm. Most J2EE application servers allow one application in each server
instance to use a forward slash (/) for the context root. The Remote Development
Services (RDS) web application is not required if you use a context root of /.

Serial Number

Specifies a ColdFusion Enterprise Edition serial number. If you do not specify a valid
ColdFusion Enterprise Edition serial number when creating the archive file, it is
deployed as an Enterprise Edition evaluation version, which reverts to the Developer
Edition after 30 days.

COM Support

If your application doesn’t use COM support, you can reduce the size of the archive
file by omitting the supporting files.

98 CHAPTER 6
Deploying ColdFusion Applications

Setting

Description

Debugging

If the current ColdFusion server is running with debugging enabled, you can disable
debugging in the application contained in the archive file.

Include CFML Source

You can optionally deploy Java bytecode instead of CFML source code. For more
information, see “Sourceless distribution” on page 99.

ColdFusion Administrator

If your application does not require modification by using the ColdFusion Administrator, you can reduce archive size and reduce security issues by omitting the Administrator files.

Data Sources

Specifies the data source definitions to include in the archive file.

Deployment considerations
After the archive file is created, you deploy by using standard ColdFusion J2EE configuration deployment
techniques. For more information, see “Installing an EAR file or WAR files” on page 22 in “Installing the J2EE
Configuration” on page 19 of Installing and Using ColdFusion.

Post-deployment considerations
Depending on your application, the resources that it uses, and the environment in which it is deployed, you may
need to perform post-deployment configuration, as follows:
Mappings The ColdFusion mappings in the archived application refer to directories on the original computer. If

those directories do not exist on the deployment computer, modify the ColdFusion mappings by using the
ColdFusion Administrator or the Administrator API.
Verity You must ensure that the Verity server settings on the original computer are appropriate for the
deployment computer. If they are not, use the ColdFusion Administrator or the appropriate tags to modify the
Verity server settings.
Serial number J2EE deployment is a ColdFusion Enterprise feature. To upgrade to the Enterprise Edition, use the

ColdFusion Administrator or the Administrator API to enter a serial number.
For more information on the Administrator API, see “Administrator API” on page 42.

Using the cfcompile utility
You can use the cfcompile utility for the following purposes:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 99
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Precompiling ColdFusion pages Precompile your application’s CFM pages into Java class files. At runtime,
ColdFusion does not have to compile CFM pages.
Sourceless distribution Create CFM pages as Java bytecode. You can deploy these CFM pages instead of CFML

source code.
The cfcompile utility is located in the cf_root/bin (server configuration) or cf_webapp_root/WEBINF/cfusion/bin (multiserver and J2EE configuration) directory.
Before you can use the cfcompile utility in the J2EE configuration, you must set the CFUSION_HOME, J2EEJAR,
and WEBINF variables in the cfcompile.sh/cfcompile.bat file.

Precompiling ColdFusion pages
You can use the cfcompile utility to precompile ColdFusion pages (CFM, CFC, and CFR files). This can enhance
initial page loading time at runtime.
Use the following command to compile ColdFusion pages into Java classes:
cfcompile webroot [directory-to-compile]

The following table describes these parameters:
Parameter

Description

webroot

Fully qualified path to the web server root; for example, C:\Inetpub\wwwroot or
C:\coldfusion8\wwwroot.

directory-to-compile

Fully qualified path to the directory where the files to be compiled are located. This
directory must be under the webroot directory. If not specified, all ColdFusion
templates in the webroot directory are compiled.

Sourceless distribution
You can use the cfcompile utility with the -deploy option to create ColdFusion pages (CFM, CFC, and CFR
files) that contain Java bytecode. You can then deploy the bytecode versions of the ColdFusion pages instead of
the original CFML source code.
Use the following command to compile CFML files into bytecode format that you can deploy instead of CFML
source code:
cfcompile -deploy webroot directory-to-compile output-directory

The following table describes these parameters:

100 CHAPTER 6
Deploying ColdFusion Applications

Parameter

Description

webroot

Fully qualified path to the web server root; for example, C:\Inetpub\wwwroot or
C:\coldfusion8\wwwroot.

directory-to-compile

Fully qualified path to the directory where the files to be compiled are located. This
directory must be under the webroot directory. This is required for the -deploy
option.

output-directory

Fully qualified path to the directory to contain the compiled deployable files. This
cannot be the same directory as the source directory.

After you run the cfcompile utility, perform the following steps:
1 Back up your original CFML files
2 Copy the generated bytecode CFML files to the original directory
3 Deploy the application.

The J2EE Archive screen of the ColdFusion Administrator lets you create an EAR or WAR file that contains
bytecode versions of your application’s CFML files.

101

Chapter 7: Administering Security
You can secure a number of ColdFusion resources with password access and you can configure sandbox security.
Contents

About ColdFusion security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Using password protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using sandbox security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

About ColdFusion security
Security is especially important in web-based applications, such as those you develop in ColdFusion. ColdFusion
developers and administrators must fully understand the security risks that could affect their development and
runtime environments so they can enable and restrict access appropriately.
You can implement development security by requiring a password to use the ColdFusion Administrator and a
password for Remote Development Services (RDS), which allows developers to develop CFML pages remotely.
You implement runtime security in your CFML pages and in the ColdFusion Administrator. ColdFusion has the
following runtime security categories:
User security Programmatically determine the logged-in user and allow or disallow restricted functionality based

on the roles assigned to that user. For more information about user security, see “ColdFusion security features” on
page 454 in “Securing Applications” on page 453 in the ColdFusion Developer’s Guide.
Sandbox security Using the ColdFusion Administrator, define the actions and resources that the ColdFusion

pages in and below a specified directory can use.
Note: If you have the Enterprise Edition of ColdFusion, you can configure multiple security sandboxes. If you have
the Standard Edition of ColdFusion, you can only configure a single security sandbox.
The Security area in the Administrator lets you do the following tasks:
• Configure password protection for the ColdFusion Administrator. For more information, see “ColdFusion

Administrator password protection” on page 102.
• Configure password protection for RDS access. For more information, see “RDS password protection” on

page 102.

102 CHAPTER 7
Administering Security

• Enable, disable, and customize ColdFusion security, on the Security > Sandbox Security page (called Resource

Security page in the Standard edition). For more information, see “Using sandbox security” on page 102.

Using password protection
Password protection restricts access to the ColdFusion Administrator and to a ColdFusion server when you
attempt access through RDS security.

ColdFusion Administrator password protection
Secure access to the ColdFusion Administrator is enabled by default. The password that you enter during installation is saved as the default. You are prompted to enter this password whenever you open the Administrator.
Password protection for accessing the Administrator helps guard against unauthorized modifications of
ColdFusion, and Adobe recommends using passwords. You can disable or change the Administrator password on
the Security > CF Admin Password page.

RDS password protection
If you configured password protection for RDS access when you installed ColdFusion, you are prompted for the
password when you attempt to access ColdFusion from Dreamweaver MX 2004, HomeSite+, or the ColdFusion
Report Builder.
You can disable RDS or change the RDS password on the Security > RDS Password page.
Note: Disabling RDS also disables the applet that the ColdFusion Administrator uses in file-related dialog boxes.
If you use RDS security, you rely on web server and operating system security settings to set permissions for
ColdFusion application and document directories.

Using sandbox security
Sandbox security (called Resource security in the Standard Edition) uses the location of your ColdFusion pages
to control access to ColdFusion resources. A sandbox is a designated directory of your site to which you apply
security restrictions. Sandbox security lets you specify which tags, functions, and resources (for example, files,
directories, and data sources) can be used by ColdFusion pages located in and under the designated directory.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 103
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

To use sandbox security in the multiserver and J2EE editions, the application server must be running a security
manager (java.lang.SecurityManager) and you must define the following JVM arguments (for JRun, this is
the java.args line in the jrun_root/jvm.config file):
-Djava.security.manager
"-Djava.security.policy=cf_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib/coldfusion.policy"
"-Djava.security.auth.policy=cf_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/lib/neo_jaas.policy"

Note: Sandbox security is not enabled by default. You must enable it on the Security > Sandbox Security page before
ColdFusion enforces the settings.

Using multiple sandboxes (Enterprise Edition only)
By default, a subdirectory of a sandbox inherits the settings of the directory one level above it. However, if you
define a sandbox for a subdirectory, the subdirectory no longer inherits settings from the parent, completely
overriding the parent directory’s sandbox settings. For example, consider the following directories:
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\sales
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\rnd
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\rnd\dev
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\rnd\qa

If you define a sandbox for the wwwroot directory, the settings also apply to the sales and rnd directories. If you
also define a sandbox for the rnd directory, the rnd sandbox settings also apply to the dev and qa directories; the
wwwroot and sales directories maintain their original settings; and the rnd settings override the wwwroot
directory settings for the rnd directory and its subdirectories.
This hierarchical arrangement of security permits the configuration of personalized sandboxes for users with
different security levels. For example, if you are a web hosting administrator who hosts several clients on a
ColdFusion shared server, you can configure a sandbox for each customer. This prevents one customer from
accessing the data sources or files of another customer.

Resources that you can restrict
You can restrict the following resources:
Data Sources Restrict the use of ColdFusion data sources.
CF Tags Restrict the use of ColdFusion tags that manipulate resources on the server (or on an external server),
such as files, the registry, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), mail, and the log.
CF Functions Restrict the use of ColdFusion functions that access the file system.

104 CHAPTER 7
Administering Security

Files/Dirs Enable tags and functions in the sandbox to access files and directories outside of the sandbox.

Note: To use the Administrator API when sandbox security is enabled, you must allow access to the
cf_web_root/CFIDE/adminapi directory.
Server/Ports Specify the servers, ports, and port ranges that the ColdFusion tags that call third-party resources

can use.
For more information, see the Administrator online Help.
Note: When you run ColdFusion in the J2EE configuration on IBM WebSphere, the Files/Dirs and Server/Ports tabs
are not enabled.

About directories and permissions
When you enable access to files outside of the sandbox, you specify the filename. When you enable access to directories outside of the sandbox, you specify directoryname\indicator, where indicator is a dash or asterisk, as follows:
• A backslash followed by a dash (\-) lets tags and functions access all files in the specified directory, and recur-

sively allows access to all files in subdirectories.
• A backslash followed by an asterisk (\*) lets tags and functions access all files in the specified directory and also

lets tags and functions access a list of subdirectories. However, this option denies access to files in any subdirectories.
You can also specify the actions that ColdFusion tags and functions can perform on files and directories outside
the sandbox. The following table shows the relationship between the permissions of a file and a directory:
Permission

Effect on files

Effect on directories

Read

View the file

List all files in the directory

Write

Write to the file

Not applicable

Execute

Execute the file

Not applicable

Delete

Delete the file

Delete the directory

Adding a sandbox (Enterprise Edition only)
ColdFusion Enterprise Edition lets you define multiple security sandboxes.
Add a sandbox
1 Open the Security > Sandbox Security page in the ColdFusion Administrator.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 105
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

The Sandbox Security Permissions page appears.
2 In the Add Security Sandbox box, enter the name of the new sandbox. This name must be either a ColdFusion
mapping (defined in the Administrator) or an absolute path.
3 Select New Sandbox from the drop-down list to create a sandbox based on the default sandbox, or select an
existing sandbox to copy its settings to your new sandbox.
4 Click Add.

The new sandbox appears in the list of Defined Directory Permissions.

Configuring a sandbox
Before you begin security sandbox configuration, analyze your application and its usage to determine the tags,
functions, and resources that it requires. You can then configure the sandbox to enable access to the required
resources and disable use of the appropriate tags and functions. For example, if the applications in the sandbox do
not use the cfregistry tag, you can safely disable it.
Note: In the Standard Edition, the Root Security Context is the only sandbox. There is no initial list of defined
directory permissions.
Configure a sandbox
1 Open the Security > Sandbox Security page (Security > Resource Security page in the Standard Edition) in the

ColdFusion Administrator.
2 (Enterprise Edition only) In the list of Defined Directory Permissions, click the name or Edit icon for the
directory.

A page with several tabs appears. This is the initial page in the Standard Edition. The remaining steps describe
the use of each tab.
3 To disable a data source, in the left column of the Datasources tab, highlight the data source, and click the right
arrow.

By default, ColdFusion pages in this sandbox can access all data sources.
Note: If <> is in the Enabled Datasources column, any data source that you add is
enabled. If you move <> to the Disabled Datasources column, any new data source is
disabled.
4 Click the CFTags tab.
5 To disable tags, in the left column of the CFTags tab, highlight the tags, and click the right arrow.

106 CHAPTER 7
Administering Security

By default, ColdFusion pages in this sandbox can access all listed tags.
6 Click the CFFunctions tab.
7 To disable functions, in the left column of the CFFunctions tab, highlight the functions, and click the right
arrow.

By default, ColdFusion pages in this sandbox can access all listed functions.
8 Click the Files/Dirs tab.
9 To enable files or directories, in the File Path box, enter or browse to the files or directories; for example, C:\pix.
A file path that consists of the special token <> matches any file. For information on using the
backslash-hyphen (\-) and backslash-asterisk (\*) wildcard characters, see “About directories and permissions” on
page 104.
10 Select the permissions.

For example, select the Read check box to let ColdFusion pages in the mytestapps sandbox read files in the
C:\pix directory.
11 Click Add Files/Paths. When you edit an existing sandbox, this button reads Edit Files/Paths.

The file path and its permissions appear in the Secured Files and Directories list.
12 In the Secured Files and Directories list, verify that the file path is correct.

The character after the backslash is important. For information, see “About directories and permissions” on
page 104.
Note: The Files/Dirs tab works together with the file-based permissions of the operating system. To restrict a user
from browsing another user’s directory, you must use file-based permissions.
13 Click the Server/Ports tab.
14 To turn off default behavior (global access to all servers and ports), enter the IP addresses and port numbers
that pages in this sandbox can connect to by using tags that access external resources (for example, cfmail, cfpop,
cfldap, cfhttp, and so on). You can specify an IP address, a server name (such as www.someservername.com),
or a domain name (such as someservername.com). You can optionally specify a port restriction.

Note: This behavior differs from other tabs, such as CFTags, where you select items to disable. If you set any values
in this tab, external-resource tags executed in this sandbox can access only the specified servers and ports.
For example, to allow this sandbox access to 207.88.220.3 on ports 80 and lower, perform the following steps:
a In the IP Address field, enter 207.88.220.3.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 107
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

b In the Port field, enter 80, and click This Port and Lower.

Note: To deny access by these ColdFusion tags to an entire site, enable access for a local resource, such as your
local mail server, FTP server, and so on.
15 Click Finish to save changes to the sandbox.

108 CHAPTER 7
Administering Security

109

Chapter 8: Using Multiple Server
Instances
When you use the multiserver configuration to install ColdFusion Enterprise Edition, you can use the ColdFusion
Administrator to create multiple server instances. Deploying ColdFusion on multiple server instances lets you
isolate individual applications and leverage clustering functionality.
Management of multiple server instances changed significantly as of ColdFusion MX 7, as follows:
ColdFusion MX Use a J2EE deployment, along with J2EE application server features to deploy the ColdFusion

application on multiple instances of the J2EE application server.
ColdFusion MX 7 Use the ColdFusion Administrator in the multiserver configuration to create JRun server
instances and to automatically deploy the ColdFusion application on those instances. Additionally, you can
combine the Administrator-driven server-instance creation with the ColdFusion Administrator J2EE Archive
feature to deploy a ColdFusion application that contains all of your application’s CFM files (including CFCs and
CFRs), settings (including data source definitions), and the ColdFusion web application. For more information
on J2EE Archive, see “Packaging applications in J2EE archive files” on page 96.

Contents

About multiple server instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Defining additional server instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Enabling application isolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Enabling clustering for load balancing and failover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Defining remote server instances to the ColdFusion Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

About multiple server instances
The ColdFusion Administrator lets you create server instances and clusters. Additionally, you can connect to
remote JRun servers and add them to clusters.
Running multiple instances of ColdFusion has the following advantages:

110 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

Application isolation You deploy an independent application to each server instance. Each server instance has
separate settings and, because each server instance runs in its own Java Virtual Machine (JVM), problems that one
application encounter have no effect on other applications.
Clustering (load balancing and failover) You deploy the same application to each server instance and add the

instances to a cluster. The web server connector optimizes performance and stability by automatically balancing
load and by switching requests to another server instance when a server instance stops running.
The multiserver configuration is a specialized J2EE configuration that installs JRun and deploys ColdFusion as an
expanded Enterprise Application Archive (EAR) in the cfusion JRun server. The cfusion server is the only server
that can create servers and clusters. The JRun instance creation and clustering options in the ColdFusion Administrator are not available in the server configuration, nor are they available in the J2EE configuration, even if you
deploy ColdFusion on JRun.
Note: You can also manually deploy ColdFusion on multiple server instances, using your J2EE application server’s
server creation and deployment facilities, as documented in the ColdFusion documentation.

Expanded archive considerations
ColdFusion must run from an expanded directory structure. The Instance Manager expands the EAR or WAR file
automatically and then deploys the expanded directory structure into the new server instance.
For more information on deploying ColdFusion in the J2EE configuration, see Installing and Using ColdFusion.

File location considerations
ColdFusion lets you store CFM pages either under the external web server root or under the ColdFusion web
application root. The discussions in this chapter assume that you store your CFM pages under the ColdFusion web
application root and that you specify a context root for your application. This is different from ColdFusion MX 6.1
documentation, which assumed that you stored CFM pages under the web server root.
If you use the web server connector to access pages under the ColdFusion web application root and your
ColdFusion web application has an empty context root (this is the default), the connector does not automatically
serve static content, such as HTML pages and image files. If this is the case, you must define web server mappings
so that it can serve files from the ColdFusion web application root.
For more information on serving CFM pages from the web server root, see “Web Server Management” on page 79

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 111
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Defining additional server instances
The multiserver configuration is a customized installation of JRun. JRun supports multiple server instances (also
called JRun servers) running on the same computer. Each server instance runs in a separate JVM, which executes
all ColdFusion pages for that instance.
You use the Instance Manager area of the ColdFusion Administrator to define and manage server instances. The
Instance Manager only runs in the cfusion JRun server that is created as part of a multiserver configuration installation.
Note: When you create a server instance using the Instance Manager, if you previously modified the cfusion (Enterprise Manager) instance, the log files for the new instance point to the default cfusion instance. Before you modify the
cfusion instance, ensure that you want to share the modification among all new instances.
When you create a server instance with the Instance Manager, by default it deploys a copy of the cfusion server’s
ColdFusion enterprise application, including data sources, mappings, and settings. Alternatively, you can create a
new server instance and specify the location of an EAR or WAR file (created by the J2EE Archive page), which the
Instance Manager uses as the basis for your new ColdFusion server instance.
Note: If you are running JRun 4, you can also create a server in the JRun Management Console (JMC) and deploy the
ColdFusion application using JRun deployment functionality.
Define a server instance
1 Ensure that you installed ColdFusion using the multiserver configuration.
2 Open the ColdFusion Administrator for the cfusion server in a browser (http://hostname:8300/CFIDE/administrator).
3 Select Enterprise Manager > Instance Manager.
4 Click Add New Instance.
5 Specify the following in the Add New ColdFusion Server area:
•

Server name

• (Optional) Directory that contains the server instance. The ColdFusion Administrator fills in the default
automatically (jrun_root/servers/servername).
• (Optional) Create from EAR/WAR. If you use the J2EE Packaging feature to create a J2EE archive file with
your application’s files (including CFM, CFC, and CFR files) and data sources, use this field to specify the EAR
or WAR filename and create a server instance with your application deployed automatically.

112 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

• (Optional, Windows only) Specify whether to create a Windows service for the server instance and
whether to define the Windows service with an auto restart recovery option.
6 Click Submit.

The ColdFusion Administrator creates a server instance with ColdFusion deployed in it and starts the server
instance. The ColdFusion application that it deploys is based on the application archive file specified in the
Create from EAR/WAR field or on the cfusion server instance (if you don’t specify an EAR or WAR file).
Creating a JRun server instance and deploying the ColdFusion application can take a few minutes.
7 Click Return to Instance Manager.

You can also start and stop the server instance using the JMC, the JRun Launcher, or the command line
(jrun_root/bin jrun -start|-stop servername).

Enabling application isolation
You can create separate server instances, each with its own ColdFusion applications; each application then has its
own ColdFusion and J2EE server resources. In this configuration, you typically have a single external web server
with multiple server instances on one computer, and separate virtual hosts (or sites) for each server instance.
Note: Although this section describes using ColdFusion, other J2EE application servers provide equivalent capabilities, and most of the concepts apply when deploying the ColdFusion J2EE configuration on those J2EE servers.
Running independent applications this way has several advantages, including the following:
• Errors at the levels of the ColdFusion application or the JRun server do not affect any other ColdFusion appli-

cations.
• You can support multihomed servers, where a single web server supports multiple IP addresses or domain

names, such as www.mycompany.com and services.anothercompany.com, each running from a separate web
root. For more information, see “Multihoming” on page 91.
• Individual applications can use different JVM configurations, or even different JVM implementations. This

feature is particularly useful if one application requires a particularly large Java heap. To specify customized
JVM options, start the JRun server instance from the command line using the -config option of the jrun
command, which specifies a customized jvm.config file. This feature is explained in the “Starting and stopping
JRun servers” section in Installing and Using ColdFusion.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 113
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Note: Installing and Using ColdFusion describes creating multiple server instances on a single computer. To create
multiple server instances on separate computers, each computer requires a separate license of ColdFusion Enterprise
Edition.
To achieve complete application isolation, you use web-server-specific functionality to create a separate website
for each application. Web servers have different terminology for this concept. For example, in IIS, you define
separate websites (available in Windows server editions only) and in Apache, you create multiple virtual hosts.
These instructions apply when running ColdFusion in the multiserver configuration. The principles apply when
running ColdFusion on other J2EE application servers. However, not all J2EE application servers integrate with
external web servers. For more information, see “Multihoming” on page 91.
These instructions assume that you deploy each application at a named context root, which enables users to access
CFM pages by specifying http://hostname/context-root/pagename.cfm. If other web applications are running in
the server instance, each web application must use a different context root.
For example, with a context root of cf, users access CFM pages by specifying http://hostname/cf/pagename.cfm.
For more information on using a context root, see Installing and Using ColdFusion.
Note: Although cf is the context root, it does not relate to your web application directory structure.
Use multiple server instances for application isolation
1 Create a separate server instance by using the instructions in “Defining additional server instances” on

page 111. If you are using the built-in web server, proceed to step 6 in this procedure.
2 Using your web-server-specific method, create a virtual website (or separate website) for the application.

This is different for each web server; for more information, see “Multihoming” on page 91, or consult your
web server documentation.
3 Test each virtual website to ensure that HTML pages are served correctly.
4 Store your application’s ColdFusion files in the ColdFusion web application root (recommended for application
portability) or the web root of the virtual website.
5 Follow the instructions for your web server to configure the connection between your virtual website and the
server instance. For more information, see “Web server configuration for application isolation” on page 114.
6 Test your application.
7 Repeat these steps for each server instance.

114 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

Web server configuration for application isolation
When you use multiple server instances for application isolation, the steps you perform to configure communication between the website and the server instance differ for each web server. This section contains the following
sections:
• Configuring application isolation in IIS
• Configuring application isolation in Apache
• Configuring application isolation in Sun ONE Web Server

To enhance performance when using an external web server with multiple server instances, place all static content
(HTML files and images, for example) under the web server root directory or one of its subdirectories. Minimize
the amount of static content served from ColdFusion web application root directory.
Configuring application isolation in IIS

When you use multiple virtual websites with multiple server instances under IIS, you define separate filters and
mappings for each virtual website and server instance combination.
This section assumes that you already created server instances and virtual websites, as described in “Enabling
application isolation” on page 112.
Configure multiple server instances for application isolation when using IIS

Run the Web Server Configuration Tool multiple times, once for each virtual website, and specify a different
site and server instance each time. Ensure that you select the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion MX Applications check box (GUI) or use the -coldfusion option (command-line). For more information on running the
Web Server Configuration Tool, see “Using an external web server” on page 81.
Configuring application isolation in Apache

When you use multiple virtual hosts with multiple server instances under Apache, you edit the httpd.conf file
manually.
This section assumes that you already created server instances and virtual websites, as described in “Enabling
application isolation” on page 112.
Configure multiple server instances for application isolation when using Apache
1 Run the Web Server Configuration Tool once, specifying the location of the Apache httpd.conf file and any

other required information. Ensure that you select the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion MX Applications
check box (GUI) or use the -coldfusion option (command-line).

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 115
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

2 The Web Server Configuration Tool creates a sequentially numbered subdirectory under
jrun_root/lib/wsconfig. You can use the subdirectory created by the Web Server Configuration Tool for one of
your virtual hosts, but you must create additional subdirectories for all other virtual hosts. For example, the first
time you run the Web Server Configuration Tool, it creates jrun_root/lib/wsconfig/1; if you have two other virtual
hosts, you must manually create two other directories (jrun_root/lib/wsconfig/mystore and
jrun_root/lib/wsconfig/myemp in this example). These directories can be empty.
3 Open the jrun_root/servers/servername/SERVER-INF/jrun.xml file for each of your server instances, locate
the ProxyService service, ensure that the deactivated element is set to false, and note the value of the port
element; for example:
...

25
500
false
*
1000
1
51002
...

4 Restart each of the modified JRun servers.
5 Open the apache_root/conf/httpd.conf file in a text editor and find the VirtualHost directives. The settings

added by the Web Server Configuration Tool are after the last directive, as the following example
shows:
...
# JRun Settings
LoadModule jrun_module "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/1/mod_jrun20.so"

JRunConfig Verbose false
JRunConfig Apialloc false
JRunConfig Ssl false
JRunConfig Ignoresuffixmap false
JRunConfig Serverstore "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/1/jrunserver.store"
JRunConfig Bootstrap 127.0.0.1:51000
#JRunConfig Errorurl
#JRunConfig ProxyRetryInterval
#JRunConfig ConnectTimeout 15
#JRunConfig RecvTimeout 300
#JRunConfig SendTimeout 15
AddHandler jrun-handler .jsp .jws .cfm .cfml .cfc .cfr .cfswf

116 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"
ServerName SERVER02
ErrorLog logs/error.log

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs2"
ServerName mystore
ErrorLog logs/error-store.log

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs3"
ServerName myemployee
ErrorLog logs/error-employee.log

...

6 For each VirtualHost directive that relates to a ColdFusion server instance, copy the entire IfModule
mod_jrun20.c directive from its original location outside the VirtualHost directive to the last element in the
VirtualHost directive.

7 Delete the Apialloc, Ssl, Ignoresuffixmap, and AddHandler elements in the IfModule directive for each
virtual host. Modify the Serverstore and Bootstrap elements to point to the appropriate proxy port (from the
jrun.xml file) and jrun_root/lib/wsconfig/subdirectory/jrunserver.store file, which the web server connector
creates automatically.
8 In the original IfModule directive, remove or comment out the Serverstore and Bootstrap lines

(comments start with #). The following example shows three virtual hosts, two of which are configured for
ColdFusion:
...
# JRun Settings
LoadModule jrun_module "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/1/mod_jrun20.so"

JRunConfig Verbose false
JRunConfig Apialloc false
JRunConfig Ssl false
JRunConfig Ignoresuffixmap false
#JRunConfig Serverstore "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/1/jrunserver.store"
#JRunConfig Bootstrap 127.0.0.1:51020

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 117
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

AddHandler jrun-handler .jsp .jws .cfm .cfml .cfc .cfr .cfswf

NameVirtualHost 127.0.0.1

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs"
ServerName RNIELSEN02
ErrorLog logs/error.log

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs2"
ServerName rnielsenstore
ErrorLog logs/error-store.log

JRunConfig Verbose true
JRunConfig Serverstore "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/mystore/jrunserver.store"
JRunConfig Bootstrap 127.0.0.1:51002

ServerAdmin admin@mysite.com
DocumentRoot "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/htdocs3"
ServerName rnielsenemployee
ErrorLog logs/error-employee.log

JRunConfig Verbose true
JRunConfig Serverstore "C:/JRun4/lib/wsconfig/myemp/jrunserver.store"
JRunConfig Bootstrap 127.0.0.1:51003

...

9 Restart Apache.
10 (Optional) Store the application’s ColdFusion files in your external web server root directory.
11 Test the applications under each virtual host.

Note: Remember that the web server connector doesn’t serve static content, such as HTML and images. Place these
files under the web root or create a web server mapping to the ColdFusion web application root.
Configuring application isolation in Sun ONE Web Server

When using multiple virtual hosts with multiple server instances under Sun ONE Web Server, you create multiple
Sun ONE Web Server instances, one for each ColdFusion server instance.

118 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

This section assumes that you already created server instances, as described in “Enabling application isolation” on
page 112.
Configure multiple server instances for application isolation when using Sun ONE Web Server

Run the Web Server Configuration Tool multiple times, once for each Sun ONE Web Server server instance,
and specify a different configuration directory and ColdFusion server instance each time. Ensure that you select
the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion MX Applications check box (GUI) or use the -coldfusion option
(command-line).

Enabling clustering for load balancing and failover
Load balancing is an enterprise-level feature in which the application server automatically alternates requests
among the server instances in a cluster. Clustering also enables application servers to route requests to a running
server instance when the original server instance goes down.
Note: These instructions apply only when you are running ColdFusion in the multiserver configuration. If you are
running JRun4, you can also create clusters in the JMC.
You can get load balancing and failover by deploying identical ColdFusion applications and configurations to
multiple server instances and adding the instances to a cluster. Each instance must have the same applications
deployed and the same resources configured (such as data sources, Verity collections, and mappings). The web
server connector optimizes performance and stability by automatically balancing load and by switching requests
to another server instance when a server instance stops running.
Note: Because clustering uses Jini Network Technology, you must be connected to a network for clustering to work.
For maximum failover protection, use multiple computers in a cluster. However, you must purchase a separate
ColdFusion Enterprise Edition license for each computer.
Note: If you set up and test multiple server instances while running the 30-day Trial version, the cluster might not
continue to function appropriately when the Trial version reverts to the Developer version after 30 days.
To implement session failover for the server instances in a cluster, you must enable session replication for each
server instance. Session replication coordinates session information in real-time among the server instances in a
cluster. Enabling session replication lets JRun automatically route a request to a running server if the current
server is unavailable.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 119
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Note: When a cluster uses session replication, session data is copied to other servers in the cluster each time it is
modified. This can degrade performance if you store a significant amount of information in session scope. If you plan
to store a significant amount of information in session scope, consider storing this information in client variables
saved in a database.
Configure a cluster of server instances for load balancing and failover
1 Create your application and the data sources required for the application.
2 Check that you installed ColdFusion by using the multiserver configuration.
3 Open the ColdFusion Administrator for the cfusion server in a browser (http://hostname:8300/CFIDE/administrator).
4 Select Packaging & Deployment > J2EE Packaging.
5 Use the J2EE Archives page to create an EAR file that contains the application, your application’s CFM pages,
the required data sources, and other settings.
6 Select Enterprise Manager > Instance Manager.
7 Create server instances for the cluster as described in “Defining additional server instances” on page 111. Use
the Create From EAR/WAR field to specify the archive file that you just created.
8 (Optional) Click the Register Remote Instance button to define existing remote server instances so that you can
include them in the cluster. If you use a remote server, ensure that it contains the same application and settings as
the local server instances.

Note: A server can participate in only one cluster. When adding remote instances to a cluster, ensure that the
instance is not already part of a cluster.
9 Ensure that each server instance is started.

Note: To administer a cluster, at least one member server instance must be running.
10 Select Enterprise Manager > Cluster Manager.
11 Name the cluster and click Add.

The ColdFusion Administrator adds the cluster to the Configured Clusters area.
12 Click the cluster name or the edit icon.

The Edit Cluster screen appears.
13 Use the arrow icons to add server instances to the cluster.
14 (Optional) Enable session replication, and specify a cluster algorithm.

120 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

Note: When you enable sticky sessions, the connector does not always route requests strictly based on the cluster
algorithm. For more information, see Administrator online Help.
15 Click Submit.
16 Select Enterprise Manager > Instance Manager.
17 Use the CF Admin icon on the Instance Manager to open the ColdFusion Administrator on each server

instance. Ensure that required resources (such as data sources and Verity collections) are defined appropriately. If
you are using session replication, go to the Memory Variables page and enable J2EE sessions. You must do this for
all server instances in the cluster. If J2EE sessions are not enabled in the ColdFusion Administrator, session replication does not function properly.
CFC serialization lets you use J2EE session replication in a cluster and have access to the CFCs in session data
across all the computers in a cluster. This feature supports ColdFusion variables, including structures, in a
replicated session scope. (Arrays are not supported in the Alpha 2 version.)
You can also presperve and access data in a CFC in the case of session failover. ColdFusion structures stored
inside the session scope are available in the session scope, even after failover. For example, if you are running
multiple ColdFusion instances to balance server load, you can store useful data, including CFCs, inside the
session so that you can access the data across all the pages that are served in that session.
To enable CFC serialization, set the CFC in the session, as follows:

After failover, you can then access and call methods in the CFC, as follows:

18 For servers that are not on the same subnet, open the jrun_root/lib/security.properties file and add the IP
addresses of the other JRun servers in the cluster to the jrun.trusted.hosts property.

Note: This step is required only for servers that are not on the same subnet; it is not necessary if all servers are on
the same subnet.
19 Restart all JRun servers in the cluster.
20 Run the Web Server Configuration Tool. Choose your website, but instead of choosing a single server
instance, select the cluster. Ensure that you select the Configure Web Server for ColdFusion MX Applications
check box (GUI) or use the -coldfusion option (command-line). For more information, see “Web server configuration” on page 82.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 121
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

21 Open each server instance’s SERVER-INF/jrun.xml file and ensure that the ProxyService deactivated

attribute is set to false.
22 (Optional) Store the application’s ColdFusion files in your external web server root directory.
23 Test the application to ensure that load balancing and failover work as expected.

Defining remote server instances to the ColdFusion
Administrator
You can use the Cluster Manager to add ColdFusion server instances running on other computers; however, you
must first define them to the ColdFusion Administrator through the Add Remote Server Instance area of the
Instance Manager page.
Note: To define a remote server instance, it must be running. You cannot start or stop servers remotely.
Define a remote server instance to ColdFusion
1 Open the ColdFusion Administrator for the cfusion server in a browser (http://hostname:8300/CFIDE/admin-

istrator).
2 Select Enterprise Manager > Instance Manager.
3 Specify the following in the Add Remote ColdFusion Instance area:
•

Server name

•

The IP address or DNS name of the remote host.

• The remote port of the remote server. To determine the remote port, open the
jrun_root/servers/servername/SERVER-INF/jndi.properties file and note the port number in the
java.naming.provider.url property.
4 Click Add Remote ColdFusion Server.

122 CHAPTER 8
Using Multiple Server Instances

123

Chapter 9: Using the ColdFusion Server
Monitor
The ColdFusion Server Monitor lets you track activities on a ColdFusion Server. You can identify information
about the server, including requests, queries, memory usage, and errors. You can start and stop collecting server
information and take snapshots of the server.
To track the status of more than one ColdFusion server, use the Multiserver Monitor.
Contents

Gathering information about ColdFusion servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Starting the ColdFusion Server Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Viewing Server Monitor Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Specifying Server Monitor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
ColdFusion Server Monitor API. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Using the Server Monitor to improve server performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Gathering information about ColdFusion servers
The Server Monitor and Multiserver Monitor provide information about your ColdFusion servers. Generally, the
information that the Server Monitor provides is more detailed than the information that the Multiserver Monitor
provides; however, the Multiserver Monitor provides a good way to track the status of multiple ColdFusion
servers.
The Server Monitor provides information about the following:
• Requests, queries, sessions, and threads
• Response time
• Memory usage
• Alerts and errors
• Snapshots of server information

The Multiserver Monitor provides the following information:

124 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

• Requests
• Response time
• JVM memory usage
• Alerts, errors, and time outs

Starting the ColdFusion Server Monitor
The ColdFusion Server Monitor is a Flash application that you access from the ColdFusion Administrator. The
Server Monitor begins gathering and displaying data when you start it.
The ColdFusion Multiserver Monitor is a Flash application that can provide information about more than one
ColdFusion server. To gather detailed information about one ColdFusion server, use the Server Monitor. To gather
information about several servers, use the Multiserver Monitor.
Start the ColdFusion Server Monitor
1 Start the ColdFusion Administrator.
2 Select Server Monitoring > Server Monitor, and then click Launch Server Monitor.
Start the ColdFusion Multiserver Monitor
1 Start the ColdFusion Administrator.
2 Select Server Monitoring > Server Monitor, and then click Launch Multiserver Monitor.

In the Server Monitor, to start and stop monitoring, profiling, and memory tracking, click the corresponding
buttons in the top bar. By default, the ColdFusion Administrator turns off server monitoring; you must explicitly
start Server Monitoring. The following table indicates what data the Server Monitor collects when you click the
start button:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 125
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Button

Action

Start Monitoring

Starts gathering information about all requests, including active requests, slowest
requests, active sessions, cumulative server usage, highest hit counts, template cache
status, request throttle data, requests that timed out, requests with errors, and server
alerts. The Server Monitor does not gather information for requests that are excluded on
the Filter Settings page.

Start Profiling

Starts gathering tag and function timing information for the Slowest Requests report; the
CFML stack trace for the Active Requests report; information about active queries, slowest
queries, cached queries, and query cache status; database pool status; and the most
frequently run queries. This information gathering lets you find bottlenecks in your application. You can view details about each request that is slow or consumes a lot of memory.
You can determine which tags and functions cause the request to run slowly and which
variables consume the most memory.You can use this information on both development
and production servers. To gather the profiling information, turn on monitoring, profiling,
and, if needed, memory tracking.

Start Memory Tracking

Starts gathering information about memory consumption, including overall memory
usage, the queries and sessions that use the most memory, the memory usage of all
application and server scopes, and profiling information on the largest variables on the
Requests by Memory Usage report, if profiling is enabled.
You must enable profiling to view query-related reports; you must enable profiling and
memory tracking to view the Queries by Memory Usage report.

Reset All Statistics

Resets all statistics collected on the server.

Refresh

Updates the data for all the graphs, reports and message boxes on the page.

Viewing Server Monitor Reports
When you start the Server Monitor, the Overview page appears. To return to the Overview page from any other
page, click Overview.
By default, the Server Monitor retrieves data for graphs every five seconds; it retrieves data for reports every thirty
seconds. All of the graphs let you display either all of the data collected, or the data collected for a specified recent
period of time.
The Server Monitor lets you control the detail, which you turn on and off with the following buttons:
Start Monitoring urns on all monitoring.
Start Profiling urns on monitoring of individual tags, functions, and query execution times.

126 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

Start Memory Tracking urns on tracking of memory that different scopes use. If Profiling is also on, the Server

Monitor tracks the memory that individual tags, functions, and queries use.
Turning on or off monitoring, profiling, and memory tracking determines which data the Server Monitor gathers.
For example, all of the query reports require that you turn on profiling. The performance effect of turning on
monitoring and profiling is minimal; however the performance effect of memory tracking can be significant.
The Server Monitor contains the following sections:
• Overview
• Statistics
• Alerts
• Snapshots

Overview
The Overview page appears when you start the ColdFusion Server Monitor. It provides an indication of the overall
performance of the server, and displays the following reports:
Average response time otal response time divided by the number of requests. Click the drop-down menu to view
data collected since the server started, for the past five minutes, or for the past minute.
Requests per second umber of requests per second. Click the pull-down menu to view data collected since the

server started, for the past five minutes, or for the past minute.
Slowest active requests lowest active requests that are slower than the threshold set on Slowest Requests page.
The number of requests in the list depends on the report size set on the Slowest Requests page.
Alerts ists any alerts. To specify when an alert is generated, select Alerts > Alert Configuration. Alerts indicate

whether your server is approaching an unresponsive state or if is running slowly.
Last error ost recent error that any application generates on the server that is in the included paths specified on

the Filter Settings page.
In addition, the Summary page lists the other reports available. To view a different report, click its name. The
available reports are:
• Requests with errors
• Requests that timed out
• Requests slower than 20 seconds
• Requests that use more than 40 MB

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 127
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

• Sessions that exceed 4 KB
• Queries slower than 20 seconds
• Queries slower than 10 seconds on average
• Queries that exceed 20 KB

Statistics
The Statistics tab contains the following sections:
• Request Statistics
• Memory Usage
• Database
• Errors
Request Statistics

The Request Statistics section contains the following reports:
• Active Requests
• Active ColdFusion Threads
• Slowest Requests
• Slowest ColdFusion Threads
• Active Sessions
• Cumulative Server Usage
• Highest Hit Counts
• Template Cache Status
• Request Throttle Data

128 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

Active Requests

The Active Requests report lists all currently active requests that take longer to load than the request interval for
reports specified in the Refresh Interval setting. Requests include browser requests, CFC HTTP requests, web
services, gateways, and Flash remoting. You can view a list, a detailed view, or a graph of active requests. The
detailed view includes the CFML stack trace, which you can use to find deadlocked requests and where a long
running request is blocked. To see all request graphs in one view, click Chart. The graph indicates the number of
requests that the server is currently processing and the number of requests that are awaiting allocation of an application server thread to begin execution. If the graph indicates that a large number of requests are queued, you
might want to increase the size of the thread pool. Alternatively, if ColdFusion is deployed in a cluster, you may
want to add a server instance for more efficient load balancing.
Note: The Server Monitor includes LiveCycle Data Management Assemblers as Flash Remoting requests.
Active ColdFusion Threads

The Active ColdFusion Threads report lists all currently active threads. You can view a list, a detailed view, or a
graph of active threads.
Slowest Requests

The Slowest Requests report lists the slowest requests. You can specify the threshold that determines whether a
request appears on this page. The lower the threshold, the more requests appear on the list. Use the Report Size
option to limit the number of items in the list. You can view a list or a detailed view of the slowest requests. The
detailed view includes the CFML stack trace. For more information, see “Request handling” on page 139.
Slowest ColdFusion Threads

The Slowest ColdFusion Threads report lists the slowest ColdFusion threads. You can specify the threshold that
determines whether a ColdFusion thread appears in this report. As the threshold decreases, the number of
requests in the report increases.
Active Sessions

The Active Sessions report lists all active sessions. You can view a list, a detailed view, or a graph of active sessions.
The graph displays the active sessions and the number of users logged in to the server.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 129
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Cumulative Server Usage

The Cumulative Server Usage report lists the requests that have cumulatively used the most CPU time on the
server. Even if a request runs rapidly, if it runs frequently, it can consume a large proportion of CPU time. Tuning
requests with high cumulative server time can provide server-wide performance benefits. You can view a list, a
detailed view, or a graph of cumulative server usage. Use the Report Size option to limit the number of items in
the list.
Highest Hit Counts

The Highest Hit Counts report lists the requests that have the highest hit count. You can view a list or a graph of
requests with the highest hit count. Use the Report Size option to limit the number of items in the list.
Template Cache Status

The Template Cache status report shows information about the template cache to indicate how it is performing.
The template cache is where ColdFusion stores compiled CFM and CFC templates in memory. When a template
is executed for the first time, it is compiled to Java bytecode, and then stored in the template cache. As long as the
template is unchanged, ColdFusion uses the compiled form of the template stored in the template cache. The
Template Cache status page lets you monitor the cache-hit ratio, which indicates the number of cache hits in
relation to the number of cache misses. Cache hits are the templates retrieved from the cache. Cache misses are the
templates that must be compiled before being placed in the cache. A server that is performing well should have
more cache hits than misses, which is a high cache-hit ratio. If the cache-hit ratio is too low, you might want to
increase the cache size by selecting Server Settings > Caching in the ColdFusion Administrator. For more information, see “Caching” on page 139. The Template Cache page also lets you monitor the number of templates in
the cache, and the estimated memory that the cache occupies.
Note: The template cache count includes both the Least Recently Used (LRU) cache and the soft cache. As a result, the
count can exceed the number configured in the ColdFusion Administrator.
Request Throttle Data

The Request Throttle Data report lists all requests that the ColdFusion server throttles. Requests are throttled
when ColdFusion queues them, because not enough total memory is available to handle them. Requests smaller
than the specified limit are neither queued nor counted as part of the total memory. Requests larger than the
specified limit are counted as part of total memory and are queued if the request throttle-memory size of the
request is exceeded. The default value is 4 MB. To change the throttle threshold and memory, select Server
Settings > Settings in the ColdFusion Administrator.
Memory Usage

The Memory Usage section contains the following reports:

130 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

• Memory Usage Summary
• Requests by Memory Usage
• CF Threads by Memory Usage
• Queries by Memory Usage
• Sessions by Memory Usage
• Application Scope Memory Usage
• Server Scope Memory Usage
Memory Usage Summary

The Memory Usage Summary report displays a graph that shows the estimated memory consumption by
persistent scopes on the server, including the server scope, the application scopes, and the session scopes. If your
server is consuming too much memory, the graph provides information about which scope is using too much
memory, and when the increased memory consumption began. Detailed reports let you examine estimated
memory consumption for the server scope and all active application and session scopes. For more information,
see “Variable memory usage” on page 138.
Note: Memory usage information displayed in the Server Monitor is estimated and might vary from the actual
memory usage. The information in the memory usage report is based on empirical estimates of how different Java
types, and their corresponding ColdFusion types, consume memory. Use the information provided in the memory
usage report as an indicator rather than an absolute measure. Also, the Server Monitor does not track COM objects
for memory usage information.
Requests by Memory Usage

The Requests by Memory Usage report lists the requests that use the most memory. You can view a list or a
detailed view. The detailed view lists the variables that use the most memory during the execution of the request.
CF Threads by Memory Usage

The CF Threads by Memory Usage report lists the ColdFusion threads that use the most memory.
Queries by Memory Usage

The Queries by Memory Usage report lists the queries that use the most memory. When a query appears in this
report, you might want to tune the query to reduce the size of the result set, or cache the query to reduce memory
consumption and network traffic. This report does not include information about cached queries.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 131
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Sessions by Memory Usage

The Sessions by Memory Usage report lists the sessions that use the most memory.
Application Scope Memory Usage

The Application Scope Memory Usage report lists the application scopes that use the most memory. The detail
lists the application scope variables that use the most memory.
Server Scope Memory Usage

The Server Scope Memory Usage page lists the server scope variables that use the most memory.
Database

The Database section includes the following reports:
• Active Queries
• Slowest Queries
• Cached Queries
• Query Cache Status
• Pool Status
• Most Frequently Run Queries
Active Queries

The Active Queries report lists all currently active queries that take longer to load than the threshold specified on
the Slowest Queries report. You can view a list or a detailed view.
Slowest Queries

The Slowest Queries report provides the Slowest Queries report and the Slowest Queries by Average report. Both
reports let you identify queries by template name and line number. The slowest queries report shows specific
instances of a query that is slow, along with the SQL statement for the query. The detail view includes the SQL
statement. This information lets you determine why an instance of that query was slow.The Slowest Queries by
Average report indicates queries that are slow on average. This report does not provide the SQL code for the
queries because the SQL statement might vary from one instance of the query to another. Cached queries are not
included in either report. To improve performance, tune the queries listed in these reports. If the result of a query
is static, you can improve performance by caching the query using ColdFusion’s query cache. For more information, see “Database response time” on page 140.

132 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

Cached Queries

The Cached Queries report lists the queries that were cached. You can view a list of cached queries or details about
an individual query. If the execution time of a query is low, determine if you really need to cache it. If the execution
count is high, tune the cachedafter and cachedwithin settings of the query.
Query Cache Status

The Query Cache Status report graphs the number of cached queries, the estimated memory that the query cache
consumes, and the query cache-hit ratio. Performance increases as the query cache-hit ratio increases. If the
cache-hit ratio is too low, you might want to increase the size of the query cache. Alternatively, to analyze how
your application uses the query cache, determine whether you can tune the cachedAfter and cachedWithin
attributes of the cfquery tag. If the query cache is too large, determine if you can move some queries out of the
cache.
Pool Status

The Pool Status report lists the data sources, whether an application on the ColdFusion server is using the data
source, and the number of connections. You can view a list of data sources or details about an individual data
source.
Most Frequently Run Queries

The Most Frequently Run Queries report lists the queries that were made the most. Even if individual instances
of a query run rapidly, tuning queries with a high frequency can result in improved performance. This report does
not provide information about cached queries. You can view a list of queries or details about an individual query.
Errors

The Errors section includes the following reports:
• Requests with Errors
• Requests Timed Out
Requests with Errors

The Requests with Errors report lists the templates that generate an error. The report includes the path of the
template, and the number of times errors occurred in that template. For the most recent error, the report indicates
the time of the error, the error message, CFML stack traces, and Java stack traces. You can view a list of templates
or details about an individual template. The detailed information includes the CFML stack trace.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 133
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Requests Timed Out

The Requests Timed Out page lists the templates that timed out. The report includes the path of the template, the
number of times the template timed out, the most recent response time for the template, the time when the
template was most recently used, the most recent estimated request size, and the CFML stack trace. A Java stack
trace is not provided because time outs can only occur within CFML. You can view a list of templates or details
about an individual template. The detailed information includes the CFML stack trace.

Alerts
The Alerts section includes the following reports:
• Alerts
• Alert Configuration
Alerts

The Alerts report lists all the snapshots that alerts generate.
Alert Configuration

The Alert Configuration page lets you specify the thresholds for when to generate an alert. Alerts provide
warnings of potential problems, including a slow server or an unresponsive server. The slow-server alert is
triggered when the server’s average response time exceeds a specified limit. The unresponsive-server alert is
triggered when more than a specified number of threads are busy for more than a specified number of seconds.
The unresponsive-server alert creates a snapshot file, which lets you determine where request threads are
unresponsive. Both types of alert let you invoke a custom CFC when the alert is triggered, which lets you provide
your own automated response to an alert condition. You can specify whether to send an e-mail notification when
an alert is triggered, and to whom. You can also specify the username and password to log in to the server that is
specified on the Mail page of the ColdFusion Administrator.

Snapshots
The Snapshots report lists all snapshots that are triggered. Snapshots include details about the ColdFusion server
at the moment the snapshot is triggered. These details include:
• The time and reason the snapshot was triggered
• Whether profiling and memory tracking are enabled
• How many running and queued requests exist at the moment of the snapshot
• Information about memory usage, including:

134 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

•

JVM memory usage

•

Server, application, and session scope memory usage

•

Throttle-queue size and memory usage

• Information about cached queries
• Status of the database pool
• The Java stack trace

Snapshots are triggered when one of the following occurs:
• You click Trigger Snapshot on the User Snapshots page of the Server Monitor
• The threshold for either an unresponsive server or a slow server is exceeded

When you click Trigger Snapshot, the Server Monitor collects the information for the snapshot and saves it in a
file named snapshot_usrgen_timestamp.txt in the cf_root/logs/snapshots folder. When the Server Monitor creates
a snapshot, it saves the information in a file named snapshot_sysgen_timestamp.txt in the cf_root/logs/snapshots
folder.

Specifying Server Monitor Settings
To specify the settings to use to generate reports, click Settings.
You can specify the following:
• How often to refresh Server Monitor reports
• How often to refresh Server Monitor graphs
• How often to calculate average response times
• Whether to show the entire template path

To specify what file paths to exclude and include in monitoring and whether to monitor the ColdFusion Administrator, click Settings, and then click the Filter Settings tab.
To specify what file paths to exclude from profiling, click Settings, and then click the Profiling Filter tab.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 135
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

By default, the Server Monitor collects information about all ColdFusion templates in the webroot directory and
its subdirectories and in any directories specified on the Mappings page of the ColdFusion Administrator.
However, you might not want to monitor all requests on the server. You specify a path to exclude so that the Server
Monitor does not collect information about files in that directory or in any of its subdirectories. This capability is
especially useful in restricting monitoring on production servers. Use the Include Paths option to monitor any
subdirectories of an excluded directory.
To specify an alias for a template path, click Settings, and then click the Aliasing tab.

ColdFusion Server Monitor API
Use the Server Monitor API to programmatically retrieve all of the data that the Server Monitor collects. The
servermonitoring.cfc ColdFusion component contains methods that you call to perform Server Monitor tasks.
For example, use the getAverageResponseTime method to get the average response time for the server.
To view the methods, method arguments, and documentation for the Server Monitor API, use the CFC Explorer.
To do so, go to http://localhost:8500/CFIDE/adminapi/servermonitoring.cfc.
Use the Server Monitor API
1 Instantiate administrator.cfc:

adminObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator");

2 Call the administrator.cfc login method, passing the ColdFusion Administrator password or the RDS

password:
adminObj.login("admin");

3 Instantiate the Server Monitor CFC:
myObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.servermonitoring");

4 Call the CFC method you want (this example uses getAverageResponseTime):
myObj.getAverageResponseTime();

136 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

Example
The following example uses the Server Monitor API to list the data sources to which the ColdFusion Server is
connected:

// Login to the ColdFusion Administrator.
adminObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.administrator");
adminObj.login("admin");
// Instantiate the Server Monitor object.
myObj = createObject("component","cfide.adminapi.servermonitoring");
// Get the average response time
myObj.getDbPoolStats();

The ColdFusion server is connected to the following data sources:

#copyofarray[i].DSN#

Using the Server Monitor to improve server
performance
The Server Monitor provides information that you can use to help improve the performance of your ColdFusion
server.
Find bottlenecks in your application during development
1 Turn on monitoring, profiling and memory tracking.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 137
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

2 Set the Slowest Request and Requests By Memory Usage report thresholds to zero (0).
3 Run your templates.
4 For each request, find the following:
•

The slowest tags and functions in the Slowest Requests report.

•

The largest variables in the Requests By Memory Usage report.

Factors that influence performance include:
• JVM memory usage
• Variable memory usage
• Request handling
• Caching
• Database response time

JVM memory usage
Because ColdFusion is an enterprise Java application, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is the software component
that most influences performance. Different JVMs from different vendors and different versions of the same JVM
from the same vendor have different performance characteristics. You might benefit from changing the JVM that
you are using with ColdFusion.
ColdFusion contains an embedded version of JRun 4 as the application server and the Sun 1.5 version of the JVM.
By contrast, ColdFusion for J2EE running on IBM WebSphere Application Server uses the JVM that WebSphere
is configured to use.
To configure ColdFusion to use a different JVM, edit the cf_root/runtime/lib/jvm.config file with a text editor by
modifying the value of java.home to point to the root directory of the JVM to use. Alternatively, you can switch
to a different JVM in the ColdFusion Administrator on the Java and JVM Settings page.
Because switching the JVM changes the software environment significantly, do so first in a development or testing
environment and fully test your ColdFusion applications before you make the change on a production server.

138 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

The JVM performs memory management and can have a significant effect on your performance depending on
how you configure the JVM. The most important settings for the JVM are the initial heap size and maximum heap
size. The initial heap size represents the amount of memory that the JVM uses on startup; the maximum heap size
represents the amount of memory that the JVM can use. You can modify these settings in the ColdFusion Administrator on the Java and JVM Settings page. The Initial Memory Size setting specifies the initial heap size; the
Maximum Memory Size setting specifies the maximum heap size. The JVM arguments for initial heap size and
maximum heap size are -XmsNm and -XmxNm respectively, where N is the size of the heap in megabytes (MB). These
JVM arguments are stored in the jvm.config file, in the value of the java.args setting.
The default maximum heap size is set to 512 MB in ColdFusion. For best performance, set the initial heap size and
the maximum heap size to the same value. Determining the optimal size for the heap to run the applications on
your ColdFusion server results in improved performance. Setting the value too high can result in poorer performance because of the higher degree of garbage collection and internal memory management required for the
larger heap. Conversely, setting the heap size too small can result in a java.lang.OutOfMemoryError error if your
application tries to use more memory than is available to it.
The best way to find the optimal heap size is to run your application under simulated peak load with a large heap
and monitor how much memory your application actually uses. If you find that your application uses only 180
MB of memory, for example, you might see performance benefit from reducing your heap size to 256 MB.
The java.lang.OutOfMemoryError error can occur in other, more complicated, conditions. One common cause
of the error is when objects fill up the heap's permanent generation, which defaults to 64 MB. You can increase
the value, for example, to 128 MB, by adding the following JVM argument to the Java and JVM Settings page of
the ColdFusion Administrator:
-XX:MaxPermSize=128m.

Physical hardware memory is an important consideration when determining the optimal heap size. Setting the
maximum heap size to a value that exceeds the amount of free physical memory causes severe performance degradation. For example, if you have only 512 MB of physical memory, you should not set the maximum heap size to
512 MB. Because the operating system and other running applications use memory, much less than 512 MB of
memory is available for the JVM process. it is important to have hardware that meets the requirements of your
software application. For best results, run on server hardware with 1 GB or more of physical memory.
The Server Monitor Summary page monitors the JVM’s memory usage. Use this information when determining
the optimal heap size.

Variable memory usage
Configure client variable storage to use cookies or an RDBMS for best performance when using client variables;
you do this on the Client Variables page of the ColdFusion Administrator.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 139
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Wherever possible, it is best to fully scope your variable names, especially when using the isdefined() function.
For example, performs much better than .
To monitor how variables use memory, view the reports in the “Memory Usage” on page 129 of the Server
Monitor.

Request handling
The Simultaneous Requests setting on the Settings page of the ColdFusion Administrator has the largest effect on
how well an application performs under load. This setting dictates how many threads are used to simultaneously
process incoming requests. For most applications, a good starting point for the optimal value for this setting is
three per processor; you can set a dual processor computer to six simultaneous requests. To find the optimal value
for this setting, test your application under load with different values until you find the value that provides the
best performance under load. While you test your application, you can view the average response time on the
Server Monitor Summary page and the reports in “Statistics” on page 127.

Caching
You can turn on the trusted-cache setting on the Caching page of the ColdFusion Administrator for production
applications so that the server does not check the file system to see if the CFML source code changed since it was
last compiled. This setting provides the benefit of minimizing system I/O, which has a major effect on performance. Set the template-cache size on the Caching page of the ColdFusion Administrator to be roughly equal to
the number of ColdFusion templates that are normally used. To monitor how your settings affect performance,
use the “Template Cache Status” on page 129 in the Request Statistics section of the Server Monitor.
In addition, use one of the following methods to cache wherever possible in your application:
• The cfcache tag
• Database query caching. Database caching can provide significant performance and scalability improvements,

and is accomplished with the cachedwithin and cachedafter attributes of database tags that support them,
such as the cfquery tag.
• Storing data in persistent scopes such as session, making it available for longer than a single request.

140 CHAPTER 9
Using the ColdFusion Server Monitor

Database response time
Wherever possible, it's best to allow database servers to handle data manipulation. Adding SQL code to handle
this work is much more efficient than doing string manipulations or doing in-memory queries (query of queries).
Additionally, stored procedures generally provide a higher level of performance than regular SQL queries.
Converting queries in cfquery calls to stored procedures and using the cfstoredproc tag typically improves
performance. To view database response time information, use the Database section of the Server Monitor (see
“Database” on page 131).

141

Part 2: Administering Verity
ColdFusion 8 includes several Verity search tools and utilities that you can use for configuring the Verity K2
Server search engine, as well as creating, managing, and troubleshooting Verity collections.
The following topics are included:
Introducing Verity and Verity Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Using Verity Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

143

Chapter 10: Introducing Verity and
Verity Tools
ColdFusion includes Verity search technology that lets you quickly search databases; and create, index, diagnose,
and manage collections.
Contents

Collections and the ColdFusion Verity architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
About Verity Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
About the Verity utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Collections and the ColdFusion Verity architecture
ColdFusion includes Verity K2 Server search technology. Verity K2 Server is a high-performance search engine
designed to process searches quickly in a high-performance, distributed system. The K2 search system has a
client/server model. K2 client applications, such as ColdFusion server, provide users access to document indexes
stored in Verity collections. K2 Server supports simultaneous indexing of distributed enterprise repositories, and
handles hundreds of concurrent queries and users.
The Verity search system takes advantage of the latest advances in hardware and software technology, and
provides the following features:
• Multithreaded architecture
• Support for Verity knowledge retrieval features, including topics
• Continuous operation support
• High scalability
• Category support (also called parametric indexes)

Note: ColdFusion no longer uses VDK mode and K2 mode. All Verity processing now uses the K2 architecture.
Additionally, ColdFusion no longer uses the neo-verity.xml file.
Because ColdFusion reads custom queries into memory, indexing a large query-result set can cause a Java out of
memory error or lead to excessive disk use on your computer if your ColdFusion Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
memory allocation is too small. Manage ColdFusion JVM memory settings as follows:

144 CHAPTER 10
Introducing Verity and Verity Tools

Server configuration Through the -Xmx argument to the java.args parameter in the
cf_root/runtime/bin/jvm.config file (for example, [-Xmx512m]).
Multiserver configuration Through the jrun_root/bin/jvm.config file.
J2EE configuration Through application server-specific methods.

Verity information storage
Verity Search Server runs as a separate process from ColdFusion. This server controls all access to Verity collections, as the following figure shows:

In the multiserver and J2EE configurations, multiple ColdFusion server instances all use the same Verity Search
Server to access the same set of Collections.
ColdFusion uses different processes for Windows and UNIX, as follows:
Windows The ColdFusion Verity Search Server service manages and controls configuration and services of a

Verity K2 domain. This service starts three processes: k2server.exe, k2index.exe, and k2admin.exe.
UNIX The cf_root/bin/cfmxsearch control script (cf_webapp_root/WEB-INF/cfusion/bin/cfmxsearch in the

multiserver configurations) starts and stops Verity. When you call this script with the start argument, it calls
verity_root/k2/platform_dir/bin/k2adminstart with the appropriate user context and environment, which in turn
starts up three processes: k2server, k2index, and k2admin. Calling the script with the stop argument calls the
Verity k2adminstop script, which kills those three processes.
Note: When you use the J2EE configuration, you must install Verity separately. For more information, see Installing
Verity Search Server in Installing and Using ColdFusion.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 145
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

You can install Verity Search Server on a separate computer from ColdFusion. For more information, see Administrator online Help.
Note: If no Verity collections appear in the ColdFusion Administrator, it probably means that the Verity Search Server
process isn’t running.

About Verity Spider
Verity Spider lets you index web-based and file system documents throughout your enterprise, including dynamic
content, and many application document formats, including Microsoft Office, WordPerfect, ASCII text, HTML,
and PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents. For more information, see “Indexing Collections with Verity Spider” on
page 147.

About the Verity utilities
ColdFusion includes several Verity utilities to diagnose and manage your collections. These tools include the
mkvdk, rcvdk, rck2, and vspider utilities.
The following table describes the relationship between the major Verity utilities and the corresponding
cfcollection, cfsearch, and cfindex ColdFusion tags. The cfcollection tag operates on the entire
collection; the cfindex tag operates on records within a collection. For more information, see “Using Verity
Utilities” on page 189.
cfcollection
utility

create

repair

mkvdk

cfindex
delete

cfsearch

optimize

update

delete

purge

refresh

rcvdk

X (filesystem
based)

rck2

X (serverbased)

146 CHAPTER 10
Introducing Verity and Verity Tools

ColdFusion OEM restrictions
ColdFusion includes a restricted version of Verity Server, with restrictions in the following areas:
• ColdFusion can only interact with one Verity Server at a time.
• Verity Server has the following document search limits (limits are for all collections registered to Verity Server):
•

10,000 documents for ColdFusion Developer Edition

•

125,000 documents for ColdFusion Standard Edition

•

250,000 documents for ColdFusion Enterprise Edition

Note: Each row in a database table is considered a document.
If you install a fully licensed version of Verity Server and you configure ColdFusion to use it, ColdFusion does
not restrict document searches.
• The Verity K2 server allows a maximum of 128 collections.
• The version of Verity Spider that is included with ColdFusion is licensed for local host indexing only. Contact

Verity Sales for licensing options regarding the use of Verity Spider for remote host indexing.
Additionally, ColdFusion OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs) have the following document search
limits:
• 5,000 documents for ColdFusion Developer Edition
• 62,500 documents for ColdFusion Standard Edition
• 125,000 documents for ColdFusion Enterprise Edition

147

Chapter 11: Indexing Collections with
Verity Spider
Use the Verity Spider utility to index documents on your website and build collections that are searchable by the
user.
Contents

About Verity Spider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
About Verity Spider syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Core options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Processing options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Networking options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Path and URL options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Content options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Locale options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Logging options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Maintenance options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Setting MIME types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

About Verity Spider
Verity Spider enables you to index web-based and file system documents throughout your enterprise. Verity
Spider lets you index more than two hundred of the most popular application document formats, including
Microsoft Office, WordPerfect, ASCII text, HTML, SGML, XML and PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents.
Another advantage of this method, is that the index that the vspider command creates includes dynamic content.
Using the cfindex tag and indexing a collection through the ColdFusion Administrator do not include dynamic
content.
The Verity Spider that is included with ColdFusion is licensed for websites that are defined and reside on the same
computer on which ColdFusion is installed. Contact Verity Sales for licensing options regarding the use of Verity
Spider for external websites.

148 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Web standard support
Verity Spider supports key web standards used by Internet and intranet sites. Standard HREF links and frames
pointers are recognized, so that navigation through them is supported. Redirected pages are followed so that the
real underlying document is indexed. Verity Spider adheres to the robots exclusion standard specified in
robots.txt files, so that administrators can maintain friendly visits to remote websites. HTTP Basic Authentication
mechanism is supported so that password-protected sites can be indexed.

Restart capability
When an indexing job fails, or for some reason Verity Spider cannot index a significant number or type of URLs,
you can now restart the indexing job to update the collection. Only those URLs that were not successfully indexed
previously are processed.

State maintenance through a persistent store
Verity Spider stores the state of gathered and indexed URLs in a persistent store, which lets it track progress for
the purposes of gracefully and efficiently restarting halted indexing jobs.

Performance
Verity Spider performance is greatly improved over previous versions, because of low memory requirements, flow
control, and the help of multithreading and efficient Domain Name System (DNS) lookups.
Flow control

When indexing websites, Verity Spider distributes requests to web servers in a round-robin manner. This means
that one URL is fetched from each web server in turn. With flow control, a faster website can finish before a slower
one. The Verity Spider optimizes indexing on every web server.
Verity Spider adjusts the number of connections per server depending on the download bandwidth. When the
download bandwidth from a web server falls below a certain value, Verity Spider automatically scales back the
number of connections to that web server. There will always be at least one connection to a web server. When the
download bandwidth increases to an acceptable level, Verity Spider reallocates connections (per the value of the
-connections option, which is 4 by default). You can turn off flow control with the -noflowctrl option.
Multithreading

Verity Spider separates the gathering and indexing jobs into multiple threads for concurrence. Additionally, Verity
Spider can create concurrent connections to web servers for fetching documents, and have concurrent indexing
threads for maximum utilization. This translates to an overall improvement in throughput.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 149
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Efficient DNS lookups

Verity Spider minimizes DNS lookups, which means great improvements to lookups throughput. If lookups are
limited by domain or host, then no DNS lookups are made on hosts that fall outside of that range. In earlier
versions, DNS lookups were made on all candidate URLs.
Proxy handling efficiency

To allow for greater flexibility when dealing with indexing jobs that involve proxy servers and firewalls, use the
following options:
-noproxy To reduce proxy checking for certain hosts
-proxyauth To authenticate on proxy servers

About Verity Spider syntax
Before you create an indexing task for a new collection, make copies of the relevant default style files to ensure
that you have a set of template style files in a known, stable state.
Running multiple simultaneous Verity Spider jobs can cause performance problems for searches. This does not
mean that you should never run indexing jobs when users might be searching, because your collections are
available for searching even while indexing jobs are running. To optimize performance, try staggering your
indexing jobs to avoid overloading your server.

The Verity Spider command
The vspider executable file, which starts the Verity Spider utility, is located in the platform/bin directory, as
follows:
Server and multiserver configuration The vspider.exe (Window) or vspider (UNIX) file is located in

cf_root/verity/k2/platform/bin (server configuration) or jrun_root/verity/k2/platform/bin (multiserver configuration) where platform is _nti40 for Windows, _solaris for Solaris, or _ilnx21 for Linux.
J2EE configuration The vspider.exe (Window) or vspider (UNIX) file is located in verity_root/k2/platform/bin

where platform is _nti40 for Windows, _solaris for Solaris, or _ilnx21 for Linux.
At its most basic level, a Verity Spider command consists of the following:
vspider -initialize -collection coll [options]

150 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Where -initialize is -start or -refresh (when starting points have changed), and -collection is required
to provide a target for the Verity Spider, and [options] can be a near-limitless combination of the options
described later in this chapter.
For example:
c:\coldfusion8\verity\k2\_nti40\bin\vspider -common c:\coldfusion8\verity\k2\common
-collection c:\new -start http://localhost -indinclude *

There are dependencies for other options, depending on the nature of the indexing task. The following are some
examples:
• To build a new collection, you must use -style.
• To control how Verity Spider operates, including which documents it indexes, use some Verity Spider options.

If you do not run the Verity Spider executable from its default installation directory, you must include that
directory in your path. This is because the Verity Spider executable depends on other files to run properly.
To use the vspider command on UNIX and Linux, the directory that contains the libvdk30.so file must be in your
LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. In the server configuration, this directory is cf_root/verity/k2/platform/bin; in the
multiserver configuration, this directory is jrun_root/servers/cfusion/WEB-INF/cfusion/verity/k2/platform/bin.
For example, in the server configuration on Linux, this directory is cf_root/verity/k2/_ilnx21/bin.

Using a command file
For simpler reuse and archiving of your indexing commands, use the -cmdfile option for abstraction. By using
an ASCII text file to store a task’s options, you avoid the potential problem of using special characters in an option’s
parameter value. For example, the -processbif option requires the use of "!*" and therefore any task using that
option must also use the -cmdfile option.

Command-line option reference
The following sections describe the Verity Spider V 5.0 command-line options. Option names are case-sensitive.
-start

Specifies a starting point for an indexing job. You can specify multiple instances, or use multiple values in a single
instance.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 151
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

When you execute an indexing job from a command line, and you do not use a command file (with the -cmdfile
option), you must URL-escape any special characters in the starting point. To URL-escape a special character, use
"%hex-ASCII-character-number" in place of the character. For example, use /time%26/ instead of /time&/. This
allows the operating system to properly process the command string.
If an indexing task halts, you can rerun the task as-is. The persistent store for the specified collection is read, and
only those candidate URLs that are in the queue but not yet processed are parsed. Candidate URLs correspond to
URLs of the following status, as reported by vsdb:
cand, used, inse, upda, dele, fail
Repository type

Starting point

Web

The URL or URLs from which Verity Spider is to begin indexing. Use other options, such as
the -jumps option, to control how far from the starting point Verity Spider goes.

File

The starting directory or directories in which Verity Spider will start indexing. All subdirectories beneath the starting point will be indexed, unless you use the -pathlen option
or any of the inclusion or exclusion criteria.

Note: By using the -start option with the -refresh option, you provide a starting point for Verity Spider and
therefore do not need to use at least one of the following options: -host, -domain, -nofollow, or -unlimited.
-refresh

Used for updating a collection, specifies that Verity Spider process only those documents that qualify, as follows:
• They are new documents in the repository, and they qualify for indexing under the criteria.
• They exist in the collection and are recorded in the Verity Spider persistent store with a status of done. If Verity

Spider determines that these indexed documents have been updated in the repository, then they are retrieved
again to be reparsed and reindexed. The document VdkVgwKey values do not change.
• They are deleted in the collection. If Verity Spider determines that documents have been deleted from the

repository, then they are also deleted from the persistent store and the collection. The exception to this rule is
when you use the -nooptimize option with the
-refresh option. In this case, any document deleted from the repository is marked for deletion in the
collection. It will be removed from the collection and the persistent store when the next indexing task is run for
the collection.
When you rerun an existing indexing job, Verity Spider automatically refreshes the collection. If you add or
remove any of the starting points, however, you must manually specify the -refresh option to refresh existing
documents.

152 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Note: You can also use the -start option to provide a starting point for Verity Spider. If you do not use the -start
option, use at least one of the following options: -host, -domain, or -nofollow. For further control, also see the refreshtime option. If you do not use any constraint criteria, Verity Spider operates without limits and will likely
index far more than you intended.

Core options
The following sections describe the Verity Spider core options.
-cmdfile

Syntax
-cmdfile path_and_filename

Specifies that Verity Spider reads command-line syntax from a file, in addition to the options passed in the
command-line. This option includes the pathname to the file that contains the command-line syntax. The cmdfile option circumvents command-line length limits.
The syntax for the command-file is:
option optional_parameters

For better readability, put each option and any parameters on a single line. Verity Spider can properly parse the
lines.
Note: Adobe recommends that you take advantage of the abstraction that this option offers. This option can greatly
reduce user error in erroneously including or omitting options in subsequent indexing jobs.
-collection

Specifies the full path to the collection to create or update.
Note: You receive an error if you specify a filename with an extension of CLM. Meta collections are not supported.
-help

Displays Verity Spider syntax options.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 153
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

-jobpath

Syntax
-jobpath path

Specifies the location of the Verity Spider databases and the indexing job-related files and directories.
The following are the job-related directories and their contents:
log All Verity Spider log files. For descriptions of the log files, see “-loglevel” on page 182.
bif Bulk insert files.
temp Web pages cached for indexing. You can also specify the temp directory using the -temp option.

These directories are created for you under the last directory specified in path.
Path values must be unique for all indexing jobs. If you do not use the -jobpath option, Verity Spider creates a
/spider/job directory within the collection. For multiple-collection tasks, the first collection specified is used.
Note: You cannot use multiple job paths for multiple simultaneous indexing tasks for the same collection. Only one
indexing task at a time can run for a given collection.
-style

Syntax
-style path

Specifies the path to the style files to use when creating a new collection.
If the -style option is not specified, Verity Spider uses the default style files in cf_root/lib/common/style.
Note: You can safely omit the -style option when resubmitting an indexing job, as the style information will already
be part of the collection. If you are using the -cmdfile option, you can leave it there.

Processing options
The following sections describe the Verity Spider processing options.

154 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

-abspath

Type
File system only
Generates absolute paths for files. Use this option when the document locations are not going to change, but the
collection might be moved around.
When you index a web server's contents through the file system, use the -prefixmap option with the -abspath
option to map the absolute file paths to URLs.
See also “-prefixmap” on page 158.
-detectdupfile

Type
File system only
Enables checksum-based detection of duplicates when indexing file systems.
By default, a document checksum is not computed on indexed files. By using the
-detectdupfile option, a checksum is computed based on the CRC-32 algorithm. The checksum combined
with the document size is used to determine if the document is a duplicate.
-indexers

Syntax
-indexers num_indexers

Specifies the maximum number of indexing threads to run on a collection.
The default value is 2. Increasing the value for the -indexers option requires additional CPU and memory
resources.
See also
“-maxindmem” on page 155.
-license

Syntax
-license path_and_filename

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 155
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Specifies the license file to use.
By default, the ind.lic file is used, from the verity_root/platform/bin directory.; where platform represents the
platform directory.
-maxindmem

Syntax
-maxindmem kilobytes

Specifies the maximum amount of memory, in kilobytes, used by each indexing thread. Specify the number of
threads with the -indexers option.
By default, each indexing thread uses as much memory as is available from the system.
-maxnumdoc

Syntax
-maxnumdoc num_docs

Specifies the maximum number of documents to download or submit for indexing. The value for num_docs does
not necessarily correspond to the number of documents indexed. The following factors affect the actual number:
• Whether the value of num_docs falls within a block of documents dictated by the -submitsize option. If it

does, the entire block of documents must be processed.
• Whether documents retrieved are actually indexed, because they are invalid or corrupt.
-mimemap

Syntax
-mimemap path_and_filename

Specifies a control file (simple ASCII text) that maps file extensions to MIME-types. This lets you make custom
associations and override defaults.
The following is the format for the control file:
#file_ext_no_dot
abc

mime-type
application/word

156 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

-nocache

Type
Web crawling only
Used with the -noindex or -nosubmit options, this option disables the caching of files during website indexing.
This has the effect of decreasing the demands on your disk space.
Normally, Verity Spider downloads URLs, then writes them to a bulk insert file and downloads the documents
themselves. When indexing occurs, once the -submitsize option has been reached, the cached files are indexed
and then deleted. If you use the -noindex option, the bulk insert file is submitted but not processed by Verity
Spider, and so the documents are not deleted until indexing occurs. This will usually be mkvdk or collsvc, or you
can use Verity Spider again with the -processbif option.
By using the -nocache option in conjunction with the -noindex or -nosubmit option, you avoid storing files
locally. Files are downloaded only when indexing actually occurs.
See also
“-noindex” on page 156.
-nodupdetect

Type
Web crawling only
Disables checksum-based detection of duplicates when indexing websites. URL-based duplicate detection is still
performed.
By default, a document checksum is computed based on the CRC-32 algorithm. The checksum combined with
the document size is used to determine if the document is a duplicate.
See also
“-followdup” on page 166.
-noindex

Specifies that Verity Spider gathers document locations without indexing them. The document locations are
stored in a bulk insert file (BIF), which is then submitted to the collection. This option is typically used in
conjunction with a separate indexing process, such as mkvdk or collection servicers (collsvc). The BIF will be
processed by the next indexing process run for the collection, whether it is Verity Spider, mkvdk, or collection
servicers (collsvc).

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 157
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Do not try to start Verity Spider and another process at the same time. You must allow Verity Spider time to
generate enough work for the secondary indexing process. If you are using mkvdk, you can run it in persistent
mode to ensure it will act upon work generated by Verity Spider.
Note: When you execute an indexing job for a collection and you use the -noindex option, the persistent store for
the collection is not updated.
See also
“-nocache” on page 156 and “-nosubmit” on page 157.
For more information on the mkvdk utility, see “Using the mkvdk utility” on page 190.
-nosubmit

Specifies that Verity Spider gathers document locations without submitting them. The document locations are
stored in a bulk insert file (BIF), which is not submitted to the collection. This option is typically used in
conjunction with a separate indexing process, such as mkvdk or collection servicers (collsvc). You can also use
Verity Spider again with the -processbif option. With an indexing process other than Verity Spider, you must
specify the name and path for the BIF, because the collection has no record of it.
-persist

Syntax
-persist num_seconds

Enables the Verity Spider to run in persistent mode, checking for updates every num_seconds seconds until it is
stopped.
While Verity Spider is running in persistent mode, there is no optimization. After Verity Spider is taken out of
persistent mode, you need to perform optimization on the collection. For more information about using the
mkvdk utility, see “Using the mkvdk utility” on page 190.
Note: Do not run more than one Verity Spider process in persistent mode. As the Verity Spider is a resource-intensive
process, only run it in persistent mode with an interval of less than one day. For time intervals greater than twelve
hours, use some form of scheduling. Some examples are cron jobs for UNIX, and the AT command for Windows
server.
-preferred

Type
Web crawling only

158 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Syntax
-preferred exp_1 [exp_n] ...

Specifies a list of hosts or domains that are preferred when retrieving documents for viewing. You can use wildcard
expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single characters. To use
regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option. Use this option when you leave duplicate detection enabled
and do not specify the -nodupdetect option.
When indexing, you might encounter a nonpreferred host first. In that case, documents are parsed and followed
and stored as candidates. When duplicates are encountered on another server, which is preferred, the duplicate
documents from the nonpreferred server are skipped. When documents are requested for viewing, they will be
retrieved from the preferred server.
In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
See also
“-regexp” on page 159.
-prefixmap

Syntax
-prefixmap path_and_filename

Specifies a control file (simple ASCII text) that maps file system paths to web aliases.
In conjunction with the -abspath option, this option is typically used to create a URL field that is the web equivalent of a file system path. File system indexing is faster than web crawling over the network. If you use the prefixmap option to replace the file system path with the web URL, relative hyperlinks in the HTML pages are
kept intact when returned in Verity search results.
The following is the format for the control file:
src_field src_prefix dest_field dest_prefix

If you use backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

For example, to map the filepath /usr/pub/docs to http://web/~verity, use the following:
vdkvgwkey /usr/pub URL http://web/~verity

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 159
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

See also
“-abspath” on page 154.
-processbif

Syntax
-processbif 'command_string !*'

Specifies a command string in which you can call a program or script that operates on BIFs generated by Verity
Spider.
Due to the use of special characters, which represent the bulk insert file (BIF), you must run Verity Spider with a
command file using the -cmdfile option.
For example, if you want to use a script called fix_bif to add customized information to BIF files, use the following
command:
vspider -cmdfile filename

Where filename is the text-only command file that contains the following (along with any other necessary
options):
-processbif 'fix_bif !*'

Your command file will include other options as well.
-regexp

Specifies the use of regular expressions rather than the default wildcard expressions for the following options: exclude, -indexclude, -include, -indinclude, -skip, -indskip, -preferred, and -nofollow.

Wildcard expressions allow the use of the asterisk (*) for text strings, and the question mark (?) for single
characters, as the following table shows:
Wildcard expression

Text string

a*t

although, attitude, audit

a?t

ant, art

file?.htm

files.htm, file1.htm, filer.htm

name?.*

names.txt, named.blank, names.ext

160 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Regular expressions allow for more powerful and flexible matching of alphanumeric strings; for example, to match
"ab11" or "ab34" but not "abcd" or "ab11cd," you could use the following regular expression:
^ab[0-9][0-9]$

The full extent to which regular expressions can be employed is beyond the scope of this description. For more
information on regular expressions, refer to a book devoted to the subject.
-submitsize

Syntax
-submitsize num_documents

Specifies the number of documents submitted for indexing at one time. The default value is 128. The upper limit
is 64,000.
Note: Although larger values mean more efficient processing by the indexer, smaller values allow more parallelism on
multi-CPU systems. In the event of a halt during indexing, a smaller value means fewer documents will be lost.
If a halt occurs during indexing, the chunk of documents specified by the -submitsize option is lost because
there is no transactional rollback for indexing and the documents are no longer in the queue for indexing. When
you rerun the indexing task, Verity Spider can only continue with URLs and documents that are enqueued.
-temp

Syntax
-temp path

Specifies the directory for temporary files (disk cache). By default, the temp directory is under the job directory
(optionally specified with the -jobpath option).
If you do not specify a value for this option, Verity Spider creates a /spider/temp directory within the collection.
For multiple-collection tasks, the first collection specified is used.
Note: Make sure the location you specify contains enough disk space to handle the documents that are downloaded
and held before indexing. The documents are deleted from the hard disk after they are indexed.
See also
“-jobpath” on page 153, for specifying the location of all indexing job directories and files, one of which is the temp
directory.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 161
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Networking options
The following sections describe the Verity Spider networking options.
-agentname

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-agentname string

Specifies the value for the agent name field that is part of the HTTP request. Since web servers can be configured
to return different versions of the same page depending on the requesting agent, you can use the -agentname
option to impersonate a browser client.
Use double-quotation marks if the name contains a space. Use the -cmdfile option if the agent name you want
to use contains forbidden characters, such as slashes or backslashes.
-connections

Syntax
-connections num_connections

Specifies the maximum number of simultaneous socket connections to make to websites for indexing. Each
connection implies a separate thread.
The default value is 6.
Note: The Verity Spider dynamic flow control makes the most use of all available connections when indexing websites.
If you are indexing multiple sites, you might want to increase this number. Increasing the number of connections does
not always help, because of such dependencies as your network connection and the capabilities of the remote hosts.
-delay

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-delay num_milliseconds

162 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Specifies the minimum time between HTTP requests, in milliseconds. The default value is 0 milliseconds for no
delay.
-header

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-header string

Specifies an HTTP header to add to the request; for example:
-header "Referer: http://www.verity.com/"

Verity Spider sends some predefined headers, such as Accept and User-Agent, by default. Special headers are
sometimes necessary to correctly index a site.
For example, earlier versions of Verity Spider did not support the Host header, which is needed for Virtual Host
indexing. Also, a Proxy-authentication header was needed to pass a username and password to a proxy server. In
the current version of Verity Spider, the Host header is supported by default, and the -proxyauth option is
available for proxy server authentication. Therefore, the -header option is maintained only for backwards
compatibility and possible future enhancements.
Note: Misuse of this option causes spider failure. If this happens, rerun the indexing task with modified -header
values.
-hostcache

Syntax
-hostcache num_hostnames

Specifies the number of host names to cache to avoid DNS lookups. Without this option, the host cache continues
to grow.
The default value is 256.
-noflowctrl

Type
Web crawling only

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 163
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Disables round-robin indexing of websites with network flow control.
By default, Verity Spider uses round-robin indexing of websites to avoid overwhelming a web server and to
improve indexing performance. Verity Spider connects to each web server in a round-robin manner, using up to
the value for the -connections option. This means that one URL is fetched from each web server, in turn.
Note: Using the -noflowctrl option can result in a significant drop in performance.
-noproxy

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-noproxy name_1 [name_n] ...

Used in conjunction with the -proxy option, the -noproxy option specifies that Verity Spider directly access the
hosts whose names match those specified. By default, when you specify the -proxy option, Verity Spider first tries
to access every host with the proxy information. To improve performance, use the -noproxy option for the hosts
you know can be accessed without a proxy host. For the name variable, you can use the asterisk (*) wildcard for
text strings; for example:
'*.verity.com'

You cannot use the question mark (?) wildcard, and the -regexp option does not let you use regular expressions.
In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the asterisk special character (*).
On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a command line.
Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
Note: You must have valid Verity Spider licensing capability to use this option.
-proxy

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-proxy proxyhost:port

Specifies host and port for proxy server.
Note: You must have valid Verity Spider licensing capability to use this option.

164 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

See also “-proxyauth” on page 164 for proxy servers that require authentication, and “-noproxy” on page 163 for
hosts that you know are accessible without having to go through a proxy server.
-proxyauth

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-proxyauth login:password

Specifies login information for proxy server connections that require authorization to get outside the firewall. Use
this option in conjunction with the -proxy option.
Note: You must have valid Verity Spider licensing capability to use this option. Information Server V3.7 does not
support retrieving documents for viewing through secure proxy servers. Do not use the -proxyauth option for
indexing documents that are viewed through Information Server V3.7
-retry

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-retry num_retries

Specifies the number of times that Verity Spider should attempt to access a URL. Use the -retry option when it
is likely that an unstable network connection will give false rejections.
The default value is 4.
-timeout

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-timeout num_seconds

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 165
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Specifies the time period, in seconds, that Verity Spider should wait before timing out on a network connection
and on accessing data. The data access value is automatically twice the value you specify for the network
connection time out.
The default value for the network connection time-out is 30 seconds, and therefore the default value for the data
access time-out is 60 seconds.

Path and URL options
The following sections describe the Verity Spider path and URL options.
-auth

Syntax
-auth path_and_filename

Specifies an authorization file to support authentication for secure paths.
Use the -auth option to specify the authorization file. The file contains one record per line. Each line consists of
server, realm, username, and password, separated by whitespace.
The following is a sample authorization file:
# This is the Authorization file for HTTP's Basic Authentication
#server
realm
username
password
doleary
MACR
my_username
my_password

-cgiok

Type
Web crawling only
Lets you index URLs containing query strings. That is, a question mark (?) followed by additional information.
This typically means that the URL leads to a CGI or other processing program.
The return document produced by the web server is indexed and parsed for document links, which are followed
and in turn indexed and parsed. However, if the web server does not return a page, perhaps because the URL is
missing parameters that are required for processing in order to produce a page, nothing happens. There is no page
to index and parse.

166 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Example
The following is a URL without parameters:
http://server.com/cgi-bin/program?

If you include parameters in the URL to be indexed, as specified with the -start option, those parameters are
processed and any resulting pages are indexed and parsed.
By default, a URL with a question mark (?) is skipped.
-domain

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-domain name_1 [name_n] ...

Limits indexing to the specified domain(s). You must use only complete text strings for domains. You cannot use
wildcard expressions. URLs not in the specified domain(s) are not downloaded or parsed.
You can list multiple domains by separating each one with a single space.
Note: You must have the appropriate Verity Spider licensing capability to use this option. The version of Verity Spider
that is included with ColdFusion is licensed for websites that are defined and reside on the same computer on which
ColdFusion is installed. Contact Verity Sales for licensing options regarding the use of Verity Spider for external
websites.
-followdup

Specifies that Verity Spider follows links within duplicate documents, although only the first instance of any
duplicate documents is indexed.
You might find this option useful if you use the same home page on multiple sites. By default, only the first
instance of the document is indexed, while subsequent instances are skipped. If you have different secondary
documents on the different sites, using the -followdup option lets you get to them for indexing, while still
indexing the common home page only once.
-followsymlink

Type
File system only

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 167
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Specifies that Verity Spider follows symbolic links when indexing UNIX file systems.
-host

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-host name_1 [name_n] ...

Limits indexing to the specified host or hosts. You must use only complete text strings for hosts. You cannot use
wildcard expressions.
You can list multiple hosts by separating each one with a single space. URLs not on the specified host(s) are not
downloaded or parsed.
-https

Type
Web crawling only
Lets you index SSL-enabled websites.
Note: You must have the Verity SSL Option Pack installed to use the -https option. The Verity SSL Option Pack is
a Verity Spider add-on available separately from a Verity salesperson.
-jumps

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-jumps num_jumps

Specifies the maximum number of levels an indexing job can go from the starting URL. Specify a number between
0 and 254.
The default value is unlimited. If you see extremely large numbers of documents in a collection where you do not
expect them, consider experimenting with this option, in conjunction with the Content options, to pare down
your collection.

168 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

-nodocrobo

Specifies to ignore ROBOT META tag directives.
In HTML 3.0 and earlier, robot directives could only be given as the file robots.txt under the root directory of a
website. In HTML 4.0, every document can have robot directives embedded in the META field. Use this option
to ignore them. Use this option with discretion.
-nofollow

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-nofollow "exp"

Specifies that Verity Spider cannot follow any URLs that match the exp expression. If you do not specify an exp
value for the -nofollow option, Verity Spider assumes a value of "*", where no documents are followed.
You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters. Always encapsulate the exp values in double-quotation marks to ensure that they are properly interpreted.
If you use backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

To use regular expressions, also specify the “-regexp” on page 159 option.
Earlier versions of Verity Spider did not allow the use of an expression. This meant that for each starting point
URL, only the first document would be indexed. With the addition of the expression functionality, you can now
selectively skip URLs, even within documents.
See also
“-regexp” on page 159
-norobo

Type
Web crawling only
Specifies to ignore any robots.txt files encountered. The robots.txt file is used on many websites to specify what
parts of the site indexers should avoid. The default is to honor any robots.txt files.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 169
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

If you are re-indexing a site and the robots.txt file has changed, Verity Spider deletes documents that have been
newly disallowed by the robots.txt file.
Use this option with discretion and extreme care, especially in conjunction with the “-cgiok” on page 165 option.
See also
“-nodocrobo” on page 168.
-pathlen

Syntax
-pathlen num_pathsegments

Limits indexing to the specified number of path segments in the URL or file system path. The path length is determined as follows:
• The host name and drive letter are not included; for example, neither www.spider.com:80/ nor C:\ would be

included in determining the path length.
• All elements following the host name are included.
• The actual filename, if present, is included; for example, /world.html would be included in determining the

path length.
• Any directory paths between the host and the actual filename are included.

Example
For the following URL, the path length would be four:
http://www.spider:80/comics/fun/funny/world.html
<-1-><2><-3-> <---4--->

For the following file system path, the path length would be three:
C:\files\docs\datasheets
<-1-><-2-><---3--->

The default value is 100 path segments.
-refreshtime

Syntax
-refreshtime timeunits

170 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Specifies not to refresh any documents that have been indexed since the timeunits value began.
The following is the syntax for timeunits:
n day n hour n min n sec

Where n is a positive integer. You must include spaces, and since the first three letters of each time unit are parsed,
you can use the singular or plural form of the word.
If you specify the following:
-refreshtime 1 day 6 hours

Only those documents that were last indexed at least 30 hours and 1 second ago, are refreshed.
Note: This option is valid only with the -refresh option. When you use vsdb -recreate, the last indexed date is
cleared.
-reparse

Type
Web crawling only
Forces parsing of all HTML documents already in the collection. You must specify a starting point with the start option when you use the -reparse option.
You can use the -reparse option when you want to include paths and documents that were previously skipped
due to exclusion or inclusion criteria. Remember to change the criteria, or there will be little for Verity Spider to
do. This can be easy to overlook when you are using the
-cmdfile option.
-unlimited

Specifies that no limits are placed on Verity Spider if neither the -host nor the -domain option is specified. The
default is to limit based on the host of the first starting point listed.
-virtualhost

Syntax
-virtualhost name_1 [name_n] ...

Specifies that DNS lookups are avoided for the hosts listed. You must use only complete text strings for hosts. You
cannot use wildcard expressions. This lets you index by alias, such as when multiple web servers are running on
the same host. You can use regular expressions.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 171
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Normally, when Verity Spider resolves host names, it uses DNS lookups to convert the names to canonical names,
of which there can be only one per computer. This allows for the detection of duplicate documents, to prevent
results from being diluted. In the case of multiple aliased hosts, however, duplication is not a barrier as documents
can be referred to by more than one alias and yet remain distinct because of the different alias names.
Example
You can have both marketing.verity.com and sales.verity.com running on the same host. Each alias has a different
document root, although document names such as index.htm can occur for both. With the -virtualhost
option, both server aliases can be indexed as distinct sites. Without the -virtualhost option, they would both
be resolved to the same host name, and only the first document encountered from any duplicate pair would be
indexed.
Note: If you are using Netscape Enterprise Server, and you have specified only the host name as a virtual host, Verity
Spider cannot index the virtual host site. This is because Verity Spider always adds the domain name to the document
key.

Content options
The following sections describe the Verity Spider content options.
-casesen

Makes processing case-sensitive by specifying that the spider separately process keys that differ only in case. Use
only for indexing UNIX servers.
-exclude

Syntax
-exclude exp_1 [exp_n] ...

Specifies that files, paths, and URLs matching the specified expression(s) will not be followed. If you use
backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

172 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
To specify a file, path, or URL that you want followed but not indexed, use the -indexclude option. For
document types, use the -mimeexclude option instead; for example, specify -mimeexclude application/pdf
rather than -exclude *.pdf.
Note: When specifying a URL, you must use full, absolute paths using the same format that appears in the HTML
hyperlink. If the link is relative, you must change it to absolute to use it with the -exclude option.
See also
“-regexp” on page 159.
-include

Specifies that only those files, paths, and URLs that match the specified expression or expressions will be followed.
If you use backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
If your starting points do not contain the specified -include expressions, nothing will be indexed. The -include
option prevents Verity Spider from even following anything that does not match the specified expressions. You
might want to use the -indinclude option instead. Where the -include option prevents Verity Spider from even
following anything that does not match the specified expressions, the -indinclude option allows Verity Spider
to follow what matches the specified expressions, while not indexing.
For document types, use the “-mimeinclude” on page 178 option instead; for example, specify -mimeinclude
text/html rather than -include *.htm.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 173
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

Note: When specifying a URL, you must use full, absolute paths using the same format that appears in the HTML
hyperlink. If the link is relative, you must change it to absolute to use it with the -include option.
See also
“-regexp” on page 159.
-indexclude

Syntax
-indexclude exp_1 [exp_n] ...

Specifies that the files and paths in URLs that match the expressions are not indexed. They are, however, still
followed. If you use backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
You would use this option to gather some documents, such as HTML tables of contents, to gain access to other
documents for indexing.
Where the -exclude option prevents Verity Spider from even following anything that matches the specified
expressions, the -indexclude option allows Verity Spider to follow anything while only skipping that which
matches the specified expressions.
For document types, use the -indmimeexclude option instead.
Note: When specifying a URL, you must use full, absolute paths using the same format as appears in the HTML
hyperlink. If the link is relative, you must change it to absolute to use it with -indexclude.
See also
“-regexp” on page 159.

174 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

-indinclude

Syntax
-indinclude exp_1 [exp_n] ...

Specifies that only those files and paths in URLs that match the expressions be followed and indexed. If you use
backslashes, you must double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
Where the -include option prevents Verity Spider from even following anything that does not match the
specified expressions, the -indinclude option allows Verity Spider to follow anything while only indexing that
which matches the specified expressions.
Example
If you want to index all documents that include "search" in the URL at http://web.verity.com, you cannot use the
following:
vspider -collection collname -start http://web.verity.com
-include '*search*'

This is because the starting point does not match the -include option criteria. Instead, use the -indinclude
option to follow all documents (unless you have specified any of the exclude options) and index only those
documents that match your criteria. Replace the -include option with the -indinclude option in the preceding
example.
Note: When specifying a URL, you must use full, absolute paths using the same format that appears in the HTML
hyperlink. If the link is relative, you must change it to absolute to use it with the -indinclude option.
See also
“-regexp” on page 159.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 175
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

-indmimeexclude

Syntax
-indmimeexclude mime_1 [mime_n] ...

Specifies that only those MIME types that match the expressions be followed but not indexed.
In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
Use this option to gather some documents, such as HTML tables of contents, to gain access to other documents
for indexing. The -mimeexclude option, on the other hand, prevents specified documents from being followed
at all. For the mime variable, you can include the asterisk (*) wildcard for text strings; for example:
'text/*'

You cannot use the question mark (?) wildcard, and the -regexp option does not let you use regular expressions.
-indmimeinclude

Syntax
-indmimeinclude mime_1 [mime_n] ...

Specifies that only those MIME types that match the expressions be followed and indexed.
The -mimeinclude option does not let you index desired documents if the starting URL is not followed. For the
mime variable, you can include the asterisk (*) wildcard for text strings; for example:
'text/*'

In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special character (*). On UNIX,
use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a command line. Quotation
marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
You cannot use the question mark (?) wildcard, and the -regexp option does not allow you to use regular expressions.
Example
If you want to index all Word documents at http://web.verity.com, you cannot use:
vspider -collection collname -style style_dir -start
http://web.verity.com -mimeinclude 'application/msword'

176 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

This is because the starting point does not match the -mimeinclude criteria. You can use the -indmimeinclude
option to follow all documents (unless you have specified any of the exclude options) and index only those
documents that match your criteria. Replace the -mimeinclude option with the -indmimeinclude option in the
preceding example.
-indskip

Syntax
-indskip HTML_tag "exp"

Type
Web crawling only
Specifies that Verity Spider follow and parse links, but not index, any HTML document that contains the text of
exp within the given HTML_tag. For multiple HTML_tag and exp combinations, use multiple instances of the skip option.
You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
Example 1
To skip all HTML documents that contain the word "personnel" in the Title element, while still parsing those
documents for links to other documents, use the following:
-indskip title "personnel"

Example 2
To avoid indexing directory listing pages, while still parsing the document and path links except for the link to the
parent directory, use one of the following, depending on the web server being indexed:
1 For Netscape web servers, use the following:

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 177
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

-indskip title "*Index of*"
-nofollow "*parent directory*"

2 For Microsoft Internet Information Server, use the following:
-indskip a "*to parent directory*"
-nofollow "*parent directory*"

-maxdocsize

Syntax
-maxdocsize integer

Specifies the maximum size, in kilobytes, for documents to be indexed. Any documents larger than the value
specified by the -maxdocsize option are ignored.
The default is to index documents of any size.
-metafile

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-metafile path_and_filename

Lets you use a text file to map custom meta tags to valid HTTP header fields. If you use backslashes, you must
double them so that they are properly escaped; for example:
C:\\test\\docs\\path

This means that you can use your own meta tag, in the document, to replace what is returned by the web server,
or to insert it if nothing is returned. Currently, the only header fields of real value are "Last-Modified" and
"Content-Length." Future enhancements could allow for greater variety.
The following is the syntax for entries in the text file:
name Last-Modified y|n

or
name Content-Length y|n

Where y|n is an override flag, which can be yes or no.

178 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

Example
A mapping file for the -metafile option might include the following:
Doc_Last_Touched Last-Modified n
Doc_Size Content-Length y

If you use the y override flag, the value for the custom meta tag overrides the value for the valid field, even if both
values are present and differ. This can be useful when the valid field value is always sent, but you want to specify
your own value with a custom meta tag.
If you use the n override flag, the value for the custom meta tag is used only if there is no value for the valid field
returned by the server. If a value for the valid field exists, it is given precedence.
Note: If you have several entries mapping to the same valid field, only the last entry takes effect.
-mimeexclude

Syntax
-mimeexclude mime_1 [mime_n] ...

Specifies MIME types that are neither followed nor indexed.
In Windows, include double-quotation marks around the argument to protect the special characters, such as the
asterisk (*). On UNIX, use single-quotation marks. This is only required when you run the indexing job from a
command line. Quotation marks are not necessary within a command file (the -cmdfile option).
The default is to include all MIME types. For the mime variable, you can include the asterisk (*) wildcard for text
strings; for example:
'text/*'

You cannot use the question mark (?) wildcard, and the -regexp option does not let you use regular expressions.
Use the -indmimeexclude option to allow Verity Spider to follow documents, without indexing them, to gain
access to other desirable document types.
-mimeinclude

Syntax
-mimeinclude mime_1 [mime_n] ...

Specifies MIME types to be included.

ADOBE COLDFUSION 8 179
Configuring and Administering ColdFusion

You cannot use the question mark (?) wildcard, and the -regexp option does not let you use regular expressions.
-mindocsize

Syntax
-mindocsize integer

Specifies the minimum size, in kilobytes, for documents to be indexed. Any documents smaller than the value
specified by the -mindocsize option are ignored.
The default is to index documents of any sizes.
-skip

Type
Web crawling only
Syntax
-skip HTML_tag "exp"

Specifies that Verity Spider not index any HTML document that contains the text of exp within the given
HTML_tag. For multiple HTML_tag and exp combinations, use multiple instances of the -skip option.
You can use wildcard expressions, where the asterisk (*) is for text strings and the question mark (?) is for single
characters; for example:
'/my_doc*/year199?'

180 CHAPTER 11
Indexing Collections with Verity Spider

To use regular expressions, also specify the -regexp option.
Example 1
To skip all HTML documents that contain the word "personnel" in the Title element, use the following:
-skip title "personnel"

Example 2
To skip all HTML documents that contain both the word "private" and the phrase "internal user" in any paragraph
element, use the following:
-skip title "personnel"
-skip p "*internal use*"

Adobe Configuring Cold Fusion 8.0 And Administering Coldfusion 8

Navigation menu

Versions of this User Manual:

Views

Navigation