Installation and Running Cold Fusion MX 

Installation

The Cold Fusion MX Server can be downloaded for free from the Macromedia MX download site.  For Windows English, it is a 77MB download.  The trial software reverts to a single IP address server after thirty days which is all you need for developing and testing Cold Fusion MX applications.  For the trial software, leave the registration number blank during installation.

For installation in the classroom, please also do the following (I want the installation to be done in a uniform fashion so that students can move from one computer to another):

After you do the installation of Cold Fusion, you may also want to download and install the latest updater to Cold Fusion.

Use the activeserver logon for installation of the server and subsequent work.  

The server will be installed on the computers in the CT open lab.  In the open lab, MAKE SURE YOU LOG OFF of the activeserver logon when you are done.  This logon has privileges that might be abused by other students which would lead to the Cold Fusion software not being available in the open lab for us.  The password for the Cold Fusion Administrator on these computers will be supplied by the instructor. 

Starting and Stopping the Server

On Windows machines, the server will likely start by executing a series of commands that will appear at the DOS prompt and will take about 15-40 seconds (these commands conclude with a statement that the server is ready and the amount of time to load).  JRUN will then appear in the list of programs that are running (those that appear next to the Start button).  

The Cold Fusion MX Server software will run differently depending on the operating system used by the computer running the server.  Cold Fusion MX Server runs as a service under Windows 2000 and XP.  Windows 2000 is being used in the classroom and the open lab.  This means it can be started and stopped through Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services.   Under Windows 98 and ME, it runs as a regular program and is started and stopped through Start>Programs.  In Windows 98 and ME, you can start and stop the server by executing the following programs: c:\CFusionMX\bin\cfstart.bat and c:\CFusionMX\bin\cfstop.bat  (If you did not accept the default locations suggested during installation, the cfstart.bat and cfstop.bat files may be located elsewhere.)  

Verifying that the Server is Running Locally (Same Machine)

If you are using the stand-alone server: type http://localhost:8500 in the location bar of your browser (Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera, etc.  8500 is the port number that is used by the Cold Fusion stand-alone server.  This assumes that localhost is the name of your computer.  

If you are not using the stand-alone server, type http://localhost in the location bar of your browser.

In either case, if the server is working, you should see a list of folders including CFIDE that are present in the root folder for this server, which is c:\CFusionMX\wwwroot by default.  If you do not, the server can still be working properly.  There are several possibilities: :

  1. By default, the Cold Fusion server enables directory browsing.  This means that if a URL is specified without a filename, the server will display a document with a specified filenames (typically index.cfm, index.html, etc.) if present, otherwise it will display a directory listing of files and folders in that folder.  If one of these default files is present in the folder, it will display.  You can test that the Cold Fusion server is operating properly by including Cold Fusion tags within the default document.
  2. localhost is a name commonly used to refer to one's own computer.  To determine your computer name in Windows, go to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Network>Identification to see or change the name.  An alternative way to refer to one's own computer rather than http://localhost is http://127.0.0.1

If you install Cold Fusion using the stand-alone server, then a request of http://localhost:8500 will be processed by the Cold Fusion stand-alone server.  A request of http://localhost would be processed by Personal Web Server on Windows machines and would refer to whatever root folder has been specified for Personal Web Server.  Thus you can have both servers running at the same time.

I have done an installation where Cold Fusion server is installed using another server such as IIS but do not know at this point how the behavior might differ except that one types http://localhost instead of http://localhost:8500.  In addition, it appears one can establish virtual directories under IIS rather than having to edit an .xml file as one does with the stand-alone server. 

Revised: September 29, 2002. Comments to William Pegram, wpegram@erols.com