Using an external web server

ColdFusion uses the Tomcat 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 Tomcat 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:

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 2.x, the connection module is mod_jk.so.

IIS

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

  • Creates a folder 1 in cf_root\config\wsconfig, that contains all connector-related files.

  • Creates a virtual directory Jakarta in cf_root\config\wsconfig (in IIS).

  • Adds an entry, tomcat, under the ISAPI FILTERS. This points to cf_root\config\wsconfig\1\ isapi_redirect.dll.

  • Adds an entry, tomcat, to  cf_root\config\wsconfig\1\isapi_redirect.dll with permission allowed under ISAPI and CGI Restrictions. This is applicable for global sites in IIS manager.

  • Adds the following isapi handlers: cfcHandler, cfmHandler, cfmlHandler, cfrHandler, and cfswfHandler.

  • For debugging issues, set the log level to debug, in the isapi_redirect.properties file present in the cf_roots\config\wsconfig\1\ directory.

  • To disable webserver buffer, change the is_buffer_enable to false in the cf_root\config\wsconfig\1\isapi_redirect.properties file. Do this if you want cfflush to work over an IIS connector. If your application does not use cfflush, set this to true. This may increase the performance.

Sun ONE Web Server, including Netscape Enterprise Server (NES)

The Web Server Configuration Tool adds the following elements to Sun ONE Web Server configuration files:

  • Creates a folder 1 in the ColdFusionZeus\config\wsconfig folder that contains all connector-related files.

  • Adds the following entry in the magnus.conf file of Sun ONE. Change the log level to debug for debugging issues.

    Init fn="load-modules" shlib="C:/ColdFusionZeus/config/wsconfig/2/nsapi_redirect.dll" funcs="jk_init,jk_service" 
Init fn="jk_init" worker_file="cf_root/config/wsconfig/2/workers.properties" log_level="info" log_file="cf_root/config/wsconfig/2/nsapi.log" shm_file="cf_root/config/wsconfig/2/jk_shm"

  • Adds the entries for all extensions in the obj.conf file of Sun ONE. For example, 

    NameTrans fn="assign-name" from="/*.cfc/*" name="jknsapi" 
NameTrans fn="assign-name" from="/*.cfc" name="jknsapi" 
NameTrans fn="assign-name" from="/*.cfml" name="jknsapi" 
<Object name="jknsapi"> 
Service fn="jk_service" method="*" worker="server1" 
</Object>