installing CF developer edition on XP

Ok, currently this is my setup:

XP
Apache 1.3
PHP and Perl are working
still working on getting python working

So I downloaded ColdFusion from Macromedia, and will install the developer edition.

However, I'm not sure which option to install it as.

1. Sever Configuration
2. J2EE Config
3. J2EE Config (EAR/WAR)

I am curious, what are the +/- of each, and if I am running apache, and I want to get it working with apache, which one should i choose?

thanks in advance
Tyler

The options are:

1) Standalone server installs CFMX as a self-contained server, with an internal version of JRun under the hood. You can also choose to have it set up a built-in web server. You access it using a URL like http://localhost:8500 to specify the standalone instance of CF. I believe this option is also the easiest way to set up CFMX to work with Apache if you don't want to use the built-in web server, but you may need to upgrade to the latest version of Apache as I am not sure CFMX 6.1 works with Apache 1.3

2) J2EE Configuration installs JRun 4 and then installs CFMX on top of that. In this configuration you can use all the J2EE features like J2EE clustering, session replication, and multiple separate instances of CFMX.

3) WAR/JAR is only used if you are deploying CFMX to a pre-existing J2EE server, such as JBoss, Tomcat, Websphere, etc.

Basically if you are just testing and/or learning, option 1 with the built-in web server is by far the easiest to install and use.

I'm having similar problems. I have the same setup (minus Perl running) and can't get Coldfusion to work. When I installed it, it said it couldn't be started b/c my firewall was blocking port 51010. I don't have a firewall, so it must be Cox. How do I solve this problem? I downloaded ApacheModuleColdFusion.dll from macromedia.com and copied it into the bin folder of the Coldfusion directory. I then added the following lines to the httd.conf file...

LoadModule coldfusion_module c:/CFusionMX/bin/ApacheModuleColdFusion.dll
AddModule mod_coldfusion.c

...and restarted the server. It said it couldn't restart because the "specified procedure could not be found." Huh?

What is Cox?

Just install it in standalone mode (self-contained server) if you want to try it out. This installs it with a self-contained version of JRun and a web server. If you are just testing or doing development, there is no advantage to running CFMX with Apache (or IIS or whatever).

Cox is my internet service provider. I did what you said. Still shows the error. Why in the world would you not want to run CFMX on a local server to develop applications? If I only used WS_FTP to work on my site, I would drive my site visitors crazy (ie. testing and debugging applications all the time)!

When it's installed in standalone mode you access it on port 8500, like this: http://localhost:8500/mydir/myfile.cfm

However, I am pretty confused about what you are trying to do and what you mean when you say "Why in the world would you not want to run CFMX on a local server to develop applications?" um, you DO want to run CFMX on a local server to develop applications, that's what installing CFMX in standalone mode does.

I tried port 8500 too. I get a server error and it tries to download the cfm file. I'm trying to setup the a CF server on my local intranet so I can develop a CF website that resides on a leased server. My server is not connected to the internet. I did the same when I used PHP. I would develop and test the scripts on my local server, then upload them to the live leased server when ready. When you said "If you are just testing or doing development, there is no advantage to running CFMX with Apache (or IIS or whatever)." I thought you ment that the only reason for downloading the CF server was if you wanted to run it on a live website. I don't have any on-the-job experience yet, but I'd imagine that most companies with a website wouldn't edit their websites via a FTP program either.

No, of course you don't edit a live site with FTP or anything else for that matter. We use ANT to push our baselines to a production server after thorough testing on local machines and then a shared development server.

I've never seen problems like you are describing...I've probably installed CFMX in standalone mode 50 times and it's never taken more than 5 minutes and clicking through a bunch or menus. Are you using CFMX 6.1, the latest version? Try uninstalling everything and trying it one more time. If problems persist, I believe MM offers free installation support so you might want to try that.

I downloaded it directly from macromedia.com the other day. I will try reinstalling and then asking support. Thanks.

Okay, I was trying to install it as part of Apache, not as a stand-alone server. I didn't read that option and it never dawned on me that I wouldn't need it to interact/run off the Apache server. Now I get what you were saying. Doah! Thanks a lot!!

Don't you roll your eyes at me! Not everyone can jump into Coldfusion and be an expert!

hehe...no I'm just rolling my eyes because that's what I was trying to explain in this post. Glad you got it working.