Transcript presentation source

WASHINGTON SQUARE
Stephan Greene
Senior Systems Specialist, VA Linux Systems
Consultant, Washington Square Associates, Inc.
[email protected]
June 26, 1999
TECHNOLOGY SIMPLIFIEDSM
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Using Cold Fusion with Open Source
Software
“Making the Marriage Work”
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Share our experience using Cold Fusion
with several “Open Source” products

Benefits and Challenges

Contrast two different approaches to
software
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Why Give This Talk?
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About WSA:
 IT Integrator and Engineering Services
 #17 on Washington Technology “Fast 50”
 http://www.washsq.com

Cold Fusion Experience:
 Data-driven Business Applications using Web
Browser Clients, Dynamic Web Sites
 Started Using Cold Fusion in 1996 (Version 1!)
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WSA
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We weren’t trying to “prove” anything
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Client Wanted a CF-based system on
Solaris platform

Our Challenge: Apply NT-based CF
experience to a new platform
 Experience with other *nix (Linux)
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Project Background
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Software with publicly available source
code
 See: www.fsf.org, www.opensource.org
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Users contribute fixes and enhancements
back to the community

May incorporate into commercial products
and services per license

License terms govern reuse, resale
 GPL, LGPL, BSD, “artistic”, Netscape/Mozilla,
Sun “Community”, public-domain,...
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What Is Open Source Software?
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Operating Systems
 Linux, FreeBSD

Internet Servers/Daemons
 BIND, Sendmail, Apache, Samba

Developer Tools & Languages
 gcc, emacs, Perl, Python, Tcl/Tk, XFree86

Applications
 Mozilla, KDE, Gnome, MySQL, Postgres
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Open Source Software Examples
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Rapid Development Cycles
 Very frequent code releases
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Users and Developers are responsive to
bugs and new features
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Worldwide scope
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Often Standards-based
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Amount of “polish” varies widely
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Characteristics of Open Source
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Data-Driven Web Site
 Replace A “Static” site
 Dynamic Page Content based on User Inputs
 Non-Webmasters Maintain Content
 Integrate with other dynamic elements
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Example Project
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Solaris platform (Sparc CPU)
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Solaris 2.5.1 Operating System
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Web Server
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Cold Fusion Application Server
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Back-End Database stores content
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Supporting scripts and utilities
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Other project elements
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Project Architecture
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Browser
Browser
Users
Developers
& Client
Apache
Browser
CF Server
Content
& Admin
CF Studio
Legend
Open Source
MyODBC
MyODBC
MySQL
Win 9x/NT
Solaris
Developers
Development
Server
Netscape
Closed Source
External
MS Access
Other App
Doesn’t Matter
Other DB
CF Server
MyODBC
MySQL
MySQL
Solaris
Server O/S*
Production Server
“Scaling”
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Project Architecture
(* Solaris, Linux, *nix, NT,...)
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It solved several problems threatening the
success of the project!
 Budget - Apache web server met all our needs
 Feasibility - The commercial database we
started with did not work with Cold Fusion
 Support - Responsiveness of the community
was vital to getting the database backend
integrated and working
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Why Use Open Source Software?
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Straightforward Installation
 Solaris pkgadd tool
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Web Server Integration
 Netscape - handled by installation
 Apache - recompile with Cold Fusion libraries
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ODBC + Databases
 This was the trickiest part!
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Differences between CF on Solaris and NT
 Some developer training required
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Getting CF Running on Solaris
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Cold Fusion supports ODBC!
 Database must run on Solaris, support ODBC

Candidates
 Open Source: Msql, MySQL, PostgreSQL
 Commercial: SQL Anywhere

Our pick: MySQL
 Sufficient features for this project
 Another user had successfully used it with Cold
Fusion and released the driver source code so
we could use it ourselves.
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Backend Databases
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MySQL Installation
 build / install binary
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Getting the ODBC Driver built
 Scott Weikart patch, FSF “GNU” Tools:
• gcc, egcs, make, gnuzip, g-tar
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Debugging ODBC
 odbctool

Learning the tricks
 Thank heaven for mailing lists!
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More Tweaking...More Open Source
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#!/bin/sh
#
# start - setup environment and run Cold Fusion servers
...
ODBCHOME=/opt/coldfusion/odbc
ODBCINI=/opt/coldfusion/odbc/odbc.ini
...
#MySQL
MYSQL_HOST=xyz.foo.bar
#MYSQL_LOG="d:t:S:O,/tmp/myodbc.log"
#uncomment for debugging
...
VAR_LIST="LD_LIBRARY_PATH CFHOME CFUSER ODBCHOME ODBCINI SYBASE SQLANY SATMP
ORACLE_HOME INFORMIXDIR INFORMIXSERVER II_SYSTEM MYSQL_HOST MYSQL_PWD MYSQL_LOG
MYSQL_HOME MYSQLHOME”
...
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CF Startup
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[ODBC Data Sources]
...
PROJECT1=MySQL
...
[ODBC]
Trace=0
TraceFile=/tmp/odbctrace.out
TraceDll=/opt/coldfusion/lib/odbctrac.so
InstallDir=/opt/coldfusion/odbc
...
[PROJECT1]
Description=PROJECT1
Driver=/usr/local/mysql/lib/libmyodbc_mysql.so
SERVER=localhost
...
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ODBC Configuration
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File Permissions
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Learn new switches in CF tags - CFFILE
Upload, Create
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File Permissions!
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Migrating Data from Access to MySQL
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File Permissions!!
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CF 3.1 bugs and work-arounds
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FILE PERMISSIONS !!!
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CF on Solaris Tips ‘n Tricks
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Unix handles file names and permissions
differently than NT:
 Names are case sensitive
 Files must be readable (sometimes writeable) by
the web and CF server processes
 Directories must be readable, executable
(sometimes writeable) by web and CF server
processes
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Enforce Coding Conventions
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Useful commands: chmod, chown, chgrp
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File Naming and Permissions
on Solaris
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Use CFFILE with the Upload action to upload a file
specified in a form field to a directory on the Web
server. Note that the MODE attribute applies only to
ColdFusion on Solaris.
Syntax
<CFFILE ACTION="Upload"
FILEFIELD="formfield"
DESTINATION="directory"
NAMECONFLICT="behavior"
ACCEPT="file_extension"
MODE="permission"
ATTRIBUTES="file_attributes">
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<CFFILE ACTION="Upload”|”Write”>
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Developers use Access to design and
prototype database tables
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Use exportsql VBA script to export table
definitions and text content
 Modify defaults to support our data structures
 Import from Unix command line
mysql -p<pwd> <database> < project.sql
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“Export Tables” via ODBC
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Migrating Database from Access to
MySQL
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Cfserver lockups and core dumps
 “Watchdog” script detects lockup, restarts
server without requiring root access by users
 Upgrade to CF 4 is the real fix!
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Cannot create MySQL data sources in
CF admin screens
 Edit odbc.ini manually
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Transactions & Table Locking
 Use CFLOCK tag in applications
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CF 3.1 Problems and Workarounds
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Good application on Great server platform
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CF Studio
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Cross-platform CF coding
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Excellent remote administration via admin
web page and ssh/telnet
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CF Studio works with NT and Solaris
servers
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CF Server 4.0 is MUCH Better than 3.1
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What’s Great About CF on Solaris?
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It’s a port
 Windows Registry Emulator
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Allaire’s documentation and support is
better for NT but improving
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Add-on packages work better on NT
 Verity
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Bugs and Memory Leaks?
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What’s Not So Great About CF on
Solaris?
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Integration using Standards-Based
Software
 HTTP, ODBC, SQL
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Extends Capabilities of Each Product
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Cold Fusion Developers Pre-Disposed to
Share
 Custom CF Tags and Libraries
 Contributions to Various Forums and on-line
“Communities”
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What’s Great About CF with Open
Source Software?
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Limited Allaire Support
 Other than Apache, Open Source Software
generally “Not Supported” by Allaire
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Allaire and Allaire Partners Unaccustomed
to Open Source Business Models
 CF Server, Studio Are Not Open Source
 Don’t Expect To Change, But It Doesn’t Matter!
 Allaire is beginning to support Open Source
platforms (Linux)
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What’s Not So Great About CF with
Open Source Software?
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Better support for Unix
 Linux Port
 Native code without Registry Emulation, etc...?
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Competition - the Application Server space
is heating up
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Acceptance in Unix Community
 Cost
 “Religious” opinions
 Development tools and cross-platform coding
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Looking Towards the Future
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It Works!
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Combining Cold Fusion and Open Source
software
 Met our needs
 Met our customer’s needs
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Cold Fusion and Open Source
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Apache
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MySQL
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MyODBC, iodbc
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GNU/FSF: gcc, egcs, make, gtar, etc...
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Linux: Open Source concept and MySQL
test bed
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Packages and Tools We Used
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Open Source: http://www.opensource.org
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GNU/FSF: http://www.fsf.org
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MySQL: http://www.mysql.com
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Scott Weikart’s libmysqlodbc driver:
ftp://ftp.igc.org/pub/myodbc
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Apache: http://www.apache.org
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Open Source Software for Solaris: http://www.sunfreeware.com
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General Sun Help: http://www.sunhelp.com
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Allaire: http://www.allaire.com
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Washington Square Associates, Inc.: http://www.washsq.com
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Me: http://ww2.washsq.com/~sgreene/
[email protected]
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Links
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Allaire working on Linux port of CF Server
 Part of CF 5.0 release (Fall 1999?)
 Probably a native port
• No registry emulator!

Today - Linux “stub”
 Allows a Linux box running Apache to link to a
NT or Solaris CF Server
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Cold Fusion and Linux
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Allaire provides an Apache dynamic module to
connect to a Cold Fusion server
 Requires
• RedHat 5.2
• Apache 1.3.x with mod_so enabled
• libstdc++
• An accessible CF 4.x server (NT or Solaris)
 http://forums.allaire.com/devconf/Index.cfm?Messag
e_ID=256760
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Cold Fusion Linux Stub
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Build and install mod_coldfusion.so per
instructions in README
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httpd.conf:
LoadModule coldfusion_module
libexec/mod_coldfusion.so
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Edit /opt/coldfusion/cfremote.ini
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Edit <CF Server>:/opt/coldfusion/cfdist.ini
and run /opt/coldfusion/bin/cfdist
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Check logs for success|error messages
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Installing the Linux Cold Fusion
Stub
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Need an exact mirror of ALL .cfm, .html,
images, etc. from the back-end CF server
on the Linux system
 Easiest via NFS export
 Windows File Sharing (smbmount)
 ftp, mirror, rsync

Apache hands off Cold Fusion calls to the
“real” CF Server using cfdist
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Using the Linux Cold Fusion Stub
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For Now - Limited Practical Use
 Might make sense to integrate a Linux-based
web site with a back-end fielded database on a
Solaris or NT system.
 If most/all of site is on Cold Fusion, there may
be less reason to front it with a Linux web
server
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Gets Cold Fusion in front of community
 Especially businesses considering using Linux
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Observations on the Linux Cold
Fusion Stub
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Skepticism on practicality, performance,
support, value
 Open Source software rapidly gaining “mind
share”
 Strong business value IF IT WORKS
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Have a respected champion
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Be prepared to do plenty of integration,
testing, and repeat selling
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Using Open Source Software in
Commercial Environment
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IMHO:
 Cold Fusion’s real strength is the developer tool
(CF Studio) and it’s integration with CF Server.
• Linux port is for Server, not Studio
 A Linux port of CF Server is likely to appeal to
business users who want a powerful, stable,
cost-effective web server
 CF is less likely to compete with Perl and PHP
among “traditional” Linux web developers
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Predictions on Cold Fusion’s
Future in the Linux World