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:

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, including iPlanet and Netscape Enterprise Server (NES)

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

  • obj.conf  A PathCheck directive for the JRun filter and ObjectType directives to 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.