Stop and start ColdFusion on Mac OSX without a script
I’m a recent switcher, having used Windows for, well, ever. So far, the switch has been painless, and I’m only using XP in VMWare for SQL Server 2000 and 2005, including the studio tools.
But it’s the little daily things that are tripping me up. I learned ifconfig as the replacement for ipconfig, I’m getting comfortable with the Network Configuration util and the Activity Monitor.
Today’s problem was that I didn’t know how to bounce the ColdFusion service. In Windows, it’s as simple as using the Services panel or running the “net start” “net stop” commands on the command line. I did figure out how to restart CF on the Terminal, but I wanted something to click, since I don’t usually keep a terminal window open, and I can’t remember the syntax for it.
I started trying to make a script I could keep in the dock to bounce the CF service, but I bailed on that pretty quickly when I discovered the ColdFusionLauncher.app, which is included in CF for Mac OSX since version 7. It’s located in the main ColdFusion folder (for me it was /Applications/ColdFusion8. Just fire up that puppy to start or stop your instance, along with running the wsconfig applet. All very helpful, and not immediately visible on Google searches.
Check it out here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=b50acd43&sliceId=1
I have the CFLauncher in my dock right next to the Eclipse Icon so when I start Eclipse, I can run the launcher as well… makes it nice.
I bet there is someway you can call the cflauncher app via quicksilver too and pass the arguments you want to it… im just not up to speed enough with quicksilver to know how.
Comment by Russ Johnson — June 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am
That’s actually my technote from several years ago. In fact, if you Google for ColdFusionLauncher.app the first hit is my blog entry which preceded the technote.
http://www.talkingtree.com/blog/index.cfm/2005/12/7/ColdFusionLauncher
One little point of trivia, on Mac, when starting via the CLI, the CF server runs as the user that started it. This is in contrast to Linux and Solaris where CF su’s to a non-privileged user like nobody. I can’t recall if the ColdFusionLauncher starts CF as the user running the program, but I think so. If different users of differing privs start CF, then files written by CF, such as log files, may get different owners having different permissions (based on each user’s permissions mask).
Comment by Steven Erat — June 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am
Interesting information about the permissions and launcher, Steven.
I’m glad you blogged about this too, but for some reason, the keywords I was using in my Google search didn’t result in your blog entry. I wish it had!
Comment by Nat Papovich — June 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am
I switched about 8 months ago. Probably could share my 2 cents worth ref IM, text editors, OpenVPN, reading windows CHM files, backing up, Remote Desktop, Apache 2, MySQL setup alternatives to SQLyog, Oracle and numerous other issues I have come across recently. Use VMWare too, so got tips on this too. Drop me a line if you want.
Comment by Matt — June 25, 2008 @ 12:00 am
I am a recent switcher aswell. I was using the CLI to start and stop CF I never even noticed the CFLauncher. I occasionally use Report builder I wonder if they will port it to OSX?
Comment by Paul Kukiel — June 25, 2008 @ 12:00 am
I am a recent switcher as well and in the same boat as you. I also use the ColdFusionLauncher.app a lot and have actually kept it in my dock to have it handy.
Comment by Anuj Gakhar — March 27, 2009 @ 4:02 am
Thanks for sharing this… I’ve been scratching my head for the last couple of hours trying to figure out to start and stop ColdFusion.
Comment by Joshua Briley — August 4, 2010 @ 12:06 pm