Adding a certificate to the ColdFusion keystore November 9, 2008
Posted by dpretlor in ColdFusion Security.Tags: certfifcate, cfhttp, security, ssl
1 comment so far
When trying to connect to an HTTPS site using the cfhttp tag, the tag may produce the error:
Unable to connect to SSL site error
To use HTTPS with the cfhttp tag, you might need to manually import the certificate for each web server into the keystore for the JRE that ColdFusion uses. This procedure may not be necessary if the certificate is signed (issued) by an authority that the JSSE (Java Secure Sockets Extension) recognizes (for example, Verisign); that is, if the signing authority is in the cacerts already. This procedure should only be necessary if the server URL is not in any of the certificates and they have not expired.
However, you might need to use the procedure if you are issuing SSL (secure sockets layer) certificates yourself. The instructions below show how to install a certificate into a ColdFusion 8 keystore, multi-server install.
- Place the certificate on the ColdFusion server.
- Change to the directory {cf_installdirectory}/jre/lib/security
- Import the cert (keytool -import -trustcacerts -keystore cacerts -storepass changeit -noprompt -alias anyalias -file certificatefile)
- If the import is successful you will get a confirmation that the certificate was added to the keystore.
- Restart coldfusion.
This procedure can also be helpful if scheduled tasks that connect to SSL servers are not running.
ColdFusion 8 Certification May 11, 2008
Posted by dpretlor in Certification.Tags: Certification
4 comments
I took the ColdFusion 8 certification exam today, and I passed it. What i found was, however, that it was a little more in depth than the previous versions of the exams. The previous ColdFusion certification exams had about 1/4 of the questions on general web development and HTML. The Adobe ColdFusion exam had 64 questions which were all ColdFusion related, and they touched on quite a few topics that a typical developer would not use in an everyday development shop.
The exam covered questions covering topics such as:
- Application Framework (Application.cfc)
- Handling exceptions
- Databases
- XML
- Code Reuse
- File management
I believe the test generates random questions so that each test is different. If thats the case, then I am sure more topics were included in the exam.
After taking the exam, I would recommed developers brush up on the new tags and functions included in ColdFusion 8. The cfimage, cfpdf and the cfdocument tags were included in the test questions I received. The were also one or two LDAP questions as well.
Currently there is no study guide for the CF8 certification so you are on your own to find resources to study for this exam. If you have been previously certified in ColdFusion 7 then I think you can probably get through this painlessly by just brushing up on your old skills and learning the new tags and functions.
Installing a CFX tag in ColdFusion 8 Multi-server Configuration March 22, 2008
Posted by dpretlor in ColdFusion Administration.Tags: ColdFusion 8, Server Configuration
1 comment so far
Recently I was asked to install a java CFX tag in the ColdFusion 8 Multi-server Configuration. I figured this would be an easy task, as I had done this many times before in the standalone server configuration. I went into the ColdFusion Administrator and installed the CFX tag as normal. However, when I called the CFX tag from the code I received an error that I had never seen before. The error was 500 com/allaire/cfx/CustomTag.
After trying everything I could think of, I decided to compare the java class paths between the stand alone configuration and the multi-server configuration. I found that the cfx.jar file was missing from the java class path in the multi-server configuration. ColdFusion therefore could not load com.allaire.cfx.CustomTag class. So, I decided to add the cfx.jar file to the java classpath and see if that would solve my error. To add the cfx.jar file to the classpath in the ColdFusion multi-server edition you must follow these steps.
- Open the jvm.config file located at
{application.home}/bin - Add
{application.home}/servers/cfusion/cfusion-ear/cfusion-war/WEB-INF/lib to thesection “java.class.path” - Save the jvm.config file
- Restart the ColdFusion service.
After restarting the ColdFusion service, login to the CF administrator and go to the settings summary. Confirm that the cfx.jar file is in the java classpath. It was there, and I was able to call the CustomTag from my code.
Hope this helps anyone who runs into the same issue.
