Frequently Referenced Resources
Following are resources that Charlie frequently refers people to, gathered into one list for easy reference.They're listed in order of frequency of being referred to, rather than their recency (hey, old content can often be just as valuable years later--and Charlie will update any older resource of his own when needed to reflect newly learned information, or will create a new one based on it).
See the following groupings:
- Key blog posts of my own
- Key blog posts from Adobe
- Key resources of my own
- Key resources from Adobe
- Key blog posts from others
- Key tools I often recommend
My own key blog posts
(In order of frequency that I refer folks to them, not chronological order.)- A table of what Java versions can be used with what ColdFusion versions
- Solving problems calling out of CF via https, by updating JVM
- CF911: 'Help! I've updated the JVM which ColdFusion uses, and now it won't start!'
- Solving metaspace errors, once and for all
- How and why your sites may break, and what to do, after applying March 2020 update to CF2018 or 2016
- How to solve common problems with applying ColdFusion updates (in 10 and above)
- Free, simple code to find out what SQL statements are running slow in SQL Server right now
- When and how to upgrade CF web server connector, easier since CF2016
- Helpful keyboard shortcuts for working with "windowed" Remote Desktop: switching windows, more
- Finding the EULA (End User Licensing Agreement) for your installed CF version
- Hidden Gem: Importing CF Admin settings in ANY release via 'import wizard', even AFTER installation
- Looking for CF people, or CF work? What can you do?
- Could CF image processing be killing your ColdFusion server? Explanation and solutions
- Adobe should consider a different model for handling CF security fixes
- Come speak on the CFMeetup (online CFUG). A FAQ for prospective speakers
- Filing issues for things like ColdFusion docs, Docker images, PMT, CFFiddle, and even the bug tracker itself
- "Charlie, we'd like to buy CF. Are you an Adobe reseller?"
- Hidden Gems in ColdFusion 2018, part 1: Series Overview (first of a series)
- CF911: Lies, Damned Lies, and CF Request Timeouts...What You May Not Realize
- Tending the SQL Server garden: tuning and maintenance resources (updated and useful)
- Configuring FusionReactor to show "real ip address" when behind a load balancer or other proxy
- Getting started with Adobe's ColdFusion Docker images
- CF2020 to offer still-better deployment on Docker, cloud
- Urgent CF security update released March 1 2019, for CF11/2016/2018, Part 1 (first of a series)
- Suffering CPU/DB/memory problems in CF? Spiders, monitor pings, and more may be to blame
- What's an admin to do: Oracle's changed stance on production use of Java, going forward?
- What's new in CF2018, part 1 and part 2
- CF911: Why/when you MUST update the web server connector for ColdFusion 10/11 and may have missed it
- Monitoring ColdFusion web server connectors, more on Tomcat 'Status Workers'
- Solving error connecting to SQL Server from ColdFusion on Localhost
- Writing a CFML error handler? Don't forget to log the error!
- Did you know: Release Notes page summarizes key changes in all CF updates
- Why should one be careful about securing ColdFusion ARchive (CAR) files?
- How to implement a special hotfix that Adobe may give you
- ColdFusion now supports Java 12, which is already EOL. Should you use it? Java 13? 11?
- Top 10 CArehart.org blog posts of 2018 (and of 2017, and and 2016)
- Are you still running CF11? Beware its countdown clock is ticking
- How to get the checksum for a file on Windows
- Keeping your FusionReactor updated
- On ColdFusion and its support for Java 9, 10, and 11
- Recordings for nearly a dozen recent FusionReactor webinars I've done
- Long-time CFer needing to find new non-CF work? You may know more than you realize
- Easily finding cached versions of a site/page when it's down or gone
- The 100 most interesting posts on the Adobe ColdFusion blog, the past 3 years
- Multi-part series on what was new or changed about CF2016
- Great set of substantial, practical, but brief videos on IIS
- Looking to buy ColdFusion? Get it at a discount from the FR folks, and an additional discount off FR
- CF911: Help, How do I connect sites to a new instance w/ the ColdFusion 10/11 webserver config tool?
- Understanding SQL Server Statistics: A great, free, relatively brief ebook
- Solving slow CF startup: my elaborating on an Adobe blog entry on a possible solution
- Hidden Gem in ColdFusion 11: ColdFusion Archive (CAR) support now in Standard
- Finding ColdFusion installers, updaters, hotfixes, and docs for all recent releases
- CF911: High CPU in ColdFusion? Some common but perhaps unexpected causes
- Applying hotfixes to ColdFusion 9 and earlier? A guide to getting it right
- Four free tools I (nearly) always install on a new machine and use everyday
- CF10 Hidden Gem: New method to obtain ColdFusion instance name via CFML code
- Charlie Arehart's Ultimate List of 200+ New ColdFusion 10 Features
Key Adobe blog posts
- Adobe's announcement in Jan 2019 of their licensing Oracle Java for CF users. For more on the licensing issue, see my blog post on the matter from before the announcement
- Adobe ColdFusion Backward Licensing
- ColdFusion performance issues and optimization
- ColdFusion 11 IIS Connector Tuning
- Configuring Status Worker in Connectors
- How to debug server restart when ColdFusion services refuse to start normally
My own key resources
- My CF411.com site of over 2000 tools and resources of interest to CFers
- My CF911 wiki of CF troubleshooting resources (my own and from others)
Key Adobe resources
- ColdFusion 2021 Updates (and for CF2018, CF2016, CF11, and CF10)
- Adobe ColdFusion Portal (and blog)
- Adobe CF Forums
- Adobe CF Docs and support resources
- Adobe CF Bug Tracker/Feature Request Form
- Docker images for ColdFusion
Key Blog posts or resources of others
- Perfect Storm for Upgrading to a Modern Version of SQL Server (to SQL 2017 or above)
- Understanding log buffer flushes in SQL Server
- How to configure data sources with Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server (from 2010, but still a classic even with more recent CF versions)
- FusionReactor monitor for ColdFusion, Lucee, Tomcat, and other JEE servers
- FusionReactor webinars (Charlie has presented most of them)
- Buy CF at Discount (from the makers of Fusion Reactor)
- Akbarsait's ColdFusion 2021 Tutorials and Resources, where he gathers resources from others about the new release. Also available for CF2018, CF2016, CF11, CF10, and CF9
- ColdFusion and JVM Versions and SSLv3-TLS Security Magic
- Quick example of CFTHREAD - and a warning (from 2007, but still a classic)
Tools I often recommend
- File Locator Lite, free and commercial, for Windows (great tool to search for files by contents or name)
- UltraSearch, free, for Windows (faster search for files, by name only)
- BeyondCompare, commercial, multiplatform (great file/folder/text compare tool)
- Command-line CF Security Analyzer, open source (does require that you have CF 2016 Enterprise or above, and CFBuilder 2016)
- Database Health Monitor, free, for Windows (extensive monitoring for SQL Server)
- Sysgauge, free and commercial, for Windows (extensive monitoring of all Windows resources)
- Ola Hallengren's free SQL Server database maintenance scripts
- Brent Ozar SQL Server First Aid Kid: free SQL Server troubleshooting scripts