Cannot create ear file in CF9

Question

Hi,
I have a brand new installation of CF9, on a brand new server, configured in multiserver mode.  The intial instance seems to be fine and I am trying to create an EAR file so that I can build other instances.  When I run the build from the CF Administrator, it looks like it's doing some thing but then times out.  If I reload the page, the archive looks like it has been created.  However, when I try to use it while adding a new instance, it says the package can't be found.  What am I doing wrong?  The only think I can think of is that I used a .car file from a stand alone CF8 version after the CF 9 installation.  If that is the problem, what do I do to get rid of the car file data?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, the good news is that the CAR file deployment should be the way to go. As I feared, you saw the WAR option and like others were perhaps led to think it was "the" way to go (whether from the interface, the docs, or perhaps someone's suggestion). It really serves a different purpose (though, yes, it COULD be used for this purpose too. More on that in a moment.)
First, I'll say also that I assume that you chose to switch to the Multiserver mode on the new server because you thought it would give you some new flexibility. It will, though if you're only going to have one instance on the new server, you don't really need to use multiserver. As this episode shows, with its power comes also more need to understand its ins/outs (not least of which are the vastly different directory locations, as I showed in the last note). I know some pundits suggest it's "the way" to go, but not everyone needs it. And to be very clear, you can certainly install CF9 in Server mode (or as you called it "single server"), and then if you wanted later you could also install CF 9 in Multiserver mode on the same box.
But back to your question, yes, the CAR file approach is the simplest way to move the CF Admin settings from one CF server to another. It should have worked.
So it seems you’re saying here that the servers in question (source and destination) are the ones you referred to in the first note. You said in that note that you HAD already done the CAR file export/import, and then you were trying the WAR file approach. Did the CAR file approach not work well for some reason?
And to answer your last question about propagation of Multiserver Admin settings, I can understand your confusion. It's not as clear as it could be in the docs or interface. Again, if you change any settings in the first/main/cfusion instance, then when you create a new instance, the settings in the cfusion instance are propagated into the new instance. That could be a benefit or a detriment, depending on one's expectations. It's also a point-in-time thing: the settings are not kept in sync after that.
As for the reference you found to the EAR file deployment, again, that's really a more elaborate approach that is primarily for those who prefer to do EAR/WAR deployments (whether from the CF installer or from another Enterprise server/instance). For your needs, you don't need it, which is why I pressed the point. I kind of suspected.
It's too bad that things can be so confusing. I know that the CF team is well aware of the challenges and we can hope that they will improve things in the future. (No need for folks to chime in with comments about how bad it is. Again, that's not new information to anyone.)
/charlie arehart
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Providing CF and CFBuilder troubleshooting services
at http://www.carehart.org/consulting