Installation Problem: "500 null" on Linux

Question

We're setting up a new server (CentOS v4.3 fully updated,
Kernel 2.6.9-34.0.1) along with Plesk v8.0, ColdFusion MX v 7.0.1
(no additional patches). I have installed two compatibility
libraries (xorg-x11-deprecated-libs and compat-libstdc++-296). I
know there is a bug ("An error has occurred when reading/writing
/lib/license.properties"). This is not our issue.
The problem is that at each attempt to start Coldufusion,
that it presents a bunch of erros in the log, and displays only
"500 Null" in the browser window when I attempt to access the
admin. Attemtping to access a regular script simply outputs the
script text.
The precise installation instructions I've followed (over and
over) are
Here.
I've attached a synopsis of the log (and changed the server name to
"example.com" for search engine's sake. The installation logs that
everything is successful with the exception of required libraries,
and we've installed the necessary compat libraries.
I've been stumped on this for about 20 days. Can someone
suggest some avenues of exploration, keywords, little know facts or
magic incantations?
Unable get IP addresses from a local host, defaulting to
"127.0.0.1".
06/05 13:29:52 warning Unable to open
/opt/coldfusionmx7/runtime/lib/license.properties
I don't think this is an issue
06/05 13:29:54 info Fail to lookup ClusterManager instance.
06/05 13:29:54 error RuntimeException thrown in operation
start
[1]java.lang.NullPointerException
This came up 4 times
06/05 13:29:54 error led.example.com: led.example.com
java.net.UnknownHostException: led.example.com:
led.example.com
This came up 2 or 3 times,
06/05 13:29:54 info No JDBC data sources have been configured
for this server (see jrun-resources.xml)
06/05 13:29:54 info Fail to lookup ClusterManager instance.
06/05 13:29:54 error RuntimeException thrown in operation
start
[1]java.lang.NullPointerException
06/05 13:29:55 info JRun Web Server listening on *:8500
Server coldfusion ready (startup time: 4 seconds)
06/05 13:32:44 error There is no web application configured
to service your request
06/05 13:32:44 error No mapping found for
/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm
06/05 13:32:44 user jrun.servlet.NotFoundServlet: init
06/05 13:32:44 error
java.lang.NullPointerException

Answer 1

Update: The only version of Java that we have is the one that
CF installed. Now, we're not running it with the Apache config,
we're running it as standalone. The reason we chose standalone vs.
Apache config is because we are using Plesk, an admin and user PHP
control panel, and it's instructions say that we should use the
standalone version. Plesk is touchy, so we're always quite wary of
doing anything to break it.
Can someone from Adobe (the former Macromedia team) chime in?
It would help to have someone who is really savvy about this
too.