A ColdFusion Trick for Lost Datasource Password

Here's a quick trick if you don't have a datasource password when creating a new datasource but you do have another ColdFusion server with the same datasource.

Imagine you have two production servers running ColdFusion, each one with different datasources running different applications. What if you have a datasource on one server and you need to create that datasource on the second one but can't find (or don't have) the database password?

All recent ColdFusion versions use the same encryption algorithm for encrypting and decrypting passwords for datasources registered in the CF Administrator. This is why you can copy the ColdFusionX/lib/neo-datasources.xml from one ColdFusion 8 server to another ColdFuson 8 server, and the second server will have all the same datasources as the first. This is a quick way to mirror datasources across different ColdFusion servers.

But now, back to the problem where you have different datasources on each CF server, and you cannot copy over the whole datasource config file. If you don't have the database password, you can create a new datasource on the second server but without supplying a password. The datasource will then fail to verify. However, if you examine the datasource config file from the first server you can find the encrypted version of the password. A snippet from the ColdFusion8/lib/neo-datasource.xml file is shown below. Notice the encrypted version of the password in this xml sections:

In this case the particular datasource has an encrypted version of the password shown as RgmrmRQhiQM=. You could find the datasource of interest in the config file, then find the encrypted version of the password, and copy it to the other neo-datasource.xml config file on the other server. Find the XML node for the failed datasource. It should have no value for the contents of the password field:

Then paste the encrypted version of the password in between:

For this to work, the ColdFusion server for where you are pasting the password should be stopped to avoid having ColdFusion overwrite your changes with a copy it already has in memory. Then start ColdFusion after pasting and the datasource will verify.

This can also work between ColdFusion versions. For example, ColdFusion MX 7 used neo-query.xml, and ColdFusion 8 restructured the file into neo-drivers.xml and neo-datasource.xml, but the encryption remained the same. You can copy the encrypted form of the password from a CF7 server and paste it into a CF8 or CF9 datasource config file.

This is a bit of a hack, but it does work.

  Starting ColdFusion9 Solr: Using cfsolr in same directory

The cfsolr script for Mac, Linux, and Unix is written such that you must be in the ColdFusion9/solr/ directory when running the script. The script refers to the start.jar file without providing the full path.

The problem is that if you are not in the solr/ directory under the ColdFusion root directory, the cfsolr script echos that Solr has been started or stopped, even though it has not.

Since the standard error is redirected to the standard out with "2>&1" the problem is swallowed and the person performing the operation is led to believe that the operation has been carried out as expected.

Here's a snippet from the ColdFusion9/solr/cfsolr script showing that start.jar is referenced without a full path:

Looking at the logs, I see that the problem was quietly recorded in a solr log file:

The script already has a variable defining the Solr directory path:

To fix the bug, prefix the reference to start.jar with ${SOLR}/start.jar like this:

With that fix, the cfsolr script can be called from any directory outside the solr directory.

Here is an examle of how the script falsely echos that the solr server has stopped or started when it has not (determined by grepping for the process):

  Adobe LiveCycle DataServices for ColdFusion at CFObjective

After a decade of working intensely with the ColdFusion server, I'm finally getting the courage to start presenting about it on the conference circuit. As a blogger, tweeter, and contributor to mailing lists I'm very confident helping others solve ColdFusion related problems because I can do that from the quiet comfort of my own desk. However, one of my greatest fears has always been public speaking. I'm the kind of person that feels like I need to know the subject matter cold, so that I can speak from the hip without relying on looking at the slides.

Over the years, I had some opportunities to present to small groups, and I recall each time feeling the adrenalin surge and my heart pounding. That started with presenting ColdFusion for Unix and Linux as an internal training class at Macromedia. Later, while taking classes at the Harvard Extension School, I was honored to be asked to present to CSCI-253 Developing Web-Based Database Applications. Even more so, I presented twice there in one year. The first time on Building ColdFusion Web Applications with CFEclipse and Dreamweaver, and later on ColdFusion Server Administration

I've been attending ColdFusion conferences since the days of Allaire DevCon, but had never presented at any of them including MAX. My long time friend in the local ColdFusion Community, Brian Rinaldi, continued to encourage me to present at the local Boston CFUG as a starting point, as well as the new conference that he was organizing, RIA Unleashed, held in Bentley College this past November. The members of the CFUG were kind enough to let me present a draft of a presentation that I was to later give at RIA Unleashed. My presentation topic was Adobe LiveCycle DataServices Data Management for Mere Mortals

Fortunately at RIA Unleashed I was among the very first sessions after the keynote, so there was no time to build up butterflies that morning. If beforehand you would have told me that among the audience front row would be Ben Nadel, Simon Free, and Ray Camden with Tom Jordahl tucked way in the back then I surely would have freaked out. But they were both kind enough to chat with me before hand and even lend some technical assistance getting setup with the A/V, so that really put me at ease. With a firm limit of 50 minutes, I pushed all the way through what should have been a 90 minute talk, all the while trying to remember to speak clearly and loudly. The talk went off pretty much without a hitch as I found myself completely focused on the technical content and not at all worrying about the large room filled with people in front of me. I was delighted at the end when Tom complemented me on talk, which to me was the ultimate satisfaction.

I chose LCDS for ColdFusion as a topic because while I was a QA Engineer on the ColdFusion team at Adobe, I was paired with Tom, a Computer Scientist at Adobe who architected the integration between the products. Heck, Tom architected much of ColdFusion itself, and was in fact the original engineer to have ported ColdFusion to run on Unix and Linux back in the day. Tom is a font of information, and I cut my teeth on the feature under his guidance, which was then known as Flex Data Services and later renamed under the LiveCycle brand. I spent many days last summer and fall revisiting all the LCDS documentation again to ensure the quality of my presentation and to mentally prepare me for the upcoming conference.

WIth my first conference under my belt, I decided to throw my hat into the ring for the ultimate ColdFusion experience, CFObjective, which is promoted as The Only Enterprise ColdFusion Conference. I'm excited to announce that I have been selected to be a speaker at the conference, which runs from April 22-24th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference is divided into three tracks for technologies related to ColdFusion. I'll be speaking the last day in the Flex track, once again on the topic of LiveCycle DataServices for ColdFusion Developers. Specifically I'll be talking about the prime feature of LCDS, the Data Management capabilities. With any luck I'll be updating my presentation to consider the benefits of working with the latest versions of Adobe software. Here's the brief description and the PDF:

Discussions of Adobe's LiveCycle Data Services are often entered with the same trepidation as those of Organic Chemistry or Quantum Mechanics, but with ColdFusion, building Web applications that manage complex data sets doesn't have to be that scary. Data Management is a pillar of LCDS that offers scalable, real-time data synchronization across very large numbers of connected clients with the benefits of conflict resolution and data pagination.  Come learn how to quickly get up to speed with Data Management by letting ColdFusion do the hard work for you.

If you're seriously interested in ColdFusion, then CFObjective is the conference for you. I hope to see you there.