FusionReactor Blog - News and expert analysis for Java APM users.

FusionReactor is used to monitor many ColdFusion servers but our support team keeps seeing an issue that FusionReactor cannot solve.

This issue is that some of the ColdFusion classes, for the template cache, become corrupt.  This corruption isn’t caused by ColdFusion itself but when users or Windows Updates shut down the running instance.  If ColdFusion is in the middle of a class compilation operation when the shutdown occurs then ColdFusion leaves the half written file on disk.

These corrupt files can also occur due to file system issues, especially if the ColdFusion directory is stored on a network share.

When our support team is working with customers with 15,000+ ColdFusion classes in their template cache directory ( e.g /opt/coldfusion9/wwwroot/WEB-INF/cfclasses/ ) and attempting to track down a specific issue in the template cache, there is no simple solution to find the offending file.

We decided to write a tool to track down where these issues were so that we didn’t have to wipe out the complete template cache.

The ColdFusion Class Checker will scan the directory and ensure that all the class files can be successfully parsed.

Usage

usage: java -jar cfclasschecker.jar

ColdFusion Class Checker.
This tool is designed to find issues with template cache directory.
 -d,--directory <arg>   the directory to scan.
 -h,--help              help
 -v,--verbose           verbose

Copyright © 2016-2019 Intergral GmbH. All rights reserved.

Download

Download : https://intergral-dl.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/ColdFusion/Tools/cfclasschecker.jar

Example

Here is a quick example of how to run the tool and how errors are shown.

$ java -jar cfclasschecker.jar -d /opt/coldfusion9/wwwroot/WEB-INF/cfclasses/<br>ERROR : /opt/coldfusion9/wwwroot/WEB-INF/cfclasses/cfpostNumericMetricFloat2ecfm551476648.class is INVALID
$

This shows 1 invalid class file in the coldfusion9 cfclasses directory that.   You can simply delete this file and ColdFusion will generate the class again next time it needs too.

FusionReactor 8.2 has now been released; this release has been modelled around user feedback.

what is LDAP?

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a client/server protocol used to access and manage directory information. It reads and edits directories over IP networks and runs directly over TCP/IP using simple string formats for data transfer. It was originally developed as a front end to X.500 Directory Access Protocol.

LDAP tends to be used by larger enterprises, Government and Education sectors, but anyone can use it. 

What it means for FusionReactor users that already use LDAP / Active Directory  is the ability to have multiple logins and roles. So in a nutshell; no more sharing passwords with your colleagues.

Spring Boot is now one of the most popular Java Frameworks

As more developers are adopting the use of microservices we have taken a long look at which ones we support. It makes sense to support the most popular. In recent years the growth of Spring Boot has been incredible and it was therefore a no brainer to ensure that we fully support it.

We have been supporting both the Spring Framework and Play frameworks for a number of years.

okHTTP is a faster alternative to HTTPClient

okHTTP is better for HTTP 2.0 calls and many frameworks are moving to this. okHTTP is faster than HTTPClient as it only supports the new standards. Once again many of our FR clients have asked us to look at finding a faster alternative to HTTPClient and we believe okhttP is the answer.

Micronaut is a new java framework

Micronaut is a modern, JVM-based, full-stack framework for building modular, easily testable microservice and serverless applications. Just like Grizzly, Jersey and Spring Boot, Micronaut makes writing microservices really easy. Micronaut’s Cloud support is built right in, including support for common discovery services, distributed tracing tools, and cloud runtimes.

Event season is nearly here and this year we are sponsoring ColdFusion events both in Europe and across the pond. We are Platinum Sponsor of CF Summit in Las Vegas  1st and 2nd October then the Silver sponsor of CF Camp 17th and 18th October; in Munich. 

Moving to November we are Innovator Sponsor at Velocity in Berlin.  For anyone wanting tickets; use the voucher code FusionReactor25 and get 25% off your Gold, Silver or Bronze passes – this could save you some serious money!

On Day one highlights

Matthew Clemente discusses building a CF docker swarm and Eric Peterson looks at utilizing reusable code through Coldbox modules. Bruno Zagay looks forward to the Super Bowl and explains how you should prepare for extra traffic.

Day 2 highlights

FusionReactor CEO David Tattersall explains how you can find performance issues in your CF code. Watch our good friend Charlie Arehart tell you how to get started with CF Docker containers.

As more CF developers look for cloud integration Brian Klass takes a look at AWS and how you control it.

There’s lots going on at CF Camp. Once Again Charlie Arehart makes a guest appearance as he takes a detailed look at monitoring solutions for CF and Lucee.

If you’re suffering performance and stability problems, there’s no substitute for having SOME kind of monitoring in place. But there are quite a variety of monitoring solutions available for ColdFusion and Lucee. How do you choose? (Or are they “all the same”? No!)

Brad Wood takes a look at solving common problems with common solutions using design patterns.

How unique is the problem you’re coding for right now? What’s the chance it’s been solved hundreds, maybe thousands of times? Is your solution the best way? You’ve no doubt heard other developers talk about using “design patterns”. These are reusable solutions to the problems that we all face as developers. The best thing is that most patterns can carry over from one language to another. It’s a great idea to familiarize yourself with these common solutions so you identify them and know when you plug them into your apps.

What do you like best?

At its core FusionReactor is just like any other performance monitoring tool with its’ Measuring transaction of Memory and CPU Usage, alerting you for performance issues. But It goes beyond with the help of FusionReactor built-in debugger and profiler it looks for where and why problems are occurring. Especially for ColdFusion apps.

Data Visualization, Response time and Alerts are some of the very useful database monitoring features for Database administrators.

What do you dislike?

As a tool FusionReactor have no major flaws it does what it’s best at. But all those extra nitty gritty very useful features come at a higher subscription price. It isn’t much if you’re big organization, but it can restrict your capabilities if you’re in a small organisation.

Other than that it’s a wonderful tool for performance monitoring.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

It’s not just about monitoring but it’s more about solving possible major blocks to your application or services. It simply makes life easy for developers to exactly know the source of a problem. Look no further for your application monitoring tool, this is more than that.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

It simply just reduce our time in pinpointing the problems and their source, CPU and memory optimization has also improved. Dashboard for individual server helps us in managing multiple server. It recognizes sessions and how users are navigating through your application.

See full review on G2

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FusionReactor is an Innovator sponsor at this years Velocity conference in Berlin this November.

As a sponsor this means that we can offer you 25% Discount on tickets. Simply use the voucher code FusionReactor25 at registration and you can save on Bronze, Silver and Gold passes; which means that you can save up to €250! Register now.

When is Velocity Berlin

Velocity Berlin runs from 4th – 7th November 2019

Where is Velocity Berlin talking place?

The conference takes place at CityCube, Berlin. Messedamm 26, 14055 Berlin. CityCube is an accessible venue located adjacent to the southern entrance of Berlin ExpoCenter City.

Discover what’s ahead for cloud native systems

For your organization to get ahead of the competition, it’s critical to have a firm grasp on today’s key concepts like Kubernetes, site reliability engineering, observability, and performance. And it’s also essential to keep your eye on the horizon, so you’re prepared for what’s coming next. That’s where the O’Reilly Velocity Conference gives you an advantage. You get the knowledge you need to build and manage large-scale, cloud native systems—while networking with a group of whip-smart and like-minded peers—to help drive your business beyond tomorrow. SEE PASSES AND PRICING

Get training on Kubernetes, building cloud apps, chaos engineers and more…

Immerse yourself in two days of in-depth education on critical topics. Training courses take place 4-5 November and are limited in size to maintain a high level of learning and instructor interaction.

• Deploying and scaling applications with Kubernetes
• Building cloud-native applications
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) prep for exam
• Fast track to chaos engineering
• Hands-on threat modeling and tooling for DevSecOps

We will be there too

We will of course be at Velocity, Berlin and will be showcasing Fusionreactor 8.2 which is going to be released very soon; what this space.

“FusionReactor Monitor”

What do you like best?

Notification capability for our servers for multiple and diverse events.

What do you dislike?

So far it is meeting our expectations, and as we grow more complex we will continue to ensure that the it is able to support our complexity.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Know what you want today and your vision tomorrow and understand if this product will allow you to grow

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

Monitoring, remediating and debugging issues faster and more efficiently and capability to capture problems at root.

See full review on G2

Start free FusionReactor trial

A must have to debug ColdFusion server problems!

What do you like best?

Comprehensive list of features that help pinpoint the source of problems when you face server problems.

What do you dislike?

Somewhat expensive VS built in coldfusion monitor but worth every penny!

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

It would often take a lot of trial and error when a problem arose, but with the help of fusion reactor it take a lot of the guesswork out of the way to help fix problems fast.

“A key tool I won’t do without“

What do you like best?

FusionReactor allows me to drill down and get unique insight and knowledge into what is happening with my web app and makes troubleshooting a breeze.

What do you dislike?

As with all software, it takes time to learn but it’s worth it.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Take the time to test it out and walk through some of the instructional videos. You’ll be amazed at how revealing it is.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

I’ve been able to find bottlenecks in poorly written sql queries, find troublesome functions, and get insight into resource usage.

See full review on G2

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“Fusion-Reactor is a must-have for Java and ColdFusion admins“

What do you like best?

The ability to quickly troubleshoot problems with an instance’s heap, cpu, web requests and so much more. The dashboard provides so much information in real-time.

What do you dislike?

I haven’t found anything to dislike about this product.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

I have been able to quickly diagnose slow performance with an instance, with specific scripts causing bottlenecks.

See full review on G2

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FusionReactor is the best thing to ever happen to CFML

What do you like best?

FusionReactor allows me to monitor and quickly troubleshoot my ColdFusion and Lucee servers. You simply should not run an enterprise-grade ColdFusion application without it. I has saved me so much time getting to root cause faster. More uptime for my customers, more free time for me. On rare occasions I have had to reach out to Intergral for service or support, hands down, best support in the business. It’s also reasonably priced, with many flexible licensing options available. Worth every penny.

What do you dislike?

Sometimes things are not where I expect them to be in the GUI.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Production web applications are incomplete without FusionReactor. Go ahead and install a cheaper subscription if you need it, or even a trial. That way it will be installed when you need it.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

FusionReactor helps me determine where the problem lies, whether it be web server, traffic, Java, or database. I’ve solved all sorts of problems with FusionReactor over the last 10 years. It’s also the go-to for our 24×7 monitoring team, allowing us to remotely troubleshoot and diagnose issues quickly.

See full review

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