ColdFusion Packaging and Deployment
The ColdFusion Administrator includes a Packaging & Deployment option, which enables you to easily migrate your ColdFusion application to different environments.
For example, you can use the Packaging & Deployment option to migrate a CF application from your development environment to your staging or test environment, then from your staging environment to your production environment.
You can use the Package & Deployment option to create and deploy:
- ColdFusion archives (CAR files) and/or
- JEE archives (EAR or WAR files)
In this article I provide an overview of the first option - ColdFusion archives.
Create a ColdFusion Archive
Creating a ColdFusion archive involves two steps; define the archive, then build the archive.
Here are the basic steps involved in defining a ColdFusion archive. This is where you specify the settings, files, etc that will go into the archive.
Build your Coldfusion Archive
The previous steps created the ColdFusion Archive's definition. Once you've done that, you can go ahead and build the archive file (CAR).
Building the ColdFusion Archive uses a pop-up wizard similar to the previous one. This one is called Build CAR File Archive. You can access this wizard from the main Package & Deploy screen by clicking on the middle icon next to the archive you want to build (in the Actions box under the Current Archive Definition List heading:
Here's what that pop-up screen looks like:
Click Next to proceed with building the archive. Once built, it can be deployed to the new environment.
Deploy your Coldfusion Archive
Once you're ready to deploy your archive to the new environment (or even the same environment), you can do so from the same Package & Deploy screen.
Under Deploy an Existing Archive, click Browse Server to browse to (and select) the archive file, then click Deploy and follow the prompts.