ColdFusion Support Pages

The most Frequently Asked Questions regarding our ColdFusion hosting are answered here. For all other questions, please call +44 (0)20 7536 7930 or e-mail auto-support@firstserv.com.

Please take a look at the Quick Links on the right for more ColdFusion information.

How much does shared ColdFusion hosting cost?

Please check the Shared ColdFusion Hosting page for the latest prices.

How long will it take to set up?

Your account and e-mail will be set up within 24 hours of being requested. Domain transfers may take a few days to propagate. Click here for more information on transfers, name servers, ISP tags etc.

What information do you need before you can set up my account?

Administration

• Written (email or fax) confirmation of the service you require
• Your name and address for invoices to be sent to
• Payment in advance

Technical

• The domain or domains you wish to have hosted
• Details of any custom tags you wish to have set up
• Backup files of any databases (Not necessary for Access databases)
• The name of your datasource(s)

What information will I receive once my account has been set up?

• You will receive FTP details (the server name, the account name and password)
• POP 3 details (mail server name, account name and password)
• Control panel details - if applicable

Do I have Telnet access to servers?

Sorry, as telnet is a security risk we do not enable this service.

What security measures are in place for the server?

• Servers are patched regularly when patches become available.
• All servers are firewalled exclusively using the Cisco PIX range of appliances.
• Servers are also security scanned regularly to check for any vulnerabilities.

Are the servers monitored?

Yes, the servers are monitored automatically 24 hours per day. Technical staff are on-hand to resolve any problems that arise.

Are web statistics are available?

Yes, these vary depending on which platform you are hosting on. For Windows we run AWStats and for Linux we run Webalizer as part of the Plesk control Panel.

Do I have access to the ColdFusion administrator?

No, access to the administrator is not provided as this would be a security problem for multiple sites on the same server.

Do I have access to the SQL server administrator?

The SQL server is totally firewalled from the internet, so no direct access is possible. If you wish to make changes, you can either:

• use a browser based facility that we provide
• write a SQL query in your ColdFusion code
• send a new backup or
• request a backup, adjust it and send the backup back

Which tags are available?

Most tags are available as we are running Enterprise ColdFusion. This means that CFFILE, CFCONTENT and CFDIRECTORY are all available. For a full list, click here.

Where can I find ColdFusion documentation?

ColdFusion 5, ColdFusion 6.1, ColdFusion 7.

Can I use Custom tags?

Yes. Note that these do not need to be loaded into the CustomTags directory, as ColdFusion will check the present directory for the code first. Alternatively you can use CFMODULE.

Firstserv is willing to consider third party CFX tags, but there are requirements for a CFX tag to be allowed on our servers:

The CFX tag must not introduce performance problems into our servers. We will not allow a component that may slow down the operation of the server. An example of this is a reverse DNS lookup object. The process of reverse DNS can be slow and results in problematic ColdFusion performance.

The CFX tag cannot introduce security risks to our servers. If there is concern that a particular tag will expose the server to security risks, the tag will be disallowed. For instance a tag may enable file writing to the whole of the server.

We will not operate evaluation or beta versions of CFX tags. If the license agreement for a particular CFX tag requires the purchase of a license, the Firstserv customer must provide a valid license number in order for Firstserv technicians to install the component on our servers.

If source code is available we will need to look at the source code.

My Access database cannot be overwritten and there is an .ldb file on the server. How can I overwrite my database?

You cannot overwrite your database as it has been locked by ColdFusion. Either:

• Request that the database is temporarily disconnected for you
• Upload a new database (e.g. mydatabase2.mdb) and request that the datasource be pointed to the new datasource

How do I use CFFILE?

Please refer to the Online ColdFusion Documentation for a full tutorial on how to use CFFILE on Windows and Unix servers.

How do I use CFMAIL?

As the mail server has already been set up in the administrator for you, only three fields are required: 'TO', 'FROM' and 'SUBJECT'. Note that you do need a real email address for the tag to work.

<cfmail to="foo@firstserv.com" from="bar@firstserv.com" subject="this is a test">
Hello!
</cfmail>

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