Scheduled Tasks in CF10

Adobe made some changes with Scheduled tasks in Coldfusion 10.  Please take a look at the following to see what is different.

• From Adobe directly:  http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ColdFusion/10.0/Developing/WSe61e35da8d31851899e53a51353e870493-8000.html
• A helpful blog:  http://www.like-and-share.com/2012/02/coldfusion10-overview-of-advanced.html?published=true

Configuring Scheduled Tasks in CF10

Due to some changes in the infrastructure and environment of the new Cornell Stack, we've found customers will have to change how they configure their scheduled tasks within Coldfusion Administrator (CFAdmin).

• In Coldfusion 9 (and previously hosted environments), we automatically opened up any folder named "tasks" within your environment - meaning CU Webauth would not be required (need a netid/password to see/call the files).  This is no longer the case in Coldfusion 10.  Customers can place their tasks in any folder/subfolder of their environment but they will need to provide an .htaccess file (or use an Apache Customer Include file for more advanced configs) to open the subdirectory up to allow Coldfusion to "see" the files.
  • To mimic what Coldfusion 9 settings were you can place a .htaccess file in that subdirectory that looks like:

    • Satisfy Any

      Order deny,allow

      Deny from all

      Allow from 127.0.0.1 10.40.22

      • the above allows for connections from the Localhost and Vm's from the same subnet to come in.

  • If you want a broader allow (let anything in):

    • Satisfy Any

      Order allow,deny

      Allow from all

    • We do not recommend this setting in production environments!  We do use this setting in our dev/test environments to allow ease of use, but production is limited to localhost and sometimes the subnet.  Customers should evaluate what each task is doing, and what data, if any, is being accessed.
  • If your task calls files/functions from other subdirectories, they too will need a .htaccess file to allow Coldfusion in.  Evaluate what you need to accomplish and figure out the best directory structure for your needs.
• In Server Settings -> Scheduled Tasks -> Schedule New Task:
  • Once you've filled out the Name, Duration/Frequency, you'll need to provide the URL to the task file (what Coldfusion will actually call to perform the task, typically a .cfm file).  You should enter the vanity URL you've requested for your site as the URL.  You can also use the VM name, like "webhost###.serverfarm.cornell.edu:8143", however be aware that your pathing may differ slightly.
  • Examples:
    • Task URL using vanity hostname would look something like:  http://myappvhost.cit.cornell.edu/tasks/test-task.cfm
    • Task URL user VM name should look like:  https://webhost001.hosting.cornell.edu:8143/myapp/tasks/test-task.cfm
      • Take note of: HTTPS and the port number.  You can get this information by looking at your browser location when in CFAdmin (see image below - the area inside the red box:
        
  • Pathing structure:
    • Also note any relative or absolute pathing/locations in your task file.  Because the task will be called from the virtual machine (VM) name of webhost###, you will need to make sure the pathing with in your task file is correct when called.