Keeping Web sites in sync across multiple servers in a clustered environment has never been an easy task. Not only do you need to keep content and Web pages in sync, server settings need to be maintained as well. The Archive and Deploy capabilities in ColdFusion MX 7 provide improved Web site maintenance. We will discuss this functionality along with some other options in the following section.
When you are attempting to maintain your Web site across multiple servers, what do you need to maintain? This is sometimes a tough question to answer if you are not solely responsible for all of the Web servers, their operating systems, and Web applications. Typically these responsibilities are shared among several individuals, each with their own methods for maintaining settings. You might want to consider the following settings when you're attempting to keep your Web site servers in sync:
Operating system and Web server software updates, service packs, security patches, and hot fixes
Operating system configuration settings for services, Registry, installed software, mappings, and so on
Web server configuration settings, including virtual path mappings, security settings, Web site configurations, and other Web server settings
JDBC and database settings
ColdFusion administrator settings
Keeping up with all these different sets of configurations can be a gargantuan task requiring patience and attention to detail. There are several methods for performing these functions, but no one method performs all of them by itself. You may want to employ a combination of techniques for deploying and maintaining your clustered server farm. Here is a partial list of options:
FTP . Copy files and directory structures from server to server. Disadvantages: Not automated, requires separate connections to each server, and only covers files and directories.
Deployment Software . Purchase software that performs automated copying of files, directories, and other settings. Disadvantages: Might not offer all functionality required.
Roll Your Own . Create your own program that gathers all required information and deploys to the cluster. Disadvantages: Requires time to write and test code. May not offer all functionality required.
ColdFusion MX 7 Archive and Deploy . Built into ColdFusion MX 7 and is an easy method for deploying your Web site directories, content, and ColdFusion Administrator settings.
ColdFusion MX 7 has several methods to deploy ColdFusion applicationsincluding some new ones such as sourceless deployment, which lets you deploy your ColdFusion application without including the original source code! To read more about these exciting new features, refer to Chapter 6, "Deploying Applications."
Many other options exist for deploying applications and copying files. None of these options will deploy ColdFusion MX 7 administrator settings, but they can deploy other information to your Web servers. Options include source-control software like Concurrent Version Control (CVS) the free open source de-facto standard for version control or Visual Source Safe from Microsoft. Visual Source Safe, for example, can deploy files and directories to servers by pulling the latest version from its database and copying to a working directory.