Error during instance setup results in an instance that cannot be removed

[Skadar]

Hi there,

We just bought and installed Fusion Reactor Enterprise to be used on a
multi-server CF8 installation. I installed FR on our server with no
problem. I used the Instance Manager to install FR on a specific
instance with no problem. During the second instance install, the
following happened:

1) The Instance Manager correctly auto-discovered all of our running
CF8 instances
2) I clicked the green + button to add FR to a running instance
3) On the next page I entered the password to be used
4) I pressed "Install Instance" and was told that my typed passwords
didn't match
5) I entered the passwords correctly and pressed "Install Instance"
again
6) I was told that this instance has already been created. Ugh.

So now, in Instance Manager, I can see the instance, but it's not
really installed... it's sort of half-installed. All three of the
buttons for the instance are gray and inactive. I'm stuck here. I
can't remove the instance, and the instance itself doesn't work.

I tried deleting the folder from the "D:\FusionReactor\instance"
directory, but that didn't change anything.

What do I do?
Steve

[charlie arehart]

Steve, I just tried the same thing but at step 4 (after being told the
passwords don't match), you imply that you're getting a chance to enter the
corrected password. I don't get that. I just get a popup message that the
passwords don't match, and I'm back at the instance manager with the
attempted instance still unselected.

I even tried both with and without checking "Use the same password for all
users". You did say you just bought and installed it, right? So you're using
FR3? That's what I'm trying.

As for correcting the problem (of a wrong password being in the file), I
would imagine the solution is in editing the
C:\FusionReactor\etc\conf\instance\ instances.xml file. They're not stored
in clear text, and I'm not sure if just emptying the correct XML entry would
let you login with no password. And even then, it's not clear exactly what
element to change. It's a complex XML file with config info for all the
instances (and it seems references to other instances within the config of
each instance). I won't recommend what exactly to change, since it's not
well-documented and I'd just be guessing. Perhaps someone from Intergral
will have a better or more specific recommendation.

/charlie

[Skadar]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for trying to tackle this one.

The problem is that Instance Manager is showing me that an instance
has been created for one of our CF instances, but it doesn't working
and I can't do anything to remove it. All of the control buttons are
inactive and gray.

This problem resulted from me attempting to create the image and
accidentally typing in a mis-matched password. I too, received the
prompt that I mis-matched the passwords, and I was given the chance to
try again. However, upon re-submitting to install the instance I was
told that the instance already existed! And now I'm stuck at my
problem.

I *did* take a look at the instances.xml file to see if there was a
way to simply remove the entry for the false/incomplete instance, but
you are right, it's a large file and the problematic instance is
referenced all over the place.

The good news is that we are just starting, so it's not a big deal to
simply uninstall FR completely and start from scratch. And yes, I'm
using the latest version of FR.

Steve

[charlie arehart]

Well, just to clarify again, I'm not getting this. Now, it may help to
clarify what OS you're trying this on. I'm on Vista. I don't think it should
matter, but if you're on a non-Windows OS, perhaps it may.

And to clarify, I'll admit I'd not tried proceeding to add the instance with
a valid password pair after getting the error for a bad pair, but I did just
try that and it still did get added no problem.

I suppose if you reinstall the problem will certainly go away. If you can
share what your setup was, perhaps someone else can try it and maybe we can
all learn how to resolve it next time (or the Intergral folks may be able to
fix it if it's a bug.)

/charlie

-----Original Message-----
From: fusion...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fusion...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Skadar
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 9:21 PM
To: FusionReactor
Subject: FusionReactor Group: Re: Error during instance setup results in an
instance that cannot be removed

[Skadar]

Update: I uninstalled FR (with no ill effects) and then re-installed.
The problem went away and we are back up and running with no
problems. It's good to know that a complete FR refresh isn't a big
deal if the need should arise. Though I'm sure it would be more
painful if we had set up elaborate crash protection rules, etc.

I'll recap our situation for posterity.

We are running Windows 2000 Server (with all of its hundreds of
updates), freshly installed CF8 multi-server Enterprise on JRun, and
IIS. At the time of the problem I was connected to the machine via
Remote Desktop, and was working within the FR Master Admin with is
installed into our main "cfusion" instance (which also runs the CF
Master Admin).

Earlier that day I had installed FR 3 Enterprise on the machine and
installed it into 2 client instances on the server. Everything worked
fine and we were all happy to be able to see the request traffic,
metrics, etc. And then a problem occurred.

Another developer opened the ColdFusion Master Admin on the server,
browsed to the ColdFusion Enterprise Instance Manager, and attempted
to click on the icon that launches the instance ColdFusion Admin for
one of the instances into which we had installed FR. This action
failed with an error which we have never seen before:

We get a download dialog box and a Windows error stating: "Internet
Explorer cannot download administrator/ from [internal IP]. Internet
Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The requested site
is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later."

So the developer asks me, "Does this have anything to do with Fusion
Reactor?" We quickly determine that it does, as we can launch any CF
Admin from the CF Instance Manager EXCEPT for the two that have Fusion
Reactor. Not a huge deal for us because the solution is to simply map
a "/cfide" virtual directory in IIS and call the CF Admin for that
instance remotely... which works.

But now we are curious. What happens if you remove Fusion Reactor
from from an instance? Will we once again be able to launch the CF
Admin from the CF Instance Manager? So I successfully remove FR from
a one of the two instances. We try launching the CF Admin and it
works. Okay, so we know it has something to do with Fusion Reactor,
but it's not a big deal. Go ahead and re-setup that instance with
Fusion Reactor.

This is where my original problem occurred. On attempting to re-setup
this instance, I mis-matched the passwords and was asked to try
again. I tried again successfully and was told that the instance
already existed... which led to the unresponsive, non-removable
instance.

So that's the whole story. Phew!

We are still having the problem with launching the CF Admin via the CF
Instance Manager, but it's so easily worked around that we haven't
even bothered to ask Integral why this might be happening.

Cheers,
Steve

[charlie arehart]

Steve, I hope the info you've shared may help the FR guys understand and
prevent your problem if it may affect others.

I really find it curious that adding FR to an instance would have any impact
at all on being able to launch the CF Admin of that instance.

/charlie

-----Original Message-----
From: fusion...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fusion...@googlegroups.com]
On Behalf Of Skadar
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 11:30 AM
To: FusionReactor
Subject: FusionReactor Group: Re: Error during instance setup results in an
instance that cannot be removed

[Bernd Donath [FusionReactor Team]]

Steve,

I installed FusionReactor 3.0 on a ColdFusion 8 Multiserver
installation with two addtional instances cf-1 and cf-2 on a Windows
2000 server but could not reproduce the problem. When I open the CFIDE
Instance Manager page and click one of the cf-1 or cf-2 CFIDE icons
(which both have FusionReactor installed) the CFIDE of the CF instance
opens successfully.

If you still can reproduce this problem it would be great if you you
send us more detailed information and the belonging FR and CF log
files.

When you say 'On attempting to re-setup this instance, I mis-matched
the passwords and was asked to try again.' do you mean you tried to
override an existing FR instance? Did you re-run FusionReactor Setup
or have you tried to use the FR Instance Manager to do this?

Regards,
Bernd

[Skadar]

We are still having both problems:

Here is a short description on each with screenshots

1) The Fusion Reactor Instance Manager is easily "messed up" and put
into a state where you cannot remove or edit an instance. We have had
this situation occur due to various things. Here is a screenshot.
Notice the grey buttons. How can we remove this instance
installation?

http://ooine.com/files/fusionreactor_problem_1.jpg

2) After installing Fusion Reactor into an instance using CF8 multi-
server, we are unable to launch an instance CFAdmin from the Master CF
Admin. Here are two screenshots.

http://ooine.com/files/fusionreactor_problem_2a.jpg - Immediately upon
clicking the button, a browser frame is displayed on the screen and
then is replaced by the following error...

http://ooine.com/files/fusionreactor_problem_2b.jpg

This only (and immediately) occurs when Fusion Reactor 3.0 has been
installed into a CF instance. All other instances CFAdmins can be
launched without problem.

Any ideas?

[Bernd Donath [FusionReactor Team]]

Hi Steve,

If (for some reason) you can't use InstanceManager to remove an
instance you can manually remove the instance by doing the following:

1. Stop the server

2. Edit the reactor.conf file

In the configuration of the FusionReactor instance not allowing you to
delete the instance find the property 'instancemanager.instances' and
add the name of the instance you want to delete. Add a new line in the
configuration file if the property does not exist.

Example:

...
instancemanager.instances=MyInstance|MyOtherInstance
...

becomes

...
instancemanager.instances=MyInstance|MyOtherInstance|
TheInstanceIWantToDelete
...

The name must be the same as the belonging directory in the $
(FUSIONREACTOR_HOME)/instance directory, e.g.

$(FUSIONREACTOR_HOME)/instance/TheInstanceIWantToDelete

3. Restart the server

You should be able to remove the instance 'TheInstanceIWantToDelete'
from InstanceManager now.


Some facts about the InstanceManager:

- You can not delete your own instance (the one you are currently
using).
- You can only delete an instance from the instance that created it
(the owner).
- Transitive instances: If you used instance A to create instance B,
then
created instance C from B and then delete B from A, instance C will
get
instance A as new owner (A->B->C becomes A->C).


Regarding the other problem you have:

- do you have any mapping in your web server defined that could have a
bad influence here?
- does this happen also if you use another web browser?
- could you provide us with the belonging log files (JRun/CF and FR)
if the problem still occurs?

I would suggest that we do further analysis via the FusionReactor
support email, especially if you need to send us log files.

Best regards,
Bernd