Can't access FR Administrator
Nick Gleason
Hi folks,
I’m suddenly not able to open FR on my server.
Here is the browser url:
http://localhost:8088/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm?mode=main
Instead of launching FR, I get the following message:
Unable to connect
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost:8088.
I have been doing some windows and CF updates on this box recently but nothing that I thought would interfere with opening FR.
I’m sure it’s something simple but so far I’m stumped. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Nick
charlie arehart
It sounds like the port is not responding (8088).
The first thought some may have is that it could be a firewall issue, and that’s true. It can be thorny knowing what firewall could be at play. I’d hold off on focusing on that first.
A second question is whether there really is a listener at port 8088 on your localhost machine. There are various tricks for testing that (depending on the OS). On Windows, what do you get if from the command line you do telnet localhost 8088? Of course, you may find that telnet is not installed, as it’s not by default on some more modern versions of Windows. Another nice tool is curports from nirsoft.net.
A third is: are you saying that the client browser is on the machine where you have FR? If not, that would be why the localhost URL fails.
A fourth is, even if it is, what do you get if you do localhost:8087 instead? That’s the FRAM instance. Just curious if/how it responds.
A fifth is, what if you take off the port, and just say http://localhost/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm. Does that work? Unbeknownst to many, yes, by default you can access FR using your external web server (IIS, Apache), in addition to the FR built-in one. If that worked, it could be that it got around the firewall issue by not using a blocked port but 80 instead. It could also be that the FR internal web server crashed, and this would get around that too. (As an aside, you can even access it using the CF built-in web server if it’s been enabled, like http://localhost:8500/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm.)
Finally, about the FR internal web server, if it had crashed, you may find that a restart of the CF instance (which also restarts FR and its web server) may make the problem go away.
But it never hurts to remind folks of the various debugging techniques above, since problems like this are common and can have so many explanations/resolutions.
/charlie
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Nick Gleason
Hi Charlie,
Many thanks for the follow up. We recently upgraded this (64 bit) server from:
Windows Server 2008 R2
To:
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
So, I am wondering if that could have had an unintended consequence of some kind. I tried some of your suggestions below but to no avail so far… comments below…
From: fusion...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fusion...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of charlie arehart
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 7:10 PM
To: fusion...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [fusionreactor] Can't access FR Administrator
It sounds like the port is not responding (8088).
The first thought some may have is that it could be a firewall issue, and that’s true. It can be thorny knowing what firewall could be at play. I’d hold off on focusing on that first.
NG: I’m having this problem from browser within the server (logged in via rdc) so I’m guessing it wouldn’t be firewall issues in this case.
A second question is whether there really is a listener at port 8088 on your localhost machine. There are various tricks for testing that (depending on the OS). On Windows, what do you get if from the command line you do telnet localhost 8088? Of course, you may find that telnet is not installed, as it’s not by default on some more modern versions of Windows. Another nice tool is curports from nirsoft.net.
NG: I tried this but it doesn’t seem like telnet is installed.
A third is: are you saying that the client browser is on the machine where you have FR? If not, that would be why the localhost URL fails.
NG: yes, I’m on the box in this case.
A fourth is, even if it is, what do you get if you do localhost:8087 instead? That’s the FRAM instance. Just curious if/how it responds.
NG: That’s a strange thing – I can get to the FRAM no problem at http://localhost:8087/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm?mode=login.
A fifth is, what if you take off the port, and just say http://localhost/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm. Does that work? Unbeknownst to many, yes, by default you can access FR using your external web server (IIS, Apache), in addition to the FR built-in one. If that worked, it could be that it got around the firewall issue by not using a blocked port but 80 instead. It could also be that the FR internal web server crashed, and this would get around that too. (As an aside, you can even access it using the CF built-in web server if it’s been enabled, like http://localhost:8500/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm.)
NG: tried both of these but it didn’t work.
Finally, about the FR internal web server, if it had crashed, you may find that a restart of the CF instance (which also restarts FR and its web server) may make the problem go away.
NG: Didn’t seem to work either.
But it never hurts to remind folks of the various debugging techniques above, since problems like this are common and can have so many explanations/resolutions.
NG: I’ll keep working on it. Thanks for your suggestions!
Nick
charlie arehart
So Nick, you say you couldn’t try telnet to confirm the port was listening. Did you try anything else? Whether the curports I pointed to, or just use the normal Programs and Features approach in Windows to add Telnet? It would be most interesting to hear if port 8088 is being listened to at all.
Also, what do you see in the [cf]\runtime\logs (or ]jrun]\logs if on Multiserver) with respect to startup of CF? It may be that there are messages in there that show that when CF starts, and it tries to load FR, maybe something goes amiss. Could be a permissions problem, whether then, or perhaps when FR was installed, that has left something borked, so that the FR internal web server doesn’t start at all.
Finally, about my suggestion to try http://localhost/fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm, you say that didn’t work. But let’s not give up so easily. Does your server respond to ANY request for a CFM page via localhost? It may not. I’ve seen that happen. So let’s put it differently: on the server that you’re trying this on, call up the CF Admin. Whatever URL that is (whether it uses IIS/port 80 or the CF internal web server, like 8500 or 8300), once that URL is on screen with the Admin showing, remove the /CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm and replace it with /fusionreactor/fhtml.cfm. That may work.
BTW, sometimes people find they can’t for some reason access the CF Admin “on the box” (for various reasons), so if you can only access it from “off the box”, do the same thing above to try getting to FR from “off the box”.
Let us know what you find.
David Stockton
Just to chime in that if you're unable to add any tools to the system, you could try "netstat" which is bundled with all Windows distributions to check the port is actually being listened to:
C:\Users\David>netstat -a | find "8088"
TCP 0.0.0.0:8088 DJS:0 LISTENING
This line says that something is on all IPs for connections to IP 8088.
You can further use the command "netstat -ab" to find which process it is that's listening to that port - this will at least tell you if the software is listening out for connections and doesn't require you to add any tools to the server.
Best regards,
David Stockton
Fusion Team
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charlie arehart
DS to the rescue. :-) Thanks for that helpful reminder. Sorry I didn’t think to mention it myself.
I will add, though, that netstat can sometimes take a long time to respond. Indeed, I just tested on two machines and it’s been running for a few minutes as I type, which then means the piped find also takes a while to give an answer. That’s why I tend to prefer telnet, since it is indeed a Windows feature (but removed in later editions for security reasons that I’m never worried about).
But I do want to recommend again the curports option. Sure, it’s an “added tool” (and I realize some can’t add any at all to servers), but for those with more freedom, it’s free, safe, fast, and does offer that process info that netstat –ab would. It’s also really easy to interpret the results in its interface.
Hope that’s helpful to someone.
/charlie
Nick Gleason
Thanks Charlie and everyone for these suggestions! I’ll give these a try and see if I can bring it back.
Best,
Nick
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Nick Gleason
Hi David,
Do you think a re-install might be useful?
N
From: fusion...@googlegroups.com [mailto:fusion...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Stockton
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 7:25 AM
To: fusion...@googlegroups.com
David Stockton
I don't think that would resolve the situation but would be an option. Please contact our sup...@fusion-reactor.com address for further help (sorry, I won't be replying to the list until Wednesday 6th June due to a long weekend here in the UK).
Best regards,
David Stockton
Fusion Team
charlie arehart
But, wait, Nick, before reinstalling, could you try the two or three things I suggested this morning? The answer may be there, and it could be that the problem would only return with a reinstall.
/charlie