063 Scaling Your ColdFusion Applications (Clusters, Containers and Load Tips) with Mike Collins

Mike Collins talks about “Scaling Your ColdFusion Applications (Clusters, Containers and Load Tips)” in this episode of the CF Alive Podcast, with host Michaela Light. In this session, we will answer common questions around deploying applications across multiple JVM instances, servers or containers.  How many instances, servers or containers do you really need? What happens when an instance goes down? What is the best way to manage sessions? We will look at key performance metrics and session management strategies to increase your uptime and improve your end-users overall experience. Session topics will include: Using Local and Remote Web Servers, Load Balancing (Hardware and Software based), Tomcat Connector Features, Understanding ColdFusion Clustering, Using Docker Containers and Orchestration, Using Session Management Strategies, API Based Applications, Load Testing Applications and Security and Monitoring.  We will have several demonstrations along the way. Show notes Why CF scaling matters Faster site Reliable - no single point of failure Seamless sessions between servers in a cluster - esp ecom What are common scaling issues How much JVM memory to allocate Garbage collection settings Connector best practices, connector admin manager → key metric Plan for alerts and snapshots Deploying applications across multiple JVM instances, servers or containers.   How many instances, servers or containers do you really need?   What happens when an instance goes down?   What is the best way to manage sessions? Key performance metrics and session management strategies to increase your uptime and improve your end-users overall experience. Server Sizing CPU Memory Using Local and Remote Web Servers Load Balancing (Hardware and Software based) Tomcat Connector Features Understanding ColdFusion Clustering Using Docker Containers and Orchestration Using Session Management Strategies API Based Applications Microservices Load Testing Applications and Security and Monitoring.   Why are you proud to use CF? WWIT for you to make CF more alive this year? What are you looking forward to at CF Summit East? Mentioned in this episode EHcache Redis CF Server monitor FusionReactor Sticky Sessions Round Robin F5 load balancer Kubernetes (container orchestration) JMeter load testing CF Summit East Listen to the Audio Bio Mike Collins Senior ColdFusion consultant at SupportObjective providing development, services including applications, migration projects, and annual ColdFusion support. Mike started using ColdFusion during his time with Allaire, Macromedia, and Adobe.  Over the years Mike has given several ColdFusion conference sessions concerning developing and architecting ColdFusion applications. Links Support Objective Interview transcript Michaela:         Welcome back to the show. I'm here with Mike Collins and we're going to be talking about scaling your ColdFusion Applications. And we'll look at some of the JBM things you can do that and some of the key performance metrics and session management strategies you might use. And we'll look at both using local servers and using clever things like Docker to do it more remotely. So, we'll also briefly look at load testing security and monitoring if you will scaling your application. So welcome Mike. Mike:               Welcome, thank you. Michaela:         And in case you don't know Mike, he's been with ColdFusion since it was born back in the earlier days. He used to work at he's been at Macromedia and Adobe. And now he's got his own business school Support Objectives that provides annual ColdFusion support and consulting. So, he's a really smart guy I am so happy you got him here on the show today. So yes. So, tell us you know why is scaling important in the ColdFusion world, because maybe people haven't really thought about this topic? Mike:               Right exactly, so this session tries to address kind of the bit starts off with addressing some of the big picture items as far as what you're really, almost from the install, making those first decisions from OS to the connector setup, to what features you want to actually install with ColdFusion and then walks that out into knowing your key performance metrics and then all the way through understanding session strategies. A lot of questions you get hit with immediately as soon as you start looking and installing and how you want to implement ColdFusion, that's the quite view in this session. Read more   And to continue learning how to make your ColdFusion apps more modern and alive, I encourage you to download our free ColdFusion Alive Best Practices Checklist.Because… perhaps you are responsible for a mission-critical or revenue-generating CF application that you don’t trust 100%, where implementing new features is a painful ad-hoc process with slow turnaround even for simple requests.What if you have no contingency plan for a sudden developer departure or a server outage? Perhaps every time a new freelancer works on your site, something breaks. Or your application availability, security, and reliability are poor.And if you are depending on ColdFusion for your job, then you can’t afford to let your CF development methods die on the vine.You’re making a high-stakes bet that everything is going to be OK using the same old app creation ways in that one language — forever.All it would take is for your fellow CF developer to quit or for your CIO to decide to leave the (falsely) perceived sinking ship of CFML and you could lose everything—your project, your hard-won CF skills, and possibly even your job.Luckily, there are a number of simple, logical steps you can take now to protect yourself from these obvious risks.No Brainer ColdFusion Best Practices to Ensure You Thrive No Matter What Happens NextColdFusion Alive Best Practices ChecklistModern ColdFusion development best practices that reduce stress, inefficiency, project lifecycle costs while simultaneously increasing project velocity and innovation.√ Easily create a consistent server architecture across development, testing, and production√ A modern test environment to prevent bugs from spreading√ Automated continuous integration tools that work well with CF√ A portable development environment baked into your codebase… for free! Learn about these and many more strategies in our free ColdFusion Alive Best Practices Checklist.