BlueDragon Blog
Here you'll find tips and information about making the most of BlueDragon, which offers several compelling implementation alternatives for your CFML applications. This blog was created originally by Charlie Arehart, who was New Atlanta CTO from 2003-2006.,He has since moved on to become an independent consultant but continues to answer comments raised in existing blog entries. BlueDragon continues, and you should look to the newer BlueDragon blog, from New Atlanta president, Vince Bonfanti, for more updated information.

Do I have to wait for BlueDragon/.NET to install BlueDragon on a .NET Server?

« H E BlueDragon Installation :: Charlie Arehart :: email
posted Monday, 24 November 2003

This is a common misconception. No, you do NOT have to wait for our .NET edition to install BlueDragon on a .NET server. Let me explain.

You may have heard that New Atlanta announced some months ago that we're working on a BlueDragon/.NET edition. This edition is very compelling over the Server/ServerJX, and J2EE editions as it leverages not an underlying J2EE server but instead the .NET framework. Just as the J2EE edition allows you to deploy CFML as a native J2EE application on J2EE application server, so too will the .NET edition allow you to deploy CFML as a native .NET web application on the .NET framework.

But let's clarify something: right now you can certainly install BlueDragon Server or Server JX (or indeed the J2EE edition atop a J2EE server) on a machine that has the .NET framework installed. The key is understanding what one means by a ".NET server". If you mean a machine on which you've installed the .NET framework, there's no reason you can't install BlueDragon Server/Server JX or even a J2EE server on that machine.  The .NET framework and the Java JRE aren't mutually exclusive (just like you can certainly install BlueDragon on a machine already running ColdFusion).

I have on my laptop several variants of CFML servers: BlueDragon 3.02 and 6.1, 6.1 (Server and JX), CF5, CFMX, WebSphere, WebLogic, ServletExec, JRun, Tomcat, JBoss, and more. The only thing to be aware of is possible port conflicts. And I even have an alpha edition of our .NET edition running, on top of IIS 5 (because I have the .NET framework installed).

So, to sum up, yes, you can install BlueDragon right now on a .NET server.

Now, one more point of clarification: if by ".NET Server" you mean to refer to what is now called Windows 2003 Server, that's a slightly different thing. Microsoft was for a while referring to a product to be called ".NET Server", but that was renamed to Windows 2003 Server (see http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/whistler_server.asp).

BlueDragon can also run on Windows 2003 Server, as of 6.1 (http://www.newatlanta.com/c/products/bluedragon-beta/download/home). Again, the bottom line is that yes, you can already run BlueDragon on .NET.

When the .NET edition comes out, it will simply offer the ability to do it without BlueDragon Server/Server JX (or of course ColdFusion) installed. The runtime engine will be bundled with your CFML application when deployed on the .NET framework, just as things work in the J2EE edition when deploying CFML as a J2EE web application.

This will open lots of great new doors of integration between CFML and .NET. To learn more about the .NET edition, see http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/product_info/configurations.cfm, as well as discussions in our editorials (http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/editorials.cfm).

I'll have a future blog entry (and we'll do a future CFDJ article) with more details on the .NET edition. But for now, don't feel that you have to wait for that to install BlueDragon on a .NET server.


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