TechNote

Using HomeSite+ on Windows XP Service Pack 2 with the Windows Firewall enabled

Issue

After installing Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (XP SP2), the Windows Firewall is enabled by default. This prevents RDS connections from HomeSite+ and ColdFusion Studio to ColdFusion MX 6.1 Servers running on XP SP2 machines from functioning correctly.

This TechNote describes the steps that need to be taken in order to connect to RDS servers running on XP SP2 from ColdFusion Studio or HomeSite+. When trying to browse ColdFusion pages in HomeSite+ or ColdFusion Studio from a computer other than where ColdFusion is installed, the web browser's cursor will spin indefinitely. In order to be able to run ColdFusion templates, the webserver port that serves ColdFusion templates needs to be enabled. In order to do that, the following steps need to be taken:

Solution

Launch the Windows Firewall program (from the Windows Start Menu, select Settings > Control Panel> Windows Firewall). The Windows Firewall dialog box will appear.
Click the "Advanced" tab.
On the Advanced tab, click the "Settings" button in the Network Connection Settings area. This will open the "Advanced Settings" dialog box.
On the "Services" tab of the Advanced Settings dialog box, select the option for Web Server (HTTP), which by default is unchecked. This will enable ColdFusion templates to be processed via IIS.
Note: If any web services have been set up previously, the Service Settings dialog box may open automatically. If the fields are already filled out and are dimmed, click Cancel and go to the next step below.
Click the "Add" button on the "Services" tab, which will open the "Service Settings" dialog box:
Enter values in the following fields:
1. Enter a name for "Description of Service" (for example cfmx).
2. Add the "Name or IP Address" of the ColdFusion MX 6.1 Server.
3. Enter Port 8500 for the "External Port" and "Internal Port" in order to enable the ColdFusion MX 6.1 internal webserver.
Click "OK".