Installing the Boncode connector and mod_cfml

At the time of this writing : mod_cfml is at v1.1.05, Boncode AJP connector is at v1.0.32, Tomcat is at v8.5.6

Please note : These instructions were written for Windows Server 2016 (64 bit)

Download & Install mod_cfml Tomcat Valve

mod_cfml dynamically creates hosts in Tomcat based on the request headers of the incoming request.

Download & Install Boncode AJP 1.3 Connector

BonCode AJP (Apache JServ Protocol version 1.3) Connector is used connect the IIS web server to the Apache Tomcat server. Apache already supports AJP out of the box.

Boncode AJP 1.3 Connector Prerequisites

ASP dot NET Framework version 3.51 or higher must be installed

Automatic Install of Boncode AJP connector with default settings

For the purposes of simplicity, do an automatic install of the Boncode AJP 1.3 connector with the default settings.

Edit BonCodeAJP13.settings file

On windows 2016 with a default install of Boncode, the location of BonCodeAJP13.settings file is "C:\Windows\BonCodeAJP13.settings".

Previous versions of Windows may place this file in "C:\Windows\System32\BonCodeAJP13.settings"

  • Launch your favorite text editor as a local Administrator and open BonCodeAJP13.settings
  • Add the following items just before the closing </Settings> tag
<EnableHeaderDataSupport>True</EnableHeaderDataSupport>
<ModCFMLSecret>secret key also set in the Apache/IIS config</ModCFMLSecret>
  • Replace the secret key value ('secret key also set in the Apache/IIS config') with a random secure key. If you need help creating one, you can generate a reasonably secure unique key here https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
  • Save the BonCodeAJP13.settings file (Note: If you did not open your text editor as an Administrator, you may not be able to overwrite the existing file due to NTFS permissions)

Edit Tomcat server.xml file

If you followed the instructions on the previous pages, the Tomcat server.xml file should be in "D:\Tomcat\conf\server.xml"

On a default Tomcat install, the Tomcat server.xml file should be in "C:\Program Files\Tomcat\conf\server.xml" and you may need to edit the file

  • Launch your favorite text editor as a local Administrator and open the Tomcat server.xml file.
  • Locate the Host section near the end of the configuration which reads <Host name="localhost"...
  • Add the following code block before the closing </Host> tag.
<Valve className="mod_cfml.core"
		   loggingEnabled="false"
		   maxContexts="100"
		   timeBetweenContexts="0"
		   scanClassPaths="false"
		   sharedKey="secret key also set in the Apache/IIS config" />
  • Replace the secret key value ('secret key also set in the Apache/IIS config') with the same key you used in the BonCodeAJP13.settings file above.
  • Restart the Tomcat service

Optional - relocating WEB-INF files outside the web root

Securing /WEB-INF/ by moving it outside of the web root

** To-do's **

  • How to perform manual installation of Boncode
  • Document the settings for Boncode's automatic installer

If you need help try asking the helpful folks in the #lucee Slack channel or have a search of Lucee mailing list archives