We will be using a magnificent free and open source tool – SCM-Manager. This is simple and nifty looking manager tool for Git, SVN and HG written in Java. Probably the best thing about SCM-Manager is that it includes all dependencies inside and does not require you to download and compile any third party components. You don’t have to install Git or any other kind of servers to host repositories. It does require Python and Hg package to host Mercurial repositories, but these packages can be installed automatically into the SCM-Manager home directory directly form web interface. So if your host support hosting of Java applications you don’t need access to the server console to install some components or run additional commands.

Hosting Java applications with Helicon Zoo

First of all you need to configure your IIS server to host Java applications. The easiest way to do this is to use Web Platform Installer.

1. Download and install Microsoft Web Platform Installer.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into “Display additional scenarios” box: http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed. New “Zoo” tab will appear.
4. Go to the Zoo –> Templates and select Java (Jetty) project.
5. Accept licenses to start installation process.

This will install all dependencies required to run Java application on IIS, including JVM, Helicon Zoo Module, etc. After installation of all dependencies is completed you will be presented with the standard Web Deploy dialog to create new web application:

Select “New web site” in the web site field and configure other options as usual.

Another good way to install all required dependencies is to install Zoo –> Packages –> Java Hosting Package. This package is usually installed on servers to allow them to host Java applications. The idea is that Java application can be simply moved from one IIS server to another just by copying web site folder, if both servers has Java Hosting Package installed.

Installing SCM-Manager

First you need to download SCM-Manager as a single WAR file here: https://bitbucket.org/sdorra/scm-manager/wiki/download Save this WAR file to the IIS web site folder and edit web.config file as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <heliconZoo>
      <application name="jetty.project" >
        <environmentVariables>
          <add name="CONTEXT_PATH" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" />
          <add name="WAR_EXTRACT_PATH" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%" />
          <add name="WAR_FILE" value="scm-webapp-1.20.war" />
          <add name="SCM_HOME" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%/.scm" />
        </environmentVariables>
      </application>
    </heliconZoo>
    <handlers>
      <add name="jetty.project#x86" scriptProcessor="java.jetty"  path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86"
           preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="jetty.project#x64" scriptProcessor="java.jetty"  path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64"
           preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" />
    </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Here the WAR_FILE environment variable contains the downloaded WAR file name. The SCM_HOME points to the /.scm folder under web site home, this will instruct SCM-Manager to store all files and repositories inside a web site folder. Note that write permissions to the web site folder for the user running Web Application Pool are required.

Now navigate to the web site created. The first start usually takes some time as SCM-Manager will create files and folder structures, configurations and Java Virtual Machine also needs time to start-up. After application initialization you should see a login screen. Enter the following default credentials to log in:

login: scmadmin
password: scmadmin

Don’t forget to change default password later. Now welcome to the dashboard:

Working with SCM-Manager

After installation you can immediately start creating empty Git and SVN repositories. To start using Hg open Repository Types page under config section and start Configuration Wizard for Mercurial. Select “download and install” and required packages will be installed into /.scm folder under web site automatically.

More often users ask how to import your existing repositories into SCM-Manager. All repositories are stored in the folder /.scm/repositories inside your web site. If you have FTP access to these folders you can simply copy entire directory structure of your repositories to the corresponding folders under /.scm/repositories. For SVN this is the only viable option to import repository as it uses central repository storage. Then click on Import Repositories link on the dashboard and your repositories will be imported into SCM-Manager.

Since Git and Hg uses decentralized repository storage, you can simply create empty repositories with web interface and then push your local repositories to the new location.

Now you can create users and groups, manage permissions, view commits and sources. And the most important feature of SCM-Manager is that it provides central point to administer all of your repositories from different source controls on a remote servers and over internet. And it is so easy to start work with!

Environment installation

First we need to configure the Windows server to run CFML applications. Please follow these instructions:

1. Download and install Microsoft Web Platform Installer.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into “Display additional scenarios” box: http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed. New “Zoo” tab will appear.
4. Go to the Zoo –> Engines and install Railo 3 or Railo 4 (or both).

   

   Alternatively you can install Zoo –> Packages –> CFML Hosting Package. This will install both Railo 3 and 4 and all other requirements to host CFML applications on IIS.

   

5. Accept licenses to start installation process.

All required packages and dependencies will be downloaded and installed. Whole installation process may take time. After installation is completed your server is ready to run CFML applications as usual IIS web sites.

Usage

To create new Railo web site you can use Web Platform Installer again. Go to Zoo –> Templates and install Railo 3 or Railo 4 project.

You can set either IIS or IIS Express as target environment for this project and if you have not installed CFML Hosting Package, then all required dependencies will be installed automatically. After installation is completed Railo web site will start working immediately.

If you want to create Railo web site manually, please add an empty IIS web site for your application:

Create web.config file in the web site folder and put the following content into it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <heliconZoo>
      <application name="railo.project">
        <environmentVariables>
        </environmentVariables>
      </application>
     </heliconZoo>
    <handlers>
      <add name="railo.project#x86.cfm"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfm"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
        preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x86.cfc"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfc"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
        preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x86.cfml"  scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfml"  verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
        preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x86.cfr"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfr"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
        preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x86.cfswf" scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfswf" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
        preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      
      <add name="railo.project#x64.cfm"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfm"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
        preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x64.cfc"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfc"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
        preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x64.cfml"  scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfml"  verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
        preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x64.cfr"   scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfr"   verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
        preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
      <add name="railo.project#x64.cfswf" scriptProcessor="railo" 
        path="*.cfswf" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
        preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
        requireAccess="Script" />
    </handlers>
    <defaultDocument>
      <files>
        <remove value="index.cfm" />
        <add value="index.cfm" />
      </files>
    </defaultDocument>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

This will enable Railo 3 to process requests for the registered file extensions in this IIS web application folder. To use Railo 4 set scriptProcessor=”railo.4″ instead. As there is no currently application files in this folder navigating to the root of the web site will trigger 403 error. So please navigate to the http://localhost/railo-context/admin.cfm to open Railo administration interface. For the first start you will be asked to create server and web administrator passwords.

After that you may just put your CFML application into this IIS web site folder.

Manual installation

Sometimes you may need to install specific version of Railo, or you may only want to install Railo for a specific IIS web site instead of installing it on a server globally. There could be a case when your hosting service does nto provide Railo support, but instead has support for generic Java applications. In this situation please follow this instruction:

If you are installing on your own server first you need to follow first three steps from “Environment install” chapter to get Helicon Zoo feed in Web Platform Installer. Now go to Zoo –> Packages and install Java Hosting Package. This will install support for generic Java applications for IIS.

Then go to the Railo Download page and get the WAR archive distribution version. Put this WAR file into IIS web site root folder and create a web.config file there with the following content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <heliconZoo>
      <application name="jetty.project" >
        <environmentVariables>
          <!-- Uncomment line below if you want to set contexts directory -->
          <!--  <add name="CONTEXTS_DIR" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- Optional variables: -->
          <!-- <add name="CONTEXT_PATH" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->
          <!-- <add name="WAR_EXTRACT_PATH" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- A WAR file or start directory to run -->
          <add name="WAR_FILE" value="railo-3.3.1.000.zip" />
        </environmentVariables>
        </application>
    </heliconZoo>

        <handlers>
          <add name="jetty.project#x86" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" 
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
            preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
            requireAccess="Script" />
          <add name="jetty.project#x64" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" 
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
            preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
            requireAccess="Script" />
        </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Note the name of the file here is railo-3.3.1.000.zip. You may need to change it if your version of Railo is different. Also as you can see handlers are mapped to the asterisk – “*”, which mean every request to this web site will be processed by Java, including static files. Sometimes this is a good idea, especially if you are using some kind of URL rewriting or request filtering tools in your Java or CFML application. We have chosen to use asterisk map as it is more generic and will provide better application compatibility. But if you feel confident in server configuration, mapping handlers to specific file extensions (as it is done in web.config from automatic installation chapter) will give you some performance points, as static files will be processed directly by IIS.

Now you can navigate your browser to the web site root, which will bring you Railo welcome page. Then simply put your CFML application in this IIS web site folder to start working with Railo!

Platfrom installation

1. Download and install Web Platform Installer.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into Display additional scenarios box:  http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed. New “Zoo” tab will appear.
4. Go to the Zoo, Packages and install Java Hosting Package.
5. Accept licenses to start installation process.

Alternatively, instead of installing Java Hosting Package you can install Modules –> Helicon Zoo Module and Engines –> Jetty separately. This is minimal requirement to run Java Servlet applications under Microsoft IIS web server. If you want to run Java Servlets under IIS Express and WebMatrix in your development environment, then you will also need to install Helicon Zoo Module for IIS Express form Engines section.

This is enough configuration to run most of Java Servlet applications directly form IIS.

Installing application

Launch IIS Manager and create new web-site or an application within a web-site. Copy your Java application into the root folder of this IIS application. Java application could be either a single .war file or set of unpacked files with directory structure, including web-inf folder. Then just create the following web.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <heliconZoo>
      <application name="jetty.project" >
        <environmentVariables>
          <!-- Uncomment line below if you want to set contexts directory -->
          <!--  <add name="CONTEXTS_DIR" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- Optional variables: -->
          <!-- <add name="CONTEXT_PATH" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->
          <!-- <add name="WAR_EXTRACT_PATH" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- A WAR file or start directory to run -->
          <add name="WAR_FILE" value="my_application.war" />
        </environmentVariables>
        </application>
    </heliconZoo>

        <handlers>
          <add name="jetty.project#x86" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" 
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86" 
            preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" 
            requireAccess="Script" />
          <add name="jetty.project#x64" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" 
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64" 
            preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" 
            requireAccess="Script" />
        </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Please take a look at <environmentVariables> section.

• CONTEXTS_DIR — optional path to directory with .xml files which describe Jetty contexts. If this variable isn’t set, Zoo looks for “contexts” folder in the root of application. If no such folder found, Zoo presumes the application has single context and uses variables described below.
• CONTEXT_PATH — optional virtual path of the application. Default value is taken from APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH variable.
• WAR_FILE — optional path to a .war file or directory with extracted application.
• WAR_EXTRACT_PATH — optional .war file extraction path. Is set to application’s root folder by default.

Here is an example of context.xml file that you may use instead of setting WAR file name explicitly. This allows to run multiple applications and contexts in a single IIS web site.

contexts/context.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE Configure PUBLIC "-//Jetty//Configure//EN" "http://www.eclipse.org/jetty/configure.dtd">

<Configure class="org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext">

   <Set name="contextPath">/application</Set>
   <Set name="war">my_application.war</Set>
   <Set name="tempDirectory">application_dir</Set>

</Configure>

WARNING: Since WAR files need to be extracted before execution you will need to have a folder with write permissions.  In default IIS installation all application pools are executed with permissions of IIS_IUSRS group which does not have write permissions to the web application folders. You will need to provide write permissions to the user running Application Pool or IIS_IUSRS group to the folder containing Java application or specify other folder using WAR_EXTRACT_PATH variable with write permissions provided.

Now you can open IIS web site in the browser and see your Java web application running.

That’s it! Installation process is clear and automatic and will only take several minutes.

This instruction is outdated as Helicon Zoo repository now include Magnolia CMS Community Edition, that you can easily install by choosing Zoo –> Applications –> Magnolia CMS.

Platform installation

First we need to configure our Windows server to run Java Servlet applications. Follow these steps to accomplish this task.

1. Download and install Web Platform Installer.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into “Display additional scenarios” box:  http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed. New “Zoo” tab will appear.
4. Go to the “Zoo” tab and find “Jetty” among the products list. Click on “Add” against “Jetty”.
5. Also find “Helicon Zoo Module” or “Helicon Zoo Module for IIS Express” depending on the server you are using. Click “Add” respectively.
6. Click “Install” to start installation process.

Alternatively, instead of installing Helicon Zoo Module and Jetty separately you may just go to Packages section of Zoo tab and install Java Hosting Package. This will install Helicon Zoo Module for IIS, Jetty and all other requirements to run Java Servlet applications under Microsoft IIS web server. If you want to run Java Servlets under IIS Express and WebMatrix in your development environment, then you need to install Helicon Zoo Module for IIS Express form Engines section.

This is enough configuration to run most of Java Servlet applications directly form IIS.

Magnolia installation

There are many ways to install Magnolia. Some of them you may find in the documentation. We are going to use a free Community edition which can be downloaded here sourceforge.net/projects/magnolia/files/magnolia/
Please download “magnolia-bundled-webapp…” package as it already contains required components to run Magnolia CMS. Open folder with latest version of CMS and download the .war file available. After downloading .war file, please launch IIS Manager and create new web-site or application. Copy downloaded .war file into this web-site’s root folder and create the following web.config near it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
	<heliconZoo>
	  <application name="magnolia.project" >
	      <environmentVariables>
		  <add name="WAR_FILE" value="magnolia-bundled-webapp-4.5.1.war" />
		  <add name="WAR_EXTRACT_PATH" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%" />
		</environmentVariables>
        </application>
	</heliconZoo>

    	<handlers>
      	<add name="magnolia.project#x86" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86"
             preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" />
      	<add name="magnolia.project#x64" scriptProcessor="java.jetty" path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64"
             preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" />
    	</handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Please take a look at <environmentVariables> section. Only “WAR_FILE” variable is required and should contain either path to a WAR file or to a folder containing unpacked Java Servlet application.
WAR_EXTRACT_PATH variable can be used to configure location where to unpack WAR file content. By default it is IIS application root folder. CONTEXT_PATH variable needed by Java application and contains IIS application virtual path by default.

That’s it. You may now open the web-site in browser to start Magnolia. Please note, first launch is going to be long and will start with installation page:

Click “Start install” to begin installation:

When installation is complete, click “Start up Magnolia” and you’ll see login form. Enter default login “superuser” and password “superuser”.

Magnolia comes with demo data and templates:

Resume

As you can see we’ve installed Magnolia CMS easily in very few steps. Naturally you may deploy any .war file in the same way.

Environment installation

First we need to configure our Windows server to run Java Servlet applications. This is easily doable using following instructions.

1. Download and install Web Platform Installer.
2. Run Web Platform Installer and click “Options”.
3. Add Helicon Zoo feed into “Display additional scenarios” box:  http://www.helicontech.com/zoo/feed. New “Zoo” tab will appear.
4. Go to the Zoo -> Packages and install Java Hosting Package.
5. Accept licenses to start installation process.

 

Alternatively, instead of installing Java Hosting Package you can install Modules –> Helicon Zoo Module and Engines –> Jetty separately. This is minimal requirement to run Java Servlet applications under Microsoft IIS web server. If you want to run Java Servlets under IIS Express and WebMatrix in your development environment, then you will also need to install Helicon Zoo Module for IIS Express form Engines section.

 



This is enough configuration to run most of Java Servlet applications directly form IIS.

OpenBD installation

Download “J2EE Standard WAR” on http://www.openbluedragon.org/download/. Launch IIS Manager and create new web-site or an application. Copy downloaded .war file into your web-site’s or application’s root folder and create the following web.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <heliconZoo>
      <application name="openbd.project" >
        <environmentVariables>
          <!-- Uncomment line below if you want to set contexts directory -->
          <!--  <add name="CONTEXTS_DIR" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- Optional variables: -->
          <!-- <add name="CONTEXT_PATH" value="%APPL_VIRTUAL_PATH%" /> -->
          <!-- <add name="WAR_EXTRACT_PATH" value="%APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH%" /> -->

          <!-- A WAR file or start directory to run -->
          <add name="WAR_FILE" value="openbd.zip" />
        </environmentVariables>
        </application>
    </heliconZoo>

        <handlers>
          <add name="openbd.project#x86" scriptProcessor="java.jetty"
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x86"
            preCondition="bitness32" resourceType="Unspecified"
            requireAccess="Script" />
          <add name="openbd.project#x64" scriptProcessor="java.jetty"
            path="*" verb="*" modules="HeliconZoo_x64"
            preCondition="bitness64" resourceType="Unspecified"
            requireAccess="Script" />
        </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Please take a look at <environmentVariables> section. Only “WAR_FILE” variable is required and should contain either path to a WAR file or to a folder containing unpacked Java Servlet application.
WAR_EXTRACT_PATH variable can be used to configure location where to unpack WAR file content. By default it is IIS application root folder. CONTEXT_PATH variable needed by Java application and contains IIS application virtual path by default.

WARNING: Since WAR files need to be extracted before execution you will need to have a folder with write permissions.  In default IIS installation all application pools are executed with permissions of IIS_IUSRS group which does not have write permissions to the web application folders. You will need to provide write permissions to the user running Application Pool or IIS_IUSRS group to the folder containing OpenBD application or specify other folder using WAR_EXTRACT_PATH variable with write permissions provided.

That’s it. You may now start OpenBD by opening IIS web site in the browser:

You can copy CFML applications into “webapps” folder of OpenBD web site. There are “manual” and “bluedragon” already. The latter one is actually an administration panel for your OpenBD installation:

Resume

As you can see we’ve installed OpenBD easily in very few steps. Naturally you may deploy any .war file in the same way.
Cheers