What's Wrong With ColdFusion And These JRun Errors?

I am a longtime supporter of ColdFusion. In fact, I started using ColdFusion for Elizabeth City State University's web site back when it was owned by Allaire. We have been good friends, ColdFusion and I, but I'm beginning to wonder if maintaining this relationship is good for either of us.

As of late, we have been plagued with repeated JRun errors. The errors have gotten so bad that it cripples our university web site, www.nccu.edu. One minute, everything is up and running fine. In the next minute, nothing. Clearly, this cannot continue.

Both Web Services and the Server Team have been working diligently to identify the problem. Unfortunately, the error log doesn't tell us where the issue resides. The only thing we know with certainty is that when JRun stalls out, nobody can do anything.

To date, we've scoured the web for possible answers, but to little avail. We've played with memory settings, removed dynamic code, and adjusted every option within the ColdFusion Administrator. Still, as if in defiance, JRun stalls out again.

I'm not sure if it's me or ColdFusion, but for as long as I can remember, Java has always been an issue. From version 5 until today (we're using version 7), ColdFusion has a way of crashing. To the best of my knowledge, this doesn't happen with PHP. Which leads me to ask, should we consider leaving ColdFusion for PHP, Ruby, or something else?

Honestly, I'm not sure we can leave. We have so much invested in ColdFusion that it would put us back years if we were to change. Although, it doesn't stop me from thinking about it.

As far as a resolution, we're going to migrate up to ColdFusion 9 within the next day or two. My hope is that version 9 has resolved some of these JRun issues or at least provides better monitoring tools. If that doesn't work, we're in the processes of buying technical support from Adobe. Another potential solution is load-balancing, but that option is in a distant third.

Seriously, I wish that I could tell you more about our problem, but as it stands to today, we're at a loss. Hopefully, some of these minor tweaks will help and I can report a good bill of health.

So, do you have any idea what could be wrong? How about a potential solution? I'd love to get any assistance on this matter. If so, feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time...

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