ColdFusion 8 and 9, ColdFusion Builder, and Flash Builder 4 Installers

I am commonly asked questions about the installers for ColdFusion 8 and 9, ColdFusion Builder, and Flash Builder 4 so I thought I'd make my long-overdue return to the world of blogging by compiling here some details that are hard to ascertain elsewhere.

Before I get into the details: you can find the EULAs for all the Adobe products mentioned here at http://www.adobe.com/products/eulas. Regardless of what the technical limitations are or aren't with any of this software, you're bound to the terms of the EULA for whatever product you're using. Okay, now let's get on with it.

ColdFusion 8 and 9 Installers

For ColdFusion 8 and ColdFusion 9 (the following facts are actually true for certain earlier versions as well but as all earlier versions and their corresponding installers are no longer available from Adobe, I'm not going to concern myself with them here), there is for any given platform and language (e.g. Windows 32-bit English, Windows 64-bit Japanese, Solaris 64-bit English, etc.) only a single installer for ColdFusion. This means that no matter if you want Enterprise, Standard, Trial, or Developer, you use the same installer--the way the download links are labeled may seem to imply otherwise, but do not be mislead! Take Windows 64-bit for example: there is only 1 installer for Windows 64-bit English (and then another for Windows 64-bit Japanese), not separate installers for Enterprise, Standard, Trial, and Developer. It doesn't matter where or from whom you purchased ColdFusion nor does it matter via which sales program you purchased: you still use this same single installer for your platform.

How ColdFusion behaves (that is, which of Enterprise, Standard, Trial, or Developer it acts as) once installed is dependent on choices you make during installation. If you supply your Enterprise license key (a.k.a. serial number) during installation, you get the Enterprise edition and if you supply your Standard license key during installation, you get the Standard edition. If you do not supply your license key during installation, you can choose either to have ColdFusion install as the Trial edition or the Developer edition. If you've supplied an Enterprise license key or chosen either the Trial edition or the Developer edition, you'll then be given the choice to install ColdFusion in the Server (a.k.a. "standalone") configuration, the Multi-server configuration, or the J2EE configuration. If you have supplied your Standard license key, you will only be able to install in the Server configuration (Multi-server and J2EE configurations are only available for Enterprise, Trial, and Developer).

So this single installer for your platform then allows you to install any of the following:

• Enterprise in the Server configuration
• Enterprise in the Multi-server configuration
• Enterprise in the J2EE configuration
• Standard in the Server configuration (Standard does not allow the Muti-server or J2EE configurations)
• Trial in the Server configuration
• Trial in the Multi-server configuration
• Trial in the J2EE configuration
• Developer in the Server configuration
• Developer in the Multi-server configuration
• Developer in the J2EE configuration

The ColdFusion 9 installers can be accessed via http://www.adobe.com/go/trycoldfusion.

The ColdFusion 8 installers can be accessed via http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=coldfusion8.

Two important notes:

• ColdFusion 8 Standard is only available for the 32-bit platforms on which ColdFusion 8 is supported (even for the Server configuration). If you install a 64-bit version of ColdFusion 8, you must supply a ColdFusion 8 Enterprise license key. If you try to supply a Standard license key, the key will not be accepted.
• Though ColdFusion 9 Standard is available for 64-bit Linux, there is a known issue with ColdFusion 9 not accepting standard license keys during installation on 64-bit Linux. But this is only an issue during installation: you can apply the key after installation via the ColdFusion Administrator.

UPDATE: The story is much the same for the ColdFusion 9 Update 1 installers (these bring your ColdFusion installation up to ColdFusion 9.0.1): there is only a single installer per platform (this single installer is for all languages on the given platform); these installers can be found at http://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/downloads_updates.html#cf9. For more information on this free update for ColdFusion 9, see the FAQ available at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/849/cpsid_84973.html.

ColdFusion Builder Installers

For ColdFusion Builder, the story is much the same: there is for any given platform and language (Windows English, Mac English, Windows Japanese, and Mac Japanese) only a single installer for ColdFusion Builder; how ColdFusion Builder behaves once installed is dependent on the license key (a.k.a. serial number) you apply. It doesn't matter if you want to do a Standalone installation or if you want to install ColdFusion Builder as a plug-in to Flash Builder or any other Eclipse installation--you use the same installer either way. When you fire up ColdFusion Builder, you'll be asked for a license key and if you don't supply one, you'll get the Trial edition, which is a fully functioning version of ColdFusion Builder that can be used for 60 days after installation. To keep rolling along beyond 60d ays, you'll just need to supply (after legally acquiring, of course) a valid license key when starting ColdFusion Builder. Here too it doesn't matter where or from whom you purchased ColdFusion Builder nor does it matter via which sales program you purchased: you still use the same installer; there really is only one installer for any given supported platform and language.

The ColdFusion Builder installers can be accessed via http://www.adobe.com/go/trycoldfusionbuilder.

Incidentally, if you're installing both ColdFusion Builder and Flash Builder 4 and/or any other Eclipse plug-ins in the same eclipse environment on Windows, my recommendation is that you install ColdFusion Builder in the Standalone configuration and then install Flash Builder 4 and/or the other Eclipse plug-ins as plug-ins to the ColdFusion Builder installation. The reason for this is that when it is the base install, you can have ColdFusion Builder associate ColdFusion files (.cfm, .cfc, and so on) in Windows so that when you open one of these files from Windows, it will open properly in ColdFusion Builder. This may not sound like much but trust me: this is actually a nifty little feature for an Eclipse-based IDE. Speaking of Flash Builder 4...

Flash Builder 4 Installers

For Flash Builder 4, the story is much the same but there is an important difference: for any given platform and language (and there are numerous languages available), there is one installer to use if you're doing a Standalone installation and another to use if you're doing an Eclipse Plug-in installation. So for any given platform and language, there are two installers and you need to choose the right one for the installation type you're going to perform. But note that there are not separate installers for Flash Builder 4 Standard and Flash Builder 4 Premium: just as ColdFusion 8 and 9 behave as Standard if you supply a Standard license key and Enterprise if you supply an Enterprise license key, so too does Flash Builder 4 behave as Standard if you supply a Standard license key and Premium if you supply a Premium license key. Like ColdFusion Builder, when you fire up Flash Builder, you'll be asked for a license key and if you don't supply one, you'll get the Trial edition, which is a fully functioning version of Flash Builder 4 Premium that can be used for 60 days after installation. To keep rolling along beyond 60 days, you'll just need to supply (again, after legally acquiring, of course) a valid license key when starting Flash Builder 4. Here too it doesn't matter where or from whom you purchased Flash Builder 4 nor does it matter via which sales program you purchased: you still use one of the same two installers (the Standalone installer if you want to do a Standalone installation or the Eclipse Plug-in installer if you want to install Flash Builder 4 as a plug-in to ColdFusion Builder or any other Eclipse installation) for your platform and language.

The Flash Builder 4 installers can be accessed via http://www.adobe.com/go/try_flashbuilder.