Troubleshooting Playbooks

Step-by-step diagnostic workflows for memory leaks, performance issues, and common ColdFusion problems

Last updated: October 6, 202512 min read

Step-by-step diagnostic workflows for systematically identifying and resolving common ColdFusion issues. Each playbook provides a structured approach to problem diagnosis and resolution.

How to Use These Playbooks

Each playbook follows a consistent diagnostic methodology:

  1. Identify the symptoms and gather initial evidence
  2. Follow the diagnostic steps to isolate the root cause
  3. Apply the recommended solution based on your findings
  4. Verify the fix and implement preventive measures

Available Playbooks

Memory Leak Investigation

Systematic approach to diagnosing and fixing memory leaks, OutOfMemoryErrors, and heap exhaustion issues.

See detailed solutions in Problems & Solutions

Performance Degradation

Step-by-step workflow for identifying bottlenecks, slow queries, and inefficient code causing poor performance.

See detailed solutions in Problems & Solutions

Database Connection Issues

Diagnose connection pool exhaustion, timeout errors, and database connectivity problems.

See Datasources & JDBC configuration guide

Application Startup Failures

Troubleshoot ColdFusion service startup issues, initialization errors, and configuration problems.

See Installation & Activation guide

Security Vulnerability Response

Incident response workflow for security breaches, vulnerability discoveries, and emergency patching.

See Security Baseline and Update Strategy

Web Server Connector Problems

Diagnose and fix IIS and Apache connector issues, AJP communication failures, and proxy configuration errors.

See Web Server Connectors guide

General Troubleshooting Principles

  • Start with logs: Review ColdFusion logs, application logs, and web server logs before making changes
  • Isolate the problem: Determine if the issue is CF-specific, database-related, network-related, or environmental
  • Change one thing at a time: Make incremental changes and test after each modification
  • Document your findings: Keep notes on symptoms, tests performed, and results
  • Test in staging first: Never troubleshoot directly in production if avoidable
  • Have a rollback plan: Know how to revert changes if they don't resolve the issue

Essential Diagnostic Tools

  • Performance Monitoring Toolset (PMT): Real-time metrics and dashboards
  • FusionReactor: Advanced profiling and debugging capabilities
  • Thread Dumps: Capture with jstack or FusionReactor to identify deadlocks and bottlenecks
  • Heap Dumps: Analyze with Eclipse MAT or VisualVM for memory issues
  • GC Logs: Enable with -Xlog:gc* to diagnose garbage collection problems
  • CF Debug Output: Enable temporarily in development to trace execution flow

Related Resources

Need Expert Help?

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