Setting up a cluster in ColdFusion can significantly enhance application scalability and reliability. However, administrators may encounter an error during the cluster creation process in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)-based operating system if ColdFusion lacks permission to read the IP list from the system hosts file. This article addresses the issue where ColdFusion instances within the cluster automatically stop upon restart, accompanied by specific errors in the coldfusion-error.log file. We will explore the cause of this error and provide a resolution to ensure a successful cluster setup.

Error:

May 15, 2023 1:17:05 PM org.apache.catalina.ha.tcp.SimpleTcpCluster startInternal

INFO: Cluster is about to start

May 15, 2023 1:17:05 PM org.apache.catalina.tribes.transport.ReceiverBase bind

INFO: Unable to bind server socket to:[/x.x.x.x:4001] throwing error.

May 15, 2023 1:17:05 PM org.apache.catalina.tribes.transport.nio.NioReceiver start

SEVERE: Unable to start cluster receiver

java.net.BindException: Cannot assign requested address

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind0(Native Method)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:455)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:447)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.bind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:227)

        at org.apache.catalina.tribes.transport.nio.NioReceiver.start(NioReceiver.java:92)

       .

       .

       .

Caused by: java.net.BindException: Cannot assign requested address

       at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind0(Native Method)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:455)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:447)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.bind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:227)

        at java.base/sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketAdaptor.bind(ServerSocketAdaptor.java:80)

            at org.apache.catalina.tribes.group.ChannelCoordinator.internalStart(ChannelCoordinator.java:162)

        ... 22 more

Cause: It is clear from the error message that the ColdFusion instance failed to obtain the IP address.

Resolution: Ensure that the system hosts file has appropriate permissions (chmod 644 /etc/hosts) and the server’s IP address is added.