Changes to the Pipi System Engine (sys) data model

Mike's Notes

The next job is to write the 6 configuration files for each Nestspace.

Big thanks to Ben Nadel for the sample code he shared on his CFML blog, which explained a few ways to do this.

Resources

• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2025/09/the-internal-control-hierarchy-of-pipi.html
• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2026/04/pipi-nest.html
• https://www.blog.ajabbi.com/2026/03/cfml-applicationcfc.html
• https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2114-extending-the-application-cfc-coldfusion-framework-component-with-a-relative-path.htm
• https://www.bennadel.com/blog/2014-extending-the-application-cfc-coldfusion-framework-component-with-cfinclude.htm
• https://helpx.adobe.com/coldfusion/developing-applications/developing-cfml-applications/using-persistent-data-and-locking/using-server-variables.html

References

• Reference

Repository

• Home > Ajabbi Research > Library >
• Home > Handbook > 

Last Updated

11/10/2026

Changes to the Pipi System Engine (sys) data model

By: Mike Peters

On a Sandy Beach: 12/04/2026

Mike invented and architected Pipi and founded Ajabbi.

This week, changes to how Pipi is organised in the data centre continue.

This job is to write the 6 base configuration files for each Nestspace. Because the recent code tests were successful, most of the time will be spent documenting. This should only need to be done once; the 6 files are done sequentially, starting from the root.

Pipi Nest

The fundamental organising principle is to use a uniquely named "Nestspace" directory to host Pipi.

Every nestspace has these properties;

• One Pipi major version
• One Pipi edition
• One account type
• Can host
• One or more accounts
• AND
• One or more Pipi instances.

Account

Every customer or user has an account, which is opened when they sign up.

A customer account has these properties;

• One account type.
• Contains one or more deployments.

Pipi Instance

Each Pipi instance has these properties;

• One account name (e.g., "loki-01").
• Shares a codebase (e.g., "loki").

Deployment

A deployment has these properties;

• One deployment tenancy type.
• One language.
• Contains one or more deployment objects.
• Can contain other deployments to create global settings for an account (Enterprise or DevOps).

Revised Configuration Hierarchy

Child files inherit properties from parent files and can also override them.

• Nestspace > Account > Deployment > Deployment Object > Publication > Website > Workspace.
• Pipi Nest > Codebase > Pipi Instance.

Configuration files

Pipi uses a hierarchy of CFML configuration files to set system properties.

<nestspace>/

• nest_probe.cfm
• pipi/
• Application.cfc [1]
• pipi_nest.cfm
• <name>/
• Application.cfc [2]
• pipi_account.cfm
• pip/
• Application.cfc [3]
• pipi_system.cfm

Configuration notes

The 3 different Application.cfc files are common across all Pipi Nests and don't ever change.

Application.cfc [1] defines Nestspace variables

• OS
• Java environment
• Platform-appropriate absolute physical path
• Nest datasources

Application.cfc [2] defines Name variables

• Account name
• Deployments
• Pipi Instances

Application.cfc [3] defines System variables

• Version
• Edition
• State

The .cfm files contain local configuration variables that Pipi can edit directly.

• nest_probe.cfm
• pipi_nest.cfm
• pipi_account.cfm
• pipi_system.cfm

Example

This is the list of 7 configuration files for the Nestspace 9ca/

• 9ca/pipi_nest_probe.cfm
• 9ca/pipi/Application.cfc
• 9ca/pipi/pipi_nest.cfm
• 9ca/pipi/loki/Application.cfc
• 9ca/pipi/loki/pipi_account.cfm
• 9ca/pipi/loki/pip/Application.cfc
• 9ca/pipi/loki/pip/pipi_system.cfm