Pushing your app to the real world with Rails can be a very daunting task to someone who is used to just uploading flat html or php files.<\/p>\n
If you’ve never dealt with Apache<\/a>, mod_rewrite<\/a>, or proxy servers<\/a>, prepare to spend a lot of time hammering out a solution. Worried about performance, or your need to scale out at a later date? Pick a solution that won’t leave you wondering if your site will be able to take a spike in traffic.<\/p>\n For Rails, there are lots of deployment strategies, some are tuned for compatibility with shared hosting (fastcgi<\/a>), and some are built for speed and minimum configuration (Litespeed<\/a> Nginx<\/a> and Lighttpd<\/a>), and some are built to leverage the strength and flexibility of stable and established server software (Apache+Mongrel<\/a>).<\/p>\n If you want to scale, you’re going to need a load balancing proxy. The choices here are pound<\/a>, pen<\/a>, and apache’s mod_proxy_balancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n An abundance of choice is a double-edged sword. Competition is good in any arena, but it makes it very hard for someone who hasn’t tried them all to choose one.<\/p>\n I’ve chosen to setup my Rails server using the Apache+Mongrel+mod_proxy_balancer combination.<\/p>\n For the operating system, I’ve chosen the newest Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty) server. Ubuntu<\/a> uses the Debian-style apt package management, but with more current packages than Debian stable, and is the current cool kid on the block for Linux systems. I have been using Ubuntu for years and can attest to its stability and cutting edge (but not bleeding edge) packages.<\/p>\n I’ve gone through and built a Rails server by hand before, but poorly documenting what I had done, and not securing it properly. When I stumbled upon Slicehost’s server setup articles<\/a>, I knew I had found exactly what I needed to build a server configured like a pro, and all the documentation I should have written in the first place.<\/p>\n Here is the step-by-step setup for a production Rails server. I’ve tested this setup and can vouch for its awesomeness. I encourage you to make some changes specific to your setup where appropriate. You should be able to skip unneccesary stuff like php and virtual hosts if you don’t need them.<\/p>\n Ubunty Setup – part 1<\/a>
\nUbunty Setup – part 2<\/a>
\n Myql and Rails<\/a>
\nApache and PHP<\/a>
\n Apache Virtual Hosts<\/a>
\nVhosts and permissions<\/a>
\n Apache Vhosts, Rails and Mongrels<\/a>
\nMongrel Clustering<\/a>
\nSubversion intro<\/a>
\nSetting up svnserve<\/a>
\nSecuring svnserve with ssh<\/a>
\nSetting up Capistrano<\/a>
\nSetting up Piston to manage plugins<\/a><\/p>\n