Best platform for production deployment of RoR applications

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hi,

I'm going to be setting up a small server farm for my production RoR application deployments. I'm now at the point I need to pick what software I'll be running/management techniques.

So, my question is, what OS (and if Linux, which distribution) are most people having the best luck/performance with? I'm well versed in FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris, and would be open to other options as well.

Now, once the OS decision is made, how are people managing Ruby? Installing it by hand (compiling/etc), and then using gems to keep things updated? Or using the built-in distribution copies (IE debs or ports or whatever)? I was thinking doing it by hand might be better so as to keep current with bug fixes and security updates. In this case, I'd be using KVM with linux to create virtual machines, and install ruby/rails inside the virtual machines, that way I can build once and simply deploy the virtual machines across the server farm easily. Does this make sense?

Now, as to development, soon there will be a team working on RoR applications. Is the "best" (I realize this is opinion based as much as fact) multi-user development something like SVN? Or is there some better solution?

Now, finally, after development, what is the best way to deploy? After initial deployment, best way to deploy updates?

From reading documentation, it looks like mongrel is the best

application server, and with the updates to the proxy functionality (coming in next release), lighttpd is the best front end. This is what I was *planning* on. I was also thinking about going with Ubuntu (since 7.x is going to have KVM integrated) for the OS.

I've been using Solaris on my servers, but I've gotten pretty fed up with the update/patching system, and the fact that it takes a fair amount of fuss to get a lot of applications to work, so that's why I'm evaluating switching to Linux, simply from the "ease of use" standpoint. FreeBSD was an option, but jails just seem kinda "hackish" to me, at least in terms of administration. KVM seems to be the closest to Solaris Zones I've been able to find.

Well, I really do appreciate any input/comments/opinions you all could provide. Some of this might be in documentation I missed, if so - feel free to just tell me so (and I'd REALLY appreciate links.) Everything else, I'm open to hearing any/all ideas. :slight_smile:

Thank you kindly, David J. Orman

2

Apache 2.2 or 2.3 is in favor as the webserver of choice. There are lots of tutorials out there on using mod_proxy_balancer and that's what I just finished deploying my application on.

Check out Capistrano for pushing your app to multiple servers.

As far as OS/distros go, there's lots of support/tutorials out there for Linux I'm only running a single front-end server right now, so I don't have any experience with virtual machines, but I would imagine any distro would do fine. RedHat variants are probably the most widely used, so if lots of tutorials and such are important to you, then RedHat might be the way to go. But it sounds like you have a compelling reason to go with Ubuntu, so that might outweigh any benefit of a large user community on RedHat.

Good Luck!

3

There's now a Google Group dedicated to Ruby on Rails deployment discussions called "Deploying Rails" or "rubyonrails-deployment" if you want to ask your question there.

David J. Orman wrote:

Hi,

I'm going to be setting up a small server farm for my production RoR application deployments. I'm now at the point I need to pick what software I'll be running/management techniques.

So, my question is, what OS (and if Linux, which distribution) are most people having the best luck/performance with? I'm well versed in FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris, and would be open to other options as well.

My current preference is Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Server. I wanted something more up-to-date than RHEL/CentOS at the time I was deciding but was also going to have security patches available for longer than something like Fedora Core. This was my first Debian-based distribution having been a long time Red Hat user and have so far enjoyed using apt-get/dpkg over rpm/up2date/yum/etc.

Now, once the OS decision is made, how are people managing Ruby? Installing it by hand (compiling/etc), and then using gems to keep things updated? Or using the built-in distribution copies (IE debs or ports or whatever)? I was thinking doing it by hand might be better so as to keep current with bug fixes and security updates. In this case, I'd be using KVM with linux to create virtual machines, and install ruby/rails inside the virtual machines, that way I can build once and simply deploy the virtual machines across the server farm easily. Does this make sense?

My preference is to compile from source all the critical components in my system where I need to have control over how they are built or how frequently they are updated which in this case would be Ruby, Apache, and MySQL (Rails is handled through gem).

One problem with using distribution packages is that the packager has decided for you what options are compiled or not compiled into the package. And then if you don't like those options and want to compile things from scratch that can break all sorts of other dependencies unless you build the package exactly as the distribution does it which of course is never the same as what the defaults are if you just do a ./configure, make, make install.

Building stuff from source means more admin work, of course, since you can't just keep everything updated with some simple package commands (apt-get update, apt-get upgrade, etc.)

Now, as to development, soon there will be a team working on RoR applications. Is the "best" (I realize this is opinion based as much as fact) multi-user development something like SVN? Or is there some better solution?

svn is the standard choice now, though Mercurial looks interesting for those who need a more distributed revision control system. OpenSolaris, for example, picked that recently as their source code control system. Also you need to consider any integration between your SCCS the other development tools in your pipeline like your text editors/IDEs and issue tracking system. svn is widely supported but others like Mercurial not as much.

Now, finally, after development, what is the best way to deploy? After initial deployment, best way to deploy updates?

From reading documentation, it looks like mongrel is the best

application server, and with the updates to the proxy functionality (coming in next release), lighttpd is the best front end. This is what I was *planning* on. I was also thinking about going with Ubuntu (since 7.x is going to have KVM integrated) for the OS.

I'm using the current generally recommended setup of a Mongrel cluster behind Apache 2.2 with mod_proxy_balancer. I went straight to that setup rather than testing out some of the other options (lighttpd + FastCGI, etc.) so I can't compare and contrast the various options but I'm happy with what I'm using now.

4

Hi~

Hi,

I'm going to be setting up a small server farm for my production RoR application deployments. I'm now at the point I need to pick what software I'll be running/management techniques.

So, my question is, what OS (and if Linux, which distribution) are most people having the best luck/performance with? I'm well versed in FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris, and would be open to other options as well.

gentoo or ubuntu server linux

Now, once the OS decision is made, how are people managing Ruby? Installing it by hand (compiling/etc), and then using gems to keep things updated? Or using the built-in distribution copies (IE debs or ports or whatever)? I was thinking doing it by hand might be better so as to keep current with bug fixes and security updates. In this case, I'd be using KVM with linux to create virtual machines, and install ruby/rails inside the virtual machines, that way I can build once and simply deploy the virtual machines across the server farm easily. Does this make sense?

on gentoo I build everythign from portage gentoo usually gets the latest releases of ruby within a day of them being released. On ubuntu I compile ruby from source but use checkinstall to tell apt about it.

Now, as to development, soon there will be a team working on RoR applications. Is the "best" (I realize this is opinion based as much as fact) multi-user development something like SVN? Or is there some better solution?

SVN is the standard scm that everyone uses with rails.

Now, finally, after development, what is the best way to deploy? After initial deployment, best way to deploy updates?

capistrano

From reading documentation, it looks like mongrel is the best

application server, and with the updates to the proxy functionality (coming in next release), lighttpd is the best front end. This is what I was *planning* on. I was also thinking about going with Ubuntu (since 7.x is going to have KVM integrated) for the OS.

Nginx is a much better option for the front end webserver then lighty or apache. Nginx beats bot lighty and apache at most benchmarks and it uses way less resources then either apache or lighty. I have hundreds of virtual machines running with nginx + mongrel_cluster and it is the best way to go imho.

I've been using Solaris on my servers, but I've gotten pretty fed up with the update/patching system, and the fact that it takes a fair amount of fuss to get a lot of applications to work, so that's why I'm evaluating switching to Linux, simply from the "ease of use" standpoint. FreeBSD was an option, but jails just seem kinda "hackish" to me, at least in terms of administration. KVM seems to be the closest to Solaris Zones I've been able to find.

I personally prefer Xen on linux. It's the performance leader for open source virtualization.

Well, I really do appreciate any input/comments/opinions you all could provide. Some of this might be in documentation I missed, if so - feel free to just tell me so (and I'd REALLY appreciate links.) Everything else, I'm open to hearing any/all ideas. :slight_smile:

Thank you kindly, David J. Orman

Good luck with building out your server farm. Virtualization is definitely the way to go.

Cheers- -- Ezra Zygmuntowicz-- Lead Rails Evangelist -- ez@engineyard.com -- Engine Yard, Serious Rails Hosting -- (866) 518-YARD (9273)