Web Hosting Services for RoR

Newby here. I have read the instructions on setting up a server to host RoR. My web hosting service, IPowerWeb, claims to be set up to host RoR yet they say I have to manually set things up myself but the tech support is clueless as to what that actually means. I guess I expect that because they are RoR-capable that some of the work has been done. I don't expect anyone to research IPower, but in general, what does a web host being Ruby capable actually mean. I am not sure at what step in the deployment process I am at.

Can anyone point me toward some really basic steps in getting my existing website running RoR? Thanks much!

I would also like to point out that today is officially "Ask a Stupid Question Day". I will be taking advantage of the holiday. Shupemeister

Shupemeister, My experience is that you are better off getting a virtual private server and maintaining it yourself. I had a hosting company that claimed to be RoR-able, and in a sense they were, but, it was a single instance running against a very basic ruby installation. In my experience Rails needs to be clustered to get any meaningful performance. Also, these guys were great at support but obviously not capable of the complexity that RoR requires.

Yeah, a VPS is definitely the way to go. But since you've already got your server, you might as well give it a shot.

"RoR-capable" could just mean that they have Ruby installed.

As far as setting up your server. Exactly how much do they expect you to do? Are you expected to configure Apache yourself? Here's a good tutorial for that: Peak Obsession

Also, don't forget to freeze rails before you move it to a shared host. You can read more about that here: Freezing Rails | Tiger Technologies Support

- Anthony

Go with RailsMachine.com if you want something easy to setup, great support. (and no i dont work for them)

Higher priced then others but well worth it.

I would have given SliceHost a shot but I needed my project up fast and slicehost has a wait time (*not a bad thing, means they dont oversell*)

I use lamphost.net. Expensive, but very personalized service and high quality.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I am checking out everything that was mentioned and have learned a lot!