Rails - Apr 2006 - Books, other resources for new Rails VPS sysadmin

Hello!

Since Virtual Private Server seems to be the only way to run Rails  
apps without problems, so in the future I will need to become a Linux  
sysadmin.

I plan on using debian (as per Ezra''s instructions in <http:// 
brainspl.at/pages/perfect_vps>).

Rails VPS sysadmin is not the same as general Linux sysadmin, since  
only webserver, db and email are of interest (and of course all Rails  
stuff). So probably general Linux sysadmin books/resources are too  
much for me. Or not? Tell me...

Are there any books (I am not cheapskate, I buy lots of books) or any  
other (maybe online?) documentation or resources that would be useful  
to a new Rails VPS sysadmin? I didn''t do any professional sysadmin  
work, though I did development on/for Unix with vi/make and am  
familiar with Unix (old bsd/sysv, next, and currently macosx). And I  
am in the ''vi'' camp, not ''emacs'' :-)


Thanks for any info,

izidor

2006/4/27, Izidor Jerebic <ij.list@gmail.com>:
> Are there any books (I am not cheapskate, I buy lots of books) or any
> other (maybe online?) documentation or resources that would be useful
> to a new Rails VPS sysadmin? I didn''t do any professional sysadmin
> work, though I did development on/for Unix with vi/make and am
> familiar with Unix (old bsd/sysv, next, and currently macosx). And I
> am in the ''vi'' camp, not ''emacs'' :-)
There''s also the perfect Debian Sarge setup available at:
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_setup_debian_sarge

Bye !
--
Fran?ois Beausoleil
http://blog.teksol.info/

On Apr 27, 2006, at 1:46 AM, Izidor Jerebic wrote:
> Hello!
>
> Since Virtual Private Server seems to be the only way to run Rails  
> apps without problems, so in the future I will need to become a  
> Linux sysadmin.
>
> I plan on using debian (as per Ezra''s instructions in <http:// 
> brainspl.at/pages/perfect_vps>).
>
> Rails VPS sysadmin is not the same as general Linux sysadmin, since  
> only webserver, db and email are of interest (and of course all  
> Rails stuff). So probably general Linux sysadmin books/resources  
> are too much for me. Or not? Tell me...
>
> Are there any books (I am not cheapskate, I buy lots of books) or  
> any other (maybe online?) documentation or resources that would be  
> useful to a new Rails VPS sysadmin? I didn''t do any professional  
> sysadmin work, though I did development on/for Unix with vi/make  
> and am familiar with Unix (old bsd/sysv, next, and currently  
> macosx). And I am in the ''vi'' camp, not
''emacs'' :-)
>
>
> Thanks for any info,
>
> izidor
Hey Izidor-

	There is a great site for learning about debian:  http://www.debian- 
administration.org/  You can learn a lot of stuff there. And while  
running a vps like I setup in that tutorial is easy, it never hurts  
to learn a little more about linux sysadmin stuff. The most annoying  
part ot take care of is by far the email server. So much so that its  
worth it to me to farm out email services to a dedicated email host.  
Other then that admining rails and a webserver and database is not  
that hard.

	Watch for my book which will answer most of your questions. I am  
pushing for beta release before railsconf.


Cheers-
-Ezra

A general-purpose system administration book applicable to your VPS''s
OS
is appropriate. You will be administering a webserver, a database 
server, some sort of mail agents (SMTP and probably POP/IMAP), startup 
and shutdown scripts, language interpreters at least for Ruby, some 
add-on packages and libraries your app will inevitably use, and your 
OS''s package management tool. You will also be monitoring disk space
and
memory usage and looking for runaway processes. You''ll be examining 
logs, moving files around, checking and setting permissions, adding and 
modifying users and groups, and installing and using various other tools 
and protocols to log into your system securely and perform file 
transfers (ssh, Subversion, etc.). Also, maybe most importantly, you''re
going to be checking and maintaining the security of all these things.

If you''re not pretty comfortable with doing most of this from a command
line already, a good book on Linux system administration, preferably 
with specific coverage of your type of Linux, is a very good idea. 
DBeyond that, depending on your comfort level with things like MySQL 
administration (especially assigning privileges) and advanced Apache 
configuration, the online docs for things like that might be enough that 
you won''t need other print books.

Izidor Jerebic wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> Since Virtual Private Server seems to be the only way to run Rails
> apps without problems, so in the future I will need to become a Linux
> sysadmin.
> 
> I plan on using debian (as per Ezra''s instructions in <http://
> brainspl.at/pages/perfect_vps>).
> 
> Rails VPS sysadmin is not the same as general Linux sysadmin, since
> only webserver, db and email are of interest (and of course all Rails
> stuff). So probably general Linux sysadmin books/resources are too
> much for me. Or not? Tell me...
> 
> Are there any books (I am not cheapskate, I buy lots of books) or any
> other (maybe online?) documentation or resources that would be useful
> to a new Rails VPS sysadmin? I didn''t do any professional sysadmin
> work, though I did development on/for Unix with vi/make and am
> familiar with Unix (old bsd/sysv, next, and currently macosx). And I
> am in the ''vi'' camp, not ''emacs'' :-)
> 
> 
> Thanks for any info,
> 
> izidor

-- 
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