Rails - Mar 2006 - rails app in professional development environment

I''ve been working on my rails app which will be a web app that i want
to
launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m wondering what
professional
web app developers do for their development environment.  Right now i''m
developing and testing on my laptop.  I think i''ve gotten far enough
along
where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop further, perf
test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other people test with me.

I know i have to wrap my app in subversion but then what?  What''s the
normal
process of developing locally on my laptop and then getting the latest code
running on the hosting machine?

I also want to make it really easy for when i''m ready to flip the
switch to
go from development environment to production environment.  I suspect that
it should be the same uploa/refresh process with svn.

The reason i made it a point to be a "professional environment" is
because
if and when i hire employees, i want to do things the same way that other
businesses do things.  This will not just be side project that i can take
down if things crash or i cant rollback an update.

Thanks in advance.
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subversion and switch...ehh capistrano...

you place your code in subversion, which is a revision tracking system...

capistrano makes it really simple to dpeloy your newest release to your  
server...

Its quite simple to set this up, but there is a lot of new concepts you  
need to deal with


On Monday, March 06, 2006, at 1:56 AM, Manish Shah
wrote:
>I''ve been working on my rails app which will be a web app that i
want to
>launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m wondering what
professional
>web app developers do for their development environment.  Right now
i''m
>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think i''ve gotten far
enough along
>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop further, perf
>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other people test with me.
>
>I know i have to wrap my app in subversion but then what?  What''s
>the normal
>process of developing locally on my laptop and then getting the latest code
>running on the hosting machine?
>
>I also want to make it really easy for when i''m ready to flip the
switch to
>go from development environment to production environment.  I suspect that
>it should be the same uploa/refresh process with svn.
>
>The reason i made it a point to be a "professional environment" is
because
>if and when i hire employees, i want to do things the same way that other
>businesses do things.  This will not just be side project that i can take
>down if things crash or i cant rollback an update.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

Mikkel Bruun

www.strongside.dk    - Football Portal(DK)
nflfeed.helenius.org - Football News(DK)
ting.minline.dk      - Buy Old Stuff!(DK)




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Posted with http://DevLists.com.  Sign up and save your time!

>>I''ve been working on my rails app which will be a web app that
i want to
 >>launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m wondering what
professional
 >>web app developers do for their development environment.  Right now
i''m
 >>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think i''ve gotten far
enough
along
 >>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop further, perf
 >>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other people test with
me.

I''m in a similar position.

I don''t have any good advice about hosting services, but I do have some
suggestions about the dev/test/prod cycle and environments.

Fair warning- I got caught up in a train of thought so I''m afraid I 
think I strayed from your question. My apologies.

I currently have a neat dev/test environment based around Xen:

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/

I do development in a Xen virtual machine (based on an Ubuntu server 
build). As I do development I track any Ubuntu package or ruby gem 
dependencies so that these can be automatically installed in the 
test/preproduction/production environments. Xen allows me to test the 
build of my environment as well as the build of my code.

Life and work have distracted me from progressing these endeavours so it 
isn''t complete but I''ll end up with a
''shipping'' process that packages
up everything except the core application into Debian/Ubuntu packages 
(so ruby gems etc.. will probably be installed as packages) and puts 
them in a private repository, installs them and then ships the core code 
using something like swithtower. I can test the whole process using Xen 
virtual machines. And I''ll install and test a
''cluster'' of machines
(probably on the one "real" machine).

I''d install the core application as a Debian package too except the 
ActiveRecord::Migration stuff is so damn convenient- and there is a lot 
of Rails community development and support around switchtower and that 
method of shipping code.

Most of this isn''t as laborious as it sounds since it all automates
nicely.

The two main reasons for doing all this are:
   1. You should aim to never manually alter your production 
environment- it should be built automatically so that it is repeatable. 
This makes it testable which allows you to validate that you''ve
actually
fixed problems when they arise. If you futz with the production 
environment you''ll find yourself patching the system, forgetting what 
you did and then having to debug the problem again six months down the 
track when you lose a hard disk/reboot the system/delete the wrong 
file/need to build a redundant system...
   2. It makes it much easier to build horizontally scalable systems.

[ Horizontally scalable means ''add more machines to increase
capacity''.
Vertically scalable means ''add more CPUs/memory/spend lots more
money''.
To make a good horizontally scalable system you do have to think 
carefully about how you store your data and how you scale your data 
store- but that is another discussion. ]

If you DO make a succesful application you want to make sure it will 
scale and at that point you''ll really appreciate being able to create
an
accurate production environment.

Another neat thing is that is very easy to create development 
environments for other developers. They can each have their own virtual 
machine and add test machines as required.

As a previous poster mentioned all your source code should be under 
version control (probably subversion given the general Rails culture). 
This code includes your Xen build scripts, testing infrastructure... 
everything. If you are then careful about backing up your production 
data stores (including your subversion system) you''ll find you can lose
production machines but be able to rebuild without any hassles. Or even 
better you''ll have built everything clustered so you won''t
even lose
service.

Jeremy.

On Mar 6, 2006, at 5:14 AM, Jeremy Nelson wrote:
> >>I''ve been working on my rails app which will be a web app
that i
> want to
> >>launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m wondering
what
> professional
> >>web app developers do for their development environment.  Right  
> now i''m
> >>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think i''ve gotten
far
> enough along
> >>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop  
> further, perf
> >>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other people test  
> with me.
>
> I can test the whole process using Xen virtual machines. And I''ll
> install and test a ''cluster'' of machines (probably on the
one
> "real" machine).
+1
> The two main reasons for doing all this are:
>   1. You should aim to never manually alter your production  
> environment- it should be built automatically so that it is  
> repeatable. This makes it testable which allows you to validate  
> that you''ve actually fixed problems when they arise. If you futz  
> with the production environment you''ll find yourself patching the
> system, forgetting what you did and then having to debug the  
> problem again six months down the track when you lose a hard disk/ 
> reboot the system/delete the wrong file/need to build a redundant  
> system...
+1

Spot on, Jeremy!

-- 
-- Tom Mornini

This is definitely good advice and i will aim to have this type of setup.
However, i believe i''m a little earlier in this journey.  Right now
i''m
reading about capistrano and how to get that setup.

I will be setting up RoR today on a hosting machine (a vps for now).  I will
also need to setup capistrano and subversion on the hosting machine.  I want
to create a step by step plan so i know what to do and in what order.

I can find information on how to setup each part individually, but i''m
a
little lost on what order to install them.  I''m pretty sure i have to
start
with RoR.  Should i setup capistrano next?  Also, how do i setup my machine
to host my svn repository and so that capistrano will see it correctly.

Any help here would be very well received.

Thanks.

On 3/6/06, Tom Mornini <tmornini@infomania.com>
wrote:
>
> On Mar 6, 2006, at 5:14 AM, Jeremy Nelson wrote:
>
> > >>I''ve been working on my rails app which will be a web
app that i
> > want to
> > >>launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m
wondering what
> > professional
> > >>web app developers do for their development environment. 
Right
> > now i''m
> > >>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think i''ve
gotten far
> > enough along
> > >>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop
> > further, perf
> > >>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other people
test
> > with me.
> >
> > I can test the whole process using Xen virtual machines. And
I''ll
> > install and test a ''cluster'' of machines (probably
on the one
> > "real" machine).
>
> +1
>
> > The two main reasons for doing all this are:
> >   1. You should aim to never manually alter your production
> > environment- it should be built automatically so that it is
> > repeatable. This makes it testable which allows you to validate
> > that you''ve actually fixed problems when they arise. If you
futz
> > with the production environment you''ll find yourself patching
the
> > system, forgetting what you did and then having to debug the
> > problem again six months down the track when you lose a hard disk/
> > reboot the system/delete the wrong file/need to build a redundant
> > system...
>
> +1
>
> Spot on, Jeremy!
>
> --
> -- Tom Mornini
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
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I finally got my subversion repository setup and my vps setup with
fcgi..woohoo!

However, i run into some tasks that i think will slow things down in terms
of deployment each time i make a revision.

Here is my current setup.  I develop at home on my laptop.  I make changes
and test on my laptop using WEBrick.  I have a vps machine running redhat,
apache, and fcgi.

Obviously the server has its own .htaccess, database.yml, and dispatch.fcgi.
It will mostly likely have its own environment.rb for sending emails
(whereas on my laptop i just set actionmailer to :test).

Now what is the best/correct way to deploy the most recent source code from
my repository?  is it just to do svn update on my live rails app''s
directory
when i want to deploy new versions?  Will this overwrite the versions of the
above files that need to be specific to the server?   I''m lost here and
i
would greatly appreciate advice from people in the know.

On 3/6/06, Manish Shah <mnshah@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This is definitely good advice and i will aim to have this type of setup.
> However, i believe i''m a little earlier in this journey.  Right
now i''m
> reading about capistrano and how to get that setup.
>
> I will be setting up RoR today on a hosting machine (a vps for now).  I
> will also need to setup capistrano and subversion on the hosting machine. 
I
> want to create a step by step plan so i know what to do and in what order.
>
> I can find information on how to setup each part individually, but
i''m a
> little lost on what order to install them.  I''m pretty sure i have
to start
> with RoR.  Should i setup capistrano next?  Also, how do i setup my machine
> to host my svn repository and so that capistrano will see it correctly.
>
> Any help here would be very well received.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> On 3/6/06, Tom Mornini <tmornini@infomania.com > wrote:
> >
> > On Mar 6, 2006, at 5:14 AM, Jeremy Nelson wrote:
> >
> > > >>I''ve been working on my rails app which will be
a web app that i
> > > want to
> > > >>launch as a business.  Being new to rails i''m
wondering what
> > > professional
> > > >>web app developers do for their development environment. 
Right
> > > now i''m
> > > >>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think
i''ve gotten far
> > > enough along
> > > >>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to develop
> > > further, perf
> > > >>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other
people test
> > > with me.
> > >
> > > I can test the whole process using Xen virtual machines. And
I''ll
> > > install and test a ''cluster'' of machines
(probably on the one
> > > "real" machine).
> >
> > +1
> >
> > > The two main reasons for doing all this are:
> > >   1. You should aim to never manually alter your production
> > > environment- it should be built automatically so that it is
> > > repeatable. This makes it testable which allows you to validate
> > > that you''ve actually fixed problems when they arise. If
you futz
> > > with the production environment you''ll find yourself
patching the
> > > system, forgetting what you did and then having to debug the
> > > problem again six months down the track when you lose a hard
disk/
> > > reboot the system/delete the wrong file/need to build a redundant
> > > system...
> >
> > +1
> >
> > Spot on, Jeremy!
> >
> > --
> > -- Tom Mornini
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
>
>
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Use capistrano for deployment...

it basically checks out trunk on the remote server in a timestamp folder  
and symlinks it, restarts fcgi etc...

Pretty easy to setup...

regarding database.yml and environments...

These should be the same on your develop machine and your server.
But your server should be setup to use "production" enviroment.
Then it will automatically use your production database from  
database.yml and load enviroments/production.rb where you would specify  
what ever environmental differences for production...
it is really quite simple...

On Tuesday, March 07, 2006, at 9:44 PM, Manish Shah
wrote:
>I finally got my subversion repository setup and my vps setup with
>fcgi..woohoo!
>
>However, i run into some tasks that i think will slow things down in terms
>of deployment each time i make a revision.
>
>Here is my current setup.  I develop at home on my laptop.  I make changes
>and test on my laptop using WEBrick.  I have a vps machine running redhat,
>apache, and fcgi.
>
>Obviously the server has its own .htaccess, database.yml, and
>dispatch.fcgi.
>It will mostly likely have its own environment.rb for sending emails
>(whereas on my laptop i just set actionmailer to :test).
>
>Now what is the best/correct way to deploy the most recent source code from
>my repository?  is it just to do svn update on my live rails app''s
>directory
>when i want to deploy new versions?  Will this overwrite the
>versions of the
>above files that need to be specific to the server?   I''m lost here
and i
>would greatly appreciate advice from people in the know.
>
>On 3/6/06, Manish Shah <mnshah@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> This is definitely good advice and i will aim to have this type of
setup.
>> However, i believe i''m a little earlier in this journey. 
Right now i''m
>> reading about capistrano and how to get that setup.
>>
>> I will be setting up RoR today on a hosting machine (a vps for now).  I
>> will also need to setup capistrano and subversion on the hosting
>>machine.  I
>> want to create a step by step plan so i know what to do and in
>>what order.
>>
>> I can find information on how to setup each part individually, but
i''m a
>> little lost on what order to install them.  I''m pretty sure i
have
>>to start
>> with RoR.  Should i setup capistrano next?  Also, how do i setup
>>my machine
>> to host my svn repository and so that capistrano will see it correctly.
>>
>> Any help here would be very well received.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>> On 3/6/06, Tom Mornini <tmornini@infomania.com > wrote:
>> >
>> > On Mar 6, 2006, at 5:14 AM, Jeremy Nelson wrote:
>> >
>> > > >>I''ve been working on my rails app which will
be a web app that i
>> > > want to
>> > > >>launch as a business.  Being new to rails
i''m wondering what
>> > > professional
>> > > >>web app developers do for their development
environment.  Right
>> > > now i''m
>> > > >>developing and testing on my laptop.  I think
i''ve gotten far
>> > > enough along
>> > > >>where i want to put it up on a hosting machine to
develop
>> > > further, perf
>> > > >>test, and iterate.  This is also so i can have other
people test
>> > > with me.
>> > >
>> > > I can test the whole process using Xen virtual machines. And
I''ll
>> > > install and test a ''cluster'' of machines
(probably on the one
>> > > "real" machine).
>> >
>> > +1
>> >
>> > > The two main reasons for doing all this are:
>> > >   1. You should aim to never manually alter your production
>> > > environment- it should be built automatically so that it is
>> > > repeatable. This makes it testable which allows you to
validate
>> > > that you''ve actually fixed problems when they arise.
If you futz
>> > > with the production environment you''ll find yourself
patching the
>> > > system, forgetting what you did and then having to debug the
>> > > problem again six months down the track when you lose a hard
disk/
>> > > reboot the system/delete the wrong file/need to build a
redundant
>> > > system...
>> >
>> > +1
>> >
>> > Spot on, Jeremy!
>> >
>> > --
>> > -- Tom Mornini
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Rails mailing list
>> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Rails mailing list
>Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
>http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

Mikkel Bruun

www.strongside.dk    - Football Portal(DK)
nflfeed.helenius.org - Football News(DK)
ting.minline.dk      - Buy Old Stuff!(DK)




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