Hello everybody, I''ve been lurking and reading for a while and I think I''m about a month from my first live Rails app, which I''m happy about :-) I''m currently battling through a truck load of questions about server set-up and back-end things so the first question I would like your opinion on is: Does anybody have any thoughts or experience with different base distributions of Linux and Rails performance? Does it make a difference? Which of the following choices would you recommend for setting up the ideal rails server environment: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Fedora Core 3, Debian or White Box Enterprise Linux 3? (I''ve noticed on the lighttpd page, for example, that debian isn''t on the list of ''included'' distributions yet but am not sure if that means it''s impossible to complie, can be compiled from the source RPM or just makes it a bit more difficult). Thanks. Matthew Bennett.
I would recommend using Debian stable, with the necessary daemons/servers compiled from source, if I have to choose from your list. I guess you will not have any problems compiling lighttpd on debian, if you have some experience in compiling stuff from source. I would not recommend using the others: they are bloated with unnecessary stuff, not mentioning fedora which is aimed primarily for desktop use by the way. Unless you need or want to use the support which comes with these enterprise distributions when purchased or have no other option, my advice is to stay away from them. However, I would recommend using a bsd (my choice is freebsd) in first place. They are rock solid and scale somewhat better under heavy duty than a linux distro. In my opinion, it''s a better platform all-together when it comes to webhosting. A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, without any problems for quite a long time now. Cheers, Andras On 11/12/05, Matthew Bennett <matthew-9M4YP3qmYYLby3iVrkZq2A@public.gmane.org> wrote:> Hello everybody, I''ve been lurking and reading for a while and I think I''m about a month from my first live Rails app, which I''m happy about :-) > > I''m currently battling through a truck load of questions about server set-up and back-end things so the first question I would like your opinion on is: > > Does anybody have any thoughts or experience with different base distributions of Linux and Rails performance? > Does it make a difference? > Which of the following choices would you recommend for setting up the ideal rails server environment: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Fedora Core 3, Debian or White Box Enterprise Linux 3? > > (I''ve noticed on the lighttpd page, for example, that debian isn''t on the list of ''included'' distributions yet but am not sure if that means it''s impossible to complie, can be compiled from the source RPM or just makes it a bit more difficult). > > Thanks. > > Matthew Bennett. > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >-- András Tarsoly tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
On 11/13/05, András Tarsoly <tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:> A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their > webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, > without any problems for quite a long time now.And if it is not a secret what is your company, so we can for example host out rails stuff on it?
craig-07VhxHapISisTnJN9+BGXg@public.gmane.org
2005-Nov-12 16:06 UTC
Re: Rails and Hosting 2
Sorry for the top post... This email client is horrible. I''ve just (as in a few hours ago) finished adding support for ruby/rails to xeriom networks hosting service. Craig -- original message -- Subject: Re: [Rails] Rails and Hosting 2 From: "Stoyan Zhekov" <stoyan-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> Date: 13th November 2005 1:01:26 am On 11/13/05, András Tarsoly <tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:> A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their > webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, > without any problems for quite a long time now.And if it is not a secret what is your company, so we can for example host out rails stuff on it?
On the lighttpd website, they provide a deb package for Debian distribution. So no need to compile.. 2005/11/12, Stoyan Zhekov <stoyan-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>:> On 11/13/05, András Tarsoly <tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote: > > > A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their > > webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, > > without any problems for quite a long time now. > > And if it is not a secret what is your company, so we can for example > host out rails stuff on it? > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >
I didn''t mentioned it specifically because at this day, we are not open to the public market regarding webhosting. We providing only custom hosting environments for our contracted clients to whom we develop sites, applications, etc, and there''s no need to start another common hosting service beside the other million, already running :) About the rails hosting. Unfortunately, we a hungarian based company and at the moment we have only hungarian clients. Therefore my international bandwidth is kinda limited, so it would make no sense offering our services to international clients already. However, I''m currently in the process to start in public rails hosting, because Hungary - just as the rest of the world it seems - are kinda lacking in this area. I''m confident that we can pull out this start in approx. 2 months from now on, so I''ll keep you updated, if interested. cheers, Andras On 11/12/05, Stoyan Zhekov <stoyan-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:> On 11/13/05, András Tarsoly <tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote: > > > A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their > > webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, > > without any problems for quite a long time now. > > And if it is not a secret what is your company, so we can for example > host out rails stuff on it? > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >-- András Tarsoly tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
A window of opportunity ;) Andras On 11/12/05, craig-07VhxHapISisTnJN9+BGXg@public.gmane.org <craig-07VhxHapISisTnJN9+BGXg@public.gmane.org> wrote:> Sorry for the top post... This email client is horrible. > > I''ve just (as in a few hours ago) finished adding support for ruby/rails to xeriom networks hosting service. > > Craig > -- original message -- > Subject: Re: [Rails] Rails and Hosting 2 > From: "Stoyan Zhekov" <stoyan-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> > Date: 13th November 2005 1:01:26 am > > On 11/13/05, András Tarsoly <tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote: > > > A lot of hosting companies (including mine) using freebsd for their > > webservers, now with rails, lighttpd, fcgi and all the cool stuff, > > without any problems for quite a long time now. > > And if it is not a secret what is your company, so we can for example > host out rails stuff on it? > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails-1W37MKcQCpIf0INCOvqR/iCwEArCW2h5@public.gmane.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >-- András Tarsoly tarsolya-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org
András Tarsoly wrote:> I would recommend using Debian stable, with the necessary > daemons/servers compiled from source, if I have to choose from your > list. I guess you will not have any problems compiling lighttpd on > debian, if you have some experience in compiling stuff from source.I would recommend the latest Ubuntu Breezy release, which is based off of Debian, as Debian doesn''t have a consistent release schedule while Ubuntu releases new stable versions every six months, so it''s probably easier to keep your system up to date with the latest development tools. I''ve been very happy with Ubuntu. Regards, Blair -- Blair Zajac, Ph.D. <blair-szbw9MROnEZWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org> Subversion and Orca training and consulting http://www.orcaware.com/svn/
Blair Zajac wrote:> András Tarsoly wrote: > >> I would recommend using Debian stable, with the necessary >> daemons/servers compiled from source, if I have to choose from your >> list. I guess you will not have any problems compiling lighttpd on >> debian, if you have some experience in compiling stuff from source. > > I would recommend the latest Ubuntu Breezy release, which is based off > of Debian, as Debian doesn''t have a consistent release schedule while > Ubuntu releases new stable versions every six months, so it''s probably > easier to keep your system up to date with the latest development tools. > > I''ve been very happy with Ubuntu.Blair - any specific advice on setting up Rails on Breezy? I''ve just downloaded the PowerPC version of Breezy server, to install on a Mac Mini... regards Justin
Matthew Bennett wrote: <deltia/>> (I''ve noticed on the lighttpd page, for example, that debian isn''t on the list of ''included'' distributions yet but am not sure if that means it''s impossible to complie, can be compiled from the source RPM or just makes it a bit more difficult).Hi Matthew, I believe that this is because there are issues with gem which violate the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) which Debian packages follow pretty closely. This is in no way a show-stopper, and there are several practical workarounds, so if you''re willing to be a tiny bit creative, and slightly compromise your otherwise pure Debian installation, everything should be okay. In fact, I''m running RoR on Debian (sid) and have had nothing but joy. I began by loading the Ruby 1.8 and 1.9, and Rails packages using apt, and have since loaded and compiled RubyGems, which I''ve used to install a few generators. Everything seems to be working, and if there''s a problem I haven''t found it ...yet. :-) Good luck! --v> Thanks. > > Matthew Bennett.
On Nov 13, 2005, at 12:09 PM, vitruviano61 wrote:> Matthew Bennett wrote: > <deltia/> > >> (I''ve noticed on the lighttpd page, for example, that debian isn''t >> on the list of ''included'' distributions yet but am not sure if >> that means it''s impossible to complie, can be compiled from the >> source RPM or just makes it a bit more difficult). > > Hi Matthew, > > I believe that this is because there are issues with gem which > violate the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) which Debian > packages follow pretty closely. This is in no way a show-stopper, > and there are several practical workarounds, so if you''re willing > to be a tiny bit creative, and slightly compromise your otherwise > pure Debian installation, everything should be okay. > > In fact, I''m running RoR on Debian (sid) and have had nothing but > joy. I began by loading the Ruby 1.8 and 1.9, and Rails packages > using apt, and have since loaded and compiled RubyGems, which I''ve > used to install a few generators. Everything seems to be working, > and if there''s a problem I haven''t found it ...yet. :-) > > Good luck! > --v > >> Thanks. >> Matthew Bennett. >I have written up an install documentation for installing the entire ruby/rails/lighttpd/subversion/postfix stack here on my blog: http://brainspl.at/pages/perfect_vps This doc goes from base system debian install to a full stack of software for rails dev. You can just use the lighttpd part if you already have other stuff installed though. Cheers- -Ezra Zygmuntowicz WebMaster Yakima Herald-Republic Newspaper ezra-gdxLOakOTQ9oetBuM9ipNAC/G2K4zDHf@public.gmane.org 509-577-7732
Thank you everybody, for all your thoughts. I think I will go with Debian then and install everything from source. Ezra, great tutorial, it covers most of what I want to do. I also had a look at the rest of your blog and I especially liked the post about the restructuring in rails of your newspaper site. I will try and get started this week when I have a spare minute or two and also record the steps to make a tutorial. I am quite new to linux and things so I will try and answer lots of basic questions along the way. Thanks again. Matthew -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
On Nov 14, 2005, at 4:55 AM, Matthew wrote:> Thank you everybody, for all your thoughts. I think I will go with > Debian then and install everything from source. > > Ezra, great tutorial, it covers most of what I want to do. I also > had a > look at the rest of your blog and I especially liked the post about > the > restructuring in rails of your newspaper site. > > I will try and get started this week when I have a spare minute or two > and also record the steps to make a tutorial. I am quite new to linux > and things so I will try and answer lots of basic questions along the > way. > > Thanks again. > > Matthew >Thanks and you''re welcome! Cheers- -Ezra Zygmuntowicz Yakima Herald-Republic WebMaster http://yakimaherald.com 509-577-7732 ezra-gdxLOakOTQ9oetBuM9ipNAC/G2K4zDHf@public.gmane.org http://brainspl.at <-- blog
Justin Forder wrote:> Blair Zajac wrote: > >> András Tarsoly wrote: >> >>> I would recommend using Debian stable, with the necessary >>> daemons/servers compiled from source, if I have to choose from your >>> list. I guess you will not have any problems compiling lighttpd on >>> debian, if you have some experience in compiling stuff from source. >> >> >> I would recommend the latest Ubuntu Breezy release, which is based off >> of Debian, as Debian doesn''t have a consistent release schedule while >> Ubuntu releases new stable versions every six months, so it''s probably >> easier to keep your system up to date with the latest development tools. >> >> I''ve been very happy with Ubuntu. > > Blair - any specific advice on setting up Rails on Breezy? > > I''ve just downloaded the PowerPC version of Breezy server, to install on > a Mac Mini... > > regards > > JustinJustin, What I''ve done is taken a rubygems package originally developed for Debian, recompiled it for Ubuntu, and use that to install gems. For reference, the original package you can find at http://www.sgtpepper.net/hyspro/deb/unstable/ The cool thing about the way this particular package is packaged is that it installs all the gems into /var/lib/gems/1.8, so that you don''t get any non-dpkg managed files in /usr. Doing a ''dpkg --purge'' on libgems-rb18 then just deletes this directory. Nice and clean. Since you''re on PowerPC, I would recommend just downloading the source for the package and compiling it yourself. There''s probably architecture specific stuff inside the compiled gems package. 1) Add deb http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/ deb-src http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/ to your /etc/apt/sources.list 2) $ apt-get source rubygems $ cd libgems-ruby-0.8.11 $ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -rfakeroot 2>&1 | tee ../build-log $ cd .. $ dpkg -i libgems-ruby1.8_0.8.11-0.12_all.deb rubygems_0.8.11-0.12_all.deb $ gem install -y rails Regards, Blair -- Blair Zajac, Ph.D. <blair-szbw9MROnEZWk0Htik3J/w@public.gmane.org> Subversion and Orca training and consulting http://www.orcaware.com/svn/
Blair - thanks very much! Justin Blair Zajac wrote:> Justin Forder wrote: > >> Blair Zajac wrote: >> >>> András Tarsoly wrote: >>> >>>> I would recommend using Debian stable, with the necessary >>>> daemons/servers compiled from source, if I have to choose from your >>>> list. I guess you will not have any problems compiling lighttpd on >>>> debian, if you have some experience in compiling stuff from source. >>> >>> >>> >>> I would recommend the latest Ubuntu Breezy release, which is based >>> off of Debian, as Debian doesn''t have a consistent release schedule >>> while Ubuntu releases new stable versions every six months, so it''s >>> probably easier to keep your system up to date with the latest >>> development tools. >>> >>> I''ve been very happy with Ubuntu. >> >> >> Blair - any specific advice on setting up Rails on Breezy? >> >> I''ve just downloaded the PowerPC version of Breezy server, to install >> on a Mac Mini... >> >> regards >> >> Justin > > > Justin, > > What I''ve done is taken a rubygems package originally developed for > Debian, recompiled it for Ubuntu, and use that to install gems. For > reference, the original package you can find at > > http://www.sgtpepper.net/hyspro/deb/unstable/ > > The cool thing about the way this particular package is packaged is that > it installs all the gems into /var/lib/gems/1.8, so that you don''t get > any non-dpkg managed files in /usr. Doing a ''dpkg --purge'' on > libgems-rb18 then just deletes this directory. Nice and clean. > > Since you''re on PowerPC, I would recommend just downloading the source > for the package and compiling it yourself. There''s probably > architecture specific stuff inside the compiled gems package. > > 1) Add > > deb http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/ > deb-src http://www.orcaware.com/packages/ubuntu/ breezy/ > > to your /etc/apt/sources.list > > 2) > > $ apt-get source rubygems > $ cd libgems-ruby-0.8.11 > $ dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -rfakeroot 2>&1 | tee ../build-log > $ cd .. > $ dpkg -i libgems-ruby1.8_0.8.11-0.12_all.deb rubygems_0.8.11-0.12_all.deb > $ gem install -y rails > > Regards, > Blair >