Rails - Jan 2006 - Noob, installing rails on a goDaddy virtual server?

Hi,
I''m completely new to all of this.  Not even certain this is an 
appropriate forum for an installation question.

I''m just about to plunk down some money to get a virtual server.  In 
looking over the list of isp''s elsewhere on this site, goDaddy
isn''t
mentioned - probably because they don''t offer rails as a standard 
distribution.  There are some aspects of the goDaddy virtual server 
deals that seem much better than those  at the several of the listed 
rails isp''s that I looked at, so I''m still thinking of going
with
goDaddy and doing the install myself.

Their virtual server boxes are running Red Hat 9.0.  The owner of a 
virtual server has root and admin access and can load anything he wants 
onto the box.

It seems like this should install and run pretty easily, but I haven''t 
found any Rails documentation that talks about Red Hat.  I also don''t 
know what specifically to ask goDaddy support in order to find out if it 
will run.  I took a shot and just asked straight up if Rails could be 
installed on their virtual server configuration and I got the expected 
"deer in the headlights" response.  Basically they never heard of it.

So, anybody out there already using Rails on a goDaddy virtual server? 
If not, can one of the installation experts tell me the right questions 
to ask at goDaddy to determine whether or not it will work?  Anybody 
know if Red Hat 9.0 will already have Ruby and/or Gems with a usable 
version pre-installed?

thanks,
jp

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On Jan 9, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
> Hi,
> I''m completely new to all of this.  Not even certain this is an
> appropriate forum for an installation question.
>
> I''m just about to plunk down some money to get a virtual server. 
In
> looking over the list of isp''s elsewhere on this site, goDaddy
isn''t
> mentioned - probably because they don''t offer rails as a standard
> distribution.  There are some aspects of the goDaddy virtual server
> deals that seem much better than those  at the several of the listed
> rails isp''s that I looked at, so I''m still thinking of
going with
> goDaddy and doing the install myself.
>
> Their virtual server boxes are running Red Hat 9.0.  The owner of a
> virtual server has root and admin access and can load anything he  
> wants
> onto the box.
>
> It seems like this should install and run pretty easily, but I
haven''t
> found any Rails documentation that talks about Red Hat.  I also
don''t
> know what specifically to ask goDaddy support in order to find out  
> if it
> will run.  I took a shot and just asked straight up if Rails could be
> installed on their virtual server configuration and I got the expected
> "deer in the headlights" response.  Basically they never heard of
it.
>
> So, anybody out there already using Rails on a goDaddy virtual server?
> If not, can one of the installation experts tell me the right  
> questions
> to ask at goDaddy to determine whether or not it will work?  Anybody
> know if Red Hat 9.0 will already have Ruby and/or Gems with a usable
> version pre-installed?
>
> thanks,
> jp
>
Jeff-

	Please do yourself a favor and don''t ever use GoDaddy. they have the  
worst support *ever*. They are basically a big hosting factory and  
they don''t care about you at all after you have purchased a server  
from them. Do what you want but I can''t recommend enough to stay away  
from godaddy!

	If you post some specs as to what you need i can help you find a  
better VPS provider. I have had great luck with http:// 
rimuhosting.com and I host a bunch of rails sites there on a VPS.  
They will install your VPS with rails already set up if you request  
it. Also I have written a detailed setup tutorial for getting a great  
lightweight debian/lighttpd server up and running on rimu. You can  
see it here:

http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html

	Good luck with whatever you choose but please stay away from godaddy  
if you want a quality host.

Cheers-

-Ezra Zygmuntowicz
Yakima Herald-Republic
WebMaster
http://yakimaherald.com
509-577-7732
ezra@yakima-herald.com

Thanks Ezra,
I''m starting to think the slimiest people in the world have all
migrated
from selling street drugs and being career politicians to now being ISP 
owners.  I had a really bad experience with a host not in the U.S. and 
swore that I would never try a "foreign" isp again.  Wound up
canceling
the credit card to get them to stop charging me.  It''s not that I think
U.S. isp''s are any more honest, it''s just that if I have to I
can drive
over there and wring their necks personally.  When they are on the other 
side of the planet that is considerably more difficult.

Other than being located on the opposite side of the planet, I like the 
looks of rimu.  The fact that they don''t require any kind of a contract
makes the downside risk fairly low as long as I keep a local copy of 
what''s on my server and use a credit card I don''t mind
canceling.  I
think I will still use GoDaddy for domain registration.  I like the 
control I get by having the registration and hosting at two different 
companies.  I can easily yank my domains out from under a slimy isp if 
necessary.

I may try rimu.  I will mention your name if I do.  Are there any 
similar ones in the U.S. that you have had good results with?

thanks,
jp


Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
> On Jan 9, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
> 
>> goDaddy and doing the install myself.
>> will run.  I took a shot and just asked straight up if Rails could be
>> thanks,
>> jp
>>
> 
> Jeff-
> 
> 	Please do yourself a favor and don''t ever use GoDaddy. they have
the
> worst support *ever*. They are basically a big hosting factory and
> they don''t care about you at all after you have purchased a server
> from them. Do what you want but I can''t recommend enough to stay
away
> from godaddy!
> 
> 	If you post some specs as to what you need i can help you find a
> better VPS provider. I have had great luck with http://
> rimuhosting.com and I host a bunch of rails sites there on a VPS.
> They will install your VPS with rails already set up if you request
> it. Also I have written a detailed setup tutorial for getting a great
> lightweight debian/lighttpd server up and running on rimu. You can
> see it here:
> 
> http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html
> 
> 	Good luck with whatever you choose but please stay away from godaddy
> if you want a quality host.
> 
> Cheers-
> 
> -Ezra Zygmuntowicz
> Yakima Herald-Republic
> WebMaster
> http://yakimaherald.com
> 509-577-7732
> ezra@yakima-herald.com

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

Jeff-

	Yeah godaddy is fine for just plain domain name registration I  
wasn''t complaining about that. Its just there hosting services that  
suck.

	Rimu headquarters is in New Zealand but their data center is in  
Texas in a huge NOC and all their tech support folks are in the USA  
as well. I have 3 servers with them for 8 or 9 months and I haven''t  
had _any_ issues and they have answered all my tickets within half an  
hour or so. There are about 12 or so people that i referred there and  
there are no complaints from any of them yet and they are all railers.

	Anyway, another good one is http://www.unixshell.com/ . They have  
Xen based VPS servers as well. Wherever you decide to go, try to get  
yourself a vps provider that uses Xen for the virtualization  
software. Virtuozzo and user mode linux pale in comparison  
performance wise. Xen based virtual servers are the fastest ones  
around because they are implemented in the linux kernel.

Good Luck-

-Ezra

On Jan 9, 2006, at 6:27 PM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
> Thanks Ezra,
> I''m starting to think the slimiest people in the world have all  
> migrated
> from selling street drugs and being career politicians to now being  
> ISP
> owners.  I had a really bad experience with a host not in the U.S. and
> swore that I would never try a "foreign" isp again.  Wound up  
> canceling
> the credit card to get them to stop charging me.  It''s not that I
> think
> U.S. isp''s are any more honest, it''s just that if I have
to I can
> drive
> over there and wring their necks personally.  When they are on the  
> other
> side of the planet that is considerably more difficult.
>
> Other than being located on the opposite side of the planet, I like  
> the
> looks of rimu.  The fact that they don''t require any kind of a  
> contract
> makes the downside risk fairly low as long as I keep a local copy of
> what''s on my server and use a credit card I don''t mind
canceling.  I
> think I will still use GoDaddy for domain registration.  I like the
> control I get by having the registration and hosting at two different
> companies.  I can easily yank my domains out from under a slimy isp if
> necessary.
>
> I may try rimu.  I will mention your name if I do.  Are there any
> similar ones in the U.S. that you have had good results with?
>
> thanks,
> jp
>
>
> Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
>> On Jan 9, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
>>
>>> goDaddy and doing the install myself.
>>> will run.  I took a shot and just asked straight up if Rails  
>>> could be
>>> thanks,
>>> jp
>>>
>>
>> Jeff-
>>
>> 	Please do yourself a favor and don''t ever use GoDaddy. they
have the
>> worst support *ever*. They are basically a big hosting factory and
>> they don''t care about you at all after you have purchased a
server
>> from them. Do what you want but I can''t recommend enough to
stay away
>> from godaddy!
>>
>> 	If you post some specs as to what you need i can help you find a
>> better VPS provider. I have had great luck with http://
>> rimuhosting.com and I host a bunch of rails sites there on a VPS.
>> They will install your VPS with rails already set up if you request
>> it. Also I have written a detailed setup tutorial for getting a great
>> lightweight debian/lighttpd server up and running on rimu. You can
>> see it here:
>>
>> http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html
>>
>> 	Good luck with whatever you choose but please stay away from godaddy
>> if you want a quality host.
>>
>> Cheers-
>>
>> -Ezra Zygmuntowicz
>> Yakima Herald-Republic
>> WebMaster
>> http://yakimaherald.com
>> 509-577-7732
>> ezra@yakima-herald.com
>
>
> -- 
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
-Ezra Zygmuntowicz
Yakima Herald-Republic
WebMaster
http://yakimaherald.com
509-577-7732
ezra@yakima-herald.com

Ezra hooked me up with the Rimu guys and I have been very pleased.

Steve
http://www.smarkets.net

On 1/10/06, Ezra Zygmuntowicz <ezra@yakima-herald.com>
wrote:
>
> Jeff-
>
>         Yeah godaddy is fine for just plain domain name registration I
> wasn''t complaining about that. Its just there hosting services
that
> suck.
>
>         Rimu headquarters is in New Zealand but their data center is in
> Texas in a huge NOC and all their tech support folks are in the USA
> as well. I have 3 servers with them for 8 or 9 months and I
haven''t
> had _any_ issues and they have answered all my tickets within half an
> hour or so. There are about 12 or so people that i referred there and
> there are no complaints from any of them yet and they are all railers.
>
>         Anyway, another good one is http://www.unixshell.com/ . They have
> Xen based VPS servers as well. Wherever you decide to go, try to get
> yourself a vps provider that uses Xen for the virtualization
> software. Virtuozzo and user mode linux pale in comparison
> performance wise. Xen based virtual servers are the fastest ones
> around because they are implemented in the linux kernel.
>
> Good Luck-
>
> -Ezra
>
> On Jan 9, 2006, at 6:27 PM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
>
> > Thanks Ezra,
> > I''m starting to think the slimiest people in the world have
all
> > migrated
> > from selling street drugs and being career politicians to now being
> > ISP
> > owners.  I had a really bad experience with a host not in the U.S. and
> > swore that I would never try a "foreign" isp again.  Wound
up
> > canceling
> > the credit card to get them to stop charging me.  It''s not
that I
> > think
> > U.S. isp''s are any more honest, it''s just that if I
have to I can
> > drive
> > over there and wring their necks personally.  When they are on the
> > other
> > side of the planet that is considerably more difficult.
> >
> > Other than being located on the opposite side of the planet, I like
> > the
> > looks of rimu.  The fact that they don''t require any kind of
a
> > contract
> > makes the downside risk fairly low as long as I keep a local copy of
> > what''s on my server and use a credit card I don''t
mind canceling.  I
> > think I will still use GoDaddy for domain registration.  I like the
> > control I get by having the registration and hosting at two different
> > companies.  I can easily yank my domains out from under a slimy isp if
> > necessary.
> >
> > I may try rimu.  I will mention your name if I do.  Are there any
> > similar ones in the U.S. that you have had good results with?
> >
> > thanks,
> > jp
> >
> >
> > Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
> >> On Jan 9, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jeff Pritchard wrote:
> >>
> >>> goDaddy and doing the install myself.
> >>> will run.  I took a shot and just asked straight up if Rails
> >>> could be
> >>> thanks,
> >>> jp
> >>>
> >>
> >> Jeff-
> >>
> >>      Please do yourself a favor and don''t ever use
GoDaddy. they have
> the
> >> worst support *ever*. They are basically a big hosting factory and
> >> they don''t care about you at all after you have purchased
a server
> >> from them. Do what you want but I can''t recommend enough
to stay away
> >> from godaddy!
> >>
> >>      If you post some specs as to what you need i can help you
find a
> >> better VPS provider. I have had great luck with http://
> >> rimuhosting.com and I host a bunch of rails sites there on a VPS.
> >> They will install your VPS with rails already set up if you
request
> >> it. Also I have written a detailed setup tutorial for getting a
great
> >> lightweight debian/lighttpd server up and running on rimu. You can
> >> see it here:
> >>
> >> http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html
> >>
> >>      Good luck with whatever you choose but please stay away from
> godaddy
> >> if you want a quality host.
> >>
> >> Cheers-
> >>
> >> -Ezra Zygmuntowicz
> >> Yakima Herald-Republic
> >> WebMaster
> >> http://yakimaherald.com
> >> 509-577-7732
> >> ezra@yakima-herald.com
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rails mailing list
> > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
> >
>
> -Ezra Zygmuntowicz
> Yakima Herald-Republic
> WebMaster
> http://yakimaherald.com
> 509-577-7732
> ezra@yakima-herald.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060110/f66fca9a/attachment.html

Steve Odom wrote:
> Ezra hooked me up with the Rimu guys and I have been very pleased.
> 
> Steve
> http://www.smarkets.net
Hi Ezra or Steve,
   can you folks please post the average spec of the VPS server 
(especially Ram) which you have been using?

   Also, I''m wondering if you are using 1 Vps per rails site or can
host
more than one?

I''ve been thinking seriously about RIMU (primarily based on
Ezra''s
excellent setup doc and recommendation) but I''m wondering if a lower 
order VPS (read < 50/mo) would cut it for a couple Rails app ?

Thanks for any comments which you may have on this,

-Amr

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On Jan 10, 2006, at 2:10 PM, Amr Malik wrote:
> Steve Odom wrote:
>> Ezra hooked me up with the Rimu guys and I have been very pleased.
>>
>> Steve
>> http://www.smarkets.net
>
> Hi Ezra or Steve,
>    can you folks please post the average spec of the VPS server
> (especially Ram) which you have been using?
>
>    Also, I''m wondering if you are using 1 Vps per rails site or
can
> host
> more than one?
>
> I''ve been thinking seriously about RIMU (primarily based on
Ezra''s
> excellent setup doc and recommendation) but I''m wondering if a
lower
> order VPS (read < 50/mo) would cut it for a couple Rails app ?
>
> Thanks for any comments which you may have on this,
>
> -Amr
>

Amr-

	I have one vps there that is the $29/month deal with only 128mb ram.  
I have my typo blog, a rails paste server and an install of Family  
Connection(another rails app). My blog gets medium traffic and the  
family and paste server are relativly low traffic. But it handles  
these three being used at the same time. But I wouldn''t want to run  
more then one app on this vps if it got a decent amount of traffic.

	I also have set up and maintain a $49/month cps with 192mb ram. That  
one is a much nicer option for a high traffic site. i think you will  
find that the cpu and disk io performance is very close to dedicated  
speeds thanks to Xen and that the memory is your only real limiting  
factor. So run your apps locally in production mode and see how much  
memory they tend to use, that will help you decide how much ram you  
need.

	Also if you are getting up into a higher price range, you might want  
to consider a cheap dedicated box. I have a new server with  
layeredtech that rocks and they have good deals as well. Plus they  
have a very good reputation on forums like webhostingtalk. You can  
get a server with the following config for $65/month!
AMD Sempron 2600

80GB IDE Hard Drive
512MB DDR RAM
Bandwidth: 1000GB
IP Addresses: 8 (5 usable)
Private VLAN
Basic Resource Monitoring
FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows*
100% Self Managed and Dedicated
Monthly Fee Options:
$65 | $19 Setup

	I don''t have an affiliation with any of these hosts. Although I love  
it when people mention my name when they sign up with rimu ;) You  
need to take a step back and decide what''s best for you. If you can  
afford the dedicated box and you will be building more apps in the  
future then you will get a lot of use out of it. But if you just want  
your own place to host one or two apps without other people on the  
server stepping all over your toes, then a vps is great. And you can  
use the same tutorial I wrote to set up a debian box on any host with  
root access, it doesn''t have to be rimu.

	

Good Luck-
-Ezra Zygmuntowicz
Yakima Herald-Republic
WebMaster
http://yakimaherald.com
509-577-7732
ezra@yakima-herald.com

Ezra Zygmuntowicz wrote:
> 	Also if you are getting up into a higher price range, you might want
> to consider a cheap dedicated box. I have a new server with
> layeredtech that rocks and they have good deals as well. Plus they
> have a very good reputation on forums like webhostingtalk. You can
> get a server with the following config for $65/month!
> AMD Sempron 2600
> 
> 80GB IDE Hard Drive
> 512MB DDR RAM
> Bandwidth: 1000GB
> IP Addresses: 8 (5 usable)
> Private VLAN
> Basic Resource Monitoring
> FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows*
> 100% Self Managed and Dedicated
> Monthly Fee Options:
> $65 | $19 Setup
> 
Thanks for your response, Ezra, exactly what I was looking for! I think 
I''ll go with the cheap dedicated box because I am thinking of running
my
dev/test/prod on the remote box with a couple apps running concurrently. 
Rimu looks pretty tempting ,but it starts to reach the same price point 
when I start looking for more memory.

Can''t thank you enough for your article on the perfect rails setup. It 
is a gem indeed! I''m sure the book will be chock full of more such 
goodies.. :)

This info is very helpful from a deployment perspective, much 
appreciated!

regards,

-Amr


-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

I''m using rimu and I set up my server using one of Ezra''s
tutorials at (
http://brainspl.at/rails_stack.html).

I''m very pleased with the support so far. If you have any trouble they
are
willing and able to help.

And a xen based host is much nicer than a shared hosting plan like you see
at textdrive, as an
example.

-Kelly



On 1/10/06, Ezra Zygmuntowicz <ezra@yakima-herald.com>
wrote:
>
>
> On Jan 10, 2006, at 2:10 PM, Amr Malik wrote:
>
> > Steve Odom wrote:
> >> Ezra hooked me up with the Rimu guys and I have been very pleased.
> >>
> >> Steve
> >> http://www.smarkets.net
> >
> > Hi Ezra or Steve,
> >    can you folks please post the average spec of the VPS server
> > (especially Ram) which you have been using?
> >
> >    Also, I''m wondering if you are using 1 Vps per rails site
or can
> > host
> > more than one?
> >
> > I''ve been thinking seriously about RIMU (primarily based on
Ezra''s
> > excellent setup doc and recommendation) but I''m wondering if
a lower
> > order VPS (read < 50/mo) would cut it for a couple Rails app ?
> >
> > Thanks for any comments which you may have on this,
> >
> > -Amr
> >
>
>
> Amr-
>
>         I have one vps there that is the $29/month deal with only 128mb
> ram.
> I have my typo blog, a rails paste server and an install of Family
> Connection(another rails app). My blog gets medium traffic and the
> family and paste server are relativly low traffic. But it handles
> these three being used at the same time. But I wouldn''t want to
run
> more then one app on this vps if it got a decent amount of traffic.
>
>         I also have set up and maintain a $49/month cps with 192mb ram.
> That
> one is a much nicer option for a high traffic site. i think you will
> find that the cpu and disk io performance is very close to dedicated
> speeds thanks to Xen and that the memory is your only real limiting
> factor. So run your apps locally in production mode and see how much
> memory they tend to use, that will help you decide how much ram you
> need.
>
>         Also if you are getting up into a higher price range, you might
> want
> to consider a cheap dedicated box. I have a new server with
> layeredtech that rocks and they have good deals as well. Plus they
> have a very good reputation on forums like webhostingtalk. You can
> get a server with the following config for $65/month!
> AMD Sempron 2600
>
> 80GB IDE Hard Drive
> 512MB DDR RAM
> Bandwidth: 1000GB
> IP Addresses: 8 (5 usable)
> Private VLAN
> Basic Resource Monitoring
> FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows*
> 100% Self Managed and Dedicated
> Monthly Fee Options:
> $65 | $19 Setup
>
>         I don''t have an affiliation with any of these hosts.
Although I
> love
> it when people mention my name when they sign up with rimu ;) You
> need to take a step back and decide what''s best for you. If you
can
> afford the dedicated box and you will be building more apps in the
> future then you will get a lot of use out of it. But if you just want
> your own place to host one or two apps without other people on the
> server stepping all over your toes, then a vps is great. And you can
> use the same tutorial I wrote to set up a debian box on any host with
> root access, it doesn''t have to be rimu.
>
>
>
> Good Luck-
> -Ezra Zygmuntowicz
> Yakima Herald-Republic
> WebMaster
> http://yakimaherald.com
> 509-577-7732
> ezra@yakima-herald.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060111/f42f16df/attachment-0001.html

I''ve been using dreamhosts.com which is a shared server. It is a good
deal if you are just trying to lean how things work.

20GB disk
1000GB bandwidth
Rails/ruby already installed on server

The slick part is the coupon 777, use that when you sign up.
Sign up for 12 months at $9.95 for a total of $119.40.
Use the coupon and the total will drop to $9.24 for the year.
That works out to $0.77 a month, can''t beat that for a host to play
with.

It''s cheap because they pay $100 commissions on accounts, the coupon
effectively let''s you keep your own commission. They limit the number
of accounts that can use 777 each day so you may need to try for
several days.

Your bandwidth and disk space is initially unlimited with charges for
overages. Go into the control panel and setup account limits so that
your account gets disabled on an overage instead of being billed for
the excess.

http://www.dreamhost.com/shared/comparison.html

I have a Rails app working with Switchtower deployment, it wasn''t
painless but I got everything working after a couple of days. There
are 125 other accounts on my server. I checked them out and none are
doing any serious work. Most haven''t even set up their first web page.
Box is quad Xenon with 3GB RAM.

--
Jon Smirl
jonsmirl@gmail.com