
Laravel Forge – PHP Platforms On Linode, DigitalOcean, AWS, Rackspace - uptown
https://forge.laravel.com/?hn=repost
======
fideloper
Forge does the following for you:

    
    
      * API wrapper for many platforms
      * SSH-key only access (password access disabled)
      * Firewall management
      * CRON management
      * Sets up server dependencies and manages SSH keys
      * Handles private networking between servers and firewalls to open ports between them
      * Push to deploy (via Github)
      * Handles spinning up more queue workers (beanstalkd + supervisord) by clicking a button
      * Allows you to enter in "recipes" to run scripts (bash, php, others as well) on your servers
      * Allows you to "archive" servers - which means Forge will   "forget" your server, 
        eliminating the ability for Forge to access the server at all. 
        To re-enable the server from within Forge, you need to add  in a 
        new ssh public key which Forge will re-generate for you.
    

Forge is not:

    
    
      * Server management (if your server goes down, you contact the hosting, not Forge)

~~~
jsamuel
The need among PHP developers for a service that also does ongoing server
management is why we built ServerPilot
([https://serverpilot.io/](https://serverpilot.io/)).

While Forge is an advanced deployment tool similar to PuPHPet
([https://puphpet.com/](https://puphpet.com/)), ServerPilot is a modern
alternative to cPanel for developers using their own servers.

~~~
e12e
From a quick look serverPilot looks really slick, and while I think I
understand what you want to say, presenting it as:

> ServerPilot is a modern alternative to cPanel

Makes me want to kill it with fire. Lots of fire.

I suppose there are some lasting damage for becoming a sysadmin first and a
developer second... ;-)

------
olssonm
Signed up right away deployed a new server on Digital Ocean.

Really easy and powerful tool – BUT (this is a big one), why lock someone in
with GitHub? Sure, GitHub is great. But what if I use BitBucket? Or even my
own solution for my private projects?

This has killed many other services before for me, Pagoda Box (if I recall
correctly) also forced someone to use GitHub, so did Appfog (or PHPfog
rather).

I like Fortrabbits solution, where you at least can push your own code.

~~~
Kiro
> so did Appfog (or PHPfog rather)

I never had to use GitHub for PHPFog. What do you mean exactly?

~~~
olssonm
My bad – perhaps it was Engineyard? I know that there was one more service
that I've tried besides PagodaBox on which you were "forced" to use GitHub to
deploy code.

------
kylec
I really like that this service allows the use of existing VPS providers
instead of wrapping their service around one and charging a monthly premium.
Unfortunately, PHP is one of the easiest to install, low-maintenance language
platforms, so I don't know how much value they can add there, but give me
something like Heroku that I can use with my own VPSs and I'll gladly pay you
$10/month.

~~~
yla92
> something like Heroku that I can use with my own VPSs and I'll gladly pay
> you $10/month.

You could try something like Dokku, Docker powered mini-Heroku
[https://github.com/progrium/dokku](https://github.com/progrium/dokku) If I am
not wrong, DigitalOcean has dokku-installed images which you can just use
within a few minutes.

~~~
andrewmunsell
Yeah, they do. Flynn ([http://flynn.io](http://flynn.io)) and Deis
([http://deis.io/](http://deis.io/)) are other popular choices, though Flynn
is extremely new and difficult to get running properly, and it's not
production ready. Deis is based on CoreOS now so it won't work on Digital
Ocean at the moment if you prefer using them.

------
ianhawes
For those that don't use Laravel, PuPHPet[0] is a great utility to generate
local and deployable pre-made Vagrant boxes with a variety of apps. If you're
interested in testing the Laravel Forge images locally, they use Homestead[1]
which is the official Vagrant image for the Laravel Framework (as of 4.2)

[0] [https://puphpet.com/](https://puphpet.com/)

[1]
[http://laravel.com/docs/homestead?version=4.2](http://laravel.com/docs/homestead?version=4.2)

~~~
adamors
Problem with PuPHPet is that it's really buggy. I've used it more than 10
times (also recommended it to colleagues) and we managed to provision a box
correctly maybe on two occasions.

Every time there was a different bug. Either something didn't install, or the
config files weren't being loaded etc. I ended up learning Puppet because of
it, so I guess some good has come of it ..

~~~
jtreminio
Sorry, it's just me trying to not break things :(

Slowly making it more and more stable, though.

If you now know puppet, maybe a PR or two would be on the horizon?

~~~
girvo
You do a great job, and you always help in IRC :) thanks for puphpet

------
ddorian43
For ruby there is [https://www.cloud66.com/](https://www.cloud66.com/) and
[https://intercityup.com](https://intercityup.com) . Is there something also
for python ?

~~~
ixmatus
I know this is an answer most people don't want to hear, but why not build
your own Ansible / provisioning workflow and use that to do everything these
services do?

I have one built in Ansible for our Python webapp and the entire configuration
is encoded in the playbooks, rolling up the application into a source
distribution, pip installing it, and also installing the dependencies...

Very easy, dependable, and extremely flexible.

~~~
dchuk
Because solutions already exist like Cloud66 which means I don't have to learn
Ansible. Having worked on deployment solutions for previous projects (using
Capistrano), I was ridiculously relieved to discover Cloud66 and realize that
I never have to think about provisioning and deployment again.

------
_RPM
I think Laravel is a great framework. I just don't understand why the creator
has to claim his ownership of the trademark "Laravel" on every page /
documentation of the framework or anything that mentions the name. I mean
Laravel is awesome, sure, but it's not some innovative piece of technology,
like say the Linux kernel is. It is just another PHP framework with pretty
features.

~~~
MJR
It's just another web framework, Coca-Cola is just another sugar water drink,
Calvin and Hobbes is just another comic and a Lamborghini Aventador is just
another car.

"Just another" is a really easy thing to say when it's someone else's
creation. And more importantly trademarks are not indicators of quality or
innovation. He's the owner and he chose to put it in the footer. This doesn't
seem like a big deal.

------
thestepafter
I am really having a hard time seeing the value in this. All of the mentioned
hosting services provide control panels that allow you to quickly provision a
server. Running git pull from Github is pretty simple. I love Laravel and want
to support Taylor but I'm just not seeing the benefit.

~~~
meritt
It's not simply provisioning the server. It's also installing all the relevant
packages, configuration, and deployment. The value is toward people who don't
have the sysadmin/devops skills (or perhaps time) to manage that themselves.

~~~
ForHackernews
Are there not existing Chef/Puppet recipes that will do this for you?

I guess it gives you a nice web front-end, and maybe a bit of confidence that
the configuration was designed by a professional?

~~~
ceejayoz
Chef/Puppet are way too hefty for many small sites/devs. There are a lot of
devs out there still setting up servers by hand who'd jump at something like
Forge.

~~~
debaserab2
Puppet provisions fine on an EC2 micro instance. It's no heftier than the
software you'd want it to install to run your site anyways.

~~~
ceejayoz
Hefty in learning curve, not system resources.

~~~
jtreminio
I created a FOSS project called PuPHPet[0] to help with the learning curve. So
far it's been well received!

[0] [https://puphpet.com](https://puphpet.com)

~~~
debaserab2
PuPHPet is a great project. It served as great "training wheels" for me while
I was learning vagrant+puppet. Thanks for making it.

------
dmourati
I just downloaded and installed laravel yesterday. As a devops (more on the
ops side) kind of guy, I was hoping for something simpler. I have a very basic
PHP webapp I need to design with two or three user inputs. These inputs form a
user-driven SQL query (AWS Redshift) and then generate html to create a graph
(Google Charts).

I have a mockup in Balsamiq of how I want this to look. I also have a test
query from PHP showing that I can connect to AWS Redshift. What I don't have
is the PHP to render the user interface. Again, we are talking one text field,
one three-way button and that's about it.

Anyone able to help point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

~~~
BenBradleySmith
[https://laracasts.com](https://laracasts.com) is a website run by Jeffrey Way
formerly head of web development at TutsPlus and a brilliant teacher. He has a
number of lessons available for free at
[https://laracasts.com/tags/free](https://laracasts.com/tags/free) including a
series of lessons taking you through most of the basics
([https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-from-
scratch/episodes/1](https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-from-
scratch/episodes/1)).

It's only $9 a month which imo is great value. I'd take a look through the
free lessons and if you like what you see sign up for a month or 2 and start
building.

In addition to this Dayle Rees has an excellent book which can be found at
[https://leanpub.com/codebright](https://leanpub.com/codebright) which takes
you through all the basic stuff and more. I personally prefer Laracasts as I
am more video inclined and Jeffrey is an incredible teacher but they are both
great resources.

~~~
noir_lord
Second laracasts, it pretty much sets the bar imo for content of that type, it
would be worth 3 times the price (but no one tells him).

On top of which Jeffrey is just an all round nice guy (he does a bunch for the
PHP community as well as some nice open source packages).

------
ezegolub
Does someone have a high level overview of how this works? The only route in
is through signing up and i don't want to hand over my CC# just to see what's
this about.

~~~
lachgr
This preview was published after the announcement:
[http://mattstauffer.co/blog/getting-your-first-site-up-
and-r...](http://mattstauffer.co/blog/getting-your-first-site-up-and-running-
in-laravel-forge)

Forge is essentially a platform that makes it very easy to provision a
Laravel-ready server (though it states it works with other frameworks too).
It's a replication of Laravel Homestead
([http://laravel.com/docs/homestead](http://laravel.com/docs/homestead)) on a
server, so you can have the same development and production environments.

------
nppc
Nice !

This is going to make a big difference. For many, the setting up and launching
part is a boring routine that they go through so often. I think the flat
pricing model is the best part.

------
ashishk
How are OS limits/configs (such as open file limits, connection limits, etc.)
handled? Can these be specified in the web panel?

------
ing33k
would be interested to test it before using, why not offer a free plan with 1
server max ?

~~~
icelancer
I sort of agree. This looks really interesting but there is a distinct lack of
a demo or good walkthrough at least.

~~~
8ig8
Perhaps you're not the target user then because if this service solved some of
your pain points wouldn't you gladly pay $10 for a month of service just to
try it out?

The upside is you found a service that saves you at least two hours per month.
The downside is you're out $10.

~~~
icelancer
I already signed up for it. But why not have some screenshots? I was speaking
more from a marketing POV. Not necessarily for a free demo.

------
mmanfrin
Is there something like this for rails? I am an okay bit-above-junior rails
dev, but I can't deploy to anything other than heroku (and I cant find any
good guides on learning to manage a server/deploy).

~~~
JohnnyBrown
Deploying a rails app to a VPS (e.g. digital ocean or linode) isn't that much
harder than setting up a development rails server on your work machine. If you
have some time in the next few days for a screenshare I'll walk you through it
- johnnybrown<%= prime_numbers[3] %>@gmail.com

------
omfg
Is there anything like this for Python / Django? I've come across similar
service for Ruby / Rails but not Python yet..

~~~
HeyHugo
heroku.com

------
dylanlacom
Would this work for a wordpress site?

~~~
laravel
Probably so honestly. It's not super Laravel specific. I have installed
ExpressionEngine on a Forge box in testing but haven't tried Wordpress.

~~~
dylanlacom
Very cool. I'll have to try this out

~~~
imknight
It won't be really working that well for wordpress since it using nginx in
stead of apache, so lots of rewrite thing need to configure for it.

------
sterlingross
Are there plans to support Softlayer?

------
tedchs
Man, I wish this had a different name... it's going to be a hard sell saying
"we should use this thing I found that sounds like 'larval' which is a word
that means juvenile/immature".

~~~
TOGoS
I've had the misfortune of being forced to use Laravel on a project, and the
larval connotations are pretty apt. Basically it's yet another PHP framework
that adds megabytes of bloat to your application in order to give you
alternate ways of doing things that are already trivial to do in PHP without
providing anything that's actually helpful. Its one redeeming 'feature' is
that they didn't go too far out of their way to make it incompatible with
Composer, so once you work your way through Laraval's inane routing DSL
(which, being built upon PHP, is a shitty DSL, and doesn't add any value over
an if-else chain anyway) you can reference whatever libraries you need to get
the job done without a lot of contortions. Even then, it throws good practice
out the window by defaulting to throwing all the application-specific classes
in the global namespace (which makes Composer's work harder, since it has to
scan the entire app/ directory to build the class -> file map) and failing to
provide any way to pass context to your code other than through global state.

Don't even get me started on the ubiquitous, ridiculously verbose, unhelpful,
and intelligence-insulting comments. It's this kind of thing that makes me
want to take up shooting sprees.

~~~
tedchs
What's up with downvotes on my and TOGoS's comment? Critical comments are just
as valuable as affirming comments.

~~~
wdmeldon
Your's was a little pedantic honestly, but TOGoS was just insulting. Basically
just trashing something he didn't like.

Ending it with "It's this kind of thing that makes me want to take up shooting
spree" definitely confirmed that it was a pretty off-base and at least mildly
inappropriate commentary.

