

Ask HN: What is the easiest way to host a Rails app? - danramteke

Maybe I'm typing the wrong things into Google, but the easy way to host a Rails app is eluding me. I know how to set up capistrano, thin, nginx, Ubuntu, mysql, etc, but where can I find this set up out of the box? It's gotta be out there.<p>Suggestions? Thanks!
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smoody
[http://blog.fiveruns.com/2008/10/20/automatic-production-
rai...](http://blog.fiveruns.com/2008/10/20/automatic-production-rails) \--
it's a no-fuss script for bringing up production Rails on slicehost.

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danramteke
this looks useful, thanks for the link.

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qhoxie
This article gives a decent overview: [http://www.aidanf.net/deploying-rails-
on-a-clean-ubuntu-slic...](http://www.aidanf.net/deploying-rails-on-a-clean-
ubuntu-slicehost-vps)

Aside from that, you can search for tutorials related to blank slate hosts
like Slicehost and Linode - they tend to cover rails well.

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danramteke
Slicehost.com does have some nice tutorials for just getting started. Is there
a turnkey solution out there?

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callmeed
Are you looking for something low-cost or more of a high-end managed service?

MediaTemple has RoR grid containers and other hosts support Rails now, but I
don't know of a turnkey solution ... although Heroku looks interesting.

Seriously, if you get a slicehost slice w/ Ubuntu Hardy, Apache and mod_rails,
you can get your app up in < 3 hours.

Plus, there's something to be said for getting on the server and learning how
to do some things yourself.

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danramteke
Looking for something with a low barrier to entry, but with room to grow.
Something not unlike AWS, but totally tuned for Rails. I'm thinking about
building such a solution if nothing else works out. For my personal use if
nothing else.

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LogicHoleFlaw
Perhaps there is an AWS machine image tuned for Rails?

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callmeed
Bingo: <http://ec2onrails.rubyforge.org/>

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danramteke
sweet deal!

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ph0rque
have you tried heroku.com?

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jraines
Heroku is great.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the main drawbacks at this point are that
your app can't send email, and you can't do cron stuff.

The free service is great, and I'll have my wallet out when they offer premium
with those types of features.

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mhartl
You can send email from a 'blessed' app (just ask them and it's likely they'll
give you their blessing). I'm not sure about background jobs, but I imagine
it's in the works.

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shevertalov
I've had good luck with hosting Rails on Dreamhost. They have a good wiki page
on how to set it up with capistrano
(<http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/Capistrano>) and you get shell access.

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rnesh
I'm not sure if this fits your needs, but I would also take a look at
WebFaction. <http://www.webfaction.com/hosting/rails-hosting>

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utnick
setting up mod_rails on slicehost is pretty straightforward

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amr
Rails Machine(<http://railsmachine.com>) makes setting up and deploying rails
apps very easy with their capistrano
tasks([https://support.railsmachine.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id...](https://support.railsmachine.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=24)).
I've been with them for over a year and I highly recommend them.

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elai
You see rails apps saying 'hosted by engine yard' on gitnub.

Try this list: <http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/RailsWebHosts>

and 'rails hosting' on google.

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siong1987
Some slicehost articles that might be useful to you:

Setting up a Ubuntu Hardy Heron with Rails:
<http://articles.slicehost.com/ubuntu-hardy>

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iamelgringo
Try searching for Rails EC2 AMI if you're interested in hosting on EC2:
<http://pauldowman.com/projects/ruby-on-rails-ec2/>

