I use Hostgator as my hosting provider and I checked out the versions of
the apps they are running:
Linux CentOS: 5.3
Ruby: 1.8.5
Rails: 2.3.2
MySQL: 5.1.30
I’ve been programming on a windows box but I do have a virtual linux box
setup (not for this particular model) - I wasn’t even aware that people
still used Ruby 1.8.5…
My current platform for development is:
Windows Vista 32
Ruby: 1.9.1-p129
Rails: 2.3.2
MySQL: 5.1.30
Do you think that there will be some problems with my development
platform when it goes over to production?
What steps do you think I should take (I’m in the process of setting up
a vbox for the exact specifications of my host) just in case the host
setup doesn’t work properly? Is there a better hosting provider than
Gatorhost that will work well with Rails that houses the ability for me
to setup my own environment?
It actually listed my current provider #5 which is good but I can
definitely confirm that hostgator does not ruby on rails in their
mindset…
I’m currently talking to Lunarpages to see what type of VPS plans they
have since they are listed #1 on the list. Since I’m going to go down
the top 3 or 4 I’ll just provide updates on what I find out to save
someone else some time if they happen to read this.
I’ve been programming on a windows box but I do have a virtual linux box
Do you think that there will be some problems with my development
platform when it goes over to production?
I’m always a fan of having a development setup that is as close as
possible to the production setup. There are plenty of differences in
the ruby standard library, behavior of the language and even syntax
between 1.9 and 1.8
I have a virtual server with slicehost. They are quite good so far for
what
I need and keeps the cost low. I would also look at mosso, who own
slicehost
and offers a pay as you go version which works out cheaper.
I’m currently talking to Lunarpages to see what type of VPS plans they
have since they are listed #1 on the list. Â Since I’m going to go down
the top 3 or 4 I’ll just provide updates on what I find out to save
someone else some time if they happen to read this.
Nightmare #1: Always ask the hosting provider (before signing up on a
VPS) exactly what linux distros they have available. When you find your
provider only has (ONE) - CentOS 4.5 (final) you have to realize that
this provider won’t be a good one (regardless of their reviews). Why?
CentOS 4.5 does not have access to a lot of beneficial repositories.
The best I found without going out and compiling by source was Ruby
1.8.1. Most CentOS VPS templates have Yum installed. Not so yummie…
Sure you can install apt and try to download packages but the type of
packages you’ll want will have been made specifically for ubuntu.
I’m not saying it can’t be done - but, what I am saying is it is most
likely going to be a nightmare.
Nightmare #2: The Linux distro is only one complication. What is your
application going to really need to work at the end? How are you going
to port your app over to the server? Does the provider understand ruby
or rails? I’m finding that the one I signed up for does not.
==============
Currently waiting for a refund from Lunarpages (highly recommended by a
lot of review sites).
Here’s some updates on my searches:
Hostgator (doesn’t support VPS environments - only shared and
dedicated) - Great service, great cost, great uptime but you are going
to pay 15 bucks a month for shared or 190 bucks a month for dedicated.
If you do manage to get shared, they can upgrade ruby to 1.8.7 and
install as many gems as you need through their ticketing system. But,
with shared - you have no write access to anything and can’t work on any
issues firsthand should they come up. Dedicated is more expensive with
hostgator than other sites.
Lunarpages (supports all environments) - Great service, great cost,
great uptime but they aren’t ruby and rails saavy. They only have one
VPS environment CentOS 4.5 and their current ubuntu template isn’t due
out for months. They have no backend management for the ruby
environment. A complete waste if you find them.
continuing my search with some of the suggestions here…
Go for slicehost or linode, you won’t regret it. Also, try to use
Ubuntu, as there’s plenty of material about setting up an environment
to deploy RoR applications, it’s also dead easy to manage and
configure.
And i never heard of those two hosting companies you spoke about.
Go for slicehost or linode, you won’t regret it. Also, try to use
Ubuntu, as there’s plenty of material about setting up an environment
to deploy RoR applications, it’s also dead easy to manage and
configure.
And i never heard of those two hosting companies you spoke about.
I’ll do some research on those two as well…
Thanks mate.
Hostgator has been around for awhile (pretty good with the exception of
the issues I spoke about). Lunarpages I looked on a few review sites
and they are probably a good company but just not rails oriented.
I have no problems with the expectations of managing my own VPS. I’ve
done it for many years before I went with a smaller plan. I can use
Plesk, cpanel, SSH but with VPS’s you can’t install OS distros because
they are templated. So, you can’t just decide to say hey I think I’ll
toss ubuntu on here. Unfortunately, you have to ask the company you are
hosted for if they have an ubuntu distro available. In my case, the
hosting provider does not.
I’m definitely going with ubuntu but I’m going to make sure the new
provider has everything that I need before committing.
I use ubuntu on my VMWare box on windows and love it.
And before I forget, when you sign up for a VPS you are assuming FOR
YOURSELF the responsability of managing your own install. Unless
you’re hosting with a company that provides application installation
support (like EngineYard) the folks from your hosting service are not
likely to help you to setup your server or install the libraries you
need.
In a VPS you’re expected to know what you’re doing.
Slicehost is great. Excellent management interface, wide selection of
distributions, no hassle. I generally set up my clients’ slices there
with Ubuntu (usually an LTS release), Apache, Passenger, Ruby EE, and
PostgreSQL (I’m not a fan of mySQL). Pretty easy.
BTW, Slicehost was recently bought by Rackspace, probably my favorite
dedicated hosting provider. So that makes it twice as cool!
I did about 4 hours research into the 4 I listed above. I’ve narrowed
my choices down to Slicehost or Railsboxcar - those two seem to be very
well versed in rails environments.
Linode was good but it also owns luggage.com and I want a 100% webhost
provider that’s focused.
Hostingrails seemed very fishy. There’s only two websites associated
with their IP address and it seems to be hosted mom and pop shop
style…
(Slicehost is in the #1 lead right now) - Unless I can find something
better or Railsboxcar can show me something more - that’s my go to at
the moment.
Slicehost is great. Excellent management interface, wide selection of
distributions, no hassle. I generally set up my clients’ slices there
with Ubuntu (usually an LTS release), Apache, Passenger, Ruby EE, and
PostgreSQL (I’m not a fan of mySQL). Pretty easy.
BTW, Slicehost was recently bought by Rackspace, probably my favorite
dedicated hosting provider. So that makes it twice as cool!
Okay I did some more research into slicehost and spoke with people
regarding that site:
The good news is they have a good article foundation for setting up
slices.
However, each slice (vps) is bare bones and has to be setup completely
from scratch. This means that they have absolutely nothing on them.
You have to setup your SSH, firewall, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Ruby etc. all
from scratch. In addition, they use 64-bit slices so this adds another
piece into the puzzle. However, you can always add ia32-libs to work
with 32-bit apps on 64-bit…
They also do not have cpanel or plesk to manage your vps. They use
another type of manager (slice manager) to manage your vps. If you need
to get Cpanel it’s a monthly charge for the license. You can still
setup plesk for free though…
I’m still going to look into the others and take my time. I just wanted
to update this topic in case someone runs through here and finds it and
reads my notes for what I discovered.
For those of you using slicehost, can you confirm or add to any of my
notes and/or provide some of your own experiences with setup? Did you
find it very difficult? How about porting over sites from another
webhost to slicehost.
For those of you using slicehost, can you confirm or add to any of my
notes and/or provide some of your own experiences with setup? Did you
find it very difficult? How about porting over sites from another
webhost to slicehost.
I started using slicehost recently and have had a good experience with
it.
The articles are well written, and they’re good about helping out via
their chat service.
My only prior linux administration experience was running linux on an
older laptop, which hardly compares with setting up a server. I had
no
real problems with getting it going (setting up postfix with google
apps
mail took a little finesse), and I found the learning experience to
be
useful in itself.
That said, you do incur a labor cost in administering your own server.
You should look at engineyard if you want to take a lot of that work
out of your hands. They’re expensive, but they offer a lot of
configuration
and deployment automation/consultion, and they have the esteemed
Ezra Z. on staff.
from scratch. In addition, they use 64-bit slices so this adds another
piece into the puzzle. However, you can always add ia32-libs to work
SSH is installed otherwise you cant ssh to their server. Apache, PHP,
MySQL
and Ruby are installed also. Firewall is also installed. These things
come
standard with most linux distribution nowadays.
I have never had any trouble regarding the 64 bit. With Mosso there is a
very good documentation on installing and configuring the server.
Slicehost
also has a fairly detailed documentation.
with 32-bit apps on 64-bit…
They also do not have cpanel or plesk to manage your vps. They use
another type of manager (slice manager) to manage your vps. If you need
to get Cpanel it’s a monthly charge for the license. You can still
setup plesk for free though…
I dont run a hosting company, so I never felt the need for cpanel,
havent
been a big fan of cpanel or plesk either. I use their DNS system to add
my
domain names. Slice Manager is quite good. What I like most is their
backup
service where I can backup a whole image of my system and restore it
whenever I want. It also keeps weekly and daily backups automatically.
Slicehost charges an extra $5/month but Rackspace does it for free at
the
moment. So same server slicehost sells for $20+$5 ($25) can cost about
$13
with rackspace.
As I said, I dont use slicehost for hosting. I must admit with just
256mb
ram and a slice of the CPU it might not be the most ideal if you run a
heavy
site. You might be better off with a dedicated server and do your own
backup.
You have to setup your SSH, firewall, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Ruby etc. all
from scratch.
Not quite. SSH is there, and I seem to remember that Apache is as well.
I think Ruby is also, but I use Ruby EE for production hosting, which is
a relatively simple installation. I’ve never looked for PHP or mySQL,
since I don’t really use either one.
In addition, they use 64-bit slices so this adds another
piece into the puzzle. However, you can always add ia32-libs to work
with 32-bit apps on 64-bit…
I don’t think I’ve ever needed to do that (unless some package installed
it for me). I’ve never had any compatibility problems on Slicehost.
They also do not have cpanel or plesk to manage your vps.
You’re right, but those are generally more trouble than they’re worth.
I usually put Webmin on my servers, which in my opinion is far better.
[…]
For those of you using slicehost, can you confirm or add to any of my
notes and/or provide some of your own experiences with setup? Did you
find it very difficult?
It’s not difficult at all – of course, it wasn’t my first Linux setup
either.
How about porting over sites from another
webhost to slicehost.
I should think that you could either use Capistrano and you SCM for
that, or you could just put the whole thing into a tarball and copy it.