I am brand spanking new to RoR, but after just taking classes on PHP,
Python, C#, and Ruby, I have decided I want to try and build my new
business/website using RoR. Having also just completed a (fairly poor
and threadbare) cloud computing course, I am wondering about to handle
the infrastructure/hardware end of things. I am a garage startup of 1
currently…so I need something economical, but my site is not only an
ad revenue site, it has a revenue share, so I will need (eventually, not
out of the gate) to reach 350k-500k hits a day.
Options on the table are:
Vanilla hosting solution
I have a placeholder site and domain registered with Yahoo, but as far
as I can see they do not support RoR. I could switch to something like
Slicehost? Will that scale quickly?
Cloud provider
I could use something like Amazon AWS. I see they have a basic Rails
VM. I searched this forum though, and there’s almost no info on this
option and the threads that are there seem to be about a year old. Is
anyone using this option? At what point does the pay-as-you-go pass the
threshold and become more expensive than a traditional hosting provider?
Server in my garage or co-lo server that I have complete control over
I could get a dedicated SDSL line (T1 would be too expensive, heck SDSL
is probably too expensive), a dedicated IP address, and my own server.
This seems like a poor option, because I am no Unix sysadmin or
network/router expert.
You can visit slicehost and they have a chat room that is manned by
their personal staff 24/7, even if you aren’t a member. You can ask
them questions about what you require and they will tell you right away
whether or not they can assist you.
I personally use slicehost now for 3 medium commercial sites and the
ability to manage my site and build it the way I want is very good
there.
You can visit slicehost and they have a chat room that is manned by
their personal staff 24/7, even if you aren’t a member. You can ask
them questions about what you require and they will tell you right away
whether or not they can assist you.
I personally use slicehost now for 3 medium commercial sites and the
ability to manage my site and build it the way I want is very good
there.
Slicehost is great. Also look at Heroku and (if you’re ambitious) JRuby
on Google App Engine.
Thanks. Been doing more digging on my own too, and Slicehost is my
current frontrunner for a hosting setup and Heroku is the frontrunner
for using a cloud provider (for Ruby web apps anyway).
Any more cloud info out there? Has anyone used Amazon AWS
start-to-finish? I know some solutions use S3 for data storage. How
about Google Apps Engine? I have only seen peripheral mentions of Ruby
on that platform so far, as it seems to promote using Python heavily. I
am just not sure I could live with Python, just the idea of accidently
removing an indent on a line and having it disappear out of my function
makes me shiver.
Thanks. Been doing more digging on my own too, and Slicehost is my
current frontrunner for a hosting setup and Heroku is the frontrunner
for using a cloud provider (for Ruby web apps anyway).
Any more cloud info out there? Has anyone used Amazon AWS
start-to-finish?
That’s what Heroku already does.
I know some solutions use S3 for data storage. How
about Google Apps Engine? I have only seen peripheral mentions of Ruby
on that platform so far, as it seems to promote using Python heavily. I
am just not sure I could live with Python, just the idea of accidently
removing an indent on a line and having it disappear out of my function
makes me shiver.
It’s supposed to be possible to run Rails with JRuby on GAE, but I tend
to think Heroku is the better choice in that niche. There’s also
Rackspace Cloud/Mosso…
I confess that I’m a bit wary of nonstandard, non-relational DBs like
Google’s BigTable and Amazon’s SimpleDB. At least with Heroku, you get
PostgreSQL.
I believe you :). But I am also trying to hear as many anecdotes about
doing Ruby on a cloud in as many different ways as possible. Not only
will that cement my choice…for which Heroku is the frontrunner
currently ;), but it gives me a sense of cloud computing’s penetration
and synergy with Ruby on Rails in a general sense,
I understand.
which will serve to
give me a warmer fuzzier feeling about making all these leaps at once:
The first three seem like reasonable leaps to take. Herewith some
opinionated advice.
Windows dev environment back to some flavor of Linux/Unix
I highly recommend Mac OS X for development and Ubuntu Linux for
hosting.
Java/C# to Ruby (and design/management only back to hands-on to boot)
Oracle to MySQL or PostgresSQL
PostgreSQL. No contest.
Traditional hosting to cloud computing
Why? Cloud computing is cool, but where’s the absolute benefit?
My destination is far from my embarcation point ;).
I believe you :). But I am also trying to hear as many anecdotes about
doing Ruby on a cloud in as many different ways as possible. Not only
will that cement my choice…for which Heroku is the frontrunner
currently ;), but it gives me a sense of cloud computing’s penetration
and synergy with Ruby on Rails in a general sense, which will serve to
give me a warmer fuzzier feeling about making all these leaps at once:
Windows dev environment back to some flavor of Linux/Unix
Java/C# to Ruby (and design/management only back to hands-on to boot)
Oracle to MySQL or PostgresSQL
Traditional hosting to cloud computing
My destination is far from my embarcation point ;).
Windows dev environment back to some flavor of Linux/Unix
I highly recommend Mac OS X for development and Ubuntu Linux for
hosting.
Development is most likely a matter of preference nowadays, given the
ubiquity of most tools (unless you already are a die-hard Textmate fan,
but so many clones have popped up, and so many features copied /
improved upon…).
As far as hosting, one may as well go for Debian. I would recommend
Gentoo in a heartbeat, but it’s not for everyone
Well, I don’t have a rock-solid reason actually for using a cloud
provider other than the coolness factor…but here’s my reasoning so
far:
As a garage startup of one that is self-funded ;), pay as you go seems
pretty attractive. Heroku moreso because I can actually develop my
prototype free or almost free. Once it’s running, I can pitch it to
investors.
If I do have to scale before I reach that point and clouds are more
expensive, I don’t see anything that would prevent me from packing up my
content and moving to a more traditional hosting provider fairly
quickly. On the other hand, if cloud computing gets cheaper in the year
or so I am building this, I am already set.
There’s also the sense of adventure ;)…and as long as I am already
making leaps, this one seems on the surface to be pretty benign and
recoverable if it’s a bad direction.
If setting up RoR to work on a cloud is a huge hassle, it would not be
worth it for me, but so far at least I have not heard and horror
stories…I just haven’t heard any big success stories either, which
admittedly does make this leap the riskiest of the bunch.
Windows dev environment back to some flavor of Linux/Unix
I highly recommend Mac OS X for development and Ubuntu Linux for
hosting.
Development is most likely a matter of preference nowadays, given the
ubiquity of most tools (unless you already are a die-hard Textmate fan,
but so many clones have popped up, and so many features copied /
improved upon…).
Open-source *nix just doesn’t have the usability or the end-user app
support that Mac OS does IMHO. I like KDE, but if you give me a choice
between it and Mac OS for desktop environment…well…there’s really no
comparison.
As far as hosting, one may as well go for Debian.
…which Ubuntu is closely based on. Yes, I think it’s a close second
choice.
I would recommend
Gentoo in a heartbeat, but it’s not for everyone
Why Gentoo? I know little about it, so I’m not really sure what its
advantages are.