What it takes Linux Mongrel Lots of memory (~50 megs / Mongrel) Good monitoring tools Monit (http://tildeslash.com/monit/) Munin ( http://munin.projects.linpro.no/ ) Capistrano And MORE memory.

Linux

Mongrel

Lots of memory (~50 megs / Mongrel)

Good monitoring tools

Monit (http://tildeslash.com/monit/)

Munin ( http://munin.projects.linpro.no/ )

Capistrano

And MORE memory.

Hosting options Shared hosting One Linux installation for many users VPS (Virtual Private Server) Many Linux installations on a single server (virtualized) Amazon EC2 VPS on steroids! Dedicated server Your own unshared server; rented or owned Not covered today

Shared hosting

One Linux installation for many users

VPS (Virtual Private Server)

Many Linux installations on a single server (virtualized)

Amazon EC2

VPS on steroids!

Dedicated server

Your own unshared server; rented or owned

Not covered today

Shared hosting Pros: Cheap Maintenance taken care of by your provider

Pros:

Cheap

Maintenance taken care of by your provider

Shared hosting Cons: You get what you pay for (not much!) Slow, slow, slow Not enough memory can be allocated to you Often uses FastCGI or a single Mongrel (doesn’t scale) No control (sometimes non-root SSH) Support team doesn’t know Rails You’ll outgrow that in no time (ask Marc-André) I simply DON’T recommend shared hosting for Rails.

Cons:

You get what you pay for (not much!)

Slow, slow, slow

Not enough memory can be allocated to you

Often uses FastCGI or a single Mongrel (doesn’t scale)

No control (sometimes non-root SSH)

Support team doesn’t know Rails

You’ll outgrow that in no time (ask Marc-André)

I simply DON’T recommend shared hosting for Rails.

Virtual Private Server Great place to start! ~$20/mo and up Choose your provider carefully: Make sure you have dedicated and guaranteed resources Read plenty of reviews. http://webhostingtalk.com Don’t be cheap: it will backfire.

Great place to start!

~$20/mo and up

Choose your provider carefully:

Make sure you have dedicated and guaranteed resources

Read plenty of reviews.

http://webhostingtalk.com

Don’t be cheap: it will backfire.

VPS: Slicehost.com My favorite VPS provider! And damn cheap too! Plan RAM Storage Bandwidth Price/mo 256slice 256MB 10GB 100GB $20 512slice 512MB 20GB 200GB $38 1024slice 1024MB 40GB 400GB $70 2048slice 2048MB 80GB 800GB $140

My favorite VPS provider!

And damn cheap too!

VPS: Slicehost.com That money gets you “slices” of: A Quad-core 64-bit servers (8+ghz) running Xen virtualization instances RAID1 disk storage Gigabit network backbone Your own distro Full root access Between 7 and 24 users / server (vs 1000s for shared) Awesome community and support (really)

That money gets you “slices” of:

A Quad-core 64-bit servers (8+ghz) running Xen virtualization instances

RAID1 disk storage

Gigabit network backbone

Your own distro

Full root access

Between 7 and 24 users / server (vs 1000s for shared)

Awesome community and support (really)

VPS: What kind of slice? Minimum of 256 megs of RAM Probably limited to 1 or 2 sites with that No Apache! Go nginx and/or Swiftiply instead. Keep memory usage at a minimum (ie: MySQL) and keep it for Mongrel. Beware of VPS providers that don’t allow full root access.

Minimum of 256 megs of RAM

Probably limited to 1 or 2 sites with that

No Apache! Go nginx and/or Swiftiply instead.

Keep memory usage at a minimum (ie: MySQL) and keep it for Mongrel.

Beware of VPS providers that don’t allow full root access.

VPS: Slicehost.com Demo http://manage.slicehost.com

http://manage.slicehost.com

VPS: Pros and Cons Pros: Only pay for what you need Enough resources to run Rails effectively Easy upgrade/downgrade VERY easy to get started You control everything Affordable (great bang for your buck) GreatSlicehostwikiwith plenty of information http://wiki.slicehost.com (who would’ve guessed?) Cons: You have to build your slice from scratch Can be outgrown rapidly if your world-changing app really takes off IO Not cost effective when you become big

Pros:

Only pay for what you need

Enough resources to run Rails effectively

Easy upgrade/downgrade

VERY easy to get started

You control everything

Affordable (great bang for your buck)

GreatSlicehostwikiwith plenty of information

http://wiki.slicehost.com (who would’ve guessed?)

Cons:

You have to build your slice from scratch

Can be outgrown rapidly if your world-changing app really takes off

IO

Not cost effective when you become big

Recommended VPS providers Slicehost.com my personal favorite they are giving MoR folks VIP treatment! Rimuhosting.com heard great things more expensive (for no apparent benefit)

Slicehost.com

my personal favorite

they are giving MoR folks VIP treatment!

Rimuhosting.com

heard great things

more expensive (for no apparent benefit)

Amazon EC2 EC2 = Elastic Computing Cloud Similar to a Slicehost VPS Your own distro (even Windows!) Full root access Shared machines with Xen But sometimes better Auto-scaling Hourly billing Minimum 1.7 gigs of RAM!

EC2 = Elastic Computing Cloud

Similar to a Slicehost VPS

Your own distro (even Windows!)

Full root access

Shared machines with Xen

But sometimes better

Auto-scaling

Hourly billing

Minimum 1.7 gigs of RAM!

EC2: Pricing (CPU) One EC2 Compute Unit (CU) provides the equivalent CPU capacity of a 1.0-1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor. This is also the equivalent to an early-2006 1.7 GHz Xeon processor. Type RAM CPU Storage Platform $/hour $/mo Small Instance 1.7 GB 1 core * 1 CU 160 GB 32-bit $0.10 ~$73 Large Instance 7.5 GB 2 cores * 2 CU (4) 850 GB 64-bit $0.40 ~$293 Extra Large Instance 15 GB 4 cores * 2 CU (8) 1.69 TB 64-bit $0.80 ~$585

EC2: Pricing (bandwidth) Incoming data (download) $0.10/GB Outgoing data (upload to users) $0.18/GB for first 10 TB / month $0.16/GB for next 40 TB / month $0.13/GB for over 50 TB / month Transfer between EC2-EC2 or EC2-S3 is free

Incoming data (download)

$0.10/GB

Outgoing data (upload to users)

$0.18/GB for first 10 TB / month

$0.16/GB for next 40 TB / month

$0.13/GB for over 50 TB / month

Transfer between EC2-EC2 or EC2-S3 is free

EC2: The AMI Stands for Amazon Machine Image A Linux installation bundled up and ready to be booted EC2 on Rails ( http://ec2onrails.rubyforge.org/ ) Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10, Apache 2.2, Mongrel Cluster, MySQL 5 Rightscale’s Rails all-in-one (http://info.rightscale.com/2007/9/20/rails-on-ec2-standard)

Stands for Amazon Machine Image

A Linux installation bundled up and ready to be booted

EC2 on Rails

( http://ec2onrails.rubyforge.org/ )

Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10, Apache 2.2, Mongrel Cluster, MySQL 5

Rightscale’s Rails all-in-one

(http://info.rightscale.com/2007/9/20/rails-on-ec2-standard)

EC2: What's to love? Complete control You pay hourly, not monthly (more on that later) Almost instant instances Lots of RAM per dollar (remember, you need a lot of it!)

Complete control

You pay hourly, not monthly (more on that later)

Almost instant instances

Lots of RAM per dollar

(remember, you need a lot of it!)

EC2: What's to love? (cont'd) Plenty of disk space Easy integration with S3 (unlimited storage!) API to control your instances Scaling can be automated Amazing firewall features Many great “base” AMI available

Plenty of disk space

Easy integration with S3 (unlimited storage!)

API to control your instances

Scaling can be automated

Amazing firewall features

Many great “base” AMI available

EC2: Change your mindset! Rebuild/deploy new servers with no downtime Test in a real-world scenario Turn your staging servers into production servers Auto-scale your app …and the database too! Backup like a champ (S3)

Rebuild/deploy new servers with no downtime

Test in a real-world scenario

Turn your staging servers into production servers

Auto-scale your app

…and the database too!

Backup like a champ (S3)

EC2: Drawbacks Very confusing at first No static IP No permanent storage IO Not for email

Very confusing at first

No static IP

No permanent storage

IO

Not for email

EC2: Confusing, huh? Yes, it’s confusing, but it’s not so bad! Read, read, read http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/2007-03-01/GettingStartedGuide/ http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/ec2/forums http://info.rightscale.com (blog section) Understand the drawbacks, their implications and the solutions Use the right tools I recommend RightScale.com Or just ask me!

Yes, it’s confusing, but it’s not so bad!

Read, read, read

http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/2007-03-01/GettingStartedGuide/

http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/ec2/forums

http://info.rightscale.com (blog section)

Understand the drawbacks, their implications and the solutions

Use the right tools

I recommend RightScale.com

Or just ask me!

EC2: No static IP? New instance, new IP They don’t change that often anyways If they do, you have another problem! Give all your instances host names Use low TTL = minimal downtime Plenty of good DNS servers: dnsmadeeasy.com, everydns.net, zoneedit.com I realized that static IPs were not a necessity.

New instance, new IP

They don’t change that often anyways

If they do, you have another problem!

Give all your instances host names

Use low TTL = minimal downtime

Plenty of good DNS servers:

dnsmadeeasy.com, everydns.net, zoneedit.com

I realized that static IPs were not a necessity.

EC2: Lack of persistent storage Your instance dies, your data dies with it! The 10/150 rule Put growing data on /mnt Symlinks Logrotate to /mnt Backup, backup, backup S3 Replicate DB to remote location Rebundling your instance is not a good solution

Your instance dies, your data dies with it!

The 10/150 rule

Put growing data on /mnt

Symlinks

Logrotate to /mnt

Backup, backup, backup

S3

Replicate DB to remote location

Rebundling your instance is not a good solution

EC2+RightScale Demo http://rightscale.com

http://rightscale.com

Links