how do you host your RoR app?

[kfordham281]

I'm curious as to the best way to host a RoR app. I've read shared hosting isn't all that great, what are the other options and what have you chosen? Semi Dedicated, Dedicated, VPS, etc? I'm expecting something in the neighborhood of less than 250 unique visitors a day. If you have a live example, post the URL too please. I'm always interesting in seeing what other people are doing with RoR. Thanks.

[Dark Tranquility]

I use a textdrive.com shared hosting for testing RoR and it works fine

[vgarcia]

You shouldn't have any problems on shared hosting with a 250 visitor per day site. Worry about VPS and dedicated servers later.

[Dark Tranquility]

You shouldn't have any problems on shared hosting with a 250 visitor per day site. Worry about VPS and dedicated servers later.

sure I believe that even Dreamhost shared plans are getting better for RoR and especially faster

[redemption]

I went the VPS route after trying to run a Typo blog on Dreamhost. It was just too slow and inconsistent.

My VPS setup's Apache 2.2 + mod_proxy_balancer + mongrel_cluster at the moment, seems to be running fine and smoothly after some initial teething pains with deployment on a memory-starved VPS.

[Luke Redpath]

I use a textdrive.com shared hosting for testing RoR and it works fine

On the other hand, I've used textdrive and they weren't very good. My server was going down almost weekly it seemed.

You may want to consider Railsmachine - a bit pricier than shared hosting but you get what you pay for - I've read lots of good reports and it has some cool rake tasks for getting things up and running.

[scott9s]

I've looked at hosting from a myriad of solutions. I know you get what you pay for, but we also are bootstrapping this web application. So, we want something to scale as needed with our hopeful growth.

Any suggestions on VPS hosting? Anyone use Westhost.com?

[IAIHMB]

For VPS, I would recommend KnownHost. If you want a VPS aimed towards Ruby on Rails Rails Machine is the way to go (Amazing set up, and Zed Shaw, the author of Mongrel, helps run them.).

[thebillionaire]

I actually just bought a cheap package from http://www.collarhosting.com which offers ruby on rails hosting, so its just as simple as uploading the files on the server, but the files go in the cgi bin I think instead of public_html

[alles_klar]

i'm also a user of railsmachine.com
i got the basic vps account. their online tech support has been fantastic.

[killsaby]

rather than going for a VPS, you can always get a shared hosting with ROR and high space and bandwidth.

I use site5.com best service

[vgarcia]

rather than going for a VPS, you can always get a shared hosting with ROR and high space and bandwidth.

I use site5.com best service

I use site5 too, and for a site used by 250 visitors (like the first post says) you'd have a lot of spare space/bandwidth to use for other things if you wanted.

[dreaz]

Can anyone tell me if Mongrel + mod_proxy has many advantages over apache (1.3) + mod_fastcgi?

[IAIHMB]

If you've got problems with FastCGI, yes. Mongrel is quite a bit easier to get working (Just install a gem and start the server Webrick style.), but FastCGI is slightly faster (There are benchmarks on the TextDrive blog, not by much though.).

[HenriIV]

Did someone test Planet Argon rails shared hosting service? It's cheap ($15 a month) but have never seen any comment about it.

[vgarcia]

Can anyone tell me if Mongrel + mod_proxy has many advantages over apache (1.3) + mod_fastcgi?

It would crash a whole lot less, if my past experience is correct.

What version of Apache would you be using?

[dreaz]

It would crash a whole lot less, if my past experience is correct.

What version of Apache would you be using?

1.3 as I mentioned. I can use lighttpd or mongrel too, but apache is the easiest way for me.

[Dark Tranquility]

On the other hand, I've used textdrive and they weren't very good. My server was going down almost weekly it seemed.

You may want to consider Railsmachine - a bit pricier than shared hosting but you get what you pay for - I've read lots of good reports and it has some cool rake tasks for getting things up and running.

Well I've never had a problem with TD since 4 months when I first started using them. I found them simply on the RoR .org site where they were described as the official Ruby on Rails host !! so I didn't look further especially that their price was quite good

I must say I am not hosting any functional sites there so I am not checking the uptime etc...

[vgarcia]

1.3 as I mentioned. I can use lighttpd or mongrel too, but apache is the easiest way for me.

Consider Apache 2.2, which has much better mod_proxy/mod_proxy_balancer support with Mongrel.

[CollarHosting]

Hey, kfordham281 we will be launching free web hosting that supports ruby on rails in a couple of days if your interested.

[redemption]

Consider Apache 2.2, which has much better mod_proxy/mod_proxy_balancer support with Mongrel.

Actually, mod_proxy for lighttpd is going to be much improved soon, in the next release (see http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/20...mod_proxy_core). That said, I run both Apache 2.2 + mod_proxy_balancer and lighttpd + mod_proxy + pound on separate sites, and both with Mongrel backends, and both approaches are workable.

The main beef people have with in lighttpd is mod_proxy, but you can easily do away with that by putting a 3rd-party load-balancer like pound or pen in front of your mongrel cluster. At least, until mod_proxy is "fixed"

That said, I still recommend going to Apache route especially if you are more familiar with managing and configuring Apache (as most webmasters would be).

[Dark Tranquility]

Actually, mod_proxy for lighttpd is going to be much improved soon, in the next release (see http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/20...mod_proxy_core).

Interesting to know this! it seems that using FastCGI is going to be nicer

[vgarcia]

Interesting to know this! it seems that using FastCGI is going to be nicer

You wouldn't need FastCGI if you're proxying direct to Mongrel for any Rails action.

[programmerstools]

I'm also looking for ror hosting. Found this one
http://hubpages.com/hub/Bluehost

but I didn't try it yet. Does someone did ?

Thanks.

[atech]

Old thread, but as its been brought alive recently I thought I'd add what we do. We run our own 4 server Rails Cluster with lighttpd, mongrels and mysql - works very nicely - but then again, most things you setup and manage yourself run as you would expect.