Rails Hosting Info


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How to choose the right Rails hosting type

From which hosting types can you choose: Before you pick a hosting company, you should make sure that they:
  • are reliable. You wont be pleased if your site goes done once in a while. If you need 100% reliability, you should implement redundancy. Take a look at Engine Yard if you want a 100% reliable host with extensive Rails experience.
  • have good support. Phone them, email them your questions and see how friendly and responsive they are. Only pick them if you have a good feeling about them. The changes are high that you will need their support if it is the first time you deploy you Rails application.
  • have good reviews. Clients should be happy about them. If you find a couple of negative reviews, something is going on and you should look elsewhere.
  • list prices for extra's. How much does an extra IP address cost or 1GB extra transfer? Cheap can mean they get there money from the extra's. Always check that the extra's have a fair price.
  • have experience with Rails. This is really important, if you go with a shared hosting plan. Because you will have to rely on their Rails implementation. What webserver are they using? Which Rails version do they have installed? Which gems do they offer? If you application runs into any problems because of their Rails infrastructure, they need to be able to sort it out. Otherwise your application want be running.

So should you pick a shared host, a virtual private server (VPS) or a dedicated server. Well it all depends on your needs. Answer the following questions before you go looking for a hosting company.

  • How large is my budget?
  • How much transfer do I need?
  • How many Rails projects will I have?
  • Can I afford to be offline for some hours a month?
  • Can I setup my own Linux, BSD or Windows machine?
  • Do I have time to maintain my server (install security updates, check logs, ...)?

If you know what you want, it is a lot easier to choose the right hosting company for your needs. And even easier to decide which ones aren't right for you.

Shared hosting

When is shared hosting right for you? Shared hosting is often cheaper than a virtual private server or a dedicated server. If it isn't make sure for what you are paying a premium. You will share a server with many others and most of the time you don't you with how many. Problems in a script of somebody else can bring a server down or to a crawl. So you can't guarantee the speed and availability of your application. If you are planning on deploying more then one Rails application it is better to look at a VPS or a dedicated server. Also make sure that the company has extensive knowledge with Rails. If you are deploying your Rails application and you have a problem, you want to know that they can solve it. View all Rails shared hosting plans.

Virtual private server

You still share a server with other people, but each one has its own virtual space. If set up correctly an other user can't have an impact on your resources. The problem with a VPS is that you need to know what you are doing. You have to set up all things yourself. There are many tutorials on the web, but it will take some time to setup. You should also choose a VPS with at least 128MB RAM. This should be enough to deploy one or two Rails applications. If you are planning on deploying more than two Rails applications you will need more RAM. View all virtual private servers.

Dedicated server

You have a whole server to your self. Most of the times this is the most expensive solution. And they come in two flavors, unmanaged and managed. You can find unmanaged dedicated servers at sharp prices, some are even cheaper than a VPS. You will have the same amount of work as with a VPS. You have to install, secure and manage everything. But it gives you the room to grow. Or you can go for the managed server. That way somebody else does all the work for you. If you go down this route, you should be sure that they know how to setup a Rails environment. It isn't enough if they know how to install an operating system and a webserver, they also need to know a few things about Rails. The managed server solution is the most expensive, but at least you don't need to be your own system engineer or you don't need to hire or employ one. View all dedicated servers.

Enterprise Rails Deployment

If your business depends on your Rails apps and you don't want to devote people/time/energy to managing servers and you think your needs will grow over time, then you need enterprise-level service. This level of service usually comes with hardware, software, and a layer of people to manage your systems 24/7. It should also have things like off-site backups, version control, code deployment, database management, load balancing, hardware SSL, SAN storage, and Rails expertise built-in. You should check out Engine Yard. They offer all these things and it is tailored to the needs of the Rails community. You will be able to scale your application and easily add extra resources when you need them. Your hardware is fully redundant. And you will be able to contact some of the most experienced Rails people, like Tom Mornini, Ezra Zygmuntowicz and Jayson Vantuyl, if you run into a problem.


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