Ubuntu/Rails/Apache/Passenger install instructions

Ubuntu, Rails, Passenger setp from scratch.textile

Rails Web Server Stack Setup

Install Ruby, Apache, and some required utility packages

sudo aptitude install ruby apache2-mpm-prefork build-essential ruby-dev libopenssl-ruby \

apache2-prefork-dev libapr1-dev libaprutil1-dev git-core irb

Install the Ruby Gem package manager:

• Get the latest Gem package manager (the file ending in .tgz) from the gem distribution.
• Unzip and install (version 1.3.6 for example)
  • tar -zxf rubygems-1.3.6.tgz
  • cd rubygems-1.3.6
  • sudo ruby ./setup.rb
  • cd /usr/bin
  • sudo ln -s gem1.8 gem

Configure the Ruby Gem package manager:

By default gems installs all the documentation with the gems. That is a waste
of time and space on servers. Fix like so:

vi ~/.gemrc

And add this line:

gem: --no-ri --no-rdoc

Install Rails

sudo gem install rails

Install Passenger

• sudo gem install passenger
• sudo passenger-install-apache2-module
  • And follow the excellent Passenger instructions.

Configure your virtual apache sites.

Create a file in /etc/apache2/sites-available/ and add the following

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin [email protected]
        DocumentRoot /path/to/railsapp/public
        <Directory />
                Options -MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
        </Directory>
        ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
        LogLevel warn
        CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

If your site needs ssl create another file in sites-available and add the following

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost _default_:443>
        ServerAdmin [email protected]
        DocumentRoot /path/to/railsapp/public
        <Directory />
                Options -MultiViews
                AllowOverride All
        </Directory>

        ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
        LogLevel warn
        CustomLog /var/log/apache2/ssl_access.log combined

        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile    /etc/apache2/ssl/server.crt
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.key

        #If you have it
        SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl/gd_bundle.crt 

        BrowserMatch ".*MSIE.*" \
                nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown \
                downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

Create a self signed certificate for your staging server

If your site uses ssl you’ll want a simple self signed certificate for your
staging server so you can test it.

openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key.orig 2048
openssl req -new -key server.key.orig -out server.csr
openssl rsa -in server.key.org -out server.key
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt

Rotate your logs

Use log rotate or your logs will eventually consume all your disk space.
Logrotate is probably already installed so just create a file in /etc/logrotate.d/
with content like this:

/path/to/railsapp/log/*.log {
        daily
        missingok
        rotate 5
        compress
        delaycompress
        notifempty
        copytruncate
}

If you are using MS SQL Server: Install the Rails SQL Server Stack

This adapter is updated regularly. Follow these excellent Ubuntu Install Instructions