How to deploy a Rails application to VPS (or a dedicated server)?

Question

How can I deploy a Rails application to a VPS (virtual private server) or dedicated server? It would be nice to have a convenient guide for you.

I know about scripts to automate the process, but I think it's best to have everything under control in order to better understand the process.

Answer 1

I have successfully deployed the heavy Rails application for Linode or Digital Ocean using the following technologies:

• rbenv to install Ruby
• nginx + passenger for application server
• PostgreSQL for the database server
• Capistrano , to automate the deployment (first configure this on your machine with your server IP address and settings, I will not describe it here)

These are the steps that work for me:

Virtual machine setup

Create a new virtual machine

Follow the instructions to install your hosting service, which is Linode or Digital Ocean, to create a node and configure it.

Setting date

• dpkg-reconfigure tzdata li>

Update Packages

• apt-get update
• apt-get upgrade

Security

Create user

• adduser deploy
• usermod -a -G sudo deploy
• Exit

Configure SSH Key Authentication

On local:

• SSH serial
• copy the public key:
  • scp ~ / .ssh / id_rsa.pub [e-mail] : ~

On server:

• ssh [e-mail]
• include alias for file list:
  • vim ~ / .bashrc
  • uncomment all aliases
• mkdir.ssh
• mv id_rsa.pub.ssh / authorized_keys
• chown -R deploy: deploy.ssh
• chmod 700.ssh
• chmod 600.ssh / authorized_keys
• logout (check new authentication)

SSH setup

• sudo vim / etc / ssh / sshd_config
• Switch PermitRootLogin to no
• sudo service ssh restart

Firewall setup

• sudo iptables -L (it should show the void table)
• sudo vim / etc / iptables.firewall.rules
• Paste this: https://gist.github.com/davidmles/89fc88e48e17cf8252bfca374e46355f#file-iptables-firewall-rules
• sudo iptables-restore </etc/iptables.firewall.rules
• sudo iptables -L (it should now show the configured rules)
• sudo vim / etc / network / if-pre-up.d / firewall
• Paste this: https://gist.github.com/davidmles/89fc88e48e17cf8252bfca374e46355f#file-firewall
• sudo chmod + x / etc / network / if-pre-up.d / firewall

Configure fail2ban

Configure if you have enough free memory, as it usually consumes it.

• sudo apt-get install -y fail2ban

Ruby setup

Install git

• sudo apt-get install -y git

Install rbenv

• git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv.git ~ / .rbenv
• echo 'export PATH = "$ HOME / .rbenv / bin: $ PATH"' → ~ / .bashrc
• echo 'eval "$ (rbenv init -)"' → ~ / .bashrc
• source ~ / .bashrc
• git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/ruby-build.git ~ / .rbenv / plugins / ruby-build

Install Ruby

• sudo apt-get install -y curl gnupg build-essential
• rbenv install -l (find the latest version)
• rbenv install 2.3.3 (or the latest available version at the moment)
• rbenv global 2.3.3
• rbenv rehash
• vim.gemrc
  • Paste this: gem: -no-document

Installation servers

Install nginx + passenger

• Install the following documentation:
  • https://www.phusionpassenger.com/library/install/nginx/install/oss/jessie/

Install PostgreSQL

• Install the following documentation:
  • https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Apt#PostgreSQL_packages_for_Debian_and_Ubuntu

Setting libraries

Install node.js

Asset precompilation required.

• sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install picker

• get installation package
• rbenv rehash

Application Setup

Create a user in PostgreSQL

• createuser username --pwprompt
• createdb -Ousername -Eutf8 db_name
• Check this:
  • psql db_name - username --password

Deploy the code * On the server: * sudo mkdir -p / srv / yoursite.com * sudo chown deploy: deploy / srv / yoursite.com * On your machine dev: * bundle exec cap production deploy: check (it will throw an error because cannot find the database) * On the server: * cd / srv / yoursite.com / shared / config * vim database.yml (insert the configuration of your database) * vim secrets.yml (insert your secret config) * On your dev machine: * deployment of exec cap package * bundle exec cap production whenever: update_crontab

Configure logrotate

• Follow this guide: * https://gorails.com/guides/rotating-rails-production-logs-with-logrotate

Answer 2

I deployed the rails application on my production servers (this is a cluster) with Capistrano before, but I found that Capistrano is a bit complicated, and sometimes even created problems ... So I wrote my deployment script on a bash shell script.

I put it on github with a quick guide: deploy_rails