在Linode上设置Ruby on Rails Web应用程序

Question

I am an absolute newbie to web development and ruby on rails. I am planing to deploy a ror application on the Linode 512 plan. My website would be basically a forum that allows users to upload photos using Ruby 1.9.3 and Rails 3.2.

Which OS should I use? What are their difference? (Ubuntu / Debian / CentOS / Fedora)

Should I use Apache or Nginx? What are their difference?

Should I use PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB or any other kinds of DB provided on Linode? What are their difference?

My target audience would come from China which means I can't use Amazon S3. Should I let the users upload the photos to the Linode server?

Is there any step-by-step beginner's guide for this issue?

Thx

Answer 1

First of all, I think you are worrying too much. If you are a newbie, just follow the popular choice for a start, then change, modify, scale as you go. As your skills mature, you will know what best suites you.

Below are some choices that will be easier for you:

1. Which OS should I use? What are their difference? Ubuntu

2. Should I use Apache or Nginx? What are their difference? Apache. If it is a small website, it doesn't matter for now.

3. Should I use PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB or any other kinds of DB provided on Linode? What are their difference? MySQL. MongoDB is a NoSQL database, may not be for you for the moment.

4. My target audience would come from China which means I can't use Amazon S3. Should I let the users upload the photos to the Linode server? Upload to Linode for now. Don't scale it prematurely.

5. Is there any step-by-step beginner's guide for this issue? Ryan's RailsCasts: http://railscasts.com/episodes/373-zero-downtime-deployment and http://railscasts.com/episodes/335-deploying-to-a-vps , they are must-watch, but not free.

For all these setup, Linode's tutorial is good for a start. You should look at @Stefan answer too.

You should also try to deploy to Heroku just to get a feel of it. Rails Tutorial is good for you to learn up from development to deployment.

Answer 2

There are several dedicated Rails setup guides on Linode:

Apache and Passenger:

• Ruby on Rails with Apache on Debian 6 (Squeeze)
• Ruby on Rails with Apache on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)
• Ruby on Rails with Apache on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick)

nginx and Passenger:

• Ruby on Rails with Nginx on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)
• Ruby on Rails with Nginx on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick)
• Ruby on Rails with Nginx on Debian 5 (Lenny)
• Ruby on Rails with Nginx on CentOS 5

Answer 3

As we have many linode deployment for rails apps my recommendation would be:

ubuntu/centos + mysql/postgres + nginx + passenger

If your application is going to have huge fb inout operations then you can mongodb as choice