first i would like to say that I have done research and know that the following is “possible”–I was hoping to find folks with real-world experience with this setup to see if I “should” do it this way.
So, I have a Ruby/Rails web app that i’ve developed that links directly to Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 on a private network. I’m trying to decide whether to deploy to Heroku or simply build a local Ubuntu web server. I’d prefer to use Heroku, however am concerned that connecting to a remote Microsoft SQL Server may be too much trouble. I have full access to network equipment, firewall, IP addresses, routing, etc.
Currently my app uses TinyTDS and activerecord-sqlserver-adapter to connect from my local dev machine and works like a charm. I’d love to use Heroku (ok with paying for it)–but how stable and/or supported is this feature? Could I use a free SSL cert to encrypt data travelling over the internet? And, would I need to purchase an add-on for Heroku to get a static IP for my site to properly secure traffic coming to my firewall?
I’m totally willing to put in work to make it run on Heroku…but I don’t want to use unreliable or unsupported (or insecure) hacks…in this case I’d just deploy locally to Ubuntu.
Thanks!
Found the answer at this awesome link! Heroku running Cedar, connecting to an MS SQL Server accessed remotely! Please read my comments and the author’s after following the link for more info. Overall I chose not to host this particular app on Heroku but still great to know that this was possible.
This article by Michiel Sikkes uses Heroku’s newer buildpack feature to use TinyTDS and connect remotely to SQL Server 2008 R2. I’m still investigating how I could encrypt traffic. Hope this helps others!
http://blog.firmhouse.com/connecting-to-sql-server-from-heroku-with-freetds-here-is-how-on-cedar#