Question

How can I deploy a Rails app to a VPS (virtual private server) or a dedicated server? It would be nice to have an easy to follow guide.

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

Answer 1

I have successfully deployed a heavy Rails application to Linode or Digital Ocean, using these technologies:

• rbenv for Ruby installation
• nginx + Passenger for the application server
• PostgreSQL for the database server
• Capistrano to automate deploys (configure this first on your dev machine with your server IP and settings, I will not cover it here)

These are the steps that work for me:

Setting up the virtual machine

Create a new virtual machine

Follow the setup instructions of your hosting, being Linode or Digital Ocean, to create the node and set it up.

Set up date

• dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Update packages

• apt-get update
• apt-get upgrade

Security

Create user

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

Set up SSH key-authentication

On local:

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

On the server:

• ssh [e-mail]
• enable the alias to list files:
  • 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 (test the new authentication)

Set up SSH

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

Set up firewall

• sudo iptables -L (it should show a 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 (now it should 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

Set up fail2ban

Set up if you have enough free memory, as it tends to eat it.

• sudo apt-get install -y fail2ban

Setup Ruby

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 (look for the latest version)
• rbenv install 2.3.3 (or the latest available version at this moment)
• rbenv global 2.3.3
• rbenv rehash
• vim .gemrc
  • Paste this: gem: –no-document

Setup servers

Install nginx + Passenger

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

Install PostgreSQL

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

Setup libraries

Install node.js

Needed to pre-compile assets.

• sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install bundler

• get install bundler
• rbenv rehash

Setup the application

Create the user in PostgreSQL

• createuser username –pwprompt
• createdb -Ousername -Eutf8 db_name
• Test it:
  • psql db_name –user username –password

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

Configure logrotate

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