# Deployment strategy to multiple servers with differing roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [July 2, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002 "2008-07-02T15:03:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/s0nspark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002/1 "2008-07-02T15:03:27Z")
I am in the process of migrating several rails apps from a single server that runs nginx, mongrel, and mysql to separate (virtual) servers and am wondering if I am, perhaps, overthinking my new deployment strategy. I am using Capistrano 2.1, btw… What I would prefer is for the app tree to be deployed such that the rails app stuff is only on the vm running the mongrels, the static files would go to the nginx server (which is proxying to the rails backend) and no files would get put on the mysql server… but this leaves me with a few questions 🙂 Is it safe to omit the public folder when publishing to the app role? Are there other folders in my rails app tree I can omit during deployment to production (like test…)? Is there an easier way to exclude files/folders from being deployed to a role than just sending them and then deleting them? I am using the copy+tgz strategy to update code to avoid the need for scm utils on the production servers. Thanks for any suggestions… ---
**Author:** ![s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/s0nspark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002/2 "2008-07-14T17:50:10Z")
Tim F. wrote: > I am in the process of migrating several rails apps from a single server > that runs nginx, mongrel, and mysql to separate (virtual) servers and am > wondering if I am, perhaps, overthinking my new deployment strategy. I > am using Capistrano 2.1, btw… okay. I did the same thing, first rev of application was all on one, and second one was on seperate virtual servers, such that I could move them to additional hardware and/or add mongrel cluster machines. > What I would prefer is for the app tree to be deployed such that the > rails app stuff is only on the vm running the mongrels, the static files > would go to the nginx server (which is proxying to the rails backend) > and no files would get put on the mysql server… but this leaves me > with a few questions 🙂 so, cap does not seem to do this. I just lived with the fact that my ruby code exists on my web server, such that /public gets pushed out. Oh well. I didn’t install mongrel or ruby on that machine, and it has no database passwords… > Is there an easier way to exclude files/folders from being deployed to a > role than just sending them and then deleting them? I am using the > copy+tgz strategy to update code to avoid the need for scm utils on the > production servers. I also realized that installing all of ruby/gem/etc. on my database server was silly. So, I don’t list my database server role. The machine marked as the “db” role is the one which will run the migrations. ---
**Author:** ![s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/s0nspark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002/3 "2008-07-14T18:18:51Z")
Jamis B. wrote: > On Jul 14, 2008, at 9:50 AM, Michael R. wrote: > > Note that cap _can_ do that…but you would need to write the tasks to > do it. The default deployment tasks are just opinions codified, and as > such only satisfy the majority of cases, but not all. Cap itself, > though, can be scripted to support a much larger set of deployment > scenarios. Thanks Jamis … the thing I find a bit difficult to get my head around is exactly which tasks are executed on which roles in the default tasks… Is this documented somewhere? Also, I currently have in place is a few custom tasks that replace certain default tasks and then replacement tasks for the cold\_deploy and deploy tasks that incorporate my custom tasks in the process where I need them. Is there an easier or better way to override defaults or is that the way it should/must be done? Cheers, Tim ---
**Author:** ![s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/s0nspark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002/4 "2008-07-14T18:11:56Z")
On Jul 14, 2008, at 9:50 AM, Michael R. wrote: > well. > I didn’t install mongrel or ruby on that machine, and it has no > database passwords… Note that cap _can_ do that…but you would need to write the tasks to do it. The default deployment tasks are just opinions codified, and as such only satisfy the majority of cases, but not all. Cap itself, though, can be scripted to support a much larger set of deployment scenarios. - Jamis ---
**Author:** ![s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@s0nspark](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/s0nspark)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/deployment-strategy-to-multiple-servers-with-differing-roles/142002/5 "2008-07-14T18:28:24Z")
On Jul 14, 2008, at 10:18 AM, Tim F. wrote: > > > > Thanks Jamis … the thing I find a bit difficult to get my head > around > is exactly which tasks are executed on which roles in the default > tasks… Is this documented somewhere? Alas, no. I’d recommend reading the capistrano/recipes/deploy.rb file, as it is pretty well documented and not as magical as most people seem to fear. (Not magical at all, really.) [http://github.com/jamis/capistrano/tree/master/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy.rb](http://github.com/jamis/capistrano/tree/master/lib/capistrano/recipes/deploy.rb) > Also, I currently have in place is a few custom tasks that replace > certain default tasks and then replacement tasks for the cold\_deploy > and > deploy tasks that incorporate my custom tasks in the process where I > need them. Is there an easier or better way to override defaults or is > that the way it should/must be done? You’ve got it right. When you need to change the behavior of one of the “meta” tasks (like deploy:cold or deploy), you basically need to do like you did, and rewrite it. - Jamis