# Fastest Way to run Rails **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 24, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-way-to-run-rails/107640 "2007-06-24T18:15:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/919ad9/32.png) [@laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/laurin1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-way-to-run-rails/107640/1 "2007-06-24T18:15:23Z")
Hi, I am a bit confused about what is the fastest way to run a rails application. I have seen examples which use Apache, mongrel, lighthttpd, fastcgi etc. Is there a correct way to do it? Or is it just a personal choice? Thanks, Keith ---
**Author:** ![laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/919ad9/32.png) [@laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/laurin1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-way-to-run-rails/107640/2 "2007-06-24T18:37:26Z")
On Jun 24, 2007, at 12:14 PM, Keith D. wrote: > I am a bit confused about what is the fastest way to run a rails > application. > > I have seen examples which use Apache, mongrel, lighthttpd, fastcgi > etc. > > Is there a correct way to do it? Or is it just a personal choice? I don’t really call it _correct_, but even though YMMV, I’ve had more luck using mongrel (mongrel\_cluster, really), and an HTTP proxy to load balance between the mongrels. Apache with mod\_proxy\_balancer gets used a lot for that, and after a presentation on last Railsconf more people have started testing this thing called nginx instead. [1] nginx load balancing mongrel cluster: [http://leancode.com/2007/05/20/scaling-rails-nginx-plus-mongrel-cluster/](http://leancode.com/2007/05/20/scaling-rails-nginx-plus-mongrel-cluster/) [2] Apache 2.2 mod\_proxy\_balancer and mongrel cluster: [http://blog.innerewut.de/articles/2006/04/21/scaling-rails-with-](http://blog.innerewut.de/articles/2006/04/21/scaling-rails-with-) apache-2-2-mod\_proxy\_balancer-and-mongrel – Jordi ---
**Author:** ![laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/919ad9/32.png) [@laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/laurin1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-way-to-run-rails/107640/3 "2007-06-24T19:33:33Z")
You may want to take a look at Litespeed, too. I am mystified as to why Litespeed doesn’t get more attention: the deployment process is by far the easiest of all production setups, it does load balancing and dynamic creation of server processes, it servers static content extremely fast, and it reads Apache config files. / Peter B. 24 jun 2007 kl. 18.14 skrev Keith D.: ---
**Author:** ![laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/919ad9/32.png) [@laurin1](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/laurin1)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/fastest-way-to-run-rails/107640/4 "2007-06-24T20:08:37Z")
I am using Apache/Mongrel\_cluster but they are behind a Cisco 11501 CSS/LB. If cost is not a factor for you so much, then IMHO this is the way to go. I’ve been a \*nix admin for about 9 years and have managed many web clusters but only one rails cluster thus far and using the Cisco CSS/LB really makes it simple. But it is an expensive piece of hardware. I’d say that the only thing I don’t like so much about mongrel is the error logging. Which is not entirely Mongrels fault being that Ruby errors can be obscure at times as well. Maybe I am doing something wrong with my config, but my mongrel logs aren’t timestamped which makes it really difficult to trace down problems for me at times unless I happen to catch an issue as it occures. So if anyone knows how to get more verbose logging out of mongrel in a production environment let me know. I guess I can script the time stamping, but haven’t got that far yet. On 6/24/07, Peter B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > – Michael S. Linux Admin/Developer AIM: mikesteinfeld GTALK: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid