# How many mongrel servers to setup

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [June 5, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586 "2008-06-05T07:23:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nextpulse)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586/1 "2008-06-05T07:23:12Z")

</div>

Is there a formula, data points etc that I can use to decide how many  
mongrel servers is the optimal/max for a mongrel cluster setup on a  
box?

i.e what should I look for in terms of processing, load etc.

Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nextpulse)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586/2 "2008-06-05T07:48:26Z")

</div>

From what I’ve heard, 50MB per mongrel is a conservative estimate,  
sometimes  
they will take up a lot more. There have been plenty of threads already  
on  
this, something a little searching should be able to turn up.

On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 2:52 PM, nextpulse [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> 

–  
Appreciated my help?  
Recommend me on Working With Rails  
[http://workingwithrails.com/person/11030-ryan-bigg](http://workingwithrails.com/person/11030-ryan-bigg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nextpulse)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586/3 "2008-06-05T08:32:27Z")

</div>

You could take a look at Phusion Passenger at  
[http://www.modrails.com/index.html](http://www.modrails.com/index.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nextpulse)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586/4 "2008-06-07T07:46:50Z")

</div>

Is there a possibility of setting up a test server and then testing  
out a few different methods of hosting your application? Mongrel,  
Thin, and Passenger all deserve considering (IMHO), but you need to  
test them in order to find the best setup for your application and  
group.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@nextpulse](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/nextpulse)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-many-mongrel-servers-to-setup/139586/5 "2008-06-07T11:45:04Z")

</div>

On Jun 5, 6:22 am, nextpulse [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Is there a formula, data points etc that I can use to decide how many  
> mongrel servers is the optimal/max for a mongrel cluster setup on a  
> box?

I think you just need some quick back of the envelope calculations: if  
an individual mongrel can serve 50 requests/s and your site needs to  
be able to deal with 80 requests a second then you need 2 mongrels (of  
course it’s never quite as simple, obviously some usage patterns or  
tasks on your app will be slower than others, you just need some sort  
of representative sample of what 1 mongrel can handle compared to what  
the whole site can handle).

Fred