# Installing passenger on a 20-node farm; tool for automation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 31, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400 "2009-03-31T23:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/1 "2009-03-31T23:59:49Z")
Hi there. I am installing passenger across our cluster, but this question applies to software management in general across a farm. Can you recommend a tool for installing/upgrading software (e.g. passenger, apache, monit) on an arbitrarily big app server farm? Thanks, Chris ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/2 "2009-04-01T00:41:41Z")
> I am installing passenger across our cluster, but this question > applies > to software management in general across a farm. > > Can you recommend a tool for installing/upgrading software (e.g. > passenger, apache, monit) on an arbitrarily big app server farm? Try puppet. ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/3 "2009-04-01T00:59:06Z")
Philip H. wrote: > > I am installing passenger across our cluster, but this question > > applies > > to software management in general across a farm. > > > > Can you recommend a tool for installing/upgrading software (e.g. > > passenger, apache, monit) on an arbitrarily big app server farm? > > Try puppet. Cool, puppet looks like a great solution (although it looks fairly involved, so I’ll have to read up a bit more). Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/4 "2009-04-01T01:18:33Z")
On Mar 31, 2009, at 2:59 PM, Chris J. wrote: > I am installing passenger across our cluster, but this question > applies > to software management in general across a farm. > > Can you recommend a tool for installing/upgrading software (e.g. > passenger, apache, monit) on an arbitrarily big app server farm? If you’re willing to run Ubuntu 8.10 right now for all 20 nodes, ‘moonshine’ from RailsMachine works really well! It can automatically build out a full stack (Apache, Passenger, MySQL, etc) on systems that have yet to have been installed (and then continue to maintain and upgrade them). Rails Machine Projects - Moonshine, Rails Machine Gem, Shadow Puppet It should work with other distros (and other versions of Ubuntu), but will require some retrofitting. I’ve used this tool on a few linode instances so far, and have been very pleased (although I’m still learning to use it). -Kevin ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/5 "2009-04-01T01:27:28Z")
Kevin E. wrote: > On Mar 31, 2009, at 2:59 PM, Chris J. wrote: > > > I am installing passenger across our cluster, but this question > > applies > > to software management in general across a farm. > > > > Can you recommend a tool for installing/upgrading software (e.g. > > passenger, apache, monit) on an arbitrarily big app server farm? > > If you’re willing to run Ubuntu 8.10 right now for all 20 nodes, > ‘moonshine’ from RailsMachine works really well! > > It can automatically build out a full stack (Apache, Passenger, MySQL, > etc) on systems that have yet to have been installed (and then > continue to maintain and upgrade them). > > Rails Machine Projects - Moonshine, Rails Machine Gem, Shadow Puppet > > It should work with other distros (and other versions of Ubuntu), but > will require some retrofitting. > > I’ve used this tool on a few linode instances so far, and have been > very pleased (although I’m still learning to use it). > > -Kevin Good info; I’ll check moonshine out. The servers are mature (they already have most software package installed, running in a production environment), so I’ll have to see if moonshine excels both on clean installs and on machines with existing packages. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/6 "2009-04-02T00:29:11Z")
Earl Ruby wrote: > On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Chris J. > [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Cool, puppet looks like a great solution (although it looks fairly > > involved, so I’ll have to read up a bit more). > > Puppet is one of those tools that takes about a day to learn enough > for it to be useful, and after about three days you can’t get along > without it, and after a week you’re cursing yourself for not learning > to use it sooner. > > (Highly recommended.) > > – > Earl Ruby > [http://earlruby.org/](http://earlruby.org/) Funny comment. Ok, I’m convinced. Thanks for that kick in the pants. ---
**Author:** ![cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@cpher](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/cpher)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/installing-passenger-on-a-20-node-farm-tool-for-automation/164400/7 "2009-04-02T00:20:15Z")
On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Chris J. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Cool, puppet looks like a great solution (although it looks fairly > involved, so I’ll have to read up a bit more). Puppet is one of those tools that takes about a day to learn enough for it to be useful, and after about three days you can’t get along without it, and after a week you’re cursing yourself for not learning to use it sooner. (Highly recommended.) – Earl Ruby [http://earlruby.org/](http://earlruby.org/)