Gang-
We are getting ready to launch our ROR application; the last item
remaining is the deployment platform. For testing, we had used Apache +
MOD_FastCGI. I am not that impressed with it; sometimes it has strange
effects. For example, when we start the application, for about 5 minutes
or so, the app is very unstable and it gets better over time.
My questions is … should I go with (1) mod_fastCGI or try (2) Lighttpd
OR (3)apache mod_proxy with mongrel. What are the pros and cons of these
three deployment platform. Also, are there any other solution. I would
love to hear from those who have their app in production.
Lighttpd
OR (3)apache mod_proxy with mongrel. What are the pros and cons of
these
three deployment platform. Also, are there any other solution. I would
love to hear from those who have their app in production.
/thanks
thila.
Thila-
A few questions...
How much traffic and on what kind of hardware are you running?
Do you need ssl?
Lighttpd/fcgi is a proven technology. I am running it in production
on a number of clusters. However… I like mongrel a lot better then
fcgi. It is more stable and pretty much the same speed as fcgi. Fcgi
is an older tech that has not been maintained very well. So my
recommendation is to use lighttpd/fcgi with your fcgi’s spawned
separately from the webserver. Or use mongrel with either apache2.2/
mod_proxy_balancer as the front end or pound/pen/haproxy as the front
end depending on whether or not you need ssl. Once lighty’s mod_proxy
is fixed I will most likely recommend that as a front end instead of
apache2.2. For now apache2.2/mod_proxy_balancer/mongrel_cluster is
one of the best ways to go.
On Thu, Jun 29, 2006 at 12:00:50AM +0200, thila thila wrote:
My questions is … should I go with (1) mod_fastCGI or try (2) Lighttpd
OR (3)apache mod_proxy with mongrel. What are the pros and cons of these
three deployment platform. Also, are there any other solution. I would
love to hear from those who have their app in production.
If you’re trying to set up a scalable solution, use something as a web
server, and something else as the app server (even if they’re on the
same machine).
Apache mod_proxy is a fine choice for the web server. If you’re familiar
with lighttpd or any other fast server, you can use that instead. You
can proxy onto another port number on locathost, or to another machine.
I’ve had luck with lighttpd/fastcgi as an app server; many people like
mongrel. If you’re not going to be using specific features of the app
server, choose whatever is easiest to set up at the moment Setting
your app server so it can only accept requests from the web server is a
good step too, for security reasons.
I have actually been wondering the apache 2.2 w/ mod_proxy_balancer &
mongrel for a cluster setup, but does this mean it won’t handle
forwarding SSL requests in a single server or cluster web app env?
So basically using something like pound would be the best solution to
forward SSL in a cluster? Thanks.
Ezra Z. wrote:
pound/pen/haproxy as the front
end depending on whether or not you need ssl. Once lighty’s mod_proxy
is fixed I will most likely recommend that as a front end instead of
apache2.2. For now apache2.2/mod_proxy_balancer/mongrel_cluster is
one of the best ways to go.
I have actually been wondering the apache 2.2 w/ mod_proxy_balancer &
mongrel for a cluster setup, but does this mean it won’t handle
forwarding SSL requests in a single server or cluster web app env?
So basically using something like pound would be the best solution to
forward SSL in a cluster? Thanks.
Just add this to your Apache ssl conf:
RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto “https”
You can also dig around in the railsmachine gem source for more
Apache->Mongrel cluster tricks.
My questions is … should I go with (1) mod_fastCGI or try (2) Lighttpd
OR (3)apache mod_proxy with mongrel. What are the pros and cons of these
three deployment platform. Also, are there any other solution. I would
love to hear from those who have their app in production.
I’m currently using a setup similar to the following. It’s good
reading, even if you don’t plan to use Apache 2.2 + proxy + mongrel
cluster.
Setting