# Why cannot see webpage, only display directories (webrick)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677>\
**Category:** Deployment\
**Created:** [February 7, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677 "2007-02-07T19:14:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/yan)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677/1 "2007-02-07T19:14:25Z")

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I think I almost got it. But other than see the default welcome page in  
the public folder I cannot see other pages that I created using  
scaffold.

When I type the application name that I created using “rails” command,  
it only displays the directories under it.

I am using webrick. I guess it comes with rails.  
I have seen people saying using mongrel. Which one is better in terms of  
working with apache?

I am still not very clear about how it actually works. Any suggestion of  
any books, tutorials for beginners of those server configrations?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/yan)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677/2 "2007-02-07T20:12:25Z")

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It sounds like you are still working within a development deployment,  
rather than a deployment environment.

> When I type the application name that I created using “rails” command,  
> it only displays the directories under it.

where are you typing this name? You should be accessing your  
application at [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)

Best,  
Jamie

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**Author:** ![yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/yan)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677/3 "2007-02-07T23:50:02Z")

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I can see the pages on the server (local host). localhost works fine.  
But when I am using the other computer and typed domain. I can only see  
the directory list.

removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote:

> It sounds like you are still working within a development deployment,  
> rather than a deployment environment.
> 
> > When I type the application name that I created using “rails” command,  
> > it only displays the directories under it.
> 
> where are you typing this name? You should be accessing your  
> application at [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000)
> 
> Best,  
> Jamie

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**Author:** ![yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/yan)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677/4 "2007-02-08T15:46:26Z")

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Webrick is useful only for development, not production. It is way too  
slow. There’s a some message thread here on mongrel that you might  
look at.

If you are seeing the rails welcom message, you may have a file named  
index.html in your app/public directory. Rename this to something like  
oldindex.html and retry.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@yan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/yan)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-cannot-see-webpage-only-display-directories-webrick/102677/5 "2007-02-08T16:05:27Z")

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Yan wrote:

> 

Yes, you’ll want to use Mongrel for this and usually people have  
something in front of it (Apache, Nginx, Pound, Lighttpd).

> I am still not very clear about how it actually works. Any suggestion of  
> any books, tutorials for beginners of those server configrations?

I think that there is some mention of this in the Agile Web Dev with  
Rails book.

Some of our customers are working on deployment tips here:

- [http://docs.planetargon.com/Deployment](http://docs.planetargon.com/Deployment)

Good luck!

Robby

–  
Robby R.  
[http://www.robbyonrails.com/](http://www.robbyonrails.com/)

> **[Planet Argon](https://www.planetargon.com/)**
>
> Planet Argon is a Ruby on Rails development agency specializing in maintenance and support for existing Rails apps. Based in Portland, OR, Planet Argon has been a member of the Rails community since 2004.