# Win32 deployment **URL:** \ **Category:** Deployment\ **Created:** [February 5, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546 "2007-02-05T21:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 9:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/1 "2007-02-05T21:59:14Z")
Has anyone hacked their way through microsoft version of FastCGI for IIS? > **[Installing PHP on Windows Vista with FastCGI](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/application-frameworks/install-and-configure-php-on-iis/installing-php-on-windows-vista-with-fastcgi)** > > Microsoft IIS 7.0 for Windows Vista SP1 now includes a built-in FastCGI component. To get detailed information on how to use FastCGI component to host PHP ap... I’m trying to get it to work, but it’s giving me fits, keeps reporting error 0x80004005 – “Tradin’ my time for the pay I get, Livin’ on money that I ain’t made yet, Gotta keep going, gotta find my way, But I’ll live for the end of the day.” ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/2 "2007-02-06T05:25:55Z")
Marlon M. wrote: > Has anyone hacked their way through microsoft version of FastCGI for IIS? > > [Installing PHP on Windows Vista with FastCGI | Microsoft Learn](http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051) > [http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051](http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051) > > I’m trying to get it to work, but it’s giving me fits, keeps reporting > error 0x80004005 I’m not very familiar with the win32 platform, but I hear that Mongrel runs on it. Have you considered running your application on mongrel and using IIS (does it do load balancing/proxying?) in front of it rather than have IIS directly run the application? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 7:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/3 "2007-02-06T07:34:02Z")
On 2/5/07, Robby R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I’m not very familiar with the win32 platform, but I hear that Mongrel > runs on it. Have you considered running your application on mongrel and > using IIS (does it do load balancing/proxying?) in front of it rather > than have IIS directly run the application? IIS does not have a builtin reverse proxy. There are various ways that this can be done. There are commerical products (aka: MS ISA Server ~ $1500/processor ([http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/howtobuy/default.mspx](http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/howtobuy/default.mspx))). There is also an open source (MIT licenced) [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET) application that will do this for you, but I’m not certain what the performance hit will be ([SaltyPickle.com is for sale | HugeDomains](http://www.saltypickle.com/Home/16)) I’m guessing that you want your rails apps to work through IIS so that you can run rails apps along side ASP/ASP.NET apps on the same server, otherwise you’d just use win32 Apache. If that’s the case then you’re best option for performance might be to run win32 apache and proxy your IIS apps through it. – Wes ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/4 "2007-02-06T14:48:21Z")
yes. Aside from ColdFusion and the new RoR apps that I’m creating, we’re a 100% microsoft shop. Is it possible to run both IIS and Apache on the same win32 server? I’ve never tried that, but as long as it wouldn’t interfere with the normal IIS operation, I think I could get that done. As for the reverse proxy, that would only hit 1 mongrel process right? On 2/6/07, Wesley M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > > > this can be done. There are commerical products (aka: MS ISA Server ~ > your IIS apps through it. > > – Wes > > > – “Tradin’ my time for the pay I get, Livin’ on money that I ain’t made yet, Gotta keep going, gotta find my way, But I’ll live for the end of the day.” ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/5 "2007-02-06T15:01:22Z")
Marlon M. wrote: > yes. Aside from ColdFusion and the new RoR apps that I’m creating, > we’re a 100% microsoft shop. Is it possible to run both IIS and Apache > on the same win32 server? I’ve never tried that, but as long as it > wouldn’t interfere with the normal IIS operation, I think I could get > that done. > > As for the reverse proxy, that would only hit 1 mongrel process right? Apache (2.2) has a proxy balancer, so you could proxy several mongrel instances. Here is a blog post that I just found from a quick google search. - [http://rubyurl.com/z1M](http://rubyurl.com/z1M) You’ll want to look at these sections. \ BalancerMember [http://127.0.0.1:8000](http://127.0.0.1:8000) BalancerMember [http://127.0.0.1:8001](http://127.0.0.1:8001) BalancerMember [http://127.0.0.1:8002](http://127.0.0.1:8002) and where it’s using rewrite to talk to the balancer. Putting Apache on port 80 and hiding IIS behind it might be a good solution for many of your hosting needs in your all-windows environment. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/6 "2007-02-06T21:31:09Z")
I have run Apache on W2K, it is really easy to install, and stable. Its configuration is the same than linux so it should not be a problem. Putting IIS behind is a very good idea. – Aníbal Rojas > **[RUBYCORNER.COM](https://www.rubycorner.com/)** > > RUBYCORNER.COM - Contact us for any business inquiries > **[Home - Has Many Developers](https://hasmanydevelopers.com/)** > > We are the best choice for your building design and development ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/7 "2007-02-06T18:49:49Z")
On 2/6/07, Marlon M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > yes. Aside from ColdFusion and the new RoR apps that I’m creating, we’re a > 100% microsoft shop. Is it possible to run both IIS and Apache on the same > win32 server? I’ve never tried that, but as long as it wouldn’t interfere > with the normal IIS operation, I think I could get that done. Yeah, I’ve done it so I could run Subversion through Apache, and still run IIS apps. It means that you have to run your IIS apps on another port, and proxy through apache. The downside is that you have to maintain two server configurations for your IIS apps. BTW, I looked at the dotNet reverse proxy, but it doesn’t seem to handle relative URLs properly. Otherwise, it might not be a bad choice for an MS only shop. If you can get it to work it will save you from having to maintain two web server configurations. > As for the reverse proxy, that would only hit 1 mongrel process right? You’ll want to have at least two mongrel processes, maybe more depending on the amount of traffic that your app will receive. – Wes ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/8 "2007-02-08T17:09:35Z")
I’ll plug my stuff again [http://www.napcs.com/howto/rails/deploy/index.html](http://www.napcs.com/howto/rails/deploy/index.html) And there’s a book coming out that will cover this topic shortly. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/9 "2007-02-08T17:19:39Z")
Hey Brian, I must say that I definitely gleaned a lot of knowledge from your site. I ended up going with an Apache front to several mongrel processes. This really is an easy way to deploy. Luckily our last asp app is on it’s way out and I think I’ll be able to replace IIS with Apache. I just need to figure out how to do ssl client certs with it now. I had first tried to use Lighttpd as the balancer with your instructions, but I guess they’ve changed up the syntax of the configuration file. I also found some additional information here: [http://brainspl.at/articles/2006/06/12/apache2-2-vhost-template-for-mongrel-clusters](http://brainspl.at/articles/2006/06/12/apache2-2-vhost-template-for-mongrel-clusters) On 2/8/07, Brian H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Marlon M. wrote: > > > > > > BalancerMemberhttp://127.0.0.1:8000 > > > Good luck! > > > – “Tradin’ my time for the pay I get, Livin’ on money that I ain’t made yet, Gotta keep going, gotta find my way, But I’ll live for the end of the day.” ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/10 "2007-02-08T17:34:41Z")
We’re actually going to deploy a ROR service this sunday using the “Integrate Rails into an Existing IIS Web infrastructure using Mongrel” strategy found on your site (big thanks for sharing that knowledge btw). Which means we’re using ISAPI Rewrite to forward requests to one mongrel instance. But looking at how people are usually deploying on \*nix platforms with mongrel\_cluster using many mongrel instances on the same machine, I’m wondering if just having one mongrel instance behind IIS is a bad idea. Or rather, a non optimal solution. I haven’t really figured out what makes clustered mongrels better than just having one mongrel though. It’s not like I would put up a bunch of IIS instances on the same machine to serve a .NET app, or a bunch of Apaches on the same machine to serve a php app. But a bunch of mongrels are apparently the way to go. How come? In our case we can’t replace IIS with Apache since it would probably freak out the server administrator completely. And we do have som .NET stuff on there as well 😉 Ideas of what the best deployment scenario with IIS in front would be would be much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/11 "2007-02-08T17:24:39Z")
Yeah… well lighttpd as the balancer is crappy anyway. It just doesn’t perform well cos there are serious bugs in the proxy system. Apache + mod\_proxy\_balancer is the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/12 "2007-02-08T22:32:17Z")
You’ll need more than one instance of Mongrel. The articles I wrote are all being redone and will be in the Rails Deployment book, so I can’t update those on the web. Install Apache 2.2 with mod\_proxy\_balance, make that balance your multiple Mongrels on Windows, and point ISAPI\_REWRITE to Apache instead of a single Mongrel. Or, if you don’t like configuration, you can just use Pen, which has a Windows port. Get that running as a service and just point ISAPI\_Rewrite to that. If you really need detailed setups and can’t wait for the beta book, contact me off-list. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/13 "2007-02-09T16:17:47Z")
Thanks for all your input. Going to attempt using Pen. Right now having problems starting the mongrel cluster. Here’s some output… C:\ruby\apps\STREAM~1\>mongrel\_rails cluster::start --verbose Starting 10 Mongrel servers… mongrel\_rails start -d -e production -p 8000 -P log/mongrel.8000.pid c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-0.2.1/lib/ mongrel\_cluster/init.rb :53:in ``’: Exec format error - mongrel\_rails start -d -e production - p 8000 -P log/mongrel.8000.pid (Errno::ENOEXEC) Don’t get what the problem is here. I can copy/paste the commandline (mongrel\_rails start -d -e production -p 8000 -P log/mongrel.8000.pid) and run it just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/14 "2007-02-08T17:51:44Z")
From the Mongrel FAQ: "Ruby on Rails is not thread safe so there is a synchronized block around the calls to Dispatcher.dispatch. This means that everything is threaded right before and right after Rails runs. While Rails is running there is only one controller in operation at a time. This is why people typically have to run a small set of Mongrel processes (a “Pack of Mongrels”) to get good concurrency. If you have long running actions then you’ll most likely have performance problems. You should look at BackgrounDRB as a very nice way to offload work to another process so that your Rails app can keep working." So if you expect to have more than one concurrent user, then you’ll want multiple mongrels to keep the response time low. If you are setting up a low usage app (say for internal use) then one mongrel may be sufficient. As for running IIS on the front end … there are a couple of ways that I can think of: 1. Use apache to reverse proxy the mongrels to a high numbered port. Then use ISAPI Rewrite to forward requests to apache. 2. Use a proxy application built for IIS that supports multiple back ends. I found one ([SaltyPickle.com is for sale | HugeDomains](http://www.saltypickle.com/Home/16)) which is a .NET app, but in the 15 minutes I played with it, I was not able to get it working properly (URLs got mangled). You might have better luck than I did. There may be better reverse proxy options for IIS out there, and they’ll probably cost you some money. You’ll have to do some research. The official MS solution would be to buy MS ISA server, which costs $1500/processor. Good luck! – Wes ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/15 "2007-02-09T16:31:49Z")
On 2/9/07, David B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > mongrel\_rails start -d -e production -p 8000 -P log/mongrel.8000.pid > c:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel\_cluster-0.2.1/lib/ > mongrel\_cluster/init.rb > :53:in ``': Exec format error - mongrel\_rails start -d -e production - > p 8000 -P > log/mongrel.8000.pid (Errno::ENOEXEC) The problem is Win32 lacks forking (or daemonize) which is used by mongrel with -d parameter, to detach from the console and stay running. No mongrel\_cluster for win32 (yet). > Don’t get what the problem is here. I can copy/paste the commandline > (mongrel\_rails start -d -e production -p 8000 -P log/mongrel.8000.pid) > and run it just fine. The workaround is create multiple mongrel\_services definitions and set them to start automatic. Please refer to Mongrel win32 specific docs at [http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/docs/win32.html](http://mongrel.rubyforge.org/docs/win32.html) ## – Luis L. Multimedia systems Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/16 "2007-02-09T16:36:51Z")
Thanks for the quick reply, ironically I was just reading your replies in this thread: [http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread\_id=7056&forum\_id=5450](http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=7056&forum_id=5450) A bunch of services it is then! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/17 "2007-02-09T16:39:51Z")
On 2/9/07, David B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thanks for the quick reply, ironically I was just reading your replies > in this thread: > [http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread\_id=7056&forum\_id=5450](http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=7056&forum_id=5450) > > A bunch of services it is then! 🙂 Yeah, still need to tweak cluster support built into mongrel\_service. But want ship the new version _batteries included_, ala, ship with a lightweight TCP balancer just for your mongrels 🙂 Until then… a bunch of services 😛 ## – Luis L. Multimedia systems Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/18 "2007-02-09T17:32:00Z")
Luis: Can you email me off list about the balancer? Want to know about more for my book. ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/19 "2007-03-08T21:37:03Z")
On 3/8/07, andre in LA [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi, I have been following this discussion as I am about to deploy a > rails app in an IIS + ISAPIRewrite + Mongrel environment. > > You say that multiple instances of mongrel servers as services will > work out but I am wondering how to make ISAPIRewrite use anything but > the first instance. If the mongrel1 is running at port 7000, then > mongrel2 is running at 7001 then who or what decides which instance > will handle an incoming request? ISAPIRewrite don’t know anything about if you have one or a bunch of mongrels. So, you ned to drop Pen [1] into the equation. Pen will handle the balance between instances. [1] [Pen](http://siag.nu/pen/) ## – Luis L. Multimedia systems Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. Vince Lombardi ---
**Author:** ![Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Marlon\_M](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Marlon_M)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546/20 "2007-03-08T21:29:02Z")
Hi, I have been following this discussion as I am about to deploy a rails app in an IIS + ISAPIRewrite + Mongrel environment. You say that multiple instances of mongrel servers as services will work out but I am wondering how to make ISAPIRewrite use anything but the first instance. If the mongrel1 is running at port 7000, then mongrel2 is running at 7001 then who or what decides which instance will handle an incoming request? The proxy rule in the ISAPIRewrite module is [ISAPI\_Rewrite] RewriteProxy (.\*) http://localhost:7000$1 [I,U] How will the mongrel instance at localhost:7001 get a request? Thank you! Andre [Next page](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32-deployment/84546.md?page=2)