Installing a Ruby-on-Rails Application

A Ruby on Rails application is deployed at alwaysdata just like any other Rack application. If you are just starting out, this document will guide you through your deployment step by step.

Installing the application

There are a number of ways to install Ruby on Rails application. Here are some examples.

Via gem

If the application to deploy is available as a package, it can be installed with gem:

$ gem install radiant
$ radiant myapp

Via Git

If the code for your application is available on a Git (or Mercurial, SVN etc.) deposit:

$ git clone git://internal.example.com/superman/myapp.git

New project

If you start a new application, you can use rails:

$ gem install rails
$ rails new myapp

Other methods

You can install your application in a number of other ways: rsync, FTP etc.

Installing dependencies

If your application has dependencies (via a Gemfile), you can install them with Bundler:

$ bundle install

Configuring the application

You will probably need to change the configuration of your application, e.g. by configuring a database.

Adding a Rack site

Add a Rack site in the Web > Sites section of the administration heading:

• addresses: www.example.org (for example)
• type: Ruby Rack
• application path: /myapp/config.ru
• use Bundler: check the box if you use Bundler (if you have a Gemfile)
• static paths: /static/=/my_static_directory/

If you want to deploy your site in a production environment you need to add environment variables, for example:

RAILS_ENV=production
SECRET_KEY_BASE=Biy2sah8ohsh5ov