[LRUG] server admin UI on VPS?

Mon May 21 13:06:12 PDT 2012

If you want less hassle you probably want to separate out the Rails app
from any bit of the server the client can accidentally screw up - having
done what your doing in the past keeping these separated will save you no
end of trouble. Couple of ways to do it:

* put the Rails app on a different server (Linode/cheap Hetzner box) and
serve it from a separate domain so you can leave all the client controlled
stuff on www.mydomain.com and server the app from app.mydomain.com

* set up a separate web server to serve the app on your current server and
reverse proxy to it from the main Apache - Passenger Standalone is the
easiest solution which uses Nginx, check this post out that explains
setting it up (you won't necessarily need to do the RVM etc. stuff, just
the hamburgers.com setup)
http://blog.phusion.nl/2010/09/21/phusion-passenger-running-multiple-ruby-versions/

-- 
David Burrows
079 1234 2125
@dburrows

http://www.designsuperbuild.com/ | @dsgnsprbld

On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 7:26 PM, Riccardo Tacconi <rtacconi at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I had a similar problem and we were using CPanel. I have not installed
> passenger on CPanel but I managed that server later, I remember I updated
> Passenger to a new version; it was on Linode. It is possible to install
> passenger on CPanel, it usually uses CentOS. Compile and load the Passenger
> module. Then you can create a virtual host and change it to load your Rails
> app. I think virtual hosts are under the user's home directory. Apache
> files are under /etc/httpd. It is not so different from installing
> Passenger with Apache.
>
>
> On 21 May 2012 19:52, Viktor Tron <viktor.tron at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> **
>> Thanks guys, I am already using linode as my preferred VPS.  Linode admin
>> console is more like managing your VPS/account.
>> But the point is to give the client a UI to administer things. A UI
>> better than calling me to change stuff :)
>>
>> OK so let's be specific.
>> Sure installing a blog and a forum probably easy.
>> What tools if any allow:
>>
>>    - manage emails, maybe mailing lists
>>    - manage subdomains, do GUIs exist for nginx/apache?
>>    - detailed web access analytics GUI
>>    - manage ftp accounts
>>    - view db directly (like phpMyAdmin)
>>
>> thanks a million
>>
>> On Mon, 21 May 2012 18:32:11 +0100, Chris Adams <mail at chrisadams.me.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>>  I'd second James on the Linode recommendation.
>>
>> You'll get more server your money than if you go with AWS.
>>
>> C
>>
>>
>> --
>> Chris Adams
>> mobile: 07974 368 229
>> twitter: @mrchrisadams
>> www: chrisadams.me.uk
>>
>> On Monday, 21 May 2012 at 18:29, Ed James (Alt) wrote:
>>
>>  Hey,
>>
>> It sounds like you need full control of your server, so you're probably
>> better off going with a provider like Amazon or Linode. You'll get a
>> bare-bones server install and the rest is up to you, so if you're not
>> afraid of the sys-admin side of things this is what I'd suggest.
>>
>> The Linode admin console is ok, but their tech support and prices are
>> excellent.
>>
>> --
>> Ed James
>> Sent with Sparrow <http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig>
>>
>> On Monday, 21 May 2012 at 18:25, Viktor Tron wrote:
>>
>>  Hi lruggers,
>>
>> Sorry for this offish email, but so many clever web people here I wanna
>> hear you.
>>
>> I developed a rails app. The client also wants to do a lot of management
>> on the server on the same domain, ideally including:
>>
>>    - blog (wordpress)
>>    - forum (ideally seeded with a phpforum export, but not crucial)
>>    - manage emails, maybe mailing lists
>>    - manage subdomains
>>    - detailed anaylytics
>>    - ftp accounts, manage access
>>
>> Since for background jobs I almost defo need root access we opted for a
>> host that offered cpanel-based managed server with root access.
>> Now apart from the fact that cpanel feels like a thing of the past and
>> looks like a monster if you look on the server, I also failed to hack
>> apache config to handle my rails app (running on passenger)
>> (I simply wanted 2 vhost entries, non-ssl one redirecting to the the
>> other on ssl, already something impossible to do)
>>
>> The above seems like a pretty reasonable list of things to want. Now my
>> question to you. How is this best done?
>> I do not mind to install wordpress myself and get my hands dirty if you
>> suggest good solutions to the other tasks?
>> Are heroku and suchlike rails-friendly hosts offering you these admin UIs
>> and I am just better off trying to get my rails app working without
>> insisting on root shell?
>>
>> I appreciate all comments and pointers
>>
>> Vik
>>
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>
>
> --
> Riccardo Tacconi
> Ruby on Rails and PHP development - System Administration
> VIRTUELOGIC LIMITED
>
> http://github.com/rtacconi
> http://riccardotacconi.blogspot.com
> http://twitter.com/rtacconi
>
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