How does Rails Machine work?

Our goal is to provide our customers with a stable, reliable, and secure hosting environment with a focus on fast, simple deployment. We want our customers to be able to deploy their applications quickly and easily without having to become experts in setting up the Rails stack or installing dozens of system utilities. Each Rails Machine virtual server comes installed with everything you need for almost every Rails application. This includes Apache, MySQL, Mongrel, Ruby, Rails, and most common gems. You may need to install additional gems or other software if your application needs it.

We’ve also created a system to help with deployment and application management: the Rails Machine gem. The gem takes the headache out of Rails deployment by providing a comprehensive set of Capistrano recipes to help you get your Rails application up and running quickly, and deployed easily. The Rails Machine gem will take care of most common tasks for you, including creating a Subversion repository for your project, setting up the database, configuring the Mongrel cluster, configuring Apache, and more.

What is the Rails Machine infrastructure?

Rails machine uses a Xen-based virtual private server infrastructure running CentOS 5 on dual processor, quad core Xeons with a 4 disk, RAID 10 storage system, 24/7/365 monitoring of network and hardware node, located in a Tier 1 data center with premium bandwidth.

With root access to your server, you can install any additional software or customize things any way you’d like. Our support pages include a step-by-step guide to get you up and running quickly, but if you do run into problems, we’re available to help.

How does support work? How quickly can I get help?

Our support system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can respond within minutes if you need urgent help. We’ll do our best to help you find the answers you need to solve any problems you may run into, everything from initial deployment to application tuning. We offer Ask Us Anything Support which includes our trouble-ticket system, the wiki, Customer Forums, and more.

If you need more than just answers and want the work done for you, you can purchase support by the hour, or establish a monthly support contract.

Do you offer an SLA?

Yes! We have a 99.9% SLA, and offer SLA credits if this is not met.

How is my data backed up?

All of our plans include complete, nightly snapshots of your entire server configuration as well as your application data, Subversion repositories, and all of your MySQL databases. Each backup is then preserved for 7 days. Should you ever need files restored, just submit a request through our support system and we’ll promptly restore your data for you.

If you require additional backup, you can use S3 for storing your application data or for creating your own backup routine to supplement our nightly snapshots.

How long will it take to get my server?

Usually, your server will be ready within 24 to 48 hours of placing an order. We do not have waiting lists. Once you your new server is ready, you’ll receive login information for each virtual server and instructions for securing your server, which can take up to 30 minutes. Once secure, you’re just 5 minutes from deploying your application.

Does it really only take 5 minutes to deploy my application?

Yes. After you’ve followed our guide to secure your server, it really only takes 5 minutes to deploy most Rails applications using the Rails Machine gem. All of the hard work is already done for you. Watch our video and see for yourself.

How will my application scale? What if I want to upgrade some or all of my services?

Our goal is to help your business and application grow. You can upgrade your bandwidth at any time to suit your needs. If you’re already a customer, you can either add additional resources like RAM, CPU, storage, or bandwidth, or you can move up to a bigger plan with more resources built-in. Visit our Upgrade page for more information.

I don’t see a phone number listed, can I get phone support?

Customers who subscribe to our managed services are eligible for our phone support, and receive contact details upon signup.

Do you offer DNS or email hosting?

We offer DNS services for customers who request it. DNS changes can then be requested through the support system. Alternatively, most domain registrars provide free DNS services, and supported DNS services are offered by DNS hosting services like DNS Made Easy.

What is virtualization?

Virtualization offers a way to segment a single physical server into separate, individual servers called a Virtual Server. Each virtual server is completely independent, allows multiple operating systems to run on the host server at the same time. Each virtual server is allocated its own dedicated RAM and disk space. When you sign up with Rails Machine, you get to decide how your server is segmented into virtual servers, and how each virtual server’s resources are allocated. You can even change the allocation of resources down the road as your application and business needs change and grow.

Behind the scenes, controlling this process, is special software called Xen. The Xen hypervisor acts as a thin layer between the hardware and the operating system, and manages the virtual servers. For more information, see the Xen website.

Can I have multiple virtual servers under 1 plan?

Yes. Most customers will choose to carve their server into multiple virtual servers, running one application on each virtual server, creating staging environments, development servers, etc. You can decide how you’d like to allocate your server’s resources, and we’re available to offer advice if you’d like.

How many websites or applications can i run on each virtual server?

We recommend running one application per virtual server. This is a technical limitation based on how much RAM is available. For example, if you’re running a Rails application, each of your mongrel processes is going to consume between 25-80 MB of RAM. On a virtual server with 512 MB of RAM, you could run 3-5 separate apps with 2 processes per app, or you could run a single application with 6-10 server processes. It all depends on your application’s needs. We’re here to help you create a setup that’s ideal for your application.

Can I get additional IP addresses?

Additional addresses are free to anyone who needs them. You can request an additional address through the support system. You can have as many addresses as you need, within reason. Usually you will need one address per SSL application on your server, and another address to serve all non-SSL applications.

Can I get a firewall?

All of our plans are protected by a firewall which blocks all incoming ports except SSH, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, SMTP, IMAP, POP3, and higher ports in the 8000-10000 range. If you’d like, you can further secure your virtual server using iptables.

Do you support PHP, Java, or Python?

Yes. While we specialize in Ruby on Rails applications, many of our customers run applications and provide services using other technologies such as PHP, Java, Python, and Perl, frameworks like Django or CakePHP, and applications like Webmin, WordPress, Expression Engine, Movable Type, HelpSpot, Trac, and more. We fully support these customers and technologies.