- What is Passenger™?
- What is the difference between your managed and unmanaged service?
- Am I limited to which version of Rails I can use?
- How often are Ruby and Passenger™ updated?
- What kind of resources does each Rails application get?
- One app per account?
- What kind of support do you provide?
- Can I upgrade from one package to another?
- What happens at the end of a trial account?
- Can you provide dedicated Rails hosting?
- What are PeepCode tutorials?
- What is Sinatra?
What is Passenger™?
The Phusion Passenger™ (aka mod_rails / mod_rack) Apache module improves the performance, stability and simplicity of Rails application deployment, and replaces the previous deployment method of having to configure mongrel clusters and Apache proxies. In doing so, it works around the previous impracticalities and barriers of offering shared Rails hosting.
Can I install gems?
We pre-install a pretty comprehensive set of gems on our shared servers which grows on an almost daily basis. If you find that you need a gem installing, let us know and we'll take care of it for you. Alternatively, you can convert your app to use bundler, which will enable you to install gems on your account without root permissions. This is the default behaviour with Rails 3 apps, but Rails 2.3.x applications can be made to work with bundler also.
Am I limited to which version of Rails I can use?
You're free to use your preferred version of Rails - we have multiple versions of Rails running within our shared hosting environment and continue to keep old versions installed when we upgrade. Passenger™ takes care of handling Rails versions and loads up the correct version that your app requires. So if we upgrade Rails, your app will continue to use the old version, until you decide to upgrade the Rails version in your environment.rb config file.
How often are Ruby and Passenger™ updated?
Passenger™ is updated when new releases are distributed by Phusion, and Ruby is upgraded when new versions of Ruby Enterprise Edition are released (once we've tested them for stability on our platform). You can keep a tab on exactly what we're up to by subscribing to our blog or following us on Twitter, which we update when upgrades and other notable events take place (such as announcing support for additional frameworks).
What kind of resources does each Rails application get?
An app will have have Passenger™ instances of their app spawned as required, which will die off after a period of inactivity. So you could have multiple Passenger™ instances running at any one time, depending on the popularity of your site. There is a global pool of instances on the server which are assigned to apps as and when required. We monitor the load on the servers to ensure that they are not overloaded. Other typical resources (e.g. disk and bandwidth allocation) are assigned according to your package level.
One app per account?
Currently, due to the technical restraints of providing shared Rails hosting, it is only possible to run one Rails or Sinatra application per account.
What kind of support do you provide?
We're happy to help you get your apps up and running, and will assist with initial deployment to a production environment. Ongoing support is available via our freephone service and managed ticket system, whilst we are continually adding to our library of Rails/Passenger™ knowledgebase articles.
Can I upgrade from one package to another?
Yes, this is something that you are free to do at any time - all we need to do is adjust your resource allocations and billing details accordingly.
What happens at the end of a trial account?
If you're pleased with the service and would like to become a paying customer, we will simply rename your account - you won't lose any of the work that you've already done. Alternatively, if our hosting service isn't for you, then you're absolutely free to leave.
Can you provide dedicated Rails hosting?
Yes, whether you require a server from the start, or see yourself scaling up over time, we can install the same mod_rails LAMP stack on a managed dedicated server. You can view our dedicated server line up here.
What are PeepCode tutorials?
PeepCode Screencast tutorials are a highly regarded, high-intensity way to learn Ruby on Rails website development. Each Rails hosting account purchased from 1st Easy includes a coupon that can be used to purchase a single PeepCode ScreenCast (video tutorial) or PDF Book.
What is Sinatra?
Sinatra is a DSL (Domain Specific Language) for creating small Ruby-based web applications (where, perhaps a full Rails stack would be overkill). To find out more, take a look at our Sinatra blog post, which includes further information and links to some useful resources.
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