Ubuntu Setup

This script prepares your Ubuntu Server to run Rails apps. Some security settings are also applied like changing the SSH port and blocking all ports but 80 (www), 443 (https) and your SSH port (through Iptables).

A sudoer user will be created to deploy your application. Here's how $HOME is structured:

/home/<user>/config/thin.yml          ~> thin configuration file
/home/<user>/config/database.yml      ~> rails database.yml file
/home/<user>/config/nginx/<user>.conf ~> nginx application configuration file
/home/<user>/config/memcached.conf    ~> memcached configuration file
/home/<user>/website                  ~> Capistrano deployment directory
/home/<user>/config/deploy.rb         ~> Capistrano deploy.rb

Thin, Nginx and Memcached are added to boot start, so you're application will be automatically started after restarting the server.

ATTENTION: I ran this script in a Parallels Ubuntu install, without any problem. I'm still developing my application, so I haven't had the chance to test it in a real VPS.

Usage

Before you start, make sure you're running this script in a fresh Ubuntu install.

You should be logged as root. If you have a VPS, then you probably have a root account. If you're running an Ubuntu Server on your own, you have to enable the root account. Just run sudo passwd and set your root password.

Now download the script installer and uncompress it.

su root
cd ~
wget http://github.com/fnando/ubuntu-setup/tarball/master -O ubuntu-setup.tar.gz
tar xvf ubuntu-setup.tar.gz
rm ubuntu-setup.tar.gz
mv fnando-ubuntu-setup* ubuntu-setup
cd ubuntu-setup

Run sh install.sh and answer to the dialogs.

Deploying the application

First, run the command capify in your project root.

capify .

Copy the sample Capistrano recipe from $HOME/conf/deploy.rb on your server to your-project/conf/deploy.rb.

You need to change the repository and SCM (which defaults to Git). When you're done just run the following commands:

cap deploy:setup # just the first time
cap deploy

You may need to add the server SSH key to your SCM server. Alternatively you can set up the SSH Agent.

What will be installed?

• Ruby
• Nginx
• Memcached
• MySQL and analysis tools
  • mytop ~ http://jeremy.zawodny.com/mysql/mytop/
  • Maatkit ~ http://www.maatkit.org/
• Git
• Subversion
• Postfix
• Denyhosts & Logwatch

Troubleshooting

When I start the Denyhosts daemon my IP is added to the hosts.deny list. What should I do?

Erase your /var/log/auth.log and remove all files under /var/lib/denyhosts. The following command should do the trick:

su root
> /var/log/auth.log
rm /var/lib/denyhosts/*

You also need to remove your IP from /etc/hosts.deny.

TODO

• Script should configure Postfix
• Create God monitoring scripts

LICENSE:

(The MIT License)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.