warrenkonkel

Configuring Debian for Ruby on Rails

May 15th, 2007

After configuring server after server over the years, I've settled on Debian as being my "distro of choice". Some time ago, I started keeping track of the commands I'd routinely type when setting up a new server and those commands have morphed into a Perl script which I now use instead. This script is designed to take an out-of-the-box Debian 4.0 standard installation and turn it into a lean mean Apache-Mongrel-Mysql-Rails serving machine with minimal effort.

Getting and using the script

This script assumes you have a standard Debian 4.0 installation (with networking already setup) and that you are logged in as root. If you choose to use this script at your own risk, type:

debian:~# wget http://svn.bountysource.com/fishplate/scripts/debian_install.pl debian:~# perl debian_install.pl Enter full hostname (example: server1.yourdomain.com): server1.mydomain.com Install ruby, rails, gem, etc (y,n) [Y]? Install mysql server (y,n) [Y]? Install apache (y,n) [Y]? Install mongrel/mongrel_cluster (y,n) [Y]? Reboot when done (y,n) [Y]?

Then sit back and watch as the script sets up everything for you and then reboots!

What the script does

• updates the core debian packages and sets up a crontab to do so once a week
• installs sshd just in case it's not there already
• installs some common packages all servers should have (compile tools, dnstools/traceroute, rsync, subversion, mysql client, etc)
• sets up the hostname
• installs a exim4 for sending mail
• sets the server's timezone to UTC and sets up a crontab to sync the time once a day
• optionally installs ruby, rubygems, irb, rails, imagemagick, and a few other common gems
• optionally installs mysql-server
• optionally installs apache and enables some common apache modules
• optionally installs and configures mongrel and mongrel_rails
• optionally reboots

Plans for the future

Without a doubt, I'll be making enhancements to this script over time as I try to automate repetitive tasks I find myself doing again and again. This is just my take on the "ideal Debian setup". Feel free to suggest any changes/enhancements.