Rails Application Server

Import the ServerTemplate

The first step is to import the ServerTemplate that you're going to use to configure your application servers.

Go the RightScale Component MultiCloud Marketplace.  (Design -> MultiCloud Marketplace)  Find and import the most recent version of the "Rails App Server" ServerTemplate to your account's 'Local' collection.

Since you're probably going to make any changes to this ServerTemplate, you'll need to clone it to create an editable version.  Click the Clone button to create an editable (HEAD) copy of the ServerTemplate.

Customize ServerTemplate to get Application

Now that you have an editable ServerTemplate, you can customize it according to your application's requirements.  Perhaps you need to write a couple new scripts that will install custom software or perform various actions at runtime or decommissioning phases.  By default, the ServerTemplate is designed to pull your application code from an SVN repository. 

Note: At this time, you can only pull your application code from an SVN repository. If you need to pull your application code from an S3 bucket instead, check the MultiCloud Marketplace to see if a similar script is available for use. The script may be compatible and work correctly even though it's not officially a part of your chosen Compatibility Release.

The required inputs that you need to define later in this tutorial will depend on the scripts that are added/removed from the ServerTemplate. 

Add Application Servers to the Production Deployment

Go to the ServerTemplate that you're going to use to create your Servers and click the Add to Deployment button.

Select the cloud where the Server will be launched. (e.g. AWS US-East)

• Deployment - Select the "Production" Deployment.
• ServerTemplate - Keep the [Inherit from ServerTemplate] option.
• Cloud - Selected cloud will be displayed.
• MultiCloud Image - Keep the default [Inherit from ServerTemplate] option or select a specific MCI that you would like to use.
• Nickname - Provide a nickname for the Application Server that you're going to create.  (e.g. my-app1)
• Instance Type - Keep the default [Inherit from MultiCloud Image] option or select a supported instance type based on the selected MCI.
• SSH Key - Select the SSH Key that will be used by the Server.  Select your "Production" SSH Key.
• Security Group - Select the Security Group that will be used by the Server.  Select your "Production" Security Group.
• Availability Zone - Select which Availability Zone the instance will be launched in.  Add the first Application Server into the same availability zone as your Master-DB server.
• Elastic IP - Since you do not use EIPs for Application Servers, select the "-None-" option.

For high availability purposes you should have two Application Servers across two different availability zones.  The easiest way to create another Application Server is to simply clone the first one that you just created. 

Click on the nickname link of the Application Server that you just created.  Click the Clone button.

Change the following information on your cloned Server:

• Rename the Server (e.g. my-app2)
• Change the Availability Zone so that it matches the zone of the Slave-DB (e.g. us east-1b)

You should now have six Servers in your Production Deployment.  The Deployment now has all three tiers spread across two different availability zones for failover and recovery purposes.  For example, if there is a failure in one zone, you still have a running server of each tier running in another zone. 

Notice that the Application Servers are using HEAD versions of the cloned ServerTemplate because you might need to make additional changes later on.  It's useful to use HEAD versions for development and test purposes. However, once you deploy Servers in a production environment, you should always commit the ServerTemplates and use static "locked down" revisions.

Define Inputs

Depending on whether you're pulling your application code from an SVN repository or an S3 bucket, you will need to define different inputs.  As a best practice, you should define these missing inputs at the Deployment level so that these same values will be inherited by any additional Application Servers that are launched in the Deployment or Server Array.

Now you need to define the Input parameters for your Deployment.   Click on the deployment's Inputs tab.  As a best practice, we recommend defining Input parameters at the Deployment level. 

By defining Inputs at the Deployment level, you can view and define all Input parameters that need to be set for all Servers in your Deployment in one place.  Use the following guidelines to help you properly configure inputs. 

• Novice users should read Understanding Inputs.

• View Input Types for descriptions of each type. (Ignore, Env, Text, Array, Cred, Key) 
• View List of Environment Inputs to see an exhaustive list of all Environment Inputs ("Env").
• As a general guideline to determine what Inputs you will need to edit:
  • Manage > Deployments > YourDeployment > Inputs
  • Look over all the Inputs, paying particular attention to "unset" Inputs (although in some instances you may need to override values set at the ServerTemplate level).  See Inheritance of Inputs.
  • Input names preceded with "OPT_" usually indicate an optional Input, and you may be able to leave it blank.

Notice that most inputs already have default values that were set at the ServerTemplate level.  Inputs will be inherited from a ServerTemplate unless they are defined at the Deployment or Server level. 

When you are ready to set your Input values, click Edit.  Once you have configured all of the Inputs click Save.

Use the input's hover text  to view its description and determine what value should be set. 

Launch the server

Now that you've defined all of the required Input parameters, you are now ready to launch the Application Servers.  Since you defined all of the required inputs at the Deployment level, you can launch both of them at the same time. 

Go to the Deployment's Servers tab.  Check the Application Servers and use the Launch action.

In a few minutes you'll have all three tiers of your application running in the cloud!

Next, you might want to set a scalable Server Array for autoscaling your application tier. See Set up Autoscaling using Voting Tags for more information.