Deploying a Rails application on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS with Phusion Passenger and SQL Server 2005

This article will provide step by step instructions for preparing and then deploying a Rails application on Ubuntu 8.04 LTS that uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Install Ruby
sudo apt-get install ruby-full build-essential

Install Apache 2
sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-prefork-dev

Install Ruby Gems
Do not install Ruby Gems from Apt.  This will screw up your Gems repository as Apt and Gems will both want to manage it.  Download the latest Gems package from http://rubyforge.org.  At the time of this writing the latest version is 1.3.  Version 1.3 is also the version that I used.
wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/43985/rubygems-1.3.0.tgz
tar xzvf rubygems-1.3.0.tgz
cd rubygems-1.3.0
sudo ruby setup.rb
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/gem1.8 /usr/bin/gem
sudo gem update --system

Install Rails
Make sure to install the proper version.  You may need to pass the “–version” flag.
sudo gem install rails

Install Phusion Passenger
This allows us to deploy Rails application with as much simplicity as it takes to deploy a PHP application.  This we can avoid using Mongrel/Proxy Balancing/(Apache|Lighttpd|Nginx).
sudo gem install passenger
sudo passenger-install-apache2-module

Next add the following to your /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file:
LoadModule passenger_module /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.0.3/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so
PassengerRoot /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.0.3
PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby1.8

Install Ruby/ODBC/SQLServer2005 Compatibility
In /etc/profile add the following:
export ODBCINI=/etc/odbc.ini
export ODBCSYSINI=/etc
export FREETDSCONF=/etc/freetds/freetds.conf

Make sure you restart your shell after this!

Now install UnixODBC:
sudo apt-get install unixodbc
sudo apt-get install unixodbc-dev
sudo apt-get install tdsodbc


Now install FreeTDS (stable) from source. The FreeTDS in the Apt repository is version 0.63 and will not work with SQL Server 2005. At the time of this writing, the current stable version is 0.82.
wget ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ALPHA/freetds/stable/freetds-stable.tgz
cd freetds-stable
./configure
make
sudo make install

Edit /etc/freetds/freetds.conf and add the following:
[YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME]
host = 172.24.40.100
port = 1433
tds version = 8.0


Test it with the following:
sqsh -S YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME -U USERNAME -P PASSWORD


Once actually logged in, you can run some SQL and verify the results. Make sure to type “go” after each command and also make sure to “use” the right database.

Now edit /etc/odbc.ini and add the following:
[YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME]
Driver = FreeTDS
Description = ODBC connection via FreeTDS
Trace = No
Servername = YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME
Database = YOUR_ACTUAL_DB_NAME


Edit /etc/odbcinst.ini and add the following:
[FreeTDS]
Description = TDS driver (Sybase/Microsoft SQL)
Driver = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
Setup = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsS.so
CPTimeout =
CPReuse =
FileUsage = 1


Now test it….
isql YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME USERNAME PASSWORD


Install Ruby ODBC:
wget http://www.ch-werner.de/rubyodbc/ruby-odbc-0.9995.tar.gz
tar zvxf ruby-odbc-0.9995.tar.gz
cd ruby-odbc-0.9995/
ruby extconf.rb
make
sudo make install


Install ActiveRecord ODBC Adapter
sudo gem install activerecord-odbc-adapter


Edit your database.yml in your application and configure it like…
development:
adapter: odbc
dsn: YOUR_DB_DEFINITION_NAME
username: USERNAME
password: PASSWORD


Now dump your Rails app in /var/www/yourrailsapp and add a new Apache Virtual Host as seen in the previous post. Configure the virtual host DocumentRoot to point to the public directory in Apache2.  Do not forget to change ownership of your rails app to www-data. (chown -R www-data:www-data yourrailsapp) That’s all there is too it! Now you can deploy a number of Rails apps in Apache with little trouble!