From: Jim Marshall <jmarshall99@...>
Date: 2004-06-22T12:33:13+09:00
Subject: Re: rubys web performance

patrick@hexane.org (Patrick May) writes:

> Florian Weber <csshsh@structbench.com> wrote in message news:
>> there are barely any hosters who support fastcgi, webrick or mod_ruby.
>> especially since the last one is not usable for shared hosting. so you
>> have to rely on cgi..
>
> Try Kattare.com, they've told me they do mod_ruby hosting.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Patrick

How about using a host that does "virtual (private|dedicated)"
hosting via User Mode Linux or Virtuozzo?

I started up a $20 a month account recently with http://jvds.com .
For that, I have root on a "virtual" UML machine, so I was able to
install mod_ruby with no problems, since there is no one else sharing
my install with me. For that matter, I could just as well run webrick
or webrick-using software like Instiki. I could even run webrick on
port 80 if I wanted to.

I mention it because I looked at that kattare.com site, and it seems
to me that a UML setup is a much better deal. At kattare, the $20 a
month package includes 500MB disk space and 2Gigs/month
bandwidth. That jvds.com place I mentioned gives you 3 gigs disk
space and 20Gigs/month for that same price, *plus* you can install
and run whatever you want. You can even choose from among 7 or 8
different linux distros, or FreeBSD if you'd like.

Now, I know that it is very often the case that "you get what you pay
for" in web hosting, but this jvds.com place has nothing but good buzz
at http://webhostingtalk.com , from what I saw. Further, there are
several other places that offer a similar (or even slightly better)
deal for the same price, with that same "virtual root" setup. Among
them are http://www.linode.com (very nice-looking control panel that
lets you wipe and change your distro among other things),
http://www.rimuhosting.com , and http://www.powervps.com . Again, all
have good reputations on the aforementioned bulletin board and on the
net in general, from what I can tell, and any will let you run mod-ruby
and whatever else you might want. Finally, pretty much all of these
places have a 30-day money back guarantee, and several have no setup
fee.

It's true that you are only guaranteed 64 megs of memory with the $20
package I mentioned, but that's a *guarantee*, and, when the other
"virtual servers" on your physical server aren't using up their
memory, then any swap your machine is using is mapped right into the
machine's physical memory. Likewise, while you are only guaranteed a
small slice of the physical machine's cpus, you get as much as you can
use when other virtual servers aren't working them. I've compiled a
couple pretty big Haskell programs with the notoriously memory- and
cpu-hungry GHC, and both times the compilation flew right along.

Just thought I'd throw another option out there in case anybody was
looking and not aware of this one.
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