Reasons to use a dedicated ruby on rails hosting service instead of shared hosting providers
You should be prepared to face the challenge of choosing between a plethora of top-notch hosting providers. To facilitate this task, we should first identify a focus area. The Internet is swarming with shared hosting providers. With this type of service, you pay for some server space and share it with other apps or websites.
It looks like sharing an apartment with roommates. Shared hosting usually comes with performance limitations like CPU, data storage, RAM, bandwidth etc. Also, providers usually do not allow for modifying system files, as well as run other software programs not supported by the web hosting company. The lack of customization can make it challenging to enhance your app with native libraries.
Despite these flaws, you might be attracted by the affordable pricing and ease of use associated with shared hosting. However, don’t get let the lower price point lure you in. Although it may be a perfect fit for personal websites and blogs, your RoR app deserves a better option that won’t have to share resources.
With that in mind, dedicated web hosting is the preferable solution. You obtain dedicated resources and total control of all associated computing components. Moreover, your app’s trajectory won’t be limited since dedicated hosting is perfect for future growth.
Railsware’s opinion is that shared hosting is not a good option for Rails apps. On that account, we will focus on VPS and PaaS solutions to define best hosting for Ruby on Rails. Since we are ready to search, we need to know what exactly we’re looking for.
Run, jump, fly, sell
As stated above, A2 Hosting’s WordPress experts developed the four different levels of WordPress plans based on feedback from current and prospective customers. All plans include cPanel’s WordPress Toolkit for easy site management. The tiers are defined as:
Types of ruby on rails hostings
The variety of hosting services is not limited only to dedicated and shared options. These are two extremes on the market, the most expensive and cheapest pricing respectively. We are not going to look for the best place to host a Ruby on Rails app at the poles but focus on the middle ground of web hosting environment. And our journey starts with VPS.
Vps hosting
The truth is that virtual private server (VPS) hosting is also a shared service. Machine resources are shared among customers, but the way it is accomplished differs. VPS costs more, which implies better performance, more flexibility, and fewer limits.
Since you do not leverage a physical but virtual server, you are free of concerns about resources like CPU, RAM, and bandwidth because they are cloud-based and run by specialized virtualization tools. Below, the most prominent VPS solutions on the market are introduced.
| Description | AWS refers to Amazon Web Services. Indeed, here you can find a plethora of solutions for computing, networking, machine learning, analytics, and, of course, web hosting. Amazon Lightsail is a tool to create powerful VPS for deploying your blog, web app or even development server. You need two steps to launch your virtual server: choose a VPS option (10 more is available including Drupal, Linux, WP, etc.) and select server size. Other follow-up activities are automated. The use of pre-configured OS models or pre-installed popular app configurations is also available. Lightsail is a simplified solution for those who do not want to spend time on server configurations. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Features |
| |||
| Tech support | 24/7/365 | |||
| Pros | Cons | |||
|
| |||
| Minimum pricing | ||||
| Price | RAM | vCPU | SSD | Transfer |
| $5/month | 512MB | 1 | 20GB | 1TB |
| It is the option if | You prefer an easy way to handle a preconfigured virtual server. You constantly need to share data without impact on the production workload’s performance. You need almost infinite scalability. You are launching a web-scale startup. | |||
| Description | Linode is Digital Ocean’s major competitor, which offers a reliable, simple, and powerful hosting solution. It is a great option for novices or deploying a complex system. There is a one week trial period during which you can get a refund if you decide not to use Linode services. Besides, according to the Terms of Service, you are provided with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Linode is worth taking a closer look if your goal is to move your app’s infrastructure to VPS. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Features |
| |||
| Tech support | 24/7/365 | |||
| Pros | Cons | |||
|
| |||
| Minimum pricing | ||||
| Price | RAM | vCPU | SSD | Transfer |
| $5/month | 1GB | 1 | 25GB | 1TB |
| It is the option if | You are looking for good performance and a stable network. | |||
| Description | Rackspace is one of the old hands on the web hosting market. With over 20 years of experience, it is considered a reputable company offering reliable virtual cloud servers powered by OpenStack to deploy different web products. Rackspace pays special attention to relieving customer stress. Therefore, in addition to raw infrastructure, two options are available – managed infrastructure (architecture and security assistance for those who prefer to paddle their own canoe) and managed operations (managed infrastructure plus monitoring, application maintenance, and other heavy liftings). | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Features |
| |||
| Tech support | 24/7/365 | |||
| Pros | Cons | |||
|
| |||
| Minimum pricing (calculator is available) | ||||
| Price | RAM | vCPU | SSD | Bandwidth |
| $5/month | 1GB | 1 | 20GB | 200 Mb/s |
| It is the option if | You need almost infinite scalability. You are looking for a tier one provider. | |||
That’s it for the VPS category so far. Still, the question regarding the best hosting provider for Ruby on Rails apps is unanswered. Perhaps, we will find it in the next section that introduces different platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions.
Vps/vds хостинг и его преимущества
Для арендатора хостинга, хостеры предоставляют большое значение основных сервисов и второстепенных услуг. Которые разрешают заказать хранилище под любой тип веб-ресурса:
- сайты-портфолио, сайты-блоги, сайты-форумы, сайты-визитки;
- корпоративные сайты, продающие страницы, информационные сайты, одностраничные сайты;
- целевые страницы, интернет-каталоги, интернет-магазины, контент-проекты, игровые порталы и т. п.
Теперь писать веб-проекты получается намного проще, потому что разработчику хостеры дают возможность использовать порядочный подбор программного функционала:
- простая процедура заказа хостинга;
- настройка сайта, применение панелей управления;
- заказ доменов разных уровней, например, .рф;
- использование современных сетевых технологий и баз данных;
- залог элементарного количества ресурсов сервера;
- периодическое хранение данных вашего сайта;
- небольшая стоимость сервиса и т. д.
What to look for when choosing a good rails hosting?
In most cases, startups attempt to offer something special or even one of a kind to attract customers. The use of a particular tech stack makes allowances for web app requirements. Therefore, your criteria will differ depending on the tool you chose for the project.
Dedicated hosting providers are richer in resource availability compared to their shared competitors. Nevertheless, it does not mean that there are no limits at all. On that account, you should understand your app’s bandwidth requirements to ensure it runs at optimal performance and cost.
Data security is another top priority concern. You might have your own sophisticated demands, but the minimum ones should include 128-bit data encryption, a data backup system, and disaster recovery.
Technical support is also important, and you should not neglect your attention to it. When you opt for a dedicated hosting provider, it means that technical experts’ assistance comes with the service. However, make sure that a 247 multilingual option is available.
Now you have a concept of core requirements that will help you pick the best Ruby on Rails web hosting out of the following.
Wrapping up
Above, we have introduced some of the best hosting options for Ruby on Rails according to Railsware’s experience. Regardless of what server type and provider you choose, it is important to create the best environment for deploying your app. Be attentive to details and don’t rush into suspiciously cheap offers.
Мои выводы общие:
Я думаю или о Rackspace (от 11$) или о Linode. И никогда не смотрите в сторону justhost’а.
В комментариях есть ещё парочка рекомндаций, рекомендую ознакомиться.
UPD: Добавил Linode, Hetzner online и Server4you
