How To Install Rails, Apache, and MySQL on Ubuntu with Passenger

Welcome to the Greenhost.Cloud blog! In today’s post, we’ll walk you through the steps to install Ruby on Rails, Apache, and MySQL on Ubuntu, paired with Passenger as the application server to serve your Rails applications. Whether you’re building a new project or deploying an existing one, this guide will help you set up your environment efficiently.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

1. An Ubuntu server (18.04 or later).
2. A non-root user with sudo privileges.
3. Basic understanding of command-line operations.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Update Your System

First, make sure that your server’s package list is up-to-date. Log in to your server and run:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Required Packages

To install Ruby on Rails, we need a few dependencies. Install them with the following command:

sudo apt install -y curl gnupg build-essential libssl-dev libreadline-dev libyaml-dev libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libffi-dev libmysqlclient-dev

Next, we’ll install Node.js and Yarn, as they are essential for JavaScript in Rails applications.

# Install Node.js
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Install Yarn
curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y yarn

Step 3: Install RVM and Ruby

RVM (Ruby Version Manager) enables you to manage multiple Ruby environments. To install RVM and Ruby, use the following commands:

# Install RVM
curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
source ~/.rvm/scripts/rvm

# Install Ruby
rvm install 3.0.2 # You can choose your desired Ruby version
rvm use 3.0.2 --default

# Verify the installation
ruby -v

Next, install Rails:

gem install rails

Step 4: Install MySQL

Now we need to install MySQL database server. Run:

sudo apt install -y mysql-server

After installation, secure your MySQL installation:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Follow the prompts. You can set a password for the MySQL root user and configure other security settings.

Step 5: Install Apache and Passenger

We’ll use Apache as the web server and Passenger as the application server.

Install Apache

sudo apt install -y apache2

Install Passenger

To install Passenger, we need to add its PPA:

sudo apt install -y dirmngr gnupg
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 561F9B9CAC40B2F7
sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://oss-binaries.phusionpassenger.com/apt/passenger/ $(lsb_release -cs) main"
sudo apt update

Then, install Passenger with Apache support:

sudo apt install -y libapache2-mod-passenger

Enabling the Passenger module:

sudo a2enmod passenger

Step 6: Configure Your Rails Application

Let’s create a sample Rails application to test the setup:

rails new myapp -d mysql
cd myapp

Edit the config/database.yml file to configure the database connection:

development:
  adapter: mysql2
  encoding: utf8
  reconnect: false
  database: myapp_development
  pool: 5
  username: root
  password: your_password
  host: localhost

Replace your_password with the password you set during MySQL secure installation.

Create and migrate the database:

rails db:create
rails db:migrate

Step 7: Configure Apache for Your Application

Create a new configuration file for your Rails app in Apache:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/myapp.conf

Add the following configuration to the file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your_domain_or_ip
    DocumentRoot /path/to/myapp/public

    <Directory /path/to/myapp/public>
        Allow from all
        Options -MultiViews
        Require all granted
        RailsEnv development
    </Directory>

    PassengerRuby /home/your_user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.0.2/wrappers/ruby
</VirtualHost>

Make sure to change /path/to/myapp to the actual path of your Rails application and your_domain_or_ip to your domain or IP address.

Enable the new site and restart Apache

sudo a2ensite myapp
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 8: Access Your Application

Now, your Rails application should be accessible via your web browser. Open a browser and navigate to http://your_domain_or_ip. You should see the Rails welcome page!

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up a Ruby on Rails environment on Ubuntu using Apache and MySQL with Passenger. This is just the beginning; you can now start developing your application, implement functionalities, and deploy it!

Happy coding! 🚀