What Is Ruby on Rails Hosting? | Hostvento Knowledge Base

What is Ruby on Rails?

Ruby is a programming language. Rails is a toolkit built with Ruby that helps people build websites and web apps fast. People call it Rails, or RoR. It gives ready-made parts for pages, databases, logins and more. It is like a kit of building blocks for a house.

Why is special hosting needed?

Many basic hosting plans run PHP and HTML only. A Rails app needs Ruby installed. It also needs extra programs to run all the time. A host that supports Rails prepares these parts.

What a Rails app usually needs

Ruby: the right version for your app.
Gems: add-on code packages that Rails apps use. A tool called Bundler installs them.
An app server: software such as Puma or Passenger that runs your app and answers visitors.
A database: such as MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL.
A web server: Apache or Nginx, which passes visitors to the app server.
Enough memory: Rails apps use more RAM than simple sites.

Ask Hostvento support which of these your plan supports. Do not assume that all plans can run Rails.

Shared hosting or own server?

Some control panels have a Ruby app tool, for example the cPanel Setup Ruby App option. It is only there if the host enabled it.
A VPS or dedicated server gives you root access. Root is the all-powerful admin user. You can install Ruby and set up everything yourself.

Basic steps to deploy

Pick a plan that supports Ruby, or ask support.
Upload your app files with SFTP, or fetch them with Git.
Install the gems.
```
bundle install
```
This downloads every gem your app lists in its Gemfile.
Set up the database.
```
rails db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
```
This creates the tables your app needs in production mode.
Prepare the page styles and scripts.
```
rails assets:precompile RAILS_ENV=production
```
This builds the files browsers load.
Start the app server and point the web server at it.
Open your domain to test.

Warning: Back up your database before you run a migration.

Tip: Keep your Ruby and Rails versions up to date. Old versions may have security holes.

Quick recap

Rails is a toolkit for building web apps in Ruby.
Rails hosting provides Ruby, gems, an app server and a database.
Check your plan with Hostvento support first.
Deploy with bundle install, migrate and precompile.