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Network Solutions Hosting and Ruby on Rails Implementation

Shashi Bellamkonda — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:24:33 +0000

Miguel Ramos, Product Ninja (actually product manager in charge of hosting products at Network Solutions), my good friend and colleague sent us some information on the Ruby on Rails implementation in Network Solutions hosting. We wanted to share this information with our readers who may be interested- installs, configures and updates the site also touching in how one accesses the database (MySQL?), what version of RoR you are using, etc.

We support Ruby on Rails on all our UNIX hosting packages. At the moment we offer Ruby on Rails version 2.1.1, but we will be deploying Ruby on Rails version 2.2 on approximately February 19^th. We understand that deploying Ruby on Rails applications is not always easy and have tried to simplify the process as much as possible for our customers. Our Account Manager includes a Ruby on Rails application manager that allows you to do two things quite easily:

Create a new Ruby on Rails skeleton application.

Import your own Ruby on Rails application into our system.

You can perform these functions quite easily through our one click interfaces, without having to worry about messing around with the command line. As you develop your application locally, you have the option of uploading a new version of your application via the “import” feature of our Ruby on Rails application manager, or if you feel more comfortable, directly upload your Ruby on Rails files by FTP. The FTP upload feature is possible because our platform is based on Phusion Passenger Ruby on Rails.

I’m including two screenshots to show you what our Ruby on Rails application manager looks like. The first is a screenshot for the “Add” screen. Simply choose an application name and click “ok” and the skeleton will get created. The second illustrate the management options available on each Ruby on Rails application.

As you can see, you can:

Restart the application (after you’ve made changes, to deploy it)

Reset the application (if you would like to turn it into a Ruby on Rails skeleton again and restart).

Export it – if you want to download the current application version to work on it locally, or for backup purposes.

Import it – to upload an application you have worked on locally, or a downloaded Rails application.

We also have an easy to use Database Manager included in your hosting package that will allow you to easily create and manage a MySQL database that you can easily link to your application.

Once you have created an application you can create a tarball and “import” it through our Ruby on Rails application manager, _or_ you can upload a single file to your application’s directory on your website via FTP – note, if you upload a single file via FTP, you have to go into the manager to restart the application so that it redeploys.

Also, another nice thing about our Ruby offering is that the Ruby on Rails servers are part of a load balanced cluster – for better uptime.

Convinced that you need to get hosting from Network Solutions ? Go here and enter OFFER00522 and get 25% off hosting today. If you would like more information please comment here and we will get the information even if we have to take Miguel to lunch and torture him with spicy food.

ScreenShot 1

Screenshot 2

One-click installs for Ruby on Rails. Now that’s more like it!

Shashi Bellamkonda — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:44:58 +0000

Check it out! Network Solutions hosting platform now supports Ruby on Rails (RoR) with one click application deployment. For those of you unfamiliar with Ruby on Rails, it is a popular, open source programming framework that makes developing web based applications quick and easy. However, the process to install RoR programs is not as simple – it’s a time consuming manual process. Network Solutions has eased this burden that many of RoR developers feel by providing a one click deployment framework, allowing you to deploy RoR applications faster than before. Check out the Ruby on Rails Application Manager — it’s time to get back into the fun of development!

For more information on Network Solutions reliable web hosting packages please visit: http://www.networksolutions.com/web-hosting/index.jsp

Network Solutions “How To” Series: How to Get Online

Steve Fisher — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:29:33 +0000

Many people are familiar with the “how to” sites out there like WonderHowTo.com, eHow.com and ExpertVillage. These sites offer a variety of cool and sometimes funny videos on how to make things, perform certain tasks or make like easier for you.

In a similiar vein, we here at Network Solutions decided that there were some things that might be worth taking a more simplified approach to, technology-wise. In this video below, the narrator explains why a small business would want to be online and the things they will need to have to get online and look professional. This includes a domain name or web presence, a web site, e-mail using your business domain, hosting of the web site at a secure and reliable data center for a start.

I would recommend all of you out there thinking about taking your business online to watch this video. Also, most of you who found this web site are probably online in some fashion or another, so think of this as a review or refresher. Who knows, you might learn something you never thought of or realize you need to find a good partner to help you with your online business.

Video created by Creative Alliance www.cre8.com/

Building Your Business Online Series Part 2 Choosing a Hosting Package

cbensen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:43:53 +0000

In the first part of this series, we talked about choosing a domain name. We chose the address for your website. The next step is to choose the hosting package. Your web site is hosted physically on a server. The web hosting provider maintains the server & makes sure to provide the technology so that your website is connected to the internet.

Which hosting package that you’ll need will depend on two things:

1. The amount of content that you plan to have will dictate the amount of disk space needed

2. The amount of customers accessing your website & downloading content will determine the bandwidth you need.

The nice thing about web hosting packages is that you can start with one then shift to a larger one as your online business grows. Network Solutions offers you assistance in choosing which package best suits your needs. We have more indepth information here on Web Hosting.