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Well done!
You have completed Rails Servers with Unicorn and Nginx!
You have completed Rails Servers with Unicorn and Nginx!
Preview
Let's set up Nginx to forward traffic that it receives on port 80 to our Rails app.
You can test this out either on an actual Ubuntu Linux server at your web hosting company, or you can use a virtual machine.
To install Nginx, connect to your server via SSH, and run:
sudo apt-get install nginx
At this point you should be able to type your server's address into your browser, and see a "Welcome to Nginx" pate.
In your Rails app directory, edit config/nginx.conf:
server {
listen 80 default;
root /home/deploy/guestbook/public;
try_files $uri/index.html $uri @unicorn;
location @unicorn {
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
}
}
Run the following commands on your server:
sudo ln -s /home/deploy/guestbook/config/nginx.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/guestbook
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo service nginx restart
In your Rails app directory, edit .rbenv-vars, and remove the RAILS_SERVE_STATIC_FILES line, leaving only SECRET_KEY_BASE.
Then run:
sudo service nginx restart
cd ~/guestbook
RAILS_ENV=production bin/rails server
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I've set our simple guest book
rails app up on Ubuntu servers so
0:00
let's says SH into that now.
0:03
Let me use my deploy user.
0:06
[INAUDIBLE] in the IP address here in
previous workshops I was using a virtual
0:09
machine, but this time I'm using an actual
server I've set up with the hosting
0:13
company so I can easily show you
connections working on port 80 later.
0:17
If you're following along
using a virtual machine,
0:22
the command should be
pretty much identical.
0:24
You'll just need to make sure
the port 80 on your virtual machine
0:27
is forwarded to another port like
80-80 on your development machine.
0:30
See the teachers notes for more info.
0:34
So right now,
0:37
our rails app is still set up with Puma
as its HTTP server that's the default.
0:38
Let's give it a try and
show you how it's working right now.
0:43
So, let's change into
the Rails after directory.
0:46
And let's try running
the server in production,
0:52
so RAILS_EMV=production bin/rails server.
0:58
Okay, and
now let's visit that server in a browser.
1:09
I'm going to paste my service
public IP address into the browser.
1:11
I'm gonna specify that it needs
to connect to port 3000 because
1:15
we still have do that at this point.
1:18
And it connects to the app,
and you can see that we
1:22
can create new signatures have them save
the database and all that good stuff.
1:28
So let's go on and install Nginx and
before we get it working with
1:33
unicorn lets get it running with
cooman just to test it out.
1:36
So, let's quit out of
our real server here.
1:40
And first, we're going to use the Ubuntu
package manager to install Nginx.
1:44
We're going to need to run
this as an administrator so
1:48
will preface it with the SU command.
1:51
Then, run the apps get
packets Ranchi manager apt.
1:55
Well, run its install sub command.
2:00
And we'll install the nginx package.
2:03
N-G-I-N-X.
2:07
In there, you'll need to enter
your deploy user's password.
2:10
It will ask if you want to continue
installing, go ahead and confirm.
2:16
And it will download and
automatically install Nginx for you.
2:20
When you get back to your system prompt,
Nginx should be up and running.
2:26
Let's go ahead and try visiting
Nginx in a web browser now, so
2:30
we're going to take
the rails path off of there.
2:34
We'll take port 3000 off of there and
2:37
we'll do just the servers
public IP address.
2:39
And we see a welcome to Nginx page,
which is presented by Nginx.
2:43
So, now we know Nginx is
working all by itself, but
2:48
we need to get it working
together with Rails.
2:51
So, it's gonna require
some configuration first.
2:53
We're going to want this Nginx
configuration to be a permanent
2:57
part of our app.
2:59
So we're going to create an Nginx
configuration file here in our Rails app
3:00
directory and then symlink it into
the actual place that Nginx will look for
3:04
configuration files on the server.
3:09
So I'm going to launch an editor.
3:12
I'm going to use nano.
3:15
You can use emacs or
vim if that's preferable to you and
3:16
I'm going to edit the file
in the config directory.
3:20
And we're gonna name it nginx.conf.
3:25
That file doesn't exist yet so
running this command will create it.
3:27
So now, we need to create an Nginx
conf file I'm going to have a link for
3:36
you later where you can
look up more details but
3:39
we'll just create a simplistic
conflict for now.
3:42
So, I'm going to start
with the server directive.
3:45
And configuration for
that server goes in brackets here.
3:51
So, I'm going to tell the server to
listen for connections on port 80.
3:55
And I'm going to say that it should
do that by default I'm gonna also
3:59
specify the root directory that it should
search for static HTML files to serve in.
4:05
So I'll do that with the root setting.
4:11
And I'm gonna point that to
our guest book app which is in
4:17
the home/deploy directory
guestbook sub folder
4:21
and then our static files are in
the public sub directory.
4:27
As with all lines in an Nginx conf file,
it needs to end with a semicolon.
4:33
Okay, I'm going to hit CTRL +
O to write out the file and
4:38
from the file name I'm
gonna hit CTRL + X to exit.
4:42
Now, that configuration file we just
created exists only in our rails app
4:45
directory, but we need to link it to
the place nginx is gonna look for it.
4:49
So I'm gonna change to that directory,
that's at
4:52
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled.
4:55
And if I list the files that are in there,
you'll see a file called default right
5:08
now, Which has configuration for
another nginx site.
5:12
So, I'm going to slink our Nginx
configuration file into this directory.
5:19
Basically, it's going to have
the file continue living
5:24
in our guest book apps directory but
5:29
it will create another pseudo file
where that file can be accessed.
5:32
This is a directory that requires
administrative privileges to write to,
5:37
so I'm going to preface this with sudo and
5:42
then I'm gonna use the ln command with
the -s flag to create a symbolic link.
5:44
I'm gonna specify the file that
5:51
we're linking from which is in our
5:55
home/deploy/guestbook/config/nginx.conf.
6:00
I'm going to symlink that to a file here
in this directory which is simply named
6:09
guest book.
6:14
Okay, so now there should appear to
be two files here in this directory.
6:18
It's also important to get rid of
the default site configuration so
6:21
that it doesn't conflict with
our absentia next config.
6:24
So I run sudo again and
I'm going to run the rm for
6:27
remove command and
I'm going to delete the default file.
6:31
Now, that we've changed Nginx
configuration we need to restart
6:37
the service.
6:40
We do that with sudo service.
6:40
That's what I'm going to uses
to control the services it runs.
6:43
I'm gonna specify that it should
work on the Nginx service and
6:49
I'm gonna specify that
it should restart it.
6:53
And I can change back to
my Rails app directory.
6:58
So, CD to the home directory
guest book some directory.
7:01
Now, we've set up engine X to
serve all the static files for
7:06
our rails app but we also have rails
set up to serve those static files.
7:09
So, I'm going to remove the environment
variable that tells rails to
7:13
serve static files by
editing rpm far as file.
7:16
So gonna launch of the Nano editor again.
7:21
And it are RBM files and
you see this setting here
7:26
rails_serve_static_files equals true,
I'm gonna disable that.
7:31
Write that out and exit.
7:37
And now, let's confirm static
files are being served correctly.
7:40
If we look at our apps public directory,
we can see a robot's dot text file.
7:43
Basically, robots dot text is,
a list of directions to web spiders
7:47
like the ones run by Google and other web
search engines that visit your site and
7:50
save its contents for searching later.
7:55
Those directions are served up to
these web crawlers as a static file so
7:59
we can visit it ourselves.
8:04
Let's try that now.
8:06
So we'll go back to our sites public IP
and we'll add /robots.text onto the end.
8:09
And there's the contents of robots.txt and
nginx serving static files successfully.
8:21
But in nginx is not yet
connected to our Rails app.
8:26
If I try accessing our Rails apps route,
then I'll get 403 forbidden
8:29
error because nginx didn't forward
the request on the rails successfully.
8:33
So, we have some more
configuration changes to make.
8:37
I'm gonna go back in and
edit our enginex.com file and
8:42
because this is sim linked to
the engineX enabled servers directory.
8:46
Any changes I make here will
automatically show up there as well.
8:53
So, I'll run the nano editor,
config directory nginx .com file.
8:57
And I'm going to add a try files setting,
try_files.
9:08
And try files takes a list of locations
that it should look in for a file it's
9:14
going to serve, or if it doesn't find
a file successfully, it will go to an app.
9:19
So first, I'm going to have a look at
the URI that the user specified and
9:23
look for an index.html file.
9:29
In case they specify an empty directory
without specifying any files, this will
9:34
look for an index.html file in that spot
and serve that up first if it finds one.
9:38
If it doesn't find that, I'm going to have
it try to access the uri that the user
9:45
specified directly and
serve that as a static file.
9:49
And if that doesn't work,
9:54
then I'm going to have it try
to connect to our rails app.
9:56
I'm going to do that with an @
symbol followed by a unicorn because
9:58
we're going to be switching the rails app
over to running on the unicorn later.
10:04
We should end that line with a semi-colon
as he should with all Nginx config lines.
10:09
Now, we need to actually create that
unicorn location for it to connect to.
10:15
We do that with the location
directory directive @unicorn.
10:18
And then, here in curly brackets
we're going to set up options for
10:26
that location.
10:31
We're going to use the Proxy Pass
directive here proxy underscore pass.
10:34
And basically what this is going to do
is any time it receives a request at
10:40
the Unicorn location,
10:44
it's going to forward it on to a web
app listening on a particular port.
10:46
So we're going to specify in that
these requests should be forwarded
10:50
on to an HTTP server, running on local
host that is this server at port 3000 and
10:56
in that directive with
a semi-colon as usual.
11:03
So the upshot of this configuration
is any time Nginx gets a request,
11:07
it'll first try to look for a file
named index.html within that folder.
11:11
If it doesn't find that,
it'll try to surf that URL directly.
11:17
And if that doesn't work, it will
forward it on to the unicorn location.
11:20
That unicorn location will
just forward the request on to
11:25
a server listening on
this server at port 3000.
11:29
So let's write that out, confirm
the filename to write to and hit Exit.
11:33
And as usual because we've made changes to
the Nginx configuration we need to restart
11:39
Nginx.
11:44
So sudo service, Nginx restart.
11:45
Now, if we try to visit our app again,
we'll still see an error, this time
11:52
it'll be 502, bad gateway because it's not
forwarding at successfully on to rails,
11:57
even though it is attempting
to forward it now.
12:01
So now to get this working,
12:04
all we have to do is run our
rail server in the background.
12:05
So I'm gonna say, RAILS_ENV
12:07
=production bin/rails server.
12:11
It will run out on port 3000,
as it always has and
12:20
this time Nginx will forward
its traffic to the rails app.
12:24
Now, there is one problem at this point.
12:30
If we try to enter a new signature
at this point or submit any form,
12:32
We'll get the error,
the change you wanted was rejected.
12:38
This is because Nginx isn't forwarding
all the request headers to rails.
12:41
This causes the form's
authenticity token to be rejected.
12:45
We'll see how to fix this
after we install unicorn.
12:49
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