Ruby On Rails For IIS Fast-CGI

UPDATED RELEASE: 1.0.6 Production

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:40:05 GMT

Important: Please see the Documentation For Modifying The request_uri Method on the home page, you must follow the procedure to ensure everything works properly...

Updated Wiki: Home

bheinz — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:38:35 GMT

The Ruby on Rails (ROR) framework is typically run under Apache on both Linux and Windows Systems. For those that do not wish to use Apache to host their solutions on windows, one alternative is running under Internet Information Services (IIS) World Wide Web Publishing (W3SVC) service.

The installer packages Shane Careveo's Fast-CGI ISAPI filter, Ionic's Rewrite ISAPI filter, SQL Server support for rails and my IIS configuration scripts to allow for seamless integration of your Ruby On Rails web application with Microsoft's IIS web server on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit).

This is the most complete solution for hosting your Ruby Rails application under IIS.

The installer is compiled using the Nullsoft Installer System (NSIS). IIS setup is handled by my jscript file which leverages the ADSI API and is executed from the installer. It installs the Rewrite filter, FCGI filter (including registry config settings), Ruby FCGI bindings and configures the IIS website.

Questions or comments? Please use the discussions.

News:
21 Jul 2008 - Looking for a volunteer to take over this project for me.
04 Jun 2007 - Making Rails HTTP Status codes return properly to IIS clients.
20 Feb 2007 - Version 1.0.5 has been released!
As always, feedback is appreciated!

Important Please Read This: You must override the ActionController AbstractRequest class's request_uri method, otherwise your application will not work properly! If you run the installer, you can also find the documentation in the IIS_Configuration.html under the installation path/documentation. I am also adding it here for a quick reference: Documentation For Modifying The request_uri Method.

Coming soon: Documentation for setting up multiple rails apps side-by-side.

Documentation:
Required Procedure: Documentation For Modifying The request_uri Method
Rails bug Fix: Making Rails HTTP Status codes return properly to IIS clients.
Documentation for Manually Configuring IIS Fast-CGI For Ruby On Rails (work in progress)
Documentation and sample files for Ruby Test Integration With CruiseControl.net

Links:
Ruby on Rails
Ionic's Isapi Rewrite for IIS (used by this project)
Shane Careveo's

Created Issue: Raktajino and WAI support

Samurai_ka — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:18:37 GMT

There is a very cool project on codeplex to make the Webapplication installation process with IIS as simple as possible called Raktajino. This uses a other project call WAI (Web Application Installer). I suggest to change the installer from Nullsoft Installer System (NSIS) to Raktajino/WAI.

http://www.codeplex.com/raktajino
http://www.codeplex.com/wai

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

bheinz — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:26:21 GMT

Hi Josh,

I have ideas what is causing the orphaned ruby processes but no time to fix it as of yet. We were using isapi_fcgi internally but have since moved away from ROR apps because of this limitation. I recommend looking into running apache on windows instead of IIS.

If you know any c++ devs or want to go for it yourself, I can send you the source code for the isapi module, i'm sure its a pretty easy fix I just can't justify the time to do it right now.

Let me know if you want the sorce.
Brent

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

jhandel — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:49:28 GMT

any news on this process ophaning issue?

Thanks
Josh

NEW POST: url rewritting errors

fleey — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:04:01 GMT

Hi Brent , thanks for your quick answer!
The bad thing is that after i have double checked the 5 things you mentioned above,Istill got the same problem as i first mentioned.
The Isapi_Rewrite isapi filter has a "Green Up Arrow",but it's priority is "unknown" .
Anything else to try?

NEW POST: url rewritting errors

bheinz — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:46:35 GMT

Hi Fleey,

1) If you make code changes to your rails app under IIS and are running RAILS_ENV = production you must restart IIS (Start -> Admin Tools -> IIS Admin Console -> right click -> Restart IIS) or via the command line. This will always be the case!

2) Please not you need to ensure the following has been completed: http://www.codeplex.com/RORIIS/Wiki/View.aspx?title=Documentation%20For%20Modifying%20The%20request_uri%20Method&referringTitle=Home

3) The fastcgi.crash.log can be ignored for the most part, it really doesn't tell you much.

4) Is this on a 64-bit box? Ensure the Isapi_Rewrite isapi filter has a "Green Up Arrow" under the IIS website properties -> Isapi Filters tab. If it shows a "Red Down Arrow" then the rewrite isapi filter is not loading correctly and this will cause the 404 errors where your rails paths are not getting rewritten to the http://localhost/dispatch.fcgi?opnq=/controller/action (this is the correct format if you perform step 2 above!)

5) If you get the red down arrow, check your event viewer. The isapi_rewrite is 32-bit and requires 32-bit app pools.

Let me know if this doesn't solve your issues.
Brent

NEW POST: url rewritting errors

fleey — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:59:48 GMT

and here is another story:i have totally suceeded making rails running under iis yestoday,,but when i updated my rails app later(just delete the earlier railsapp folder,and replace it with the new one with the same folder name),i got the "server error ,cant connect to fcgi server"error,and i start to handle it.Strangly,without knowing what the problem is ,i have fixed it(just restart the computer and iis ,reinstall ror4iisfastcgi ,etc),and i get the above problem.
Any clues?
I'm really exhausted!

NEW POST: url rewritting errors

fleey — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:49:04 GMT

Hi,friends! First of all,thanks for you guys who have made contributions to this great tool,I really appretiate you work and the trouble shooting.
My situations here: I can get the right answer when the url is like http://localhost/dispatch.fcgi?controller,but when the url is written in rails way like Http:///localhost/conntroller,Http:///localhost/conntroller/action,or Http:///localhost/conntroller/action/id,i got the 404 error .it cann't find the pages!
and i also get the fastcgi.crash.log with messages repeating:
28/Feb/2008:00:00:08 :: 2384 starting
28/Feb/2008:00:00:09 :: 3580 Ignoring unsupported signal USR1.
28/Feb/2008:00:00:09 :: 3580 Ignoring unsupported signal USR1.
28/Feb/2008:00:00:27 :: 3580 Ignoring unsupported signal USR1.
28/Feb/2008:00:00:27 :: 3580 Ignoring unsupported signal USR1.
28/Feb/2008:00:47:22 :: 2800 Ignoring unsupported signal USR2.
28/Feb/2008:00:47:22 :: 2800 Ignoring unsupported signal HUP.
28/Feb/2008:00:47:22 :: 2800 Ignoring unsupported signal SIGTRAP.

Any suggestions?I have nearly tried everything in this website , but just cann't make it right.
thanks very much

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

JonL — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:49:13 GMT

I was getting pretty close and didn't realize it.
Thanks for the details.

Cheers,

Jon

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

bheinz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:21:47 GMT

Hey Jon,

I appreciate you asking. Here are the steps for what its worth...
Also note: there is a bug in the isapi_fcgi.dll implementation that I have yet to repair. Assume the following scenario:

(where StartServers = X is the setting in the cooresponding instance's .fcgX registry key)
First Server: StartServers = 2 ruby processes
Second Server: StartServers = 3 ruby processes

When each app runs for the first time:
First Server will spawn 2+3 processes.
Second Server will spawn 2+3 processes.

Now assume you had a Third Server: StartServers = 5 ruby procs
First Server will spawn 235 processes.
Second Server will spawn the same as well as the third.

For a total of 30 ruby processes. I haven't done any extensive testing on the behavior of these "orphaned" ruby procs but it can't be good. So if you use 1 or 2 per instance you will probably be ok depending upon the load requirements of your server.

I plan to fix this bug in the near future (within a month or so) as soon as I do I will post the new version of the installer.

Hope this helps you out,
Brent

Instructions for running multiple (rails) servers on same machine using FCGI.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Note: fcgx denotes that the x is a number. (eg. fcg2, fcg3 etc...) cooresponding with the number of the server instances.

- Make a copy of the IsapiRewrite4.ini and the IsapiRewrite4.dll isapi filters
- they are located in c:\windows\syswow64\inetsrv (x64) and c:\windows\system32\inetsrv (x32)
- create a new subfolder under c:\windows\syswow64\inetsrv\fcgX (x64)
- copy the original files into the new subfolder

- Edit the IsapiRewrite4.ini
- Ensure you change the bind path to Rails-FCGIX (where X denotes the instance)
- Change any references to .fcgi to .fcgX and save it

- Start - Run - Regedit
- save a copy of the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Fast-CGI\.fcgi (note x64 - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Fast-CGI) to your desktop
- edit the file changing cooresponding paths and extensions to .fcgX
- save the file and import the changes to the registry

- Create a new website under IIS admin
- Assign it a name
- browse to new applicationX directory/public
- Create a new appliation pool if you wish
- assign app pool to new website under its properties
- set log file path to applicationX/log directory for IIS logs (optional)

- Add rewrite Isapi Filter to new website (where X denotes your instance number)
- name it REWRITE
- x64 - browse to C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\inetsrv\fcgX\IsapiRewrite4.dll
- x32 - browse to C:\WINDOWS\System32\inetsrv\fcgX\IsapiRewrite4.dll

- Add extension mapping for new .fcgX extension (note see manual IIS installation instructions for more info)
- Home Directory tab, Configuration button
- Add application extension
- x64 - browse to C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\inetsrv\isapi_fcgi.dll
- set extesion to .fcgX

- Navigate to applicationX install directory/public and rename dispatch.fcgi to dispatch.fcgX

- Restart IIS

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

JonL — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:44:17 GMT

Is there any updated documentation on deploying multiple rails sites sites (on different ports) with the current version? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jon

NEW POST: 401 errors

bheinz — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:57:16 GMT

Hi Evan,

If you haven't figured it out already, try doing a restart on IIS. This usually fixes any issues like this when initially deploying the rails app under IIS.

However, if this doesn't fix your issue, 401 is unauthorized so you may want to verify that you are not using integrated windows authentication. If you need to use it, try turning it off to test that things work. If they do, it is probably read permissions on the website/directory of the application.

Thanks,
Brent

NEW POST: 401 errors

evanmcd — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:13:00 GMT

Hi all,

So, I'm about to give up after spending more than 10 hours trying to get rails on IIS working. I'm stuck with a 401.3 error, and have gone through everything twice or three times. All the permissions are set as outlined. I've even tried FileMon and the AuthDiag tool to try to get some more insight into what the issue is.

If anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

- Evan

NEW POST: can not connect to fcgi server

evanmcd — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:30:02 GMT

Just in case your still looking for this info...
Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\system32\
scroll down to libfcgi.dll
right-click and choose Properties
click the Security tab
click Add
Make sure the machine name is appearing in the 'From this location' field, if not click the Locations... button and select the local machine
type in NETWORK SERVICE
click Check Names... to verify the name is entered correctly
Click OK.
Check the Read & Execute checkbox

anguskwan wrote:
6) Make sure the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\libfcgi.dll exists and has execute permissions for NETWORK SERVICE.

hello friends, would you please tell me how to give permission to libfcgi.dll? i an on server 2003. thank you :)

NEW POST: can not connect to fcgi server

anguskwan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:47:09 GMT

6) Make sure the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\libfcgi.dll exists and has execute permissions for NETWORK SERVICE.

hello friends, would you please tell me how to give permission to libfcgi.dll? i an on server 2003. thank you :)

COMMENTED ISSUE: Documentation - How to change ruby environment

bheinz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:47:58 GMT

Need to document with screen captures how to change the ruby environment RAILS_ENV=production to RAILS_ENV=development or test.
Comments: ** Comment from web user: bheinz **

Here is the documentation, I will work on getting up on the wiki.

COMMENTED ISSUE: Skipping Installation Files (see 8372)

bheinz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:14:42 GMT

I'm having the same problems as issue 8372 with the 1.0.5 installer where the isapi* files are skipped during installation. I've attached screenshots of all the relevant installation steps and destination directories so that you can see what's happening.
Comments: ** Comment from web user: bheinz **

Hi Andy,

You are going to have to set things up manually for the time being. Run the installer on an XP box or server 2003. Copy the files to the following locations:
C:\WINNT\system32\msvcr71.dll
C:\WINNT\system32\msvcp71.dll
C:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\isapi_fcgi.dll
C:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\isapirewrite4.dll
C:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\isapirewrite4.ini

This should get you up and running until I am able to determine why the installer won't put the files there.
Can you please check the "effective permissions" of the C:\WINNT\system32 and C:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\ directories for the user account you are running? If you can't manually copy the files there, it is permissions.

Thanks,
Brent

CREATED ISSUE: Replace ISAPI_FCGI with Microsoft's IIS FastCGI Library

bheinz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:03:11 GMT

In order to support multiple rails sites on different websites, the current implementation does not work without much headache!

See [discussion:13984]

NEW POST: Multple rails sites in IIS?

bheinz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:01:04 GMT

Hi Josh,

The Microsoft IIS team has released their FCGI ISAPI module go-live (meaning production beta) and I am in the process of testing it. If things work as expected, I plan in the future to replace the current isapi fcgi library with the IIS one.

Here is a link to the site: http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&g=6&i=1521

Thanks,
Brent