Deploying Rails on Ubuntu Dapper can be a tricky proposition, with the typical solution using Apache as a proxy to Mongrel. This article demonstrates how to setup Apache2.2 (including Dapper .deb packages) with Mongrel utilizing the mod_proxy_balancer module for Apache.
Ubuntu is fast becoming the distribution of choice for many people, having the ease of deployment and solid package management system that you would expect from a Debian based distribution and also benefits from a fast release cycle that results in up to date versions of many popular packages. In particular, Ubuntu ‘Dapper’ is the first Ubuntu release to provide long term support (6 years from release) and has achieved a healthy level of security and stability (in no small part due to it’s Debian roots).
Currently, the most popular Rails deployment stack is Linux, Apache 2.2, Mongrel and MySQL. This can present a problem when attempting to install with Ubuntu Dapper as Apache 2.0 is the only available Apache package within the official Dapper repositories. There is always the option to compile a version of Apache from source (which certainly has some benefits) however all the benefits of using a package management system are lost when taking this approach.
