How to Deploy Ruby on Rails to AWS: Step-by-Step Guide

To deploy a Ruby on Rails app to AWS, use AWS Elastic Beanstalk which manages servers for you. Prepare your app with a Procfile and database.yml, then use the eb cli commands to create and deploy your environment.

Syntax

Deploying Rails to AWS Elastic Beanstalk involves these main steps:

• Initialize Elastic Beanstalk: Use eb init to set up your app with AWS.
• Create environment: Use eb create to launch a server environment.
• Deploy app: Use eb deploy to upload your Rails app.
• Manage app: Use eb open to open your app in a browser.

You also need a Procfile to tell Elastic Beanstalk how to start your Rails server, and configure your database in config/database.yml.

bash

web: bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb

Example

This example shows how to deploy a simple Rails app to AWS Elastic Beanstalk using the EB CLI.

bash

# 1. Install EB CLI if not installed
pip install awsebcli --upgrade --user

# 2. Initialize Elastic Beanstalk in your Rails app folder
eb init -p ruby-3.1 my-rails-app --region us-east-1

# 3. Create an environment
eb create my-rails-env

# 4. Deploy your app
eb deploy

# 5. Open your deployed app in the browser
eb open

Output

Creating application version archive "app-230601_123456"...
Uploading my-rails-app/app-230601_123456.zip to S3...
Application version "app-230601_123456" has been created.
Environment details for: my-rails-env
  Application name: my-rails-app
  Region: us-east-1
  Deployed Version: app-230601_123456
Opening http://my-rails-env.us-east-1.elasticbeanstalk.com in your default browser...

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when deploying Rails to AWS include:

• Not setting up the Procfile correctly, causing the app not to start.
• Forgetting to configure the database connection for production in config/database.yml.
• Not precompiling assets before deployment, leading to missing CSS or JS.
• Using SQLite in production instead of a managed database like Amazon RDS.

Always test your app locally in production mode before deploying.

bash

Wrong Procfile:
web: rails server

Right Procfile:
web: bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb

Quick Reference

Summary tips for deploying Rails to AWS Elastic Beanstalk:

• Use eb init to connect your app to AWS.
• Use eb create to launch your environment.
• Use eb deploy to push updates.
• Configure Procfile to start Puma server.
• Use Amazon RDS for production database.
• Precompile assets with rails assets:precompile.

Key Takeaways

Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk and EB CLI to simplify Rails deployment.

Always configure a proper Procfile to start your Rails server.

Set up production database settings correctly, preferably with Amazon RDS.

Precompile assets before deploying to avoid missing styles or scripts.

Test your app locally in production mode before deploying to AWS.