The Future of Deployment: A Killer Panel

The way we deploy ruby apps is changing. It’s getting better, faster, and smoother. This is happening because all the different pieces of the stack, including the underlying hosting platform, have started to fit together well.

This panel is a chance to get forward thinkers from all the different parts of the ruby web stack in one room. This is truly a killer line-up.

A solid ruby web stack:

Application server: Thin
    Webserver Interface: Rack
        Middleware: Rack::Cache
            Framework: Sinatra
                Your Ruby App
Hosting Environment: Heroku

Panel Speakers:

Thin — Marc-André Cournoyer, creator
As one of the main successors of Mongrel and a widely used application server that is lighter, faster, and more stable, thin was built with Rack and EventMachine from the ground up.

Rack — Christian Neukirchen, creator
The centerpiece of the ruby stack, Rack is the interface that allows web servers, app servers, frameworks, and ruby code to connect, and provides an elegant extensibility to the request path. Rack is an essential part of every ruby web app, and is built into all the things you use every day (Rails, Merb, Sinatra, Mongrel, Thin, Passenger, etc.).

Rack::Cache — Ryan Tomayko, creator
Not only a great example of Rack Middleware, Rack::Cache also represents a critical part of ruby’s future on the web: HTTP caching. Many projects are in the works to make ruby apps fast (some at the VM level), but nothing will ever yield the kind of performance boost you can get from proper caching. Rack::Cache can make it effortless.

Sinatra — Blake Mizerany, creator
The hugely popular ruby microframework allows simple apps to be built at blazing speed, can be easily deployed almost anywhere, is lightweight and super fast, and has amazing power when combined with Rack and Rails.

Heroku — Adam Wiggins, cofounder
With over 25,000 ruby applications hosted on the platform, no one has done more behind-the-scenes work to standardize the stack and deployment process, and to understand how these pieces fit smoothly together.

Panel Moderator: James Lindenbaum — cofounder, Heroku

We’ll spend the first half of the session talking about:

• how this group has made these pieces fit together so well
• individual and collective visions of the future for the stack, including:
  • the effects of ruby 1.9 and new ruby VMs and app servers (Marc-André Cournoyer)
  • deployment styles, tools, and processes (Adam Wiggins)
  • how rack middleware and Rails Metal should be used (Christian Neukirchen)
  • how small apps and microframeworks fit with Rails (Blake Mizerany)
  • HTTP caching, seriously (Ryan Tomayko)

The second half of the session will provide time for Q&A and feedback. This is a rare opportunity to discuss issues and ideas in real time, directly with the key people from each part of the stack, all in one place.