We’re proud to announce the beta version of our new Brightbox deployment gem. It is available from the Brightbox gem testing repository at http://gems.brightbox.net/testing. You can add this repository to your list by following these instructions.

This gem is a complete rewrite, to take advantage of the latest features of Capistrano and Rails. The Gem works with the current version of Capistrano (2.3) and supports the deployment of Rails 2.x applications.

FEATURES

Deploy with a single command

You can deploy a Rails application onto the Brightbox system with a single command (deploy:initial). We’ve tried to reduce the amount of work required to get an application working. You can follow our simplified initial deployment guide on our wiki

Focus on new deployment

The Brightbox gem is designed to allow you to quickly deploy an application to your new Brightbox. We’ve created sensible defaults for many of the Brightbox command options, and trimmed as much of the fat as we can from the deployment process. But because the gem generates Capistrano files you can tailor this starting point to your exact needs using the full power of Capistrano.

Deploy your working copy

The gem uses the new ‘:none’ scm option in Capistrano that simply zips up the current directory and deploys it on the server. No more messing around with version control security until you’re ready. Just deploy and go.

Automatically creates database configuration

The standard ‘mysql’ command allows you to put the database, username and password in a file called ‘.my.cnf’ in the ‘rails’ user home directory on the server. The mysql command will then read that file and logon to the database directly. If your application is short of a ‘production’ section in its config/database.yml then the recipes will take the contents of ‘.my.cnf’ and create a production section dynamically.

Automatically creates databases and gems

Rails now has rake commands for creating databases and installing required gems. Where these are available the recipes will use them automatically. For Rails 2.0 users we’ve created a simple ’stop gap’ rake task that you can use to specify your required gems.

Separate server and client gems

Once the gem is released all new brightboxes will come with the server gem preinstalled. For older boxes you will need to install the server tools manually. Log into your brightbox and run:

sudo gem install brightbox-server-tools -y --no-ri --no-rdoc

Logs Rotated

The gem asks the operating system to monitor the size of the application logs and rotate them when they get too big or too old. No longer should a neglected log file bring your server to its knees.

Mongrels Cleaned

Mongrel tend to be dirty when it falls over and leaves PID files lying around to trap the unwary. The new gem cleans up dirty PID files before it restarts.

Works alongside Capistrano

We’ve simplified the recipes so that, wherever possible, they augment the existing Capistrano deployment commands we all know and love rather than replacing them. That way your deployments gain the benefits of Capistrano improvements as well as improvements in the Brightbox gem. Free software at its best.

NOW WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We’d like as many Brightbox customers to use the new gem and let us know what they think of it so that we can hone it to perfection. Please give it a go and then pop along to our Brightbox Beta discussion group (http://groups.google.com/group/brightbox-beta) and let us know any feedback or problems.

There’s nothing like getting stuck in straight away - the first major task on Neil’s list was getting Version 2 of the Brightbox Gem released which he’ll likely be posting about tomorrow :)

So, welcome aboard Neil - it’s going to be fun!

• managing and developing our hosting systems
• developing our free software Rails stack, based on Ubuntu
• supporting our Rails/Merb hosting customers

There are full-time and part-time roles available and you can work remotely from anywhere in the world or at the office in Leeds (or a bit of both).  We’re still a small team so we need people with pretty diverse skills and, more importantly, an ability to learn new ones. Overall, the following special powers are necessary:

• enthusiasm
• problem solving
• communication
• great written and spoken English

Regarding particular skills, you’ll need experience with some of the following:

• Coding: Ruby, C.
• Ruby stuff: Rails, Merb, JRuby
• Typical Rails/Merb deployment stuff: Mongrel, Capsitrano, Monit, Memcached
• Web servers: NGINX, Lighttpd, Apache
• Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL
• Clustering: RedHat Cluster Suite (CMAN, CLVM, GFS), Heartbeat
• Virtualisation: Xen
• Storage: Linux LVM, Linux RAID, AoE, Bacula.
• Network Filesystems: NFS, Samba, Glusterfs
• OS: RedHat Enterprise Server / Centos 5, Debian / Ubuntu
• RPM / Deb packaging
• Advanced Linux Networking: Routing, Bridging, Netfilter, QoS
• Security: Technical auditing (Nessus, NMAP), Policy development.
• Flame retardant killer robots

Send a hello, a CV and salary expectations to jobs@brightbox.co.uk. CVs should be in an open format, preferably plain text or PDF.

Recruitment agents should e-mail our special recruitment company email address: root@localhost.

Closing date for applications is 16th May.

It’s in our testing repository at the moment so give it a whirl (it will of course install on any Ubuntu Dapper box, not just Brightboxes).  We have a page on the Brightbox wiki on how to configure NGINX for your Brightbox apps too (which can easily be adjusted to any NGINX install really).

If you’re playing with any of this beta stuff (like these packages or the Brightbox gem) and have feedback or need help, feel free to discuss it on the Brightbox-beta Google group that i just set up.

The maintenance is to apply some software updates but we’re taking the opportunity to do some MySQL performance tuning at the same time.

John and I are currently in Prague for the Euruko 2008 Ruby Conference.

It looks to be a busy but fun weekend - Brightbox is sponsoring the event, providing drinks for the party at La Fabrika on Saturday evening plus we’re doing a special discount exclusively for Euruko attendees.

If you’re here too, do come and say hello.

UPDATE (2 Apr 2008): Had a great time, and met lots of cool people. Check out the photos on Flickr. Big thanks to Karel Minařík and his team for all their hard work in organising such a great event.

Dapper has Ruby 1.8.4 (though labelled as 1.8.2 in the package list) and ImageMagick 6.2.  Ruby 1.8.4 has some known problems that are fixed in 1.8.6 and the rmagick gem recently updated to version 2, reportedly fixing the memory leaks, but it requires ImageMagick 6.3.

We backported Ruby 1.8.6 p111 and ImageMagick 6.3 from the latest development version of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) to Dapper.  They’ve been in use on a few boxes and no problems so far.  Feel free to make use of them.  We’ll be backporting any security updates as they come.

General details of the repository are here, with specific information about Ruby 1.8.6 and ImageMagick 6.3 on their own pages.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron is due out in the next few month, which brings a lot of this stuff with it.  Some of you might have the luxury of being able to upgrade to it, but some may need to stick with Dapper for a while - hopefully these packages will help you out.

Jeremy and I went to Barcamp Manchester last Saturday - our photos are on Flickr as usual.  It turned out to be six months to the day since we went live with Brightbox too!

We ran a competition on the day: people had to tell us what they’d do with a Brightbox virtual machine and the best suggestion (as judged by us) kwould win a years hosting on one.  Throughout the day people wrote their ideas on post-it notes and we sifted through them at the end.

Here are some of the suggestions:

• A service to archive scans of old maps for Open Street Map
• Twitter wall app - @replies aggregated in the style of facebook’s wall-to-wall messages
• Start a rails hosting company
• Learn PHP
• Hosting for Deb
• Slowly ticking countdown timer to cause paranoia
• App to mix samples from fiction books to make new fiction
• Run a free hosting competition
• Flame retardant killer robots
• “Anything! They’re so flexible and scalable the possibilities are endless! We love Brightbox!”
• “Dye your hair orange”

The winner was Chris Maltby, who said he’d use it to host a web-based multiplayer turn-based strategy game. This made our geeky senses tingle.

Rob Lee also suggested we open source our management tools - which we already do! I guess we just don’t make a big enough deal about it. Expect to see us making a bigger deal about it soon.

During the maintenance period you will possibly see a number of brief outages to servers (less than 2 minutes). If you experience any issues after the maintenance period, please submit a support ticket and we’ll deal with it straight away.

No clear plan yet, but expect unstructured discussion of Ruby and Ruby on Rails at least. Plus nice people, beer and geeky tshirts. All welcome!

More details here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/423116

We’ll put a little sign up somewhere so you can find us (in case a bunch of people with laptops loudly discussing Ruby might be difficult to locate).

• Brightbox 256 (was £45/mo) now £39
• Brightbox 512 (was £75/mo) now £69
• Brightbox 1024 (was £125/mo) now £109
• Brightbox 2048 (was £220/mo) now £199

See the updated pricing matrix for more details. Enjoy.

Today, we’re launching the Brightbox affiliate program - which means you can earn money by referring new customers to us.

We’ll provide you with a unique affiliate URL to point visitors to the Brightbox website. When you refer a new customer to us (and once they’ve been with us 3 months), you’ll receive a payment equal to one months fee for each Brightbox virtual machine they purchase!

Check out the affiliate program page for more details and FAQs.

At NWRUG we’ll be doing a presentation about setting up Brightbox and some of the highs and lows, ins and outs of building a Ruby-related tech business oop north. After the event we’ll be heading to The Paramount for drinks, so come and say hello - we might even buy you a drink (or two if you’re a customer :)

DHH, Mr Rails himself, in another comment says of Xen:

Wonderful system. Strongly recommended for anyone building out a cluster.

What better recommendation to you need that Xen is a perfect solution for Rails hosting and scaling?!

Update: (7 Jan 2007) maintenance went well with only few seconds downtime.

We’re really excited to announce today a new partnership with FiveRuns, the pioneer in monitoring products for Ruby on Rails. From today, our Brightbox 512 products and above will include FiveRuns RM-Manage monitoring.

FiveRuns’ RM-Manage is the first and only Rails application monitoring product to instrument and monitor all aspects of the Rails framework and its supporting infrastructure resources. Combining our scalable Rails hosting environments with FiveRuns industry-first monitoring tools will enable customers to ensure their Rails applications operate at peak performance in a fully monitored server environment.

Here’s what Dean Cruse, vice president of sales and marketing for FiveRuns, says:

Ruby on Rails developers require world-class hosting and management resources 100% dedicated to the framework, and Brightbox delivers. This partnership enables a combined and singular resource in the UK for Rails applications: simple and powerful Rails hosting expertise combined with the industry’s best Rails application monitoring offering.

Read the full Press Release posted on the FiveRuns website.

New customers of Brightbox 512 and above products will be activated with a FiveRuns account, and be able to log-in, download and install the RM-Manage client on their Brightbox servers. FiveRuns will provide full support for all of the new accounts directly. For more information on the partnership, see our partner page.

Existing customers just need to send an email to support@brightbox.co.uk to request their FiveRuns account.

We’ve received notification from the datacentre that during the above period they will be performing maintenance on the core network, involving firmware/software upgrades to core switches and routers to fix several minor issues and further ensure future network stability.

During the window you may see a number of brief outages (less than 2 minutes). If you experience any issues after the maintenance window has closed, please submit a support ticket and we’ll deal with it straight away.

Usually your machine’s ‘partition’ is just a small part of a larger disk array; the partition is deleted and the space returned for the pool to be used by another virtual machine. This means, the next time someone buys a virtual machine with the same host, some of the blocks that made up your filesystem could end up making up their filesystem. The metadata will be wiped clean when the filesystem is formatted of course, so they won’t just see your files listed, but the blocks can still contain your data. It depends on how they’re managing their disks.

Homework: go buy a virtual machine somewhere and pipe the contents of your new disk through the strings command and look out for anything that isn’t yours (ssh root@newmachine "dd if=/dev/sda1 bs=1M | strings"). Extra credit if you don’t get thrown off your new host on the first day for maxing out the disk IO :)

So, you’re probably careful and securely wipe your sensitive data before you leave, phew. But disk space is virtualised too. The blocks that make up your disk might not all be in order or even all be on the same disk. With snapshots, your data may exist in duplicate too that you can’t even access. And what about if you bought extra disk space, then removed it?

At Brightbox we use Linux’s LVM implementation to manage disk space and these are problems we have to deal with and we take it seriously. All virtual machine disks are wiped at the block level when the machine is deleted or when a new machine is created. The only corner case we’re likely to run into is if a disk image is extended into space that had previously been used as a snapshot or as a disk that was shrunk. Luckily we don’t currently offer snapshots or disk shrinking but it’ll be something we’ll probably offer at some point, so we’ll have to address it then.

This new box comes with 2GB of RAM and also has a whole dedicated CPU core at it’s disposal giving an additional performance advantage. The Brightbox 2048 is priced at £220 per month, with the usual discount for annual payments. Check out the full list of specs and how it compares up to our existing rails hosting products →

Also, today, we added *another* 50GB of bandwidth to the Brightbox 1024 product, now giving a total of 150GB/month.

It’s largely just a maintenance release, which means no Capistrano v2.0 support just yet, it still requires Capistrano 1.4.1. Cap 2.0 support is in the works though and will be released soon.

A quick summary of the changes:

• Fixes default Monit config bug (changes totalmem to mem, no more false memory overage alarms!)
• Fails out if MySQL database exists on cold_deploy (you really shouldn’t be running a cold_deploy a second time anyway)
• Adds reconfigure task (for easy adding of mongrels or domain changes)
• Archives Apache configs on cold_deploy or reconfigure
• Fixes Capistrano 1.4 dependency (will pull in v1.4.1 if necessary now)
• Changes default Apache log location to /var/log/web (for new cold_deploys or reconfigures)

Remember that you need to upgrade the Brightbox gem both in your development environment and on your Brightbox.

The HOWTO on deploying your Rails app using the Brightbox is here as usual.

Naturally, this applies to *all* customers.

Our special launch offer, “buy 6 months get 6 months FREE”, is now available to purchase. We’re currently only taking payments via Paypal (PayPal account not required) for the launch offer, although we can accept bank payments via CHAPS for those customers who are unable to use PayPal.

The launch offer is limited to 2 special offer boxes per customer and there are only 100 available in total. The offer will close on 29 October (in 2 weeks time).

** UPDATE ** (1 Nov 2007): We’re extending the launch offer for another week as we’re still working on our “proper” payments system. Those customers who have already signed up for the launch offer will get another month free :)

As Google’s Webmaster Help Centre explains:

While all sites in our index return for searches restricted to “the web,” we draw on a relevant subset of sites for each country restrict. Our crawlers identify the country that corresponds to a site by factors such as the physical location at which the site is hosted, the site’s IP address, and its domain restrict.

That said, your site’s domain doesn’t need to match the country domain for which you’d like it to return…

Now, I can’t really see how Big G can work out the first “factor” (physical location) without the second (IP address), using some sort of IP geolocation data. So as far as I can see, if you want to appear in the “pages from the UK” set of results in Google UK, having a UK IP address is an important factor.

This could well be *the* dullest subject to blog about - but since there always seems to be a fair amount of confusion over VAT (Value Added Tax) and to whom it should be charged, especially when selling goods or services internationally, I thought it would be useful to explain how we’ll be implementing VAT into our payments system for Brightbox.

No? well ok, don’t worry. But if you’re interested or have nothing to do, read on…

In simple terms, VAT is a sales tax (17.5% in the UK) collected on sales and paid on purchases with the balance paid (or reclaimed if negative) to HMRC. Sounds simple, huh? Not really. In fact it’s seemingly impossible for even qualified accountants to keep up with the innumerable rules, exclusions, special exceptions and so on which make up the law on VAT.

Even greater confusion occurs when it comes to selling goods or services internationally. As a VAT registered business in the UK, it seems we have to treat sales to customers in the following regions/categories differently:

• UK-based customers (businesses and individuals) = VAT is added
• EU countries (individuals and non VAT registered businesses) = VAT is added
• EU countries (businesses with VAT registration number) = VAT is not added
• Non-EU countries (businesses and individuals) = VAT is not added

I’m (thankfully) no expert, but based on what I’ve read and advice from our accountant - this is how we’ll be incorporating VAT into our payments system.

Thanks for reading :)