Create a Ruby on Rails App in App Service

Azure App Service on Linux provides a highly scalable, self-patching web hosting service using the Linux operating system.

Note

The Ruby development stack only supports Ruby on Rails at this time. If you want to use a different platform, such as Sinatra, or if you want to use an unsupported Ruby version, you need to run it in a custom container.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Azure CLI

If you are running the sample code locally, you will need:

• Install Ruby 2.7 or higher
• Install Git

You will not need to install these if you are using the Cloud Shell.

Azure Cloud Shell

Azure hosts Azure Cloud Shell, an interactive shell environment that you can use through your browser. You can use either Bash or PowerShell with Cloud Shell to work with Azure services. You can use the Cloud Shell preinstalled commands to run the code in this article, without having to install anything on your local environment.

To start Azure Cloud Shell:

Option	Example/Link
Select Try It in the upper-right corner of a code or command block. Selecting Try It doesn't automatically copy the code or command to Cloud Shell.
Go to https://shell.azure.com, or select the Launch Cloud Shell button to open Cloud Shell in your browser.
Select the Cloud Shell button on the menu bar at the upper right in the Azure portal.

To use Azure Cloud Shell:

1. Start Cloud Shell.

2. Select the Copy button on a code block (or command block) to copy the code or command.

3. Paste the code or command into the Cloud Shell session by selecting Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows and Linux, or by selecting Cmd+Shift+V on macOS.

4. Select Enter to run the code or command.

Portal

To complete this quickstart you need:

• An Azure account with an active subscription. Create an account for free.
• A GitHub account to fork a repository.

1 - Get the sample repository

Azure CLI

This quickstart tutorial shows how to deploy a Ruby on Rails app to App Service on Linux using the Cloud Shell.

1. In a terminal window, clone the sample application to your local machine, and navigate to the directory containing the sample code.

   git clone https://github.com/Azure-Samples/ruby-docs-hello-world
   cd ruby-docs-hello-world
   

2. Make sure the default branch is main.

   git branch -m main
   

   Tip

   The branch name change isn't required by App Service. However, since many repositories are changing their default branch to main, this tutorial also shows you how to deploy a repository from main. For more information, see Change deployment branch.

Run the application locally

If you want to run the application locally to see how it works, clone the repository locally and follow these steps.

Note

These steps cannot be run in Azure Cloud Shell, due to version conflicts with Ruby.

1. Install the required gems. There's a Gemfile included in the sample, so just run the following command:

   bundle install
   

2. Once the gems are installed, start the app:

   bundle exec rails server
   

3. Using your web browser, navigate to http://localhost:3000 to test the app locally.

   

Portal

This quickstart shows how to deploy a Ruby on Rails app to App Service on Linux within your browser, without having to install the development environment tools on your machine.

1. In your browser, navigate to the repository containing the sample code.

2. In the upper right corner, select Fork.

   

3. On the Create a new fork screen, confirm the Owner and Repository name fields. Select Create fork.

   

   Note

   This should take you to the new fork. Your fork URL will look something like this: https://github.com/YOUR_GITHUB_ACCOUNT_NAME/ruby-docs-hello-world

2 - Deploy your application code to Azure

Azure CLI

Configure a deployment user

FTP and local Git can deploy to an Azure web app by using a deployment user. Once you configure your deployment user, you can use it for all your Azure deployments. Your account-level deployment username and password are different from your Azure subscription credentials.

To configure the deployment user, run the az webapp deployment user set command in Azure Cloud Shell. Replace <username> and <password> with a deployment user username and password.

• The username must be unique within Azure, and for local Git pushes, must not contain the ‘@’ symbol.
• The password must be at least eight characters long, with two of the following three elements: letters, numbers, and symbols.

az webapp deployment user set --user-name <username> --password <password>

The JSON output shows the password as null. If you get a 'Conflict'. Details: 409 error, change the username. If you get a 'Bad Request'. Details: 400 error, use a stronger password.

Record your username and password to use to deploy your web apps.

Create a resource group

A resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources, such as web apps, databases, and storage accounts, are deployed and managed. For example, you can choose to delete the entire resource group in one simple step later.

In the Cloud Shell, create a resource group with the az group create command. The following example creates a resource group named myResourceGroup in the West Europe location. To see all supported locations for App Service on Linux in Basic tier, run the az appservice list-locations --sku B1 --linux-workers-enabled command.

az group create --name myResourceGroup --location "West Europe"

You generally create your resource group and the resources in a region near you.

When the command finishes, a JSON output shows you the resource group properties.

Create an Azure App Service plan

In the Cloud Shell, create an App Service plan with the az appservice plan create command.

The following example creates an App Service plan named myAppServicePlan in the Free pricing tier:

az appservice plan create --name myAppServicePlan --resource-group myResourceGroup --sku FREE --is-linux

When the App Service plan has been created, the Azure CLI shows information similar to the following example:

{ 
  "freeOfferExpirationTime": null,
  "geoRegion": "West Europe",
  "hostingEnvironmentProfile": null,
  "id": "/subscriptions/0000-0000/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Web/serverfarms/myAppServicePlan",
  "kind": "linux",
  "location": "West Europe",
  "maximumNumberOfWorkers": 1,
  "name": "myAppServicePlan",
  < JSON data removed for brevity. >
  "targetWorkerSizeId": 0,
  "type": "Microsoft.Web/serverfarms",
  "workerTierName": null
} 

1. Create a web app in the myAppServicePlan App Service plan.

   In the Cloud Shell, you can use the az webapp create command. In the following example, replace <app-name> with a globally unique app name (valid characters are a-z, 0-9, and -). The runtime is set to RUBY|2.7. To see all supported runtimes, run az webapp list-runtimes --os linux.

   az webapp create --resource-group myResourceGroup --plan myAppServicePlan --name <app-name> --runtime 'RUBY|2.7' --deployment-local-git
   

   When the web app has been created, the Azure CLI shows output similar to the following example:

    Local git is configured with url of 'https://<username>@<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/<app-name>.git'
    {
      "availabilityState": "Normal",
      "clientAffinityEnabled": true,
      "clientCertEnabled": false,
      "cloningInfo": null,
      "containerSize": 0,
      "dailyMemoryTimeQuota": 0,
      "defaultHostName": "<app-name>.azurewebsites.net",
      "deploymentLocalGitUrl": "https://<username>@<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/<app-name>.git",
      "enabled": true,
      < JSON data removed for brevity. >
    }
    

   You've created an empty new web app, with Git deployment enabled.

   Note

   The URL of the Git remote is shown in the deploymentLocalGitUrl property, with the format https://<username>@<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/<app-name>.git. Save this URL as you need it later.

2. Since you're deploying the main branch, you need to set the default deployment branch for your App Service app to main (see Change deployment branch). In the Cloud Shell, set the DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH app setting with the az webapp config appsettings set command.

   az webapp config appsettings set --name <app-name> --resource-group myResourceGroup --settings DEPLOYMENT_BRANCH='main'
   

3. Back in the local terminal window, add an Azure remote to your local Git repository. Replace <deploymentLocalGitUrl-from-create-step> with the deploymentLocalGitUrl value from app creation.

   git remote add azure <deploymentLocalGitUrl-from-create-step>
   

4. Push to the Azure remote to deploy your app with the following command. When Git Credential Manager prompts you for credentials, make sure you enter the credentials you created in Configure a deployment user, not the credentials you use to sign in to the Azure portal.

   git push azure main
   

   This command may take a few minutes to run. While running, it displays information similar to the following example:

   remote: Using turbolinks 5.2.0
   remote: Using uglifier 4.1.20
   remote: Using web-console 3.7.0
   remote: Bundle complete! 18 Gemfile dependencies, 78 gems now installed.
   remote: Bundled gems are installed into `/tmp/bundle`
   remote: Zipping up bundle contents
   remote: .......
   remote: ~/site/repository
   remote: Finished successfully.
   remote: Running post deployment command(s)...
   remote: Deployment successful.
   remote: App container will begin restart within 10 seconds.
   To https://<app-name>.scm.azurewebsites.net/<app-name>.git
      a6e73a2..ae34be9  main -> main
   

5. Once the deployment has completed, wait about 10 seconds for the web app to restart, and then navigate to the web app and verify the results.

http://<app-name>.azurewebsites.net

Note

While the app is restarting, you may observe the HTTP status code Error 503 Server unavailable in the browser, or the Hey, Ruby developers! default page. It may take a few minutes for the app to fully restart.

Portal

1. Sign into the Azure portal.

2. At the top of the portal, type app services in the search box. Under Services, select App Services.

   

3. In the App Services page, select Create.

   

4. Fill out the Create Web App page as follows.

   • Resource Group: Create a resource group named myResourceGroup.
   • Name: Type a globally unique name for your web app.
   • Publish: Select Code.
   • Runtime stack: Select Ruby 2.7.
   • Operating system: Select Linux.
   • Region: Select an Azure region close to you.
   • App Service Plan: Create an app service plan named myAppServicePlan.

5. To change to the Free tier, next to Sku and size, select Change size.

6. In the Spec Picker, select Dev/Test tab, select F1, and select the Apply button at the bottom of the page.

   

7. Select the Review + create button at the bottom of the page.

8. After validation runs, select the Create button at the bottom of the page. This will create an Azure resource group, app service plan, and app service.

9. After the Azure resources are created, select Go to resource.

10. From the left navigation, select Deployment Center.

    

11. Under Settings, select a Source. For this quickstart, select GitHub.

12. In the section under GitHub, select the following settings:

    • Organization: Select your organization.
    • Repository: Select ruby-docs-hello-world.
    • Branch: Select the default branch for your repository.

13. Select Save.

    

    Tip

    This quickstart uses GitHub. Additional continuous deployment sources include Bitbucket, Local Git, Azure Repos, and External Git. FTPS is also a supported deployment method.

14. Once the GitHub integration is saved, from the left navigation of your app, select Overview > URL.

15. On the Overview, select the link under URL.

    

The Ruby sample code is running in an Azure App Service Linux web app.

Congratulations! You've deployed your first Ruby app to App Service using the Azure portal.

3 - Update and redeploy the app

Azure CLI

1. From Azure Cloud Shell, launch a text editor and edit the file app/controllers/application_controller.rb. Edit the ApplicationController class so that it shows "Hello world from Azure App Service on Linux!" instead of "Hello from Azure App Service on Linux!".

   class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
       def hello
           render html: "Hello world from Azure App Service on Linux!"
       end
   end
   

2. Save and close the file.

3. Commit the change to Git with the following commands:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Hello world"
   git push azure main
   

Note

• Make sure your git push statement includes azure main so that you are pushing directly to the Azure Git deployment URL.
• You may also need to set your user.name and user.email Git config values when you commit the changes. You can do that with git config user.name "YOUR NAME" and git config user.email "YOUR EMAIL".

Portal

1. Browse to your GitHub fork of ruby-docs-hello-world.

2. On your repo page, press . to start Visual Studio code within your browser.

   Note

   The URL will change from GitHub.com to GitHub.dev. This feature only works with repos that have files. This does not work on empty repos.

   

3. Navigate to app/controllers/application_controller.rb.

   

4. Edit the ApplicationController class so that it shows "Hello world from Azure App Service on Linux!" instead of "Hello from Azure App Service on Linux!".

   class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
       def hello
           render html: "Hello world from Azure App Service on Linux!"
       end
   end
   

5. From the Source Control menu, select the Stage Changes button to stage the change.

   

6. Enter a commit message such as Hello world. Then, select Commit and Push.

   

7. Once deployment has completed, return to the browser window that opened during the Browse to the app step, and refresh the page.

   

4 - Manage your new Azure app

1. Go to the Azure portal to manage the web app you created. Search for and select App Services.

   

2. Select the name of your Azure app.

   

Your web app's Overview page will be displayed. Here, you can perform basic management tasks like Browse, Stop, Restart, and Delete.

5 - Clean up resources

Azure CLI

Clean up deployment

After the sample script has been run, the following command can be used to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it.

az group delete --name myResourceGroup

Portal

1. From your App Service Overview page, select the resource group you created.

2. From the resource group page, select Delete resource group. Confirm the name of the resource group to finish deleting the resources.

Next steps

Tutorial: Ruby on Rails with Postgres

Configure Ruby app

 Secure with custom domain and certificate