Will, Yes it's the case that a front-end web server (nginx) is sitting in front of the mongrels but no it's not the case that it is misconfigured.
As I hoped my example was illustrating, the web server knows about different virtual hosts but mongrel doesn't. Let me try and give another example with even more detail: Assume: * Mongrel (without patch), which serves any static files it finds in it's doc root (RAILS_ROOT/public) * Web server (WS) virtual host mapping: * example.com => /var/www/apps/example.com/public (web server's doc root for virtual host 1) * es.example.com => /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es (web server's doc root for virtual host 2) directory structure (DS) when cache is cleared: RAILS_ROOT/public RAILS_ROOT/public/es Steps on 1st request: http://example.com 1. WS: can't find index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public 2. WS forwards request to mongrel process (M) 3. M can't find index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public 4. Mongrel creates a rails process to handle request for / 5. Rails, sees example.com host and / path and renders index.html in / var/www/apps/example.com/public 6. Mongrel serves /var/www/apps/example.com/public/index.html back There's no problem at this point. But bear with me... DS is now: RAILS_ROOT/public RAILS_ROOT/public/index.html RAILS_ROOT/public/es Steps on 2nd request: http://example.com 1. WS: finds index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public 2. WS serves request Again, no problem...just served up previously cached file from same domain. DS is still: RAILS_ROOT/public RAILS_ROOT/public/index.html RAILS_ROOT/public/es Steps on 3rd request: http://es.example.com 1. WS: can't find index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es <= Note the doc root is different 2. WS forwards request to mongrel process (M) 3. M finds index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public 4. Mongrel serves /var/www/apps/example.com/public/index.html which is the page associated with the http://example.com domain. 5. This is NOT the required behaviour as it's serving the cached file for http://example.com rather than http://es.example.com as was requested. DS is still: RAILS_ROOT/public RAILS_ROOT/public/index.html RAILS_ROOT/public/es Alternative 3rd request (http://es.example.com) with * patched mongrel * (mongrel set NOT to serve any static files): 1. WS: can't find index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es 2. WS forwards request to mongrel process (M) 3. M ignores index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public as it directly forwards request to rails 4. Mongrel creates a rails process to handle request 5. Rails, sees es.example.com host and / path and renders index.html in /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es 6. Mongrel serves /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es/index.html back DS is now: RAILS_ROOT/public RAILS_ROOT/public/index.html RAILS_ROOT/public/es RAILS_ROOT/public/es/index.html Note: Now the right page has been served for the right domain. After the file has been cached for http://es.example.com, the WS will happily serve that up. Phew, I hope this finally illustrates the problem with more clarity. :) Regards, Saimon On Jan 25, 2008, at 3:32 PM, Will Green wrote: > SO, it sounds like you have Apache (or another web server) in front > of a pack of Mongrels, which should be serving static files. It > sounds like your front-end web server is passing requests back to > mongrel when this is not your intent. If so, it sounds like you have > a misconfiguration in your front-end web server configuration. > > Is this the case? > > == > Will Green > > Saimon Moore wrote .. >> Hi Nathan, >> >> The problem is that mongrel is serving the static file long before >> rails knows anything about it. >> >> e.g. As I mention in the patch, you have a web server setup with >> multiple virtual hosts each mapped to a separate doc root. >> >> example.com => /var/www/apps/example.com/public >> >> es.example.com => /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es >> >> Rails is using page caching and the cache is clean. >> >> 1st request: >> >> http://example.com => >> >> 1. web server looks for /var/www/apps/example.com/public/index.html >> 2. passes request to mongrel which does the same thing, doesn't find >> it and calls rails to render it. >> 3. Now /var/www/apps/example.com/public/index.html exists as was >> cached by rails. >> >> 2nd request: >> >> http://es.example.com => >> >> 1. web server looks for /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es/ >> index.html >> 2. passes request to mongrel which looks for /var/www/apps/ >> example.com/ >> public/index.html >> (which unlike the web server, has only one doc root), >> finds the file under /var/www/apps/example.com/public/index.html >> (from the previous request) and serves that back before rails has >> even >> got a chance to know about it. It has served the wrong file. >> >> I hope this example makes it clearer. >> >> With the ability to force mongrel to forward all requests it receives >> to rails, on the second request rails (using the host info) would >> then >> cache the index.html file into /var/www/apps/example.com/public/es/ >> index.html. >> >> As I was writing this, I just thought of another possibility being >> writing a custom mongrel handler, but as mongrel_rails is a handler >> itself, it seems a bit pointless so I still think my patch has >> merits. >> >> Thoughts? >> >> Regards, >> >> Saimon >> >> >> On Jan 24, 2008, at 4:42 PM, Nathan Vack wrote: >> >>> On Jan 24, 2008, at 6:13 AM, Saimon Moore wrote: >>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> I've just added a patch that I'd appreciate some feedback on: >>>> >>>> http://rubyforge.org/tracker/index.php? >>>> func=detail&aid=17446&group_id=1306&atid=5147 >>> >>> I'll admit by cold-addled brain isn't following logic perfectly this >>> morning, but I feel like this really would be better handled by the >>> upstream HTTP handler giving enough information to your app so it >>> serves the right cached file (or runs the right controller, or >>> whatever). >>> >>> I think passing the Host: header along with the request_routing >>> plugin (assuming you're on Rails) will make everything happy: >>> >>> http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/request_routing >>> >>> Or am I missing something? >>> >>> -Nate >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Mongrel-users mailing list >>> Mongrel-users@rubyforge.org >>> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users >> >> -- >> Saimon Moore >> Freelance Web Developer >> (Available for hire - For details visit http://saimonmoore.net) >> >> Skype: saimonmoore >> Yahoo IM: saimonmoore >> Google IM: saimonmoore >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mongrel-users mailing list >> Mongrel-users@rubyforge.org >> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users >> > _______________________________________________ > Mongrel-users mailing list > Mongrel-users@rubyforge.org > http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users -- Saimon Moore Freelance Web Developer (Available for hire - For details visit http://saimonmoore.net) Skype: saimonmoore Yahoo IM: saimonmoore Google IM: saimonmoore _______________________________________________ Mongrel-users mailing list Mongrel-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/mongrel-users
