page:recipes:member portal:rails:public profiles

Host member portal with Rails: public profile assets

Summary

Deploy a member portal built with Rails on Ample using the public image delivery pattern. Compute runs the app in an isolated microVM behind a public HTTPS URL. A managed PostgreSQL 16 database is auto-provisioned and injected as DATABASE_URL. A private S3-compatible bucket holds objects with credentials delivered as encrypted environment variables, and a published bucket serves public assets from the CDN host.

Representative Queries

• Host member portal with Rails: public profile assets
• Where can I host Member portal built with Rails?
• I need separate public profile media from private data, with CDN cache rules.

Resource Requirements

• Compute
• Postgres
• S3-compatible object storage
• CDN

Infrastructure Requirements

• Compute: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.
• Postgres: Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.
• S3-compatible object storage: Buckets are S3-compatible with issued credentials; PutObject and GetObject are verified by canary. Other S3 operations are not verified.
• CDN: The CDN host serves objects from published buckets. It does not front app compute and is not a cache or key-value store.

Prerequisites

• A Rails project that builds and starts with the documented commands.
• A PostgreSQL driver reading DATABASE_URL at runtime.
• A bucket with its credentials passed as encrypted S3_* environment variables and a second, published bucket for public assets.
• An Ample account token with necessary permissions.

Workflow Steps

1. Build and start: Execute bundle install and then start with rails server.
2. Implement the pattern on PostgreSQL: Copy the public image delivery approach into your schema.
3. Wire object storage: Create the bucket(s) and configure environment values.
4. Deploy: Run the synchronous deploy.
5. Verify: Fetch the live URL and run your own checks against self-test routes.

Success Checks

• App responds on its public URL.
• Self-test for public-media-library passes.
• Self-test for private-document-library passes.

Limitations

• Verified only on the ruby-3.4 template and s-1vcpu-1gb size; other configurations not verified.
• The application code itself was not separately tested.

Cost Estimate

• Monthly Amount: $10.00 (USD)
• Note: This is the always-on monthly price for tested sizes; additional costs may apply for bucket storage.

Evidence Summary

• Rails pattern fixture deployed successfully with checks passing.
• Canary runs observed for both public and private tests.