ringleader

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        /__ /   __   _   //  _  _   _(/  _  __
     ) /   \__(_/ (_(_/_(/__(/_(_(_(_(__(/_/ (_
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Ringleader is an application proxy for socket applications.

Is it any good?

Yes.

What's it for?

I designed this for a large suite of apps running behind nginx with a somewhat complex routing configuration. Additionally, many of the apps required active resque pollers to run properly. Ultimately this meant having many terminal windows open just to make a few requests to the apps. Instead, I wanted something to manage all that for me.

Before, each app in a terminal, started manually:

                                +-------+
                             +->| app 1 |
                             |  +-------+
              +-----------+  |
  http        |           |  |  +-------+
requests ---> |   nginx   +--+->| app 2 |
              |           |  |  +-------+
              +-----------+  |
                             |  +-------+
                             +->| app n |
                                +-------+

After, apps managed by ringleader, started on demand:

                                                    +-------+
                                                 +->| app 1 |
                                                 |  +-------+
              +-----------+    +--------------+  |
  http        |           |    |              |  |  +-------+
requests ---> |   nginx   +--->|  ringleader  +--+->| app 2 |
              |           |    |              |  |  +-------+
              +-----------+    +--------------+  |
                                                 |  +-------+
                                                 +->| app n |
                                                    +-------+

Ringleader gives on-demand startup and proxying for any TCP server program. It can be a rails app managed with foreman, a node app, or simply a shell command to start netcat.

Isn't this just like inetd?

Pretty much. But with pretty colors in console and a nice web interface.

Web interface?

Yep. Hook it up with fluid and put it in the menu bar. By default it runs at http://localhost:42000.

Installation

$ gem install ringleader
$ ringleader --help

Configuration

Ringleader requires a yml configuration file to start. It should look something like this:

---
# name of app (used in logging)
main_app:

  # Required settings
  dir: "~/apps/main"       # Working directory
  command: "foreman start" # The command to run to start up the app server.
                           # Executed under "bash -c".
  server_port: 3000        # The port ringleader listens on
  app_port: 4000           # The port the application listens on

  # Optional settings
  host: 127.0.0.1          # The host ringleader should listen on
  idle_timeout: 6000       # Idle timeout in seconds, 0 for infinite
  startup_timeout: 180     # Application startup timeout
  disabled: true           # Set the app to be disabled when ringleader starts
  env:                     # Override or set environment variables inherited
    FOO: hello             # from the current environment. Use nil to unset a
    BAR: nil               # var.
  kill_with: INT           # Signal to use to kill the process tree with. Use
                           # TERM or KILL if the default is leaving zombies.
  run_on_load: false       # Set this to true to start an app when ringleader
                           # loads.

  # If you have an application managed by rvm, this setting automatically adds
  # the rvm-specific shell setup before executing the given command. This
  # supersedes the `command` setting.
  rvm: "foreman start"

  # Likewise for rbenv:
  rbenv: "foreman start"

  # And chruby:
  chruby: "foreman start"

other_app:
  [...]

License

MIT, see LICENSE.

Top hat icon by Luka Taylor under a Creative Commons Attribution/Non-commercial license.

Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create new Pull Request