Newbie dedicated server setup - part 1

So I've finally decided to turn my back on Dreamhost and set up a dedicated server.

I've decided to go for Ubuntu + RubyOnRails + MySQL.

A thrilling prospect for any true geek, but also chilling, since I've no real linux sysadmin experience...This is going to be a very interesting weekend.

I'm going for Ubuntu because I've been toying with Breezy, Hoary and Dapper for some time now on my laptop, and I like it. Similarly, I've developed a few minor projects on Rails recently, and the framework just feels right for me.

Apache seems a logical choice as webserver (Webrick is not production material and lighttpd seems to have stopped playing nicely with FastCGI), so there you have it...Apache it is. But I *do not* want to have the same shitty performance issues as I've been having on Dreamhost! No hanging dispatch.fcgi processes and unexplainable unresponsiveness, no freaky "incomplete headers sent" crap.

This means I'll be setting up Apache 2.0 and use mod_proxy as a reverse proxy to direct the workload to mongrel, and let it do its gruffy magic. Arf.

Like I said, interesting days a-comin'...

Interestingly, Angsuman Chakraborty seems to be doing almost exactly the same thing this weekend...