from within the rails project directory, execute this in the shell

mongrel_rails start -d -p 8020 -e production

-d daemonizes the process
-e tells Rails proj. to use production enviromnent
-p port to use, increment by 10 past next closest port

Stop a daemonized mongrel serving a rails project.

PID file is normally found in /log/

mongrel_rails stop -P <rel. location of PID file>

Copyright (C) 2006 Peter J Jones (pjones@pmade.com).

################################################################################
# This script will update your monit configuration file to monitor your
# mongrel cluster by reading the mongrel cluster file and generating monit
# check entries.  It places delimiters in the configuration file so that you
# can run this script multiple times without generating duplicate entries.
#
# Run it like this:
#
#  mongrel_monit --mongrel=/path/to/mongrel/config.yml --monit=/path/to/monitrc
#
# You can edit the ERB template below to control the generated monit config.
#


TEMPLATE = <<EOT
check process mongrel_<%= @port %> with pidfile <%= @pidfile %>
  group mongrel
  start program = "/usr/local/bin/<%= @start %>"
  stop program = "/usr/local/bin/<%= @stop %>"

  if failed host 127.0.0.1 port <%= @port %> protocol http
    with timeout 10 seconds
    then restart

  if totalmem > 100 Mb then restart
  if cpu is greater than 60% for 2 cycles then alert
  #if cpu > 90% for 5 cycles then restart
  #if loadavg(5min) greater than 10 for 8 cycles then restart
  if 3 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout

EOT
################################################################################
require 'erb'
require 'optparse'
require 'fileutils'
require 'rubygems'
require 'mongrel_cluster/init'
################################################################################
module Kernel
  $commands = []

  # Hack Kernel::` so that we can capture what mongrel_cluster does
  def ` (cmd)
    $commands << cmd
    system(':') # to set $?
  end

  # Hack Kernel::puts to shut mongrel_cluster up
  def puts (str)
    true
  end
end
################################################################################
options = OptionParser.new

options.on('--mongrel=FILE', 'Mongrel configuration file') do |o|
  $mongrel_config = o
end

options.on('--monit=FILE', 'Monit configuration file') do |o|
  $monit_config = o
end

options.parse!

unless $mongrel_config and $monit_config
  puts "please give --mongrel and --monit"
  exit 1
end
################################################################################
mongrel_config_data = YAML.load_file($mongrel_config)
Dir.chdir(mongrel_config_data['cwd']) if mongrel_config_data['cwd']
################################################################################
# This is the only way to access the cmd that mongrel_cluster uses so that we
# can keep things DRY
start = Cluster::Start.new
start.instance_variable_set(:@config_file, $mongrel_config)
start.run
start_commands = $commands.dup
$commands.clear

stop = Cluster::Stop.new
stop.instance_variable_set(:@config_file, $mongrel_config)
stop.run
stop_commands = $commands.dup
$commands.clear
################################################################################
template = ERB.new(TEMPLATE)
config = ''

0.upto(start_commands.length - 1) do |i|
  @port = start_commands[i].match(/-p\s*(\d+)/)[1]
  @pidfile = File.expand_path(start_commands[i].match(/-P\s*(\S+)/)[1])
  @start = start_commands[i]
  @stop = stop_commands[i]
  config << template.result(binding)
end
################################################################################
monit_config_data = File.open($monit_config) {|f| f.read}

# TODO: if you have more than one cluster, this won't do
banner_start = "#= Mongrel_Monit Config Start =#\n"
banner_stop  = "#= Mongrel_Monit Config End =#\n"

if monit_config_data.match(/#{banner_start}.*#{banner_stop}/m)
  monit_config_data.sub!(/#{banner_start}.*#{banner_stop}/m, "#{banner_start}#{config}#{banner_stop}")
else
  monit_config_data << "#{banner_start}#{config}#{banner_stop}"
end

File.open($monit_config, 'w') {|f| f << monit_config_data}
################################################################################

users of monitoring systems may have noticed that mongrel can leave stale PID files behind, which prevents automated monitors from restarting mongrels that have been detected as dead via a port or process check, as mongrel's default behaviour is to exit upon the detection of a pre-existing PID file, whether there is in fact a process of that id running or not.

a fix, in /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-x.x.x/bin/mongrel_rails:

          if File.exist? defaults[:pid_file]
            # mongrels that crash can leave stale PID files behind, and these
            # should not stop mongrel from being restarted by monitors...
            pid = File.new(defaults[:pid_file]).readline
            unless `ps -ef | grep #{pid} | grep -v grep`.length > 0
            # use "ps ax" for freebsd 
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} exists, but is stale, and will be deleted so that this mongrel can run."
                File.delete(defaults[:pid_file])
            else
                log "!!! PID file #{defaults[:pid_file]} already exists and the process id referred to in it is running.  This mongrel is probably already running.  #{defaults[:log_file]} for errors.  EXITING."
                exit 1
            end
          end

there is a call to at_exit in mongrel, which should be cleaning these files up.. but is not.

Put it in yr httpd.conf, or better yet, an included file. (that thing is monstrous as is)

<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName test.com
        DirectoryIndex index.html dispatch.fcgi
        DocumentRoot /domains/test.com/web/public
        RewriteEngine On
        RewriteRule ^(.*/)?.svn/ - [F,L]
        ProxyPass /images !
        ProxyPass /stylesheets !
        ProxyPass /javascripts !
        ProxyPass /examples !
        ProxyPass /map_data !
        ProxyPass /engine_files !
        ProxyPass /javascript !
        ProxyPass /feregions !
        ProxyPass / balancer://test/
        ProxyPassReverse / balancer://test
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        ErrorLog /opt/csw/apache2/var/log/test.com.error
        CustomLog /opt/csw/apache2/var/log/test.com common

        <Proxy balancer://test>
                BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8000
                BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8001
                BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8002
                BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8003
                BalancerMember http://127.0.0.1:8004
        Proxy>
</VirtualHost>

An SMF manifest that works well on the TXD containers. More here, and also see the related Capistrano config

<?xml version='1.0'?>
DOCTYPE service_bundle SYSTEM '/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/service_bundle.dtd.1'>
<service_bundle type='manifest' name='mongrel/example'>
  <service name='network/mongrel/example' type='service' version='0'>
    <create_default_instance enabled='true'/>
    <single_instance/>
    
    <dependency name='fs' grouping='require_all' restart_on='none' type='service'>
      <service_fmri value='svc:/system/filesystem/local'/>
    dependency>
    
      />
      
      'svc:/network/nfs/client'/>
    
    'mongrel_example' restart_on='none' grouping='optional_all'>
      'svc:/milestone/multi-user'/>
    
    
    'start' type='method' exec='/opt/csw/bin/mongrel_rails cluster::start' timeout_seconds='60'>
      '/home/example/rails/example.org/current'>
        'example' group='example' />
        
          
        
      
    

    'stop' type='method' exec=':kill' timeout_seconds='60'>