ruby web servers, threads and sessions

[eching]

Is there a pure ruby web server that can start a thread that performs
some task and store it in a session allowing the user to control the
task from the browser? Similar to a what I can do with a java web
server?

 

[Eric Hodel]

Is there a pure ruby web server that can start a thread that performs
some task and store it in a session allowing the user to control the
task from the browser? Similar to a what I can do with a java web
server?

WEBrick + your custom code.

 

[eching]

WEBrick + your custom code.

Ah, looks pretty straight forward, thanks.

Ok, so is it realistic to start up a Drb server and store it in a
session? Really what I am looking to do is to be able to control ruby
applications on various hosts from a web client using the web server as
the central hub.

The basic idea is a distributed log scanner app where the user can
control (add files, remove files, change search string) "scanning
agents" that are running on different hosts.

 

[eching]

Yes, you can do this, but if the purpose is to govern the behavior of remote
machines, and if there are any security issues, I personally would do it
using SSH instead.

You could set things up to tunnel the webrick content through an SSH
connection. That is a way to balance ease of use with good security.

I am not perfectly clear about what you are trying to accomplish, but if
your description is a suitable guide, then maybe a text-based SSH remote
execution approach might be better than one based on a a Web server.

Thanks for the responses. It's all over the LAN, so security isn't a
concern at this point. I'll guess I'll go ahead with my initial idea.
I really haven't done much web/web based programming (or distributed
programming, really, apart from basic sockets), so any other
suggestions are welcome.