University of Exeter Rails Upgrade

Plymouth Software recently partnered with the University of Exeter to upgrade one of their legacy Rails applications. Like many codebases, the app hadn't kept pace with recent Rails and Ruby development. With an upcoming upgrade to the university's servers, it was critical to update the application to maintain compatibility.

Following a thorough code audit, we found the application was well-structured and written. However, it lacked automated tests. With a large set of users, and important data managed within the app, we wrote an initial test suite to capture the key user journeys.

This suite served as a vital check-and-balance throughout the upgrade process, ensuring no regressions were introduced.

With the initial test-suite in place, we began a phased upgrade by increasing minor Ruby versions. This allowed us to incorporate fixes and update dependencies as the code we refactored the code. Once Ruby was up to date, we moved on to upgrading Rails itself using the same approach.

During the Rails upgrades, we identified and removed redundant and unmaintained gems. We leveraged new features within Rails itself, and upgraded dependencies to their modern equivalents. We also modernized portions of the codebase to align with current standards and addressed issues in the code.

As we approached Rails 8.0, we examined the deployment process. Deployments were previously a manual process. The newly-configured server presented an ideal opportunity to automate this element.

We recommend running apps in containerised environments, and with Rails now defaulting to Kamal, this was a crucial step.

Kamal was introduced to the project and customized for the specific needs of the University. This included the use of Podman instead of Docker (a configuration Kamal doesn’t yet fully support). With targeted changes, we successfully deployed the application to both staging and production servers using Kamal and Podman. The production application now runs in a containerized environment.

The upgrade project was a success, delivered on time and within the University’s service plan. Throughout the process, we collaborated closely with the University team, providing training and guidance on maintaining the application and introducing them to the benefits of modern Rails tooling.

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The University of Exeter combines teaching excellence and high levels of student satisfaction with world class research at our campuses in Exeter and Cornwall. The university is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive universities, whose success is built on a strong partnership with our students and a clear focus on high performance.

Learn more about the University of Exeter at www.exeter.ac.uk.

Plymouth Software is a software consultancy specialising in the service and continuous improvement of Ruby on Rails applications.

With over 15 years of experience working with the platform, and building applications for a wide range of clients, we understand what it takes to design, develop, and support successful software solutions.

Through our range of services, and value-based approach, we work with your organisation's strategic technical partner, providing expert advice, support and software development services.

Find out more at www.plymouthsoftware.com